Matthew Kline:
CLASS OF 1966
Randolph High SchoolClass of 1966
Randolph, OH
Waterloo High SchoolClass of 1970
Atwater, OH
Waterloo High SchoolClass of 1966
Atwater, OH
Matthew's Story
Life
My life changed for the better when I moved to Texas in 1980, after my divorce from Jenny Acord. Texas was a shot in the arm at age 31. Something clicked in my brain and I could suddenly see that I was living way below my potential. I need to be growing all the time, and driving a truck was pretty boring after ten years.Most of my career, especially after I got my degree at Texas A&M, has been driven by me, and I like that.
Traveling and writing is my passion. I've been to Europe multiple times, visiting every country in Western Europe, some of them three or four times. I've also been to some eastern bloc countries. My most recent trip was, December 04, to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, adn Germany. I went to the war torn Balkans to research a story I'm writing. I've also visited the Far East including Vietnam and Hong Kong, and China.
My favorite foreign country is France. I love Paris, and also the beautiful French countryside. Another favorite is Slovenia, Europes best kept secret.
We lived in Corpus Christi Texas 15 years in the same house. From those years we have a lot of good memories and several friends. We moved to our dream house on Nueces Bay in 1999 and now it's like being on vacation every weekend. Life is very good.
And yes, we've had lots of the same troubles you all had. Kids smoking pot, career headaches, divorced kids, kids who need financial help etc etc. But most importantly, my wife and I have always had a good solid relationship, and that's more important than all the other stuff. Family and the people we love are what is most important.
I'm sorry if this bio sounds like bragging. Although I'm proud of what I've accomplished after I hung up my truck driver hat, I'm still the same old Matt. I would like to hear from my old classmates. It would be fun to get together and we love company. Come on down and enjoy the sunshine and good fishing right outside my door.
School
Most of my dating in high school was with a girl from another school.
No teachers at Randolph High School inspired me. ...Expand for more
My dog inspires me more than the teachers in high school did.
I'd do it over. I'd study this time. I'd get the best grades in the damned school because now I know I could have excelled.
My funniest was Myra Ragle's math class when we went on strike.
My happiest was junior year when I dated alot, mostly girls from other schools, and enjoyed life. Senior year was a blur just wanting out, and sophemore year I didn't drive yet; that sucked.
College
I graduated from Texas A&M (Gig em Aggies). My major was English and my minor History.
I graduated with a 3.6 GPA, quite different from my high school where I graduated with a 1.6. Going to college as an adult was smart for me. I probably would have flunked out if I'd gone right after high school.
Workplace
After the navy I was a truckdriver in Ohio for ten years. I moved to Texas in 1980 and took a job for a relative as a marine surveyor. This led to a job doing the same thing for Koch Refining Company. I chased ships for them for ten years and then they paid me to go to college. I worked as a Safety Trainer during college and then was the Training Manager for our Corpus Christi Refinery. Later I was in charge of training for both our Corpus Christi refinery and one in Pine Bend Minnesota. I developed lots of our training programs, writing many of them myself and also delivering the training or teaching others to do it. I also taught leadership skills to management for years. I guess my comparative advantage is projects and writing training. I gave up my job in the training department to be on a corporate wide project that will take me into retirement from Koch Industries.
We will install new computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) corporate wide. This means Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Alaska, Hawaii, and probably Europe. When this project is over in 3 or 4 years I'm retiring after 25+ years with the company and either do consulting or stay home and write what I enjoy which is short stories and perhaps an historical biography.
Military
I was in the US Navy and hated every minute of it.
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