Bill Tarin:
CLASS OF 1960
Sam Houston High SchoolClass of 1960
San antonio, TX
National American UniversityClass of 1988
Denver, CO
San Antonio Junior CollegeClass of 1961
San antonio, TX
Bill's Story
Life
Joined Air Force after one year of college. Served in San Angelo, TX 1961-62; Zweibrucken, Germany 1962-64; Shemya, Alaska 1964-65; Shreveport, Louisiana 1965-67; Peshawar, Pakistan 1967-69; San Antonio 1969-71; Karamursel, Turkey 1971-74; Ft. Meade, Maryland 1974-77; Boerfink Mountain (Neubrucke), Germany 1977-79; and returned to Ft. Meade, Maryland 1979-81 where I retired. Worked for Ford Aerospace in Maryland, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in Colorado, some smaller companies in Maryland and in Colorado, and the Department of Defense in Maryland. Jobs included Air Force intelligence, technical writing, computer data management, programming, drafting, We are now totally retired. Proposed to Elizabeth (Libby) Scout from Jacksonville (also known as Phoenix), Maryland in February 1969 after knowing her for one week. We married two weeks later and headed for my assignment in San Antonio. We have three children: a daughter and two sons. We have five grandsons and one granddaughter. We also have seven great grandchildren, six boys and one girl. Lived in Maryland for 10 years and moved to Colorado in 1985 after receiving a great job offer. First lived in Aurora (a suburb of Denver) then moved just outside of Elizabeth in the country on three acres with very tall Ponderosa pines (one of which fell on our house in the May 2001 monster snowstorm). Cost of living is better in Texas, so stay there. In June 2006, We sold our home in Elizabeth and moved to the eastern plains of Colorado to the small farming town of Flagler in Kit Carson County. No hassles living there and lower cost of living with a great bunch of retirees. In February 2011, we moved to a retirement community in Colorado Springs to be near medical facilities and shopping. We were living in a rental home, but the owners decided that the home had to be sold and we were not interested in buying. We are currently living in a condo on the east side of Colorado Springs, not too far from the Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak and it is certainly beautiful around here. Our church gave Libby and I a calling working at the church employment center from early 2011 to late 2013 helping people find jobs in the bad economy of the time. We worked there for 30 months. Since then, we consider ourselves fully retired. Libby and I taught 8 year olds at church. At this time we are now serving as Family History Consultants to help others research their family genealogy and history.
School
After graduating from Sam Houston High, I attended San Antonio Junior College for one year and then joined the Air Force. Earned several credits while in the Air Force from Louisiana Polytech and the University of Maryland. My work schedule made it extremely difficult to continue with college for a very long time since I worked mostly rotating shifts and long hours for most of my career. After retiring from the Air Force, I completed my initial two years of college at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland. and then moved to Colorado where I transferred all my previous credits and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from National American University located in Rapid City, South Dakota at the branch in Denver, Colorado where I completed my degree in 1988. It was a long and difficult road, but it was well worth it.
Military
Joined Air Force after one year of college. After basic training at Lackland, I served in San Angelo, TX 1961-62 for technical training as a Radio Intercept Operator. Assigned to Zweibrucken, Germany 1962-64 and had a fantastic time there even though I was ...Expand for more
working shift work. I was able to travel some and see Paris, Rome, Luxembourg and Austria while there, as well as several places in south Germany and some small towns in northern France. Reassigned to Shemya, Alaska 1964-65 which is a 2 mile by 4 mile island near the end of the Aleutian chain, just barely within sight of Russia. Shemya is hard to find on most maps. It was said that there is a girl behind every tree, but there were only two stick trees that were both dead. Transferred to Shreveport, Louisiana 1965-67 at Barksdale AFB. This was a SAC base, Headquarters 2nd Air Force. A lot of noisy B52 bombers and U2's there. Next I was assigned to Peshawar, Pakistan 1967-69. While there I was on shift work, so did not get to see much of the country. I did visit Rawalpindi; the Kyber Pass connecting Pakistan to Afghanistan; Karachi for about two days; and Lahore as well as a great camping trip in northern Pakistan. We were welcomed by the local tribal chief who asked us many questions about America and he had a lot of questions for me about Texas. He assigned two of his personal guards, in full uniform, to watch over us while we slept by the river where we had his permission to do some fishing. I did want to visit India, but could not come up with enough time off to make the trip. Reassigned to San Antonio 1969-70 at the Medina Annex of Lackland. This is where I first brought my new bride to begin our life together. She had never been to San Antonio and was quite impressed with the city. She was from the Baltimore area and had introduced me to Baltimore and Washington D.C. Our daughter was born at Wilford Hall Medical Center. Then I was transferred to Karamursel, Turkey 1971-73. What a tour. We visited a lot of Turkey, Greece, and took a trip to the Holy Land. Libby also took a trip to Russia where I could not go because of my security clearances. One son was born in Ankara, Turkey and the second was born in Adana, Turkey. Both were military hospitals. A tour to Ft. Meade, Maryland 1974-77 was next which gave us a huge opportunity to see much of the east coast and to visit frequently with Libby's parents and many of her other relatives around Baltimore and in Delaware. I was then assigned to Boerfink Mountain (Neubrucke), Germany 1977-79 but had to leave my family at home in Baltimore for two years. I did return to visit three times for vacation. While in Germany I worked inside a mountain that was run by NATO. Finally returned to Ft. Meade, Maryland 1979-81 where I retired after 20 years of service. I will never regret or feel ashamed of my service to this great country of ours despite the way our military was treated by civilians during Vietnam. I did not serve in Vietnam because of my security clearances. It is sad to have seen so many Americans hating their fellow Americans who were forced by the draft to do what they did. I know it was politics, not military, that made a mess of that situation. I was very fortunate in the tours of duty I received and the support I gave to other military members, especially those in Vietnam and the rest of southeast Asia, through the duties I performed. I was disappointed by the fact that while at Ft Meade, we were told to wear our uniforms only one day a week because of the nasty civilian attitude toward the military. Strange times then. Happy now to live in a city that highly respects the military. We have the Air Force Academy, Peterson AFB, Ft Carson Army Base, Schriever AFB, and now the Space Force has been added here temporarily at Peterson. Not far away in Aurora is Buckley AFB. Great place to live.
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