John Wittenberg:  

Most of you who were at Sonora wouldn't remember me, I was only in the regular classes for a short time. I was studying in the "After day school" program with teacher Clifford Tetrall. At one point, he encouraged me to take the biology class he taught during regular school hours as a way to get me intermingling within the regular student body, rather than only in the late afternoon in the "Special Ed" room. For the most part, during high school years I was interested in playing ice hockey. I lived at the Polar Palace Ice Rink and hockey was a great release. I spent a little time walking the track after school or riding my blue beach cruiser around La Habra. After taking the proficiency exam, I went to work at Lord Charley's. It was a nice english style Prime Rib house on Whittier Blvd. After a year of being out of school, my family moved to Carlsbad, California. That's my intro; the rest fills in the gaps a bit on years that followed. My parents moved a lot, and due to seperations of my parents I would at times live with my father, and at other times with my mother. I was attending the "After day school" at Sonora High School when I took the California Proficiency Exam in 1978. I would've graduated with the class of 1980 had I continued with my education. I prefered to get out of school and get started with life. My family left La Habra and moved to Carlsbad, CA in 1979. I moved to Pittsburgh, PA in 1981. After living with my brother Fred and his wife Robin Phaneuf for about 6 months, I moved back to Oceanside, North San Diego County- The following year, my sister Sheri, invited me to come out to Boston and split an apartment. I took her up on that. We lived first in South Boston, later moving into the North End. I left in the summer of 1983 taking a bus to North Adams, Massachusetts. My purpose in doing so was to spend a month hiking the Long Trail in Vermont- which I did. I hiked the 275 mile trail end-to-end. After doing so, I hitch hiked down to Upstate New York and spent a week with my brother Fred. When I got back I took up surfing. That was a sport I always wanted to learn, so I did. The experiences I had moving up to Alaska were intense. I could write a book just from that period of my life. One summer I worked in Denali Park. That was a blast. I had to give Seattle a try. I'd passed through on the way to Alaska and loved the city. In 1988 I got married for the first time...Expand for more