Fred Erhardt:  

Life After DHS I went to Virginia Tech, and from there I moved to Southern California in 1984. Married a wonderful woman in 1995, bought a house, adopted a terrific little boy in 2003 and am awaiting adoption of a second child. School Denbigh HS: I think fairly frequently of LTC Bob Rutledge, MSG Pate, SGM Williams, Mrs. Gustafson, Mr. Montgomery, Mrs. Askew, and several others. Mostly, though, I remember my Junior ROTC times and fun in Chemistry -- those were the two things I enjoyed the most. Health issues made it impossible for me to pursue a military career, so JROTC is the closest I ever came to realizing that dream. It all now seems like a million years and two lives ago -- almost like someone else went to high school on my behalf, things are so different now. Dozier Intermediate: Every time I go back to Newport News, Dozier is overgrown with grass and more businesses have sprung up around it. Oddly, I don't think of Dozier too often; when I do, it's mostly metal shop, science and history classes, and laughing with friends like Campbell and Feldspar. Lee Hall ES: On my trips back to Newport News, I always drive by Lee Hall and it is very much like I remember it. I have unexpectedly vivid memories of Lee Hall, particularly Mrs. Garrett's 7th grade math class and home room, and the usual suspects I hung around with: Mark Beakey, Campbell and the rest. I kinda miss this school, and I'm not sure why. Richneck ES: Within walking distance from my house, Richneck was the first brand-new school I went to (Dozier was second). I have a lot of memories of Richneck, and it hasn't changed that much over the decades. College I went to VPI/Va. Tech mostly because my brother went there 1970-1974 and secondarily for the curriculum. I didn't really like my years at VPI / Va. Tech, where I got my BS degree in mechanical engineering, but in the years since I graduated in 1984 I have come to truly appreciate it. I am surprised at how much Va. Tech taught me that seems to be skipped at other universities, at least here on the West Coast. Basic things like technical writing, public speaking and making presentations have actually served me at least as well as the engineering education per se. For 20+ years since I graduated I actually dreamt about Va. Tech about once a month. It was always nearly the same: I was back at Tech during final exams, and there was always one class that I had forgotten to attend all quarter. Now I was faced with the choice of taking an F in that class and studying for my other exams, or cramming for that class in hopes of getting a D and doing my best on the other exams. At about that point in every dream I finally realized that I already have a BS in mechanical engineering and a job with the Navy, so why am I sweating these stupid exams? Then the dream invariably morphs into some other, unrelated story line. I also frequently dreamt about being back in the Va. Tech bookstore, apparently since I really liked the bookstore and spent a lot of time there. (I still like bookstores, only now it's Barnes & Noble and Borders.) Now, since I moved to California in 1984 I never went back to Va. Tech until my wife, son and I vacationed in Virginia in the summer of 2006. It was a bit out of the way from the rest of our destinations, but I made a point of goi...Expand for more