Gary Schenauer:
CLASS OF 1968
Tonawanda High SchoolClass of 1968
Tonawanda, NY
Gerlach High SchoolClass of 2007
Gerlach, NV
Tonawanda Junior High SchoolClass of 1965
Tonawanda, NY
Sheridan Parkside SchoolClass of 1962
Tonawanda, NY
Mullen Elementary SchoolClass of 1962
Tonawanda, NY
Gary's Story
Life
Well, Fate and Mother Nature almost combined to drastically alter my life last year (2006). While driving on I-80 in California enroute to a day of outdoor activities, a huge boulder fell down the mountainside and landed on the highway directly in front of our car. Had it happened just a heartbeat later, it would have come right thru the windshield and killed my wife. Instead, only the car suffered ~ badly ~ from the impact! So we now have a new Saturn. As of April, 2007, it is 12 months old ... and it just went over 45,000 miles. ~~ Last summer, I enjoyed reuniting with several more friends from my military days, including meeting in Las Vegas with many ex-military policemen who I served with at Loring AFB in Maine and in Seattle with Sgt Dan Greenwald who served at Trabzon Air Station in Turkey with me. We last saw each other in 1970 - that's right, only 36 years ago! ~~ One of my pictures was used in an article in the Reno Gazette-Journal. You can see the pic in my Photo Section; it's the one that was taken at the KRNV TV station. And by the way, that's our puppy in the pic. ~~ I had a rather "unusual" encounter on Nevada State Route 447 last March. Read about that incident by checking out the pic of me (in the Photo Section) standing in the desert. Or go to the first picture and read about my very "unique" Senior Graduating Class. ~~ "G"
School
LOL! My biggest crush? Actually, I had TWO! I had a major crush on a Senior named Bev; problem was that I was a Freshman! I also had a maxi-crush on a classmate named Karen R, but I never had the 'nads to ask her out. (I was a major dweeb in HS, and she had the cool guys following her around like flies to honey.) I wish I'd had the guts. However, my biggest regret involves a teacher. When I was a Sophomore, I had Ms. Norma Klumpp for Math 10. I had lots of trouble in that class; all of it of my own making. One day, she asked me to stay behind after class. Then she tried telling me how much potential I had, and she tried to make me see that my problems were directly related to the company I was keeping. And when she was done trying to help me, ... I laughed ... right in her face. And I could see she was hurt. Even now, I remember the look on her face like it happened just yesterday. If I could take back just ONE moment of my HS experience, that is the moment I would erase ... the moment when I laughed at the teacher who was really trying to help me. Over the past 20 years or so, I've tried to locate her ... because I urgently wish to apologize to her and to let her know the tremendous impact she had on my life. Because I actually DID hear what she had said to me. You see, after HS, I joined the USAF. During my first 4 years I was a bozo, an even bigger bozo than I had been in HS, but after the first 4 years, I got my head screwed on properly and attended many military training schools to learn various skills. And I was either the #1 or #2 grad of every school I attended. After I retired from the military, I went to college ... and graduated Valedictorian of my class in '95. And I can honestly say that every school I went to as an adult, I remembered what Ms. Klumpp had said to me just a few moments before I laughed in her face. Of all the mistakes I've ever made, the moment I am most shamed over is that moment. Deep down, I realize she probably wouldn't even remember me now, but even that thought doesn't help me feel better about that incident. Last I heard of her, she had married and her name was Norma Richardson. Well, it's not a funny memory, but it's the most important one to me because Ms. Klumpp inspired me the most, so I shared it here. Sure wish I could share it with her. Unfortunately, I think I waited too long to start looking. It's too late.
College
(Grin) I was 40 years old when I entered college. That was back in the fall of '90 and old timers like me were referred to as "nontraditional students." As it turned out, the college experience was EXACTLY what I needed right then. Being surrounded by young people with their fresh and uninhibited outlook was a type of social catharsis for me. (Plus it was a bit of a "rush" having all the young gals hanging around me, urging me to get an earring and "lighten up." LOL!) In some ways, it was a "second maturation" for me. Or, considering it had taken me about 25 years to even begin my FIRST maturation, maybe this was just a continuation. I am not sure but whatever it was, I enjoyed college immensely. I had straight "A's" in every single class I took over the four and a half years ... except one. The professor in that one gave me a "B" in my Senior year because, as he said, "No one should be perfect!" I graduated from the University of Maine at Presque Isle as the Valedictorian of the Class of 95 with a Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education. (And I DID get an earring. I wore it my final two years in college, and I continued to wear it after that. I even wore it to my job interview and, after I was hired, I wore it to school ... UNTIL the day a parent saw it during the annual Open House and complained to the principal. The next day, I was asked to remove it, and I did.) (BTW, it was in my LEFT ear, which, I was assured by all the girls, was the CORRECT ear for an old stud-puppy male to wear it in. LOL)
Workplace
Hmmm. Let's see. Graduated THS in '68. Immediately enlisted in the USAF; spent 20 years in the service and retired Honorably in early 1989. Became a radio DJ for a while; learned how to DJ at WCXU in Caribou, Maine, and then moved to WTMS in Presque Isle where I had a great time. "You're on a memory trip back to the '60's with Doctor Oldies on WTMS, Presque Isle, Maine." Also did some civilian police work for the Aroostook County Sheriff's Office (transporting prisoners) and the Ft. Fairfield PD (patrolman). Then decided to use all those accumulated GI Bill benefits to go to college. Continued DJing during my college years; I did DJ work at WTMS on the weekends and I also DJed on the campus radio station. Immediately after graduation from college, we sold everything we owned: house, 2n...Expand for more
