Jim Spellman:
CLASS OF 1976
Simi Valley High SchoolClass of 1976
Simi valley, CA
Jim's Story
I'm back on "active duty" once again after 9/11, serving my country in the Air Force -- this time on the civilian side as the "Spin Doctor In Residence" (Public Affairs officer) at the David Grant USAF Medical Center (60th Medical Group), Travis AFB in northern California, located halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco.
I still have and am restoring / remodeling my modest little place in the southern tip of the Sequoia Nat'l Forest (Lake Isabella area) with the help of one of my brothers who's in construction and runs a HVAC business in Simi Valley. Still a bachelor after all this time, I rent a place with three other guys off the I-680 near Fairfield, CA, home of the Jelly Belly candy factory -- which makes for some long six-hr drives on the occassional Fridays coming and going up and down Hwy 99 to my place during the weekends.
Unlike most other guys who get themselves a sports car (and a 20-something Blond) after they turn 50, I wound up getting myself the "sports car of RVs" -- a Chinook Concourse 2100XL (I'm still looking for the Blond, Brunette or Redhead to go along with it).
It's a far cry from my first job out of SVHS at GEMCO, making $1.47/hr to...Expand for more
push carts, later becoming a stock person/sales clerk. What I remember most about it is getting that "first paycheck" after the first wo weeks (about $47 and change). I knew I was better than that, but you have to start somewhere, and the job paid my way through college. After graduating with my Master's and receiving my officer's commission in the Air Force, I reported to active duty on my birthday in October of 1983 -- one week after leaving GEMCO (good thing I did; the company tanked in 1985).
I always wanted to be a astronaut when I grew up. My family and friends thought that was a pipe dream. As it turns out, they were somewhat wrong, as I'm active in various space advocacy groups like the National Space Society and Space Frontier Foundation who are working to turn people's personal dreams of spaceflight into reality.
In 10 years, I hope to be able to take at least a suborbital flight up into the black sky with the world beneath my feet. I'm going to get there on my own funds, if neccesary, but will accept corporate sponsorship.
Afterwards, I would look forward to retiring to Austrailia and running a portable suntan lotion spraying concession on Bondi beach.
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