Ray Matteis:
CLASS OF 1972
Monta Vista High SchoolClass of 1972
Cupertino, CA
Kennedy Junior High SchoolClass of 1968
Cupertino, CA
Monta Vista Elementary SchoolClass of 1966
Cupertino, CA
Portola Elementary SchoolClass of 1966
Los altos, CA
Ray's Story
After high school, I went to Arizona Automotive Institute for two quarters. I had my hand tools stolen, and motorcycle wrecked by someone I was trying to help. Ended up in the US Army, 82nd Airborne, for almost two years. Got an "early out" as I was not compatible with the army, I can't take stupid people.
When I got home, my dad taught me to drive a truck, and that was my main job the next nine years. At 29, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and lost my CDL because of it. I had one baby on the way at this time, so I went to Heald College to try and get a job in the valley. I was living in Aptos at the time, but there were no jobs in Santa Cruz County.
My first "high tech" job was with Tandem Computers as a technician. I was there for almost nine years, and was let go in a layoff in one of the downturns. I then went to work for a company in Aptos, Engage Communications, for about 18 months, and as they were hitting bad times, took a job back over the hill at Larscom as a customer support engineer. From there, I was a customer service engineer for Sage Instruments, a telco test equipment company. I was let go when the telcom bubble burst, and after a while was hired at Xilinx as a technician. After a few months, they looked at what I was actually doing, and changed my tittle to reliability engineer. I was working on some great projects, and ended being named on two patents with some of my co-workers. This work involved Los Alamo...Expand for more
s Labs and the "Ice House", a place companies could rent to place IC's in neutron beams for testing. It was for me my greatest, and most fun job.
After a layoff from Xilinx, I worked at Elecraft in Watsonville, CA. They manufacture amateur radios and equipment. I was let go after a couple of years as things slowed down, and started to think about retirement. I gave one more company a try, back in the valley, and after about a year and a half, just called it.
For the personal stuff, had girlfriends up until '79, was married and had it annulled. Married again in the early '80's, and this lasted for almost 16 years and two children, a son and daughter. That ended in divorce, lost my job at Sage, and then my son was diagnosed with cancer, all in a three month span. A VERY BAD time mentally for me. My son was cured, and is still alive and happy, my daughter is married and living in Capitola, and I've remarried and am now living in Star, Idaho.
I did a few road trips when my two children were younger, and as they are grown, have done a few motorcycle road trips across and around the country. I've also traveled for work, to France, the UK, Hawaii, and Riad, SA. For fun, I've been to most of the islands of Hawaii and Caribbean, as I SCUBA dive. I've also been to Germany, Italia, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Spain. I'm hoping my wife and I can do more travel next year, as there is more of this planet I would like to visit, and people to meet.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
