Bob Brandsma:  

Life Hello, Whether you are an old friend, an acquaintance from school or just cruising around on the classmate's web, you looked up my biography just to satisfy a curiosity as to who I am and what I've been up to for the last, oh, almost forty years. So, hopefully, this will provide you with a brief synopsis of my life since the old high school days. Yes, I still live in this area. That makes a grand total of 48 years. Back in high school, you probably remember me as one of the Dutch dairy boys who was basically rather quiet and shy. Not much has changed in that respect, I still am rather quiet and shy. After graduation, I worked on my father's dairy until he sold the dairy in 1973. In reference to the military, I was classified by the Army as "1Y" on my induction card, (not eligible for military induction unless war was declared). Subsequently, I never served in any branch of the military. Friends tell me that I was one of the lucky ones, however; I'm not so sure about that. Viet Nam was a historic part of our generation. Good, bad or indifferent, it was an important piece of history in our generation that I never took an active part in. From 1973 to 1974 I drove a big rig truck hauling bulk cement. I decided that truck driving wasn't the life for me, so I quit driving truck and took a job working at the old "Potlatch Paper Mill". During that same course of time, I was lifting weights and body building at a gym along with numerous off duty police officers. Through them, I formed an interest in police work. The officers that I worked out with all encouraged me to take the test and become a police officer. I followed their suggestion and took the test. I was hired on as a Reserve Police Officer with this city. I frequently rode with Mickey France and several other Graduates who became police officers. I also was introduced to and began dating a beautiful young lady who worked as a clerk at another police department. In 1976, I ...Expand for more