John Howell:
CLASS OF 1971
Aptos High SchoolClass of 1971
Aptos, CA
Procter R. Hug High SchoolClass of 1971
Reno, NV
Reno High SchoolClass of 1971
Reno, NV
Clayton Middle SchoolClass of 1968
Reno, NV
Peavine Elementary SchoolClass of 1965
Reno, NV
John's Story
Life
I had the misfortune to attend four different high schools, so it is difficult to feel a sense of belonging to any one of them. My strongest associations are with Reno and Hug, if only because friends from Archie Clayton went to both, and I had fun at Clayton.
Went to college, but did not graduate (Psychology, San Jose State), and went to work at a computer "start-up". 31 years later, still there, senior staff, working on all the "new" stuff.
My parents had five marriages between the two of them, so I waited until I was 37 to get hitched to a beautiful Santa-Barbara beach girl. Had my first child at 40, and despite agreeing that two was enough, we have three: two girls and "oops", our little boy.
Life is good. We are all healthy, and despite an excessive number of changes at work, living well.
Hope things are well for you too!
School
My school years can be broken into two primary phases: before high school, and during high school. The before phase was pretty nice: went to Peavine Elementary, and then on to Archie Clayton Junior High. High school was a mess because I went to four different schools: Hug and Reno High, and Watsonville (CA) and Aptos (CA). I hated Watsonville - that is why it is not listed in my profile. I graduated from Aptos, but had few friends and few interests related to school.
Interestingly enough, Aptos is where I had one of my most inspiring teachers: Mr. Heston, Social Studies. With his tutelage, I and another classmate organized a whole day at Aptos where the teachers (and some students, including myself) offering classes on ecology, fuel-efficient cars,...Expand for more
recycling, etc. The other classmate (I blank on his name, but still can see his big "surfer" face) did all the PR, I did all the grunt-work. It was a vast endeavor, but all in all, very rewarding.
The other most influential teacher was actually my principal at Peavine and Hug, Mr. Garfinkle. He trusted me, respected me, and did not take a crap from me. For a while I was "too cool for school", getting into trouble and actually dropped out from Reno High in the 10th grade. After coming to my senses I had a nice one-on-one with Mr. Garfinkle, and he let me know what I had to do to enter Hug High in the 11th grade versus repeating the 10th. Thank you, Mr. Garfinkle - I will never forget your wisdom.
Being the product of multiple divorces, I was a bit of a "bad kid". Joy riding, recreational drugs, getting down with my bad self, mostly because I had too much time on my hands and not enough supervision to whack me when I needed it. But, I tended to hang with the troublemakers, smoking out behind the shop building, etc. Did not hang with the really bad kids: I could smell REAL trouble a mile away. But, being tough was being cool.
Grew out of that in college, thank God. Went to San Jose State University, but only lasted a semester and a half before I chaffed under my Dad's checkbook and associated thumb. Dropped out, and had this romantic notion I wanted to work "outside". Went to work at a steel fabrication outfit, David Rose Steel, in San Jose, where because I was the smartest (and sanest) person quickly rose to shop foreman at the tender age of 19.
But, that is another tab (Workplace) to fill out.
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