Tom Henderson:  

The last time I saw most of you was at Cole's Graduation Ceremony at McAllister Auditorium on May 26, 1968, or for my Seaside H. S friends the last day of school in June of 1966. How the heck are ya? Me? I'm doing just fine, thank you. I've still got most of my hair, although it's a little gray on the sides. The god of the mid-life bulge has not been kind to me since I retired from the Army in 1993. You may want to skip to the end as most of this is over-sharing, and rather boring. It's your choice. Don't blame me. Right after graduation, at the end of June, I was diagnosed with cancer (the same as Lance Armstrong. Yes, that kind of cancer.) No chemo, or radiation for a cancer for which there was only a 3% recovery rate at the time. God really smiled on me! I graduated from SWT in 1972 and was planning a career in the USAF. Unfortunately, a mistake was made on my initial physical exam which was discovered after my commissioning physical and I was not commissioned. I applied for and received a waiver from the Army, went to Medical Service Corps Officer Basic in 1973 and was assigned to the Fatherland. After three years I was told to find another branch as I was the wrong gender to remain an MSC. The spirit of feminism was sweeping thru Congress and there were simply too many male MSC's. So...I became an Ordnance officer and went to Fort Hood. There I met the love of my life, went back to the Vaterland, then back to Hood where in the same month, August 1984, we adopted two siblings (Michelle (1969) and Rob (1970)), and had a baby, Jeff (1984). Then it was on to Bragg, then back to the Vaterland to watch the Wall come down, then back to Hood. Sort of repetitive, huh? The Army was directed to "Build Down" (catchy, huh?) and it was a little more difficult to get promoted. Anyway, I retired in 1993 and moved with my wife to Sherman, Texas where she worked as a Training Manager a...Expand for more