Walter Lenz:
CLASS OF 1969
Base Line Junior High SchoolClass of 1969
Boulder, CO
Walter's Story
I liked Baseline Jr High very much and all of my classmates made it a great place to go to school.
Played Jr and varsity football, basketball, and ran track in eighth and ninth grades. Sang in ninth grade choir during seventh, eighth and nineth grade.
Had a huge crush on Kathy Cooly (I'll admit that here now -- hope i spelled the her name correctly--my year books are in storage).
Lived on Ash Avenue in Boulder which then had a wonderful view of the Flatirons which I loved. Though I hated a paper route I had that began at Chatauqua Park which I had to ride up to each morning to deliver the Rocky Mountain News.
My father who was in the Air Force (AF) and working on an MBA at CU went to Viet Nam during my nineth grade year. When he returned we moved a few weeks later to Maryland (but I spent 2 months in school in PA while my parents searched for a house) and I missed Colorado and my classmates who went to Boulder High and Fairview greatly.
Once in Maryland I enrolled in one of the first 20 Air Force Junior ROTC programs in a high school in the nation. This later had a great influence on my career path. I still loved all sports but was definitely the new kid on the block. During my Sophomore year I tried out for basketball and baseball being cut from each team as the last one cut. In my junior year I skipped football tryouts and started running again. I ended up running both indoor and outdoor track for the last two years (including being team captain my senior year)while setting numerous school records and achieving a sixth best national time in a relay race. I also participated in the Penn relays in Philidelphia. When not at school I was often busy with an Boy Scouts Explorer Post I became involved with through some of my AFJROTC cadet classmates. Our Post specialized in spelunking (caving) and during my senior year I became Post president.
During my senior year of school I was offered several athletic opportunities at various schools. However, after I graduated in June 1972 from Oxon Hill Senior High (Oxon Hill, MD) my father was transfe...Expand for more
rred a month later to California. I remained in the east hoping to start school at U of MD in the fall, however that was not to be. I worked for 6 months at various tedious odd jobs and applied to new schools with Air Force ROTC programs. I ended up at West Virginia University in January 1973. I enrolled in AFROTC and was a "walk-on" member of the track team within a week of arriving. I later received a sports grant-in- aid and lettered in track prior to graduating in December 1976.
Upon graduation I was comissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force and eleven days later was on my way for training as a Personnel Officer (though my hopes of flying were dashed due to an injury stemming from being hit by a car at age four).
I was subsequently assigned to Luke Air Force Base (AFB) in Phoenix, Arizona, spending slightly over two and a half years there before being reassigned to Langley AFB, in Hampton, VA. Next came an assignment to San Antonio, Texas at a base my father had served at when I was in sixth grade prior to moving to Boulder in 1965. From there I went to F E Warren AFB, in Cheyenne, WY. While there I met and married my wife who was then and still is an AF officer/nurse, and completed a Masters Degree in Management followed by a move to Barksdale AFB, in Shreveport, LA. While in LA for five years, I worked at Eighth AF Headquarters during which time I was involved with among other things all facets of Desert Storm personnel actions for the headquarters and numbered AF during the Gulf War, deployed to Cuba in support of a Joint Service mission, and served as Headquarters Squadron Commander. I retired from the AF in July 1994 and returned back to Cheyenne, Wy to rejoin my wife who had be reassigned there for a second time.
We've since been assigned in Houston and Wichita Falls, Texas, Honolulu, HI, Little Rock, AR, and are presently assigned in Kaiserslautern, Germany until 2011.
Since retiring from the AF I've been involved in supporting and coaching youth soccer and being a "stay-at-home-dad" while my wife completes her AF career.
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Register for Free to start a reunion event!