d car, all the furniture, everything. We tossed the few remaining personal items in the back of a 12-foot Ryder rental and headed west ~ with no predetermined destination, no job prospects, no place to stay, Nothing! Kept driving west 'til we came over a rise on Interstate 80, saw the city of Reno spread out before us, and said, "Here we are!" Within two weeks, I was hired to teach at one of the two smallest high schools in Nevada (and one of the smallest in the country). The school is a one-corridor 6th thru 12th grade school with a TOTAL student enrollment of 45. This year's Senior Class (of which I am the advisor) has exactly ONE student. I live in Fernley, Nevada; 84 miles away from the school, so I commute 168 round-trip miles daily during the school year. And this is my 12th year teaching there. I leave for work at 5:10 AM and get back home at 4:55 PM. I can cover the 84 miles in just slightly over one hour because I usually run the route at about 78-80 MPH. The entire route is through a very empty desert: a two-lane paved road that is so far removed from human habitation that there isn't even any cell phone coverage because there are no relay towers anywhere around. At school, I teach 7th Grade English, 8th Grade Reading, Freshman English, Junior English, Drama, Photojournalism, American Gov't, and Advanced Placement (college-level) English. The largest class I've ever had in my 12+ years there has been 14 students; the smallest class I've had is one student (several times). The average class size is 7 students. At the end of each school year, every HS in the Washoe County School District selects its top female and male graduates. In turn, those two top graduates are asked to choose their Most Influential Teacher from their many years in school. At my school, I have been selected Most Influential Teacher for 8 consecutive years ~ a string of time that is not only a record at my school but is also a record in the entire school district. It is a honor I am deeply proud of because it means I am keeping a vow I made to 3 great people from my past. It is quite common for many of my former students to suddenly appear on our doorstep, stopping by to say Hi when they are back in the area visiting relatives. (Just last month, a former student, and school Valedictorian, came by with her US Army husband who is also a former student of mine and their two infant children.) I love this profession! I really do! Ms. Klumpp, I sure do wish I could locate you ... to say Thanx! ~ gs ~
Military
There is no way I could share my 20 years of military experiences in this section with only a mere 4000 characters to use. Since my military assignments are listed in MY COMMUNITIES, I won't waste time listing them. Instead, I'll mention a few highlights (or lowlights). At my first duty station in Turkey, I actually saw a Turkish military officer crush the skull of a Turkish military enlisted man: I was no more than 25 feet away but helpless to intervene ... and the officer knew I was there and that I was watching when he struck and killed the sentry. It was also in Turkey where I fell over (well, OK, I staggered off) the edge of a sheer 1000 foot cliff, but I survived because there is a god who watches over fools who can't watch over themselves. In Japan, I was still a fool with three VERY close companions: Mr. J. Walker, Mr. J. Beam, and Mr. J. Daniels ... and that same god was still there ... twice more: once in a car and once in the Pacific Ocean! But even that god needed help, and my military supervisor, MSgt Ron Blatman, stepped up. (I recently reunited with MSgt B after 33 years; that reunion had been a primary goal of mine for many years and it was one of the most wonderful moments of my life!) I should have left Japan in a coffin, but I didn't. But I also didn't make it to my next assignment unscathed; with the help of Misters Beam, Walker, and Daniels I ended up taking an unintended side trip to Hawaii. My military career was "on the rocks," both literally and (thanks to my 3 companions) figuratively. Now, if anyone asks me if I am a heavily religious man, my answer is "no." But there is no person on earth who believes more than I that there IS a God. When I was in Hawaii, my life and my military job in alcohol-soaked shambles, God arranged a chance encounter with a fabulous young woman. Six months later, through the most unimagineable paperwork fluke, I ended up at a base in Massachusetts and, to my astonishment, only 50 miles away from the same wonderful girl I had met in Hawaii. She had just returned to Massachusetts. If you are reading this and would like to see her, go to my photos. That's her! If it were not for God's many, many intercessions to save me; if it were not for the fatherly guidance of Msgt Ron Blatman, and if it were not for the love and determination of that young girl some 35 years ago, I would most absolutely be deceased today. Instead, today, I am in NO way the same person I was back in Massachusetts in 1972. After disassociating myself with alcohol, I got married. Our next assignment was in Athens, Greece. I was the on-duty USAF base police dispatcher the night a Swissair DC-8 crashed at Athens International, killing 14. In fact, I dispatched the first police units to the scene. Then back to the USA, where I spent 9 years in the Strategic Air Command at Loring AFB in Maine. I retired Honorably from the USAF in '89, just a few weeks after receiving a medal for saving the life of a suicidal man as he and I stood alone at the top of a water tower. I am proud of the military man I became; I believe I was a damn good police officer and supervisor, and I honestly believe I am a damn good HS teacher today. But I had been a nothing ~ a zero. I owe three people: my HS teacher Ms. Norma Klumpp, my military supervisor MSgt Ron Blatman, and my wife of three-and-a-half decades Denise, and one very loving God. And I can never repay any of them the debts I owe them. Never. So I do the only thing I can think of ~ I try to be a role model to my students in school in the hope that I can do for one of them what those four did for me. ~gs~
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Reunions
Photos
