Richard Heath:  

It all started one dark and stormy night, in a log cabin deep in the treacherous mountains of... (Gotta admit ~ sounds better than 'Once Upon a Time', although I considered it.) I began my formal education at the tender age of five (1956), at Hawthorne elementary, K to 2nd, there in Seattle, Washington.. Third Grade was at Millikan, in Santa Clara, CA, Fourth through Fifth at Lester E. Shields and Sixth and Seventh at Pala, both E. San Jose, CA. The first half of Eighth grade was at the new school, just a block from my house (one block less than Pala), Sheppard Middle School. During the 2-week X-mas break my mom packed us kids up and moved us to her parents house on Yacht Club Blvd., Indian Harbour Beach, Florida. That's where I spent the last half of my Eighth year and Ninth at DeLaura, there in Satellite Beach, next door to the High School.. Sophomore got me into Satellite Beach High. I came to be an all around un-sung all-star athlete, Got picked for all the best positions for my [then] various talents. I also formed my first rock band and learned the basics of the guitar. Graduation 1967 marked a change in my life. Got to missing California, so It was after then that I requested to be sent back to California to live with my Dad. I did my Junior and a small part of my Senior years at Oak Grove High on Blossom Hill Rd. S. San Jose, CA. This is where I met the girl I would first marry. Donna Marie Jacques. Best time of my life. After some trial-and-error formed a band with Steve Hill leading us to a win of the battle of the bands at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds and a subsequent invite to play the last day of Silver Creek High School's Summer break. Yeah!!!! Got my 15 minutes of fame. I stepped away from school in November, 1968. My scheduled grad year would have been in 1969. So, the following year I was coaxed to go into the Military (by my future Mother-in-Law), so I would be able to better support my soon-to-be-wife, first-born and do a little growing up. It was the I earned my GED within the first week of Basic Training, and with no forewarning, prep or study scored in the top 35% Nationwide and in the top 10% in Mathematics, (I can still take a test.) through USAFE (United States Armed Forces Education), August 1970. Just 5 nights of SAT-type Tests and that was that. If'n I had known it to be that easy I would have dun-dood it a few years earlier. In Sixth Grade I had a 10.2 (10th grade level) and in 10th grade I jumped to 14.4 (still 4 years ahead (and I never did homework, except on the bus before school and after school and maybe at lunch hour. Never at home. That was "mischief" time)). I turned down the offer to attend OCS. Could not see a life-long future with the Military. (Four-and-a-quarter years was all I could stands and I could stands no more.) Still, my IQ score was high enough to keep me in an office and ...Expand for more