Frank Scheer:  

Life Has it really been 40 years since I walked out of George Washingon High School and into the real world? My first stop was at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville (Uva). After four years, I learned that a UVa B.A. degree with a major in Economics wasn't going to get me where I wanted to go career-wise. Consequently, I enrolled in the M.B.A. program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) and studied Transportation. At UVa, I was taught to wear a tie; at UTK, I learned to take off my shoes. Anyway, in 1974 I entered the Operations Training Program at the Norfolk & Western Railway. After being assigned as Assistant to Trainmaster at Decatur, Illinois and enduring quite a few 20-hour-day, seven-days-per-week stretches of duty, I decided to return to UTK to pursue a D.B.A. Transportation and Logistics degree. While there between 1976 and 1978, I was also a graduate teaching assistant. With my course work behind me, I accepted a position at the United States Railway Association and was Manager, Rail Operations Analysis while also completing my dissertation. I received my D.B.A. degree in 1982 and also changed jobs; I became Supervisor, Fuel Transportation-Cost Analysis at Virginia Electric & Power Company. For eight years, I negotiated and administered coal transportation contracts with railroads. In 1990, I saw a display ad in the Washington Post for a "Program Manager - Materiel Distribution Systems" with the U.S. Postal Service. That is a fancy title for Corporate Freight Traffic Manager, and is the position I presently hold. My principal hobby interest is the same as it was while I was in my final year at GW: Railway Post Offices. They were specially-equipped cars on passenger trains staffed by postal clerks who performed en route mail distribution. I have formed a specialized private library called the Railway Mail Service Library and provide postal history assistance to anyone who is interested in conducting research on this subject. School Most of my memories at George Washington are associated with the reserve band my freshman year, concert band in sophmore through senior years, and marching band in all years. I was a poor clarinet player and stayed in third row most of the time, primarily because I had little interest in practicing. While I was never socially outgoing and most classmates don't remember me, the band was great because I knew people from all classes, from seniors when I was a freshman to freshmen while I was a senior. The marching band also got me to a few interesting event...Expand for more