Jerry Brown:
CLASS OF 1965
Aberdeen/Weatherwax High SchoolClass of 1965
Aberdeen, WA
Grays Harbor CollegeClass of 1972
Aberdeen, WA
Hoquiam High SchoolClass of 1965
Hoquiam, WA
Emerson Elementary SchoolClass of 1965
Hoquiam, WA
Jerry's Story
Life
Went to Jr. College, went wild, settled down and married a great lady and went on to do construction management. Currently very healthy, satisfied with life.
I retired in January of 2010, moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico although we kept our Aberdeen home. A typical evening down here finds us in the Jardin, the city center, walking and visiting with other gringos. It is a two mile walk from our house to the Jardin and a two mile walk back. Doing this at our 6200 foot elevation keeps us healthy.
School
I studied electronics and sciences in Grays Harbor Jr. College. I transferred to Shoreline for my final year.
School was fun. Life was better.
Workplace
After a stint in college I went back to the construction that I did in between in summers. I enjoyed the constant change of scenery that the asphalt construction industry gave me and by my very early 30's was in supervision where I finished up.
My side-hobby of computers started with the very first computers. I was addicted. I learned to program and then started my own computer company, Techline, in 1987. Last year we were voted Grays Harbor's best. More importantly, we do well financially so the doors can stay open. My children inherited my love of computers and two of them make their livings programming and servicing them.
My advice to anyone who will listen is to dream big dreams and aim high. More times than not you will get to the level you aspire to. My second piece of advice is to know when to stop. There are roses to smell and life to enjoy.
One year later:
Five years ago you could never have convinced me that retirement was a ...Expand for more
good thing. When members of my crews retired I would give them the same old song and dance: "You are born, you go to school, you go to work, you retire. The next thing you get to do is die."
Of course the dying thing happens anyway but what I have discovered is that you feel so much better when you are not working your life away. Blood pressure drops. You exercise more because you are not wrung out from your job.
My life now consists of eating wonderful food, walking miles every day, making new friends that have nothing to do with my work, and doing something that is as hard as anything I have ever done. I am learning Spanish.
If you have ever believed, as I used to, that retirement was putting one foot in the grave, reconsider. I am surrounded by 80 and 90 year old fellow expatriates and without exception they attribute their longevity to retirement and their healthy surroundings down here in Mexico. Mexico is my answer. Find yours before it is too late.
Two years later:
Living the life of an expatriate in Mexico is still wonderful. San Miguel de Allende has an American/Canadian population about the size of Hoquiam so I am not suffering culture shock. My Spanish is improving to the point that I can say in an understandable way what I want. I just wish the native speakers would slow down their machine gun Spanish.
Accomplishments this year: I stayed healthy. I bought a piece of property behind our house and built a back yard complete with 12' high brick walls to discourage crimes of opportunity. We found a couple of ancient graves in the ground complete with 1000 year old pottery that I kept.
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