Gregory Hnath:
CLASS OF 1970
Irondale High SchoolClass of 1970
New brighton, MN
Gregory's Story
1970-1974
Vacillated around the Twin Cities area not really doing much or getting anywhere. Was deemed the Black Sheep of the family, an honorary degree bestowed upon me by my Father.
1974-1977
My draft number was getting awfully close to being picked, so I joined the Army in hopes of getting an education and avoiding Viet Nam. Qualified for and was promised to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. After I was all packed and ready to go when they called me in and said I was to old by 50 days. No exceptions. They offered me Officer Candidate School and I declined. I had heard and seen what others had been through in Viet Nam. I figured the first stop out of OCS was Nam. I stayed were I was heading Fort Sill, OK, worked hard and made Sargent E-5 in under two years. Found out all my high scores qualified me for MENSA. I told them I was going to reenlist, then volunteered for and went to the Intra-Agency Nuclear Weapons School at Kirkland AFB for training as a member of the Nuclear Accident Incident Team. However, I simply did my three years and got out. Payback I thought for what happened to me plus it was interesting training with live radioactive materials.
1977-1985
Father is now happy I am a productive citizen and I am reinstated back into the family in good standing. I came back from Fort Sill married to a Korean lady, whom I had rescued from a bad situation. Wrong reason to get married.
Started working at Control Data in April of '77. Worked my way up from push line assembly to Lead Test Technician to Test Engineering. Along the way between going to school full time for Computer Programming and working full time, I got burned out and ended up getting a divorce. I had been a knight in shining armor, saving a damsel in distress. I tried to make the split as stressless as possible. We had agreed it was best for both of us. Then her friends stepped in and said she should take me to the cleaners. Her lawyer did just that, courtesey of her wonderful friends. I lost everything I had worked so hard for. Oh well, Cest le vie.
Life went on, I buried myself in work and martial arts. After several years, I met my current wife of 24 years (Kimmi, Korean also) at Control Data.
I thought I had a lifetime job at Control Data. Computers were the future and I was a part of it. Alas, it was not to be. Kimmi and I got married in Sept. of '85. In October of '85 Control Data announced that everyone under 15 years of service would be laid off. Kimmi had 6 1/2 ye...Expand for more
ars and I had 8 1/2 years of service. Oops, time to go. At the end of October, we packed up the whole family and moved to sunny California without any jobs or prospects. Gutsiest move I ever made.
1985-1989
Well we were gonna move to Silicon Valley where all the electronics companies were located. Kimmi's parents lived in Anderson, which is Northern Califonia. They told us it was too expensive to move to the Bay area and to come out to Anderson (Redding Area) stay with them instead and they would help us out. So, without any jobs, off we went hoping for a brighter and warmer future. We lasted a couple months with the in-laws before they felt a need for us to move out and into our own place. Thanks for the help. With an extremely limited high tech job market, in the Redding area, we struggled to make ends meet. We left the Twin Cities with high paying jobs and ened up with minimum wage or less. Bankruptcy here we come.
We recovered a little and finally thought we were making progress. I was a Production Engineer working for Coopervision, responsible for the manufacturing of an ophthalmic diagnostic equipment line and I reported directly to the General Manager. Kimmi had gone back to school and was doing her own business. Then Coopervision decided to consolidate their manufacturing into one facility down in Orange County. Oops again.
1989-Present
We once again packed up the whole family and with no jobs moved to the Sacramento area. After a couple of years in Rocklin renting an apartment, we were finally able to buy a house out in Wheatland. Wheatland is about 35 miles north of Sacramento, by Beale Air Force Base, out in the country. We lived in Whaetland for 13 years, trying to give our two daughters a stable environment. We hated all the driving we had to do, but the sacrifice for our daughters was worth it. Kimmi and I ended up working for Intel at their Folsom site. I work in the Validation of Emmbedded Processor Products and Kimmi is a Lab Manager. Both of our daughters meanwhile moved to San Diego and in 2005, we sold our house in Wheatland, just in the nick of time before the market collasped and bought a house in Folsom (just before the prices dropped). We love living in Folsom and being so close to work that we can go home for lunch. However, Sacramento is kind of a dud city. Thank goodness we are close to the Sierra Mountains/Lake Tahoe and San Francisco/thePacific Coast is only 2 hours away.
You can contact me at my first name underscore last name at yahoo.
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