Greg Larson:  

Hi all. Too much to say, but I hope some remember and some make a new friend. What a long, strange trip it's been. I grew up in Hawthorne, attended Eucalyptus, Intermediate, and then, HHS (and I use the term "attended" quite loosely here too). I'll never forget my first report card -F-F-D-D-A. The A was for Football. I lived on 121st and Burl. Following my junior year (don't ask me how I got this far), we moved to Torrance and I was enrolled in South High. My attendence there was even worse. I stuck things out until November and dropped out, promising mom that I would go back and finish the next year. I was bombarded with the low statstics about the percentage of kids that did that, and according to her, things weren't looking good. And then my big break came. My being "stuck" in the city since I came to love the rural life (all my life really)) just was never going to work, and when Dad moved to Oregon, I jumped at the chance to go. Mom consented when I was 17, so it was off to Oregon City, Oregon. I worked with Dad roofing until enrollment time came around. When September came I was back in school for my 2nd senior year. I loved the freedom of wide-open spaces, the friendly people, smaller classrooms, and more individual instruction. Even the school bus rides were fun! I got one B the entire year (only bad grade) and graduated like I had gone to school the 1st 4 years. Following graduation I worked with Dad again ('73) and decided to stay with it a year before enrolling in a local Community College for the 1974 year. All things were set and fees paid when I got a call one night (August 1st) from the hospial. My Dad was dead. Living at the house at the time was a cousin (Reed, one year younger), myself and Dad. Other than that, the nearest relative was 1,000 miles away in Hawthorne. I was the executor of the estate, and with some help from down south we got things handled. At the funeral I invited my Mom's brother to live with us in Oregon. He (Tim) is two years older than me and has always been more of a brother. So there we were 3 young men, aged 18,19, and 21 living on 3 acres in an old farm house, roofing and going to school. I was now a Roofing Contractor, a position that would last most of my life. Juggling school and work wasn't working out. It was just too demanding being a contrator, so school was dropped. Everyone sort of trickled in and out of the house during the next 2 years as a place to live, and in 1976 I was married. My daughter was born in 1979, and shortly after the divorce (1984) I moved over to eastern Oregon (where Reed had gone) and stayed there only a year due to a pick-up rollover I had in October. By January I was ready to get back to work, but with 2 feet of snow on the ground (and roofs), I had to leave.From there it was back to California (Carlsbad). I was only supposed to stay until spring, but I had an unbelievable offer monetarily and wound up down there for 6 years. The pace and people were getting to me regardless of the money, so it was back to the Porland area to see Stepanie (my daughter) graduate, and for me to stay and work, as well as decide some things. I decided on Montana, so in 1994 I was out of there again and finally headed to my dream spot. I was now 39 years old and all settled into Belgrade, Montana - 10 miles from Bozeman. It was there that I married for a second time, and shortly thereafter divorced. At that time I moved to Manhattan, Mt and eventually became a roomate in a really cool house. We had 5 acres 9 miles south of Bozeman. There were 4 of us and we all got along great! Our ages ranged from about 25-40 (I was the 40). We watched Monday night football, went to barn dances, rodeos, etc. Life was good. The owner of the house even used to own restaurants in Portland and we'd stay up for hours talking about everything. ...Expand for more