Fred Rexroad:
CLASS OF 1974
Park Hills High SchoolClass of 1974
Fairborn, OH
Jackson High SchoolClass of 1974
Jacksonville, FL
Monroe Middle SchoolClass of 1971
Tampa, FL
Lanier Elementary SchoolClass of 1968
Tampa, FL
Central Elementary SchoolClass of 1968
Fairborn, OH
Fred's Story
Life Since High School...
I started high school in Jacksonville Florida where my family had moved after my Dad retired from the Air Force. We were living in Tampa prior to that. I went to Andrew Jackson High School on Main Street in Jacksonville and rode bus 102 (I think) to get there. At first I lived in the area north of town known as San Mateo. It was a nice development surrounded by plenty of wooded areas. But soon we moved to an older area of town called Lake Forest. It wasn't as nice...but that's a longer story.
After 11th grade the family moved back to my birthplace in Ohio. I finished high school there at Park Hills in Fairborn Ohio. It was a brand new school--in fact it wasn't completely built until after I graduated. My home football games were at the 'old' high school which was still around for a few years (I was right smack in the middle of the baby boom generation so there was a need for a lot of high schools). This brings up an interesting point--Jackson did not have a football stadium either so I never saw a football game at my own school--this held even through college. Wright State University did not have a football team and the University of Cincinnati was rebuilding its stadium during my PhD time there--and the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT--more PhD work) does not have a sports team of any kind.
Anyway, back to the chronology... I finished my high school career a bit early. After going to Park Hills for a semester I found out that I had enough credits (15 I think it was) to graduate. However, I was lacking a half credit in Health. Now, in Florida, Health was not a required course (I don't even remember if it was offered), but in Ohio it is a required 10th grade class. So I, a senior, was in class with sophomores for Health. I petitioned to the school and they waived the half year of Health allowing me to graduate mid-year. Officially this was one day after I turned 18--what a birthday present!
I was planning to go to Wright State in the fall--it never occurred to me to start earlier (this is something I think my councilors should have suggested).
So I'm a high school graduate now. Yippee! I bummed around for a few months going back to Florida for a spell. I even got a job there working at the printing company on Eastport Road (I printed Swisher Sweet Cigar boxes). This didn't last long so I headed back to Ohio to enroll in college (why I never did this sooner is another failing of my councilors). While back in Ohio I got really bored about the same time I saw a recruiting ad for the Coast Guard. Now I had a fascination with the Coast Guard going way back to the first time I saw a 44 foot boat flip over during a storm, right itself, and keep on speeding through the waves. So I took a day trip to Cincinnati and spoke with a recruiter. A short time later I was on Government Island near Alameda California for boot camp. I went to Machinery Technician school in Yorktown VA; operated a crane and other equipment maintaining navigational aids on the St. Johns River and the Intercoastal waterway out of Mayport, Florida; and spend my last year at the Air Station on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Four years after entering, I left as a second class petty officer (with G.I. Bill benefits).
Back to Ohio, I finally entered Wright State University (named after my heroes Orville and Wilbur, which kinda ties in with my getting a pilot's license and building and flying my own hangglider) where I began as a sophomore, having taken CLEP tests that satisfied a full year's worth of credit (and this on a Florida education, go figure.) Three years later I had a bachelor's degree and still had time on my GI Bill, so I continued on to grad school. I also got married (the first time) sometime about now. Soon, I had an MBA and was looking for a job right in the middle of Reagan's trickledown theory. So I was unemployed for a while. Not to worry though, I started doing statistical and computer consulting. I had some pretty big clients; I impressed myself. But I was putting in more work trying to get work than actually working. Before long I landed a temporary job with the US Air Force Logistics Command; they happen to be headquartered down the street from my school. After a few weeks there, I landed a teaching post back at Wrigh...Expand for more
t State.
I taught for a just over a year and then entered the PhD program at the University of Cincinnati, where they had just begun adding a new section of seats to the existing stadium per the rules of the new league they had gotten into (they needed to add about 15000 seats to meet the new league requirements). My PhD run stumbled short. My wife was back in Dayton and apparently the long distance thing wasn't too good. I quit school (one of my few dumb career moves) and moved back home. This is when I began my long career with the Air Force. Soon I had a son, then shortly afterward, I had no wife.
I stayed with the Air Force for quite a few years; traveled a bit, and settled comfortably in Yellow Springs Ohio (see, 100 Best Small Towns, Funkytowns USA, America's 10 Coolest Small Towns, and others). I got married again (one of my best moves) and had another son.
A few years passed where I attempted a PhD again (this time at AFIT), but things got in the way again (good things this time) so I never finished. I did, however, pick up an old hobby from my childhood and began playing with magic again. This time I made a business out of it and created Village Magic. With the help of my wife and kids, I put together a mail order catalog and created a web storefront. I had one of the first magic shops on the World Wide Web and eventually sold and shipped items to every state and over 40 countries. I was becoming too successful though and the magic store (100 Corry Street, Yellow Springs; VillageMagic.com --the magic dealer's association still has me listed but it's not the one currently in San Diego) was taking too much of my time. I had to quit my day job or end the business. I had a family, I had to go with the safe bet. I shut the doors of Village Magic.
My next big adventure came when I applied for a position with NATO. In September 2001 I flew to the The Hague, The Netherlands for an interview with the NATO Command, Control, and Consultation Agency (NC3A). I loved it there. I had been to Europe twice before but this felt different. I spent a week looking over the area and checking out schools. Sunday I flew home with a great feeling. Monday I told my boss that I really wanted that job. Tuesday the world changed. It was September 11, 2001. A few weeks later I was offered the job and I took it. By the time the Air Force, the US Mission to NATO, HQ NATO and the US Army all negotiated my transfer it was after Christmas, but I was on my way to Europe. I stayed there about 3 ½ years and then headed back to the USA. What a dream!
I landed at the Air Force Studies and Analyses Agency at the Pentagon. I didn't have to actually work in the Pentagon, which was nice, but I did have to visit it a lot. A couple of years went by and I switched to the Air Force office which had the huge task of moving the Air Force to a culture of continuous process improvement, a daunting but interesting task. That lasted about a year and then the work changed so that I was not doing the analytical stuff I enjoyed and was doing much more staff work. After several meetings with those in control of the power structure I was advised to look beyond the Air Force (they were thinking Joint Command). So I started looking. I found a job at the US Department of Education that seemed to fit my desires. So after 29 years with the military (including my four years of enlisted time in the Coast Guard) I quietly slipped over to the Education Department. That lasted about four years. I got bored with the lack of foresight in management (a lot of Republican left overs that wanted to close the department completely. I went back to the military, this time to the Joint Chiefs of staff. This was a great job, but after a few years I decided to retire on a high note.
Oh, and during this whole time I dabbled in writing. Back in early school I began writing a book using characters from a book series that I loved. I would write a few pages or a chapter and the put it down for a while--sometimes for years. Well about the time I was with NATO, I decided to finish it. And I did. I also wrote six more and intend to write many more (Whiz Tanner Mysteries). All are available on Amazon or wherever you buy your books. I'm currently working more middle-grade books and a few adult novels.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos