Charles York:  

Life Medically retired from the Navy. Missed 5yr reunion while at war. Missed 10 yr reunion while in hospital due to the war. I am married and living in TN with 3 adopted daughters all in Highschool. I had a heart transplant on June 30 2002 due to complications from the Gulf war and doing very well since. We live with my wife's grandfather in order to look after him and have been caring for him for 6 years. We currently hire home health to come help out 4 days a week to allow me to run errands etc. May soon hire one on a full time basis as business has been picking up. Update November 2005 Wifes Grandfather passed away in September 2005. We are buying the house from the estate as moving would be more of a hassle right now with 2 businesses with a possible 3rd and starting as a Real Estate agent. Update November 2006 I had hoped to make it to our 20 yr class reunion but between our annual family gathering in TN and clients coming in from Florida I was unable to make it this time. I closed down the Handyman business due to lack of good workers and no time to be bothered with it. Real Estate is going well and looking at more rentals for possible expansion. Update February 2009 Retired from Real estate in 2007 due to declining health yet again. Transplanted arteries are rejecting causing narrowing and significant decrease in blood flow. This issue, known as CAV has no known cure and in some cases will result in a second transplant but in most cases causes premature death in transplant patients. School High school to me was more a social event than an academic endeavor. I never felt challenged enough in High School to put forth any effort. My one goal after High School was to attend MIT. My Junior year the counselor advised me to drop the Chemistry course I had slotted for my Senior year and take Biology instead. Since I had 2 yrs of advanced physical science and 1 year of Physics she claimed I would need a Life Science course to get into any major colleges so I made the switch. After graduation I received a letter of conditional acceptance to Mass. Inst. of Technology requesting proof of one year High School Chemistry. They did not require life science. Instead of going to U of Michigan or taking a semester of Chemistry at OCC and then going to MIT I joined the Navy. How is that for a switch? College I started at OCC with a business major and computer programming minor after being retired from the Navy. As my health deteriorated I switched to a computer programming major and business minor at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) but had to drop when health worsened. I rece...Expand for more