Harold Patin:
CLASS OF 1957
Fortier High SchoolClass of 1957
New orleans, LA
University of Maryland College Kadena AFBClass of 1964
Okinawa,
Harold's Story
Fortier Grad -1957, went to work for Western Union, then downtown office supply & printing co. Joined Army 1962, got into Intelligence Corps and assigned as S/A to Far East. Great experience and formed my future. Earned couple years of college in Army. After Army (1965) got into Federal Bureau of Narcotics, later (1967) Bureau of Drug Abuse Control, then LBJ created (1968) the BNDD (Bur of Narc & Dang. Drugs) & I was merged in. Later still, Nixon created the DEA (1973) and stayed there until I retired early (1982). I started my own company to consult with industry on creating drug free workplaces & traveled across USA lecturing & training & eventually providing the services to remove drugs from the workplace. Currently, I am still engaged in business which is mostly drug & alcohol testing.
While a DEA Supervisor, went to night school & got AA & BS. Got MS by credit for life experiences & now working on real MS, PhD later.
Had many interesting experiences in career, like supervising case which seized only secret methadone lab in USA (1969), busting Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead & LSD King - Owlsley in New Orleans (1/1970), largest heroin case in USA. (Florida 1970) & several other secret lab cases involving speed, PCP & mescaline.
Married Mount Carmel girl, Linda Selle and we have 2 daughters and 4 grandsons, 3 teenagers and new one is 1 year old.
Katrina was awful, but rebuilt home and office. Business good. Younger daughter works with me and older daughter is surgical nurse with very busy general surgeon at Ochsner - Baptist. Both girls are st...Expand for more
rong, bright ladies with great husbands. All live in metro area.
God is my inspiration, but of earthly men, I admire George Washington most. I have a large picture of him kneeling at Valley Forge as he prayed. I feel he was the CEO of the Founding Fathers.
I am Catholic and still attend Mass and go to Manressa annually in Summer for the Jesuit retreat. Prior to Fortier, I was taught & hit over the head by the Daughters of Charity & Christian Brothers. Good influence and sorry kids of today can't have same.
I was born & lived until 22 in Uptown (12th Ward) New Orleans, in a poor neighborhood (everyone was poor then), then in Army I went to Baltimore, Colorado, California, Okinawa, Tokyo, back to Baltimore, home to New Orleans, then San Antonio, Dallas & finally back to New Orleans. I have traveled to many other places but have stayed awhile in the above. Being a Big Easy native, I would find it sad and very hard to move permanently anywhere else. Linda and I like to cook and how in the hell could we cook our Creole favorites in Iowa or Chicago or Orlando? How many cities have so many great songs about them? And where did Capt. Rhett Butler take his beautiful bride, Scarlett, on their honeymoon? Do YOU know what it means to miss New Orleans? I do! Harold
Jan/2009, Linda passed away after long illness. Mar/09, I found I had colon cancer, but thank God, surgery eliminated it. April, May, June Traveled to Switzerland, France, Italy, home, Mohegan Sun, CT, New York City - West Village, home, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Russia, Swedan, Finland and home.
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