Ed Greene:
CLASS OF 1963
Oak Ridge High SchoolClass of 1963
Oak ridge, TN
Ed's Story
Graduating in the top 1/2 of my class, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, I attended ETSU for 2 years before they suggested I find other ways to amuse myself. Upon my unconditional release from ETSU I finally made it to the BIG city, Atlanta, GA, I then spent the next 35 years trying to get out of it.
But, to be honest, the time I spent in Hotlanta wasn't all bad. I met a wonderful girl and was happily married for 7 years, unfortunately the marriage lasted 13 years. My fault, the divorce, she remains one of the nicest people I've been lucky enough to know. The one consoling thing to come of the marriage were the births of my two sons, Charles and Jason. But, I digress.
I was lucky enough to find a well paying job with Lockheed Aircraft in Marrietta just north of Atlanta, ending up in the training department until I couldn't stand the corporate BS any more and quit to work in 1970 for a Lums Restaurant franchise. I considered it a paid, albeit low, apprenticeship. My intentions being to learn the business and open a family style restaurant of my own, which I did in 1976. My first restaurant was located one block south of Emery University, still miss those Emorroids sometimes. I continued in the restaurant business until 1994, when I "retired" and enrolled at the University of Georgia. Proving once again you can fool some of the people some of the time, I actually earned a degree (BA in Liberal Arts with a double major in English and History) with too many minors to list. '76 was a good year, I opened my first restaurant and met the lady who would, after 24 years, become my second wife Brenda, hereafter referred to as "she who must be obeyed." I gained 3 stepchildren from my second marriage, Cheryl, Anita, and Michael, all quality people. I have five grandchildren and one on the way! Boy! If I had known how much fun grandchildren would be I would have skipped the children part of the process.
Once again, wishing to prove you can fool some of the people all the time I applied for, and was accepted to, Agnes Scott College's Masters of Arts in Teaching program upon graduating from UGA. Myself and 744 female students, that was fun! I earned my MAT in '98 and became a teacher of History, English, and any other social science classes the Head Master (private school) was able to tri...Expand for more
ck me into teaching. I didn't even apply for a teaching job in the public sector, why join a system already so dysfunctional. I wasn't an able student in the public system, thank GOD I was lucky enough to have a couple of teachers who refused to let me fail, Mz. Walsh at JJHS and Mrs. Swain are two who will always have a place in my heart. I thought there had to be a better way to get students involved in the learning process. The school was nominally listed as a school for children with learning disabilities but in reality its student body was composed for the most part of kids kicked out of the public school system and court mandated students. Jim, the Head Master, said he would allow me to teach in my own way until too many parents demanded I be fired, thankfully that never happened. Talk about cosmic payback, those kids made me look like Little Bo Peep in school.
Teaching full time was the most difficult, frustrating, and ultimately, rewarding job I have had in my life. I still teach as a sub in Haywood Co. North Carolina, mostly at the alternative campus. I still connect with the misfits, not my term, the system's, and still want to reach one or two kids a year.
Wishing to escape the "fret and fro of the city,"( a dollar to the first person who can identify the poem and author without Google's help, remember the Honor System) I moved to western NC shortly after 9/11 and began building a log cabin for myself and She who must be obeyed. Don't let anyone lie to you, a degree in Liberal Arts does not a builder make! All that math I said I would never need while in high school and college came back to bite me big time. But, in my own defense, I will say that when a dollar is involved most people have an amazing learning curve and I was no exception.
My full time job is constantly trying to avoid the dreaded "honey do" list. I am also currently trying to write a not so objective book about music and how it reflects social, political, and economic changes in society since the 50's. The Blues had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll. My father, RIP, once said he had out lived himself, at the time I didn't understand but I am now beginning to know how he felt. Anyone, any year, drop me a line and let me know what were your favorite songs and why.
'nough said,
Ed (Eddie) Greene '63
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!