Henry (Hank) Smith:  

UPDATED JULY 2015: That's me on the left of the photo with my wife, Faith. We're wearing "light bands" on our heads and "climbing suits" required to climb from ground level to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia, 500' above the water. We did the climb in 2003. Sydney, Australia was the debarkation point for a cruise we enjoyed from Sydney to Tahiti. It was a great adventure. One of the other photos is from one of the formal nights on the cruise. Cruising is our favorite type of vacation. Our most recent was from Venice to Spain in 2005, but that was to be the last such trip due to unfortunate events that followed in 2007. But let's go back to CVHS graduation in 1961... Joined the US Navy shortly after high school. A bad grade in a zoology course at Diablo Valley College shattered what I had thought was my dream to become a Veterinarian, so joined the Navy to "see the world." Was part of the first 8 man team to gather intelligence data in Viet Nam (long since declassified). I was a Submarine sailor. Hey, at 19 you think you're invulnerable. My first "boat" was one left from WWII, the USS Catfish (SS 339). Then served aboard the USS Sculpin (SSN 590), a nuclear "fast attack" sub, the pride of the US Naval fleet in the early 60s. Not that I needed a reminder of my "geezer" status, but the Sculpin was cut up for scrap metal a few years ago; seems personally appropriate. When did we become so old? After the Navy I fell into becoming an entrepreneur. In my case, that's a fancy name for someone with no college education at that point, no job, who tried a lot of different businesses. Some failed; but most were successful. Real estate became my ultimate game and led to significant financial success by age 34. Retired for 4 months and realized it was too boring doing nothing. There was also a 1st wife in the mix during those early years; a mistake made by a 19 year old, who like most of us at that age thought he knew everything. Been there? Ultimately went back to school in my 30's, finished my bachelors at Univ. of San Francisco (4.0) and was damn proud of that since I was never a good student in high school. Continued with a Master's in Counseling Psych at Santa Clara Univ.; then a doctorate, clinical psychology (Psy.D.) from SoCal Univ. Didn't earn 4.0 GPA’s in grad schools, but garnered a 3.93 for the master's and a 3.97 for my doctorate. My Westmoor & Castro Valley teachers would be shocked. In 1992 I met my wife, Faith Carlin, an OB/GYN. We used to refer patients to one another. As she used to say, "Hank works above the neck; I work below the belt." Faith graduated 1st in her medical school class (UC Irvine 1983) and is truly a gift to her patients, and to my life. We scrap a bit, as is customary between two independent people, but both put great effort into sustaining a very successful and happy marriage. As geezers we feel obligates to share our infirmities: 1993 I developed COPD; needed related surgery in 1998, then was told by my doc/surgeion the following year, "Hank, if you remain in CA you will be dead within two years (poor air quality in Santa Clara County). The air was no™t clear, but the message was. I sold my practice in 2000, assisted Faith to sell hers, and off we went to Hawaii where we lived for 7 years; it had been a lifelong dream of mine to live in Hawaii since my first visit there in 1963. After thoroughly enjoying 18 months living in Kona as retirees, my 'young'€™ bride (11 years my junior) decided she missed her career too much, and asked me to build out an office for her. I was enjoying retirement along with my activity as a real estate investor. In 2004, realizing we missed civilization, we donated the Kona practice to the community organization that supported the local hospital, and moved to a fabulous Penthouse that overlooked the Honolulu Harbor on Oahu. Situated midway between downtown Honolulu and Waikiki, we enjoyed a great location; and the view from 400' in the sky was indescribable. That place remains my favorite, of all the places we€'™ve lived, but not necessarily the HI location, but the penthouse itself. I continued with my r.e. investing. Faith accepted a teaching/clinical position with the Univ. of HI Medical School. Within a few months she was promoted to the Medical Director of their Residents Clinic, where the majority of babies are born for the entire state of Hawaii; 6000 per year. Under Faith's leadership that clinic moved from red ink to black, for the first time in its 16 year history. I applied my psych skills via interviewing prospective new med school students as volunteer work. It was fun and interesting. That spectacular Honolulu Penthouse was a great investment when purchased, and for a few years thereafter, but the luxury market in HI became among the worst in the country, a fatality of the national r.e. crash -- it ultimately sold for less than 1/2 it's former value, and far less than what we paid many years prior. Ugh! Big hit to the retirement funds. We ultimately realized that the "civilization" we actually missed was that provided by living on the mainland, with the substantially greater variety of things to do and see. After months of research, Chapel Hill, NC emerged as an interesting place to consider. A few years later we moved back to the west coast, to a very nice small town, Gig Harbor, WA. NC had offered excellent r.e. investment opportunities; I acquired properties in a few cities there as well as in SC. NC reminded me in many ways of CA in the 1950’s. A truly beautiful, forested state. Did not find east coasters as friendly as west coasters, however. We learned an important lesson via living in the two small communities, one E coast, the other W coast: We are much more "city folk" than "country folk" and decided to search for a home within a city that offers all the things we enjoy within close proximity. Backing up a bit: While awaiting the completion of some remodeling on our new home in Chapel Hill, we added a family member: A highly bred German Shepherd (all German bloodline; no USA genes, which yields a superior GSD). I'd wanted a dog again for many years, but realized my practice kept me too busy to be a responsible pet owner. I had done quite a bit of dog training in my youth (my mother was a professional dog trainer and founded a school for same in San Francisco), so I embarked upon an extensive training program with "Sergeant Kutter," affectionately known as "Sarge." He was about 1 year old when I became disabled, and by that time Sarge was fully trained in Advanced Obedience. Sarge worked as my service dog (explained below), in addition to being the family protector. He was the smartest dog I've owned and/or trained (among dozens); and very dedicated to his family. Someone might have broken into our home, but would have been hard pressed to get out. 17 days after moving in to the Chapel Hill home I suggested to Faith, "Let's buy an RV and travel across the US with Sarge for 3 or 4 months before you go back to work again." As noted earlier, Faith is younger than I and not ready to retire (I retired at 56). Those luxury RV's are nice, we had a 40' diesel pusher, with four slide-outs and all the bells & whistles (it was like a luxury condo inside), but we would not do it again. Write to me if you want to know why... Faith prefers working to retiring, so I thought this break would be a good chance to take such a trip before she became restricted by another busy OB/GYN practice which would make such an extended vacation impossible. The trip became reminiscent of the ill-fated Gilligan's Island tour; but in our case the intended '3 month tour' became 10 months as I wound up stuck on the West Coast flat on my back due to injuries to my spine and severe trauma to all 3 major nerves in my right leg. It began with minor injuries from working with Sarge, developing his guard dog skills. I learned that a 62 year old man has no business tossing a 85 lb. German Shepherd in the air as he firmly grips a hunk of leather. Sarge did great; me, not so good as I“ fractured a disc and ruptured another. I continued to drive the motor home across the country, managing the pain as best as possible. Finally, in CA the pain became intolerable, which ultimately led to a consult and spinal surgery at UCSF. What should have been a simple spinal surgery became compounded by a series of errors by the OR staff and surgeon.. I awoke in Recovery wit...Expand for more