Gary Weiss:
CLASS OF 1962
Medicine Hat High SchoolClass of 1962
Medicine hat, AB
Medicine Hat High SchoolClass of 1962
Medicine hat, AB
Gary's Story
The following is a brief summary of my life since graduating from Medicine Hat high school.
Upon graduation from high school in 1962 I moved to Calgary and attended the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) where I entered the Petroleum Engineering Technology program. Upon graduation in 1964 I joined Gulf Oil at their Edmonton office as an Engineering Technologist in charge of supervising oil field drilling operations for Gulf in Northern Alberta, BC and the Arctic. While in Edmonton I met Lorraine LeBlanc who was a student at NAIT at the time. After about 14 months of dating we were married in Edmonton on July 1, 1967 which was also Canada's 100th birthday. Two months later I was transferred to the Gulf Calgary office where I was promoted to Senior Exploration Technologist for Canadian Exploration Operations.
In September of 1970 I took a 4 year leave of absence from Gulf and attended the University of Calgary. I graduated from the U of C in 1974 with a degree in Geology/Geophysics and returned to Gulf as an Exploration Geologist working on various Exploration projects in Canada.
In 1976 I was asked by management to take an assignment in Taiwan, SE Asia. I was based in Taipai where I supervised offshore geological operations on a drillship in the East China Sea. I didn't know it at the time but this was to be the beginning of a long career of overseas work in many different parts of the world. In 1977 I returned briefly to Calgary at which time I left Gulf and joined the oil and Gas Division of a large Canadian Mining company in their European head office in Athens Greece as their Exploration manager responsible for operations offshore Greece, Italy and Spain. The position required numerous trips to these countries as well as other parts of Europe.
By this time we had two small sons, Sean and Jeremy. In 1982 we were blessed with the birth of another son Robin who was born in Athens. As a result he has Canadian and Greek citizenship and is allowed to live and work in Europe.
In 1987 I was transferred to Calgary with the same company to take charge of their East Coast offshore Exploration program.
In 1989 I was again sent back overseas with the family in tow for the remainder of my 47 years in the oil business. We lived in many ...Expand for more
different countries throughout the world including Africa, South East Asia, Middle East, Europe and North America. his life style was not without its challenges but it was very interesting and exciting at times and it was a super education for our 3 sons who grew up in many different cultures. Our sons were able to attend some of the best International Schools in the world as well as extensive travel and exposure to many different cultures and languages. This was all a great education in itself. Our sons eventually graduated from these various International schools and returned to Canada to attend university.
Meanwhile my wife and I continued living overseas after our sons had returned to Canada. My work took us to various countries around the world with periodic trips back home to Calgary for business and home leave. In 2011 I decided to retire after a 47 year career in the oil business. We where living in Malaysia at the time. We returned to Calgary in order to be close to our 3 sons who had all decided to settle down here after they finished University. They are all doing well. The oldest is an systems engineer, the middle one is business development planner and the youngest is architect.Two of them were married and starting to have families which was a big reason for us to come home. Being grandparents was a new life experience for us.
My wife Lorraine is still working. She is the Senior manager and administrator for a private school in Calgary, She is also an ordained pastor of a church here as well.
We currently live out in the west end of Calgary in a area called Coach Manor Estates. In addition we also have a house out at Lake Windemere in the Columbia Valley in BC plus a home on the beach in Maui.
It sometimes gets to be a little hectic looking after these residences and trying to figure which of our extended family is using which resident at any given time. But it all seems to work out in the end. We very much enjoy hosting gatherings at our various homes for both family and friends we have accumulated over our eventful and at times exciting life. We very much enjoy being back in Calgary and Canada after being away for so many years. Canada and Alberta are the best places in the world to live for many many reasons.
Register for Free to view all details!
Yearbooks
Register for Free to view all yearbooks!
Reunions
Register for Free to start a reunion event!
Photos