Joe Gianfalla:  

I've been sharing some photos from our bucket list adventure trips - just back from our latest one to Southeast Asia - Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It only took me 54 years after my 1971 graduation from Seton Hall High School to update my Classmates profile, but here it is! I actually consider myself a creature of both ’71 and ’72 because at the end of my sophomore year, I realized I had enough Regents credits from JHS to escape a year early! Shortly after graduation (June 28th to be exact), I entered the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, and graduated four years later as Ensign in the Coast Guard. I met my future wife Cathy, a Catholic school girl from Northford, CT, in my freshman year and we got married 10 days after my 1975 graduation in a military wedding at the Academy. We just celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary this past June and attended my 50th Class Reunion at the Coast Guard Academy in September. Cathy and I have two daughters, Jennifer, born in 1981 in Connecticut and Michelle, born in 1985 in Texas. Both are married now, live relatively close to us and have given us three beautiful grandchildren that we are working very hard to spoil - Jude (2015) and Amelia (2018) from Jennifer and our son-in-law James and Leila (2020) from Michelle and our son-in-law Brian. My Coast Guard career was a quick five years after CGA, first as a deck watch officer on the Duane, a 327-foot cutter out of Portland, Maine. I was pre-assigned as Communications Officer and spent two weeks at Navy CMS/Crypto School in Newport, RI before graduation. Once aboard, I also was designated as the ICNAