Jonathan James:
CLASS OF 1974
Ridgewood High SchoolClass of 1974
Ridgewood, NJ
Jonathan's Story
I had no plan on what to do after college, so I signed up for Navy OCS in my senior year at Rutgers. I told the recruiter that I planned on spending 4 years in the Navy and then getting a real job. He just laughed and said that was fine with him. He did have the last laugh; I made a career out of the Navy, retiring in 1994. The Navy was offering a 15 year retirement plan to mid-grade officers to help with the downsizing of the military. There was no future for me in the Navy any longer, so I took the blue ID card and got out. I had enjoyed my Navy career very much and it was a bit of a rough transition at first. I spent > 2 years with the Union Pacific Railroad as a Trainmaster in North LIttle Rock, Ar. I left that job in ...Expand for more
late 1997 and started with Cummins Marine, which makes marine diesel engines. Currently I am the Mid-range and Heavy Duty Diesel Product Manager for Cummins MerCruiser Diesel, a joint venture between Cummins and Mercury Marine.
I didn't get married until just before I left the Navy. I met Laura on a blind date and we hit it off right away. On 26 November 1993 we were married about 6 months after we met. She was a single mom with a 7 yr old daughter. I adopted Brittney(1986) a month later, starting an instant family. This was followed in short order by Conor (1994) Daniel (1996) and Kellen (2000). We decided 4 kids were more than enough and stopped there.
A few sentences hardly does justice to the 35 years since HS graduation.
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