Joe Tafoya:  

Left highschool and started college at SCSC in '69. Worked part time at McDonalds and bought a bigger motorcycle. Left Pueblo (on the bike) and ended up in Trinidad and went to TSJC for a while. Met a Trinidad gal and ended up getting married. A few months later Uncle Sam called and I was drafted into the Army. Lucked out and ended up in Germany instead of 'Nam but issues came about and I was single again by the time I left the Army in '74. Got out of the Army and went back to school (USC) and graduated in 1976. In the mean time I met a gal from Michigan who was working at Alpha Beta. We ended up hooking up and and have been married for almost 40 years. We went back to Michigan (Ionia) to get 'hitched' and spent our honeymoon near Kalkaska, MI where her parents had a cabin on Starvation Lake The water was as cold as a Colorado high mountain stream and my wife told me about when she and her neices would race to see who would be the first to break through the ice to be the first in the spring to get into the lake. I got in the during the middle of June and ended up looking like a Smurff. We went back to Pueblo and jobs were in short supply at that time so I went back to school (still had GI bill money left). I started going down to the 'day labor' at the employment office and got a job unloading prefab houses from tractor trailers. The boss liked the way I worked and offered me a job as a laborer and after a few months offered me a job as an apprentice carpenter framer. It payed more, but it really wasn't my 'cup of tea.' After a few months the IBEW offered me an apprenticeship to become an electrician and I jumped at the opporetunity. Life was tough at the time because they started the new apprentices at just a tolken of the journeyman wage. We qualified for 'Wick' and foodstamps. The foodstamps were kind of embarassing the first time I used them but after eating a meal with real meat, I was happy as heck to pull them out, especially for my family's sake. I quit working construction in '84 as I had missed my daughter's (she was born in 1978) first words and steps. I took a maintence job with Dist 60 but the pay was bad. I made more in 3 months working construction than the Dist came close to paying in 6 months. Same type of work but the district pays for titles and not ability. Joined the Navy Reserves in '84 at the recommendation of one of the painters I had befriended. I had wanted a new motorcycle and couldn't afford the payments.He said, "hey, join the 'Sea Bees' with me, it will give you a motorcycle payment." I asked my wife and she asked , "do I have to do anything?" I said no so she said okay. So now I was a 'dry land' sailor in the Navy Reserves. Life went on and my son was born in '83 and life was tipical; eat, sleep, go to work, pay the bills, try and keep the wife and kids content. In '88 I was unhappy with the Navy Reserves so I traded for the Air Force Reserves. The Air Force sent me all over and I must hav...Expand for more