Richard Stevenson:
CLASS OF 1975
Burney High SchoolClass of 1975
Burney, CA
Fruitdale Elementary SchoolClass of 1975
Grants pass, OR
South Middle SchoolClass of 1975
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Riverside Elementary SchoolClass of 1975
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Richard's Story
I left Burney Jr Sr High my Junior year in March 1974 to join the United States Marine Corps.
Remember that my dad was getting remarried and that meant I would have to move to Redding for my Senior year. Talked with a recruiter down on Hilltop Drive in Redding, only way they would let me join was if my dad signed for me and if Burney Jr Sr High would let me take the GED.
Since I was only 17 years old by a couple of months, I needed the schools permission to take the GED. They only allowed me to do it if I was enlisting in the Marine Corps.
When I took the test at the County District office off Cypress Ave, in Redding. The recruiter had my test scores before I had time to drive back to his office on Hilltop.
Within a week I was on a Greyhound bound for San Francisco, then my first commercial flight on PSA to San Diego.
Ended up working Avionics on RF-4B aircraft. Did two tours overseas on the USS Midway. Which is now museum now in San Diego ( boy that really makes you feel old ).
While I was in the USMC, I learned to fly and got my pilots license.
After 4 years I got out of the Marines and went directly to an electronics school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. From there I went to work for Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita, Kansas.
While in Kansas I got married and kept working on my pilot license rating. Was able to tra...Expand for more
nsfer out to California.
Worked for a small commuter airline in Chico and for an air tanker operation fighting forest fires out of Santa Rosa, before going to work for an airline in San Francisco.
I had one daughter with my first wife in the early 80's. Divorced after 19 years.
Now remarried to a wonderful gal who is from the Class '75 from Terra Linda High. We call home in Rohnert Park now.
We have a small cabin up outside of McCloud for weekends. Do drive through good ole Burney now and then. I still have one cousin living there. My Aunt and Uncle that I worked for while in High School at the A&W Drive-In live in Redding, see them often and they still hear from some of their old friends in Burney.
One of the saddest times I remember was when I had to go back in to havey hand operated on in January 1974 and Cindy Drew was in the hospital from the car accident she was in out by Fruit Growers on the highway. They had just taken Cindy's leg because it was so badly damaged from the wreck.
A couple years later my Aunt told me that Cindy was in such pain that she took her own life.
On a more happier note, my wife and I stopped off in Burney in 2005 for lunch on our way home. They had a picture of the whole class of 2005 on the wall. Thirty years later and still looked like only about 35 in the graduating class.
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