Ronald L. Williams:  

Mesquite picture frames for a new office building in Ft. Worth, which tied me up for November and December. It's work, but a day in the shop does not count against ones' allotment of days. Sounds good anyway. I have scheduled some visits to Mesquite crafts' shows in the spring, so that will preclude doing school work. I guess I have finally, really retired! Well, I did work January and March at the old discipline school, HOWEVER, the wife and I did take in the Texas Mesquite Association spring show in San Angelo. Fantastic workmanship there! Prices do reflect the professionalism of the workers! Got some good ideas. It's now May and I'm working on some furniture products that should show up soon on my website. 2009: The lawyer-owner cancelled the lease for our crafts co-op, but a store owner across the street offered us his building. So, we spent the summer closing down the old store and opening up the new. Fewer members now, so there will be more WORK. 2010: The store is a success. Almost wish that I had earned an MBA, it sure would have made the exercise easier. Ha! Workplace After graduation, I taught history, political science, and German at Clear Creek (NASA) and math and history at Liberty. I was a junior high assistant principal in Corpus Christi and high school assistant in Flour Bluff (Corpus Christi). Elementary principal in Livingston and Kingsville. Middle school principal, discipline school principal and alternative high school principal in Kingsville. Also a curriculum director in Dayton and I picked up 21 years adjunct professor status at Alvin and Del Mar junior colleges, Houston, Stephen F. Austin and A&M/Kingsville. So, I had a varied career that gave me a lot of fulfillment. Got serious about my woodworking business after I retired in 2002 and that has worked out well. It's nice to cut a tree down, saw it up at the sawmill, dry the boards at the house and then turn that wood into something useful, from pens and banks to furniture. Military I joined the Army Security Agency in 1960. After Basic Training (E-4-2) at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO, I took German (GE 6-54) at the Army Language School in Monterey, CA. Then, I served two years in Berlin with the 78th US Army Security Agency Special Operations Unit. Got there a couple of weeks before the "Wall" went up, so it was an interesting time. Traveled extensively in Germany, Upper Austria, Switzerland and Italy, shot a lot of pictures and met a lot of interesting people. Great time of my life. Made sergeant in 21 months, and probably would have stayed in, but college was "calling", so I decided to get out and get a degree. By the time that I graduated in 1966, I wanted to teach more than I wanted to wear a uniform, so I got out of the Reserves and have looked back only occcasionally. My oldest son will retire with 28 years in Army aviation (Apache pilot) as a Lt. Colonel. The youngest son went airborne for six years and then got out to be a fireman/EMT in Dalllas.