Tom Ray:
CLASS OF 1980
North Valley High SchoolClass of 1980
Grants pass, OR
Tom's Story
Life
Well, after the Air Force as an S.R. 71 mechanic...early stealth program, decided to get my Engineering Degree. Have three wonderfull children, 20 ,17 and 12. My oldest is proud to serve in the U.S. Army as a helicopter mechanic. He will be shipping out to Bahgdad by years end. My 17 yr old is looking into same. My daughter of 12 is happy to be home after 11 years in exile due to her mommy running away with her. Been raising them on my own for the most of thier lives. I am stuck down here in Houston Texas for now. I have traveled this country extensively..."I really have been everywhere man". the only major body of water I havnt been to is Lake Okachobee Florida NEWS FLASH....MADE IT TO OKACHOBEE IN AUGUST OF THIS YEAR 07. I have even swam in the Chatahoochee near Atlanta.By the way the Chatahoochee is clean and clear up there. The list is loooooong, from Canada to Mexico, California to Philly, Three of the great lakes. The Great Salt Lake and the Mighty Colorado from the Grand Canyon to Lake Havasue, even slept in my boat under the London Bridge....Havasue that is.
Garcia would and did say..."what a long strange trip its been"
The Clark Forks in Montana, Snake in Idaho, Flat Head in Montana. I lost track of how many times I stood at the top of the Great Devide, winter summer spring and fall.I could go east, I could go west, it was all up to me to decide. From the Puget sound to the SanDiego bay, the Gulf of Mexico to the eastern seaboard. From Alaska to the equator.Of course the great Redwoods in Yosemite and Oregon and dont forget Glacier National Park Montana. I have been to the headwaters of the Mississippi in the north and walked off Bourbon Street down to the waters edge to watch her flow out to sea.I have been to t...Expand for more
he meteor strike in Arizona and I have seen the grave site of Billy The kid in New Mexico.I have stood on the shores of Southern California watching 20 to 30 foot waves crash onshore as a hurricane tore its way up the west coast of South America and headed out into the Pacific. I have been to just about every major city in the U.S. and Green Bay Wisconsin too. Ahhhh not to forget Toledo Ohio. If I only had a dollar for every big ole jet airliner. What I havnt done is New York, Mt Rushmor, a space shuttle launch or learned to spell, I think My give a darn is broken on the spelling thing.
If any of you get out to the Portland zoo or the Hoyt arboretum you can check out some of my hard labor from my college days. If you drive passed the zoo and continue up to The Vietnam Memorial you will see giant lincoln logs all along the raod...yep...me. Also if you turn right just passed the memorial and look to your left up the hill just a little way you will see a drain pipe cemented into the hill, You will find my initials and date there. If any of you had surgery in portland, anywhere in washington, western Montana, northern Idaho or Anchorage Alaska you had about a 50 % chance or better of being anesthetized and your vital functions being monitored by a system I either installed and or maintained. By the early 90's North American Drager had 50% of the anesthesia mkt.Since then I have worked for Ohmeda Medical, Medaes Med Gas Engineering, Fresenius Hemodialysis, H.P. medical systems which has been purchased by Philips Medical where I still work today.
To all GOD bless
Tom
News flash.....Just married.... 08/15/09 Amber is a wonderful, awesome and beautiful person from the heart out. Spent two weeks in the Hawian islands for our honeymoon
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