Robert Garton:
CLASS OF 1986
Grant High SchoolClass of 1986
Van nuys, CA
Rutgers University - EngineeringClass of 1995
New brunswick, NJ
University of California - RevelleClass of 1993
San diego, CA
Los Angeles Pierce CollegeClass of 1990
Woodland hills, CA
Robert's Story
After high school, I got into CSU Northridge, but I wasn't really ready for college. I worked at the Sherman Oaks Public Library and took a few classes at CSUN and then at L.A. Pierce College. I eventually got my grades together and transferred to UCSD in 1990. I studied a lot, went on backpacking trips, and worked as a teaching assistant; I even got to be a T.A. for Sally Ride. I got my B.S. in Physics in 1993.
UCSD always seemed like a sheltered environment, so for Grad School I wanted to go to the East Coast. I got into schools in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and New Hampshire. Rutgers had a good Physics program, and the campus is a 40 minute train ride from NYC. After a year in graduate Physics, I realized that I was burned out on pure Physics, so I transferred to the Ceramic Engineering department. There I worked on Fiber Optic materials. My intent was to get a Ph.D., but at 27 years of age, I was ready to make a little money. So, I accepted a Masters degree and got a job working on spectrometers. The job allowed me to travel all over the U.S. and Western...Expand for more
Europe.
In 1998, I bought a Honda Nighthawk 750 motorcycle and planned my return to California. I left on the first day of Spring in 1999. The temperature was 40F and very sunny. I made multi-day stops in Savannah, GE; New Orleans, LA; and Carlsbad Caverns, NM. I landed a job in Torrance, CA, so I took an apartment in Lomita.
I eventually got a new job, and a new apartment in West L.A. I discovered Home Brewing in 2001, and competed vigorously in 2003. I also dated a lot in 2003, and I met my wife Catherine. We moved into her condominium then got married in July 2005. We both dreamed of having a house, so we started preparing the condo for sale; new floors, new paint, new fixtures, new appliances. It sold pretty quickly, and then we needed to find our house in a short time. After a few disappointments, we found our little house on Tilden.
It was just shabby enough that we got a good price, but that we knew could fix it up. And that's where I am today; married to Catherine, working in Hawthorne, living at Tilden with our cats Leia and Celeste and our puppy Zorro.
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