Ted Painter:  

Life - I married Alexann Matthews in June of 1967. We lost our first child a year later. Our daughter, Sara Rebecca, was born in July of 1976 in Jacksonville, FL. After a brief tenure at the University of South Carolina I entered into active duty in the Navy, and served until May 1985 when I began terminal leave. I took a job as a Combat Systems Test Director with RCA Service Company in Moorestown, NJ. We moved to Spotsylvania Courthouse, VA in the summer of '85. At the time I was working at the AEGIS Education Center at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, VA. In late 1986 we moved to Onancock on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. I was working at the AEGIS Combat Systems Center located on the Goddard Space Flight Center Wallops Island Flight Facility, where I remained until I retired in February of 2004. After two years my wife gently suggested I find something to fill my time. What she actually said was, if I didn't get out the house she was going to kill me. On my way to Winter Quarters Golf Course in Pocomoke, MD I passed the new Lowe's building. There was a sign in the parking lot that said NOW HIRING, so when I got home, on a whim, I submitted an application. An hour later I got a call from the HR manager. I went the next day for my first and second interviews and drug test, and April 6, 2006 I began working for Lowe's as a department manager. I retired from Lowe's on June 6th, 2014. The low point in my life was December 1, 2012 when Alexann passed away. I have struggled mightily to deal with the los...Expand for more