William Myatt:
CLASS OF 1966
Salinas High SchoolClass of 1966
Salinas, CA
William's Story
Life
I'm living a very good life. In 1968, I married the beautiful Susan Brewer (SHS graduate in '62). We have two wonderful children (Michael, born in 1971, and Amy, born in 1974).
We now have a super grandson with another on the way. We love being grandparents, and love living in Santa Rosa, CA, where have been since July of 1970.
I have been published over one hundred times, counting my single small book (STALKING THE WILD SEMICOLON--a humorous guide to punctuation), several magazine articles, one published poem, and many many humor columns for a newspaper syndicate. Writing is still one of my sideline passions, but I have abandoned all expectations about being recognized/discovered in a way that allows me to pay the bills with my writing skills. In the world of creative arts, being good enough isn't good enough.
Do you remember (when we were growing up) being told that you could be ANYTHING you wanted to be, do ANYTHING you wanted to do? I don't know exactly who said it, but I grew up believing it. And I found out that it's a big lie. The key is luck and timing. Without that, forget it.
But, my personal life could not be better, because of my incredible good luck at having Susan decide to marry me.
School
I'm not telling who my biggest crush was, but I will say that it was my biggest waste of time in high school. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would ask more good friends out on dates--the girls I really liked (not loved) and had more fun.
The teacher who was the biggest influence on me was Mr. Gallegos. Because of him, I went on to get both a BA and an MA in English lit.
Best memories--track and cross-country practice with the guys. I did not enjoy the actual meets, however--too many nerves, too much work, too much throwing up after the races.
I also loved singing in the A Cappella Choir.
College
I spent one year at USC on an academic scholarship. I learned to play Hearts (I'm REALLY good at Hearts) and lost my scholarship. So, I moved over the UCLA, where I graduated with a BA in English in 1970.
I then moved t...Expand for more
o Santa Rosa, CA, where I entered Sonoma State University soon thereafter. In 1974, I graduated with an MA in English.
Workplace
I never took a class in Business, never wanted to be in Business, and have spent my entire adult life in business--manufacturing, wholesale, retail, marketing, management. I don't like it but I'm good at it.
What I really wanted to be was an English teacher at the community college level. But, by the time I had the right degree (MA) and credential, nobody was hiring new teachers at the college level. So, I have been stuck in business. It has allowed me to prosper financially, but I 've never been able to follow my passion.
And I wanted to be a teacher in part because of a Careers Day at SHS, when I vividly recall a speaker begging us to be teachers. That was when there were more jobs than candidates. By the time I was ready, there were more candidates than jobs. Oh, well.
Military
Short version of a very long story: I joined the Air Force Reserve in 1968, planning to be a pilot. I figured that if I was going to have to go to Vietnam, I was going to go 30,000 feet in the air, not crawling on my belly through the jungle. The Air Force welcomed me with open arms, and I spent my last two years at UCLA in the AF ROTC unit.
A few months before graduation (and induction into active duty), the Air Force decided that I was physically unfit for duty--not true, but by 1970 Nixon had been elected and was desperately trying to get out of Vietnam. The Air Force did the math and realized that they had WAY too many pilots and pilot candidates, so they threw me out on a silly and basically bogus technicality. So, I was honorably discharged from the Air Force Reserve in 1970, having served only 6 weeks in boot camp and 2 years in ROTC.
3 years later, I saw (on the front page of our local newspaper) a photo of a friend and fellow UCLA ROTC grad who had gone on to be a pilot in Vietnam--he was returning from North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp. That could and perhaps should have been a picture of me.
Thank God for unanswered prayers.
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