Mike Meek:  

Two weeks after graduation I went to work at Seaboard Finance Company in downtown Oakland. A year later I married my best friend, and boyfriend, Ron Meek. At that time he was in the US Navy going to Nuclear Power School in Idaho. After our wedding at Mills /Terrace Christian Church, we moved to Pocatello for five months. I had never been out of California. Upon completion of his training Ron’s first assignment as a Reactor Operator was aboard the USS Seawolf. All but two of his classmates received duty assignments on the West Coast. We were one of the two assigned to the East coast; New London, CT. Both of our daughters, Kathleen and Karen were born there. In May of 1964 Ron completed his six years in the submarine service. We returned to CA where we hoped that Ron could find employment utilizing his Navy background and experience. That was not to be. Ron was the first Nuclear Reactor Operator hired at Dairyland Power Cooperative, in La Cross, WI. We move to Wisconsin and became Midwesterners. We first lived in town and then two years later we bought a 160 acre farm outside the small town of Genoa. We loved living in the country and enjoyed being "gentlemen" farmers. We joined the Lutheran Church and became active in the community. At some point we realized that Ron's position of Reactor Operator was as high as he was going to be able to go for many years. This being the case we did some research and he found a job as a shift supervisor in a coal fired power plant in Hayden, CO for Colorado Ute. It was hard to say good bye to our friends in WI, but we made the move and soon settled into life in the mountains of CO. It's beautiful country, and the area was considered, rural and remote. This is quite a long way for a city girl from California. We enjoyed our time there for 14 months before we took a leap of faith. The job for Ron was good and I was happy and busy as a stay at home Mom, but we realized that at age 29 Ron had advanced as far as he could go without furthering his education. He had gone to college for one year right out of High School at UC Berkeley before going into the Navy. Again we did more research and wrote letters. We visited three different colleges that had good Electrical Engineering programs. By this time Ron has earned his private pilots license and we were able to fly to the various locations. We chose New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, NM. There was much thought and prayers during this time period. We downsized our belongings, loaded up our worldly possessions into a U-Haul Truck and headed from Hayden, CO to Las Cruces to move into married student housing. This was in August 1969, and our daughters Kathy and Karen were starting into first and second grade. Ron entered as a freshman at NMSU on Academic probation. He earned his BSEE in 3 years and his Masters in Power Management in 9 months. He graduated with honors. During this time I earned my PHT (Put Hubby Through) Degree and was honored at a graduation ceremony also. We lived on campus and I worked for the NMSU University Police. I started out as Dispatcher/University Operator, and was promoted to Secretary to Investigations, then Secretary to the Chief. I was also a uniformed Police Aide and assisted officers as needed. It was a very interesting job! Ron had job offers all over the country. We chose to move to the KC area were Ron began his 25 year care...Expand for more