Timothy Johnson:
CLASS OF 1974
Page High SchoolClass of 1974
Page, AZ
Kanab High SchoolClass of 1974
Kanab, UT
Timothy's Story
I guess I finally got tired of being bombarded with emails to renew my membership. When I originally enrolled, there was just a checklist with several answers to pick from for generalized questions. So now I get to write my life's story!
Were to begin? I don't suffer from Narcisstic Personality Disorder so this might take a while. I suppose that I should begin after HS graduation, breaking out into a vast new world of choices and possibilities. The song by the Statler Bros, "The Class of 57" just poped into my mind for some oddball reason!
I went to Eastern Arizona College for a semester, enrolled in the electronic technology program. I came home to finish a second semester with Yavapi Community College extension classes while working. I made the decision to go on a two year mission for my church.
I was sent to Argentina where I became extremely fluent in Spanish so much so that I had to show people my passport to convince them I was not a native. Because of the heavy influence of European people and the closeness of Brazil, I learned some Italian, German, and Portuguse. A buried latent talent I guess.
While I was there, I got to pass through a real, classic South American revolution! I still have the local newpaper with the headline "Gobiernon Los Commandantes" translated Govern The Commanders. The military threw out Eva Peron. I met a lot of good people there and some not so good. I was called the foulest names, accused of being a a spy for the CIA, spit on, physically assualted, hit by a car while riding a bicycle sending me flying about 30 feet through the air. As I was flying through the air, the thought was put into my mind to do a judo tuck and roll. I did it perfectly and came up standing on my feet. The lady driving the car that hit me, hit the rear wheel of my bike, bending the rim. I didn't have a scratch on me. Despite everything, I never suffured any major pain or injury due to my misadventures. I give all credit to the Lord. It is said that God protects fools and innocents and I've never been innocent...........
One funny thing that I used to say back to those who would yell in English, "Yankee Go Home", I'd yell back, "Me Gusteria!" meaning "I'd like to." The young men who yelled shut up becasue they didn't know how to respond.
There was leftest insurgency going on and fire fights between the extremistas (entremest) as they were called and the federal police could break out anywhere. I quickly learned that the idea of freedoms guarranteed by the Bill of Rights, in our Constitution, do not apply anywhere else in the world. Also that the joke of saying, with a German accent, "your papers please" was no laughing matter where you could dissapear and never be seen again if you did not have your national ID documents. I cannot stress strongly enough "SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL POLICE"!!!!!!
I learned much of the temporal things of the world and much happiness when a person or a family decided to become members of the Church. I met a lot of good people who just wanted to tal...Expand for more
k geopolitics and economics. It was interesting to learn how other people viewed the world and their perceptions of the U.S. goverenment. I remember of note, an old doctor that I went to see. As I was leaving, he followed us out and said that he wanted to retire and spend his remaining years in the Estados Unidos. He had tears in his eyes as he was saying this, that he wanted to end his days living in the world's greatest bastion of freedom. I wonder if the same could be said of today?
At the end of my time, I had opportunity to travel to Lima, Peru and visit the Inca ruins at Manchu Pichu near Cusco. Had opportunity to meet people from Asia, Russia, people from all over the world coming to visit one of the world's greatest archeological sites. Of course nothing in the way of air travel like we have today. One flight made a daisy chain of stops all through South America, had lay overs in Bolivia and Columbia too before landing in Miami.
When I got back home in 77, circumstances were such that I got a helper's job in the Glen Canyon Dam electrical maintenance department. I had taken two years of electrical science at another high school plus the electronics technology at college, that helped me get the job. After six months, I was tired of Page and was not sure that this job was going to turn into a real apprenticeship. I knew that I wanted to make a career in the electrical industry, so I came down to the valley and began to work in electrical construction. Mainly commercial and industrial. I guess I did okay as none of the places where I worked at, around the valley, have ever burned down.
In the mean time, as most young people did in their twenties back then, I married a girl from Miami, Arizona and started being a husband and father. My daughter was born nine months and two days after we were married! I bet my mother-in-law's old lady friends were counting the days!
I had made it my goal, after coming to Phoenix, to get an electrical maintenance job at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Plant based on the advice of the guys in the electric shop at the Glen Canyon Dam. I had a lot of jobs with different companies. Some places I was at, I saw no future at. Others, when the contracts were up the layoffs came. But I learned something new and different at each job. I saw an ad for heavy industrial and utility company electricians for temporary work at Palo Verde for which I applied. Figured I could try and get a foot in the door.
One afternoon, I had come home from my electrical maintenance job at the AZ Republic and hit the shower. My wife came running in and told me that the electrical supervisor for Palo Verde was on the phone. I had just gotten all soaped up and was washing my hair. When my wife came running in and told me, I jumped out of the shower, threw on my bathrobe and came to the phone.
For the next half hour I was given an over the phone interview. Meanwhile, I was trying to keep shampoo out of my eyes. Upshot, I was invited for an interview and a test. More 2 follow
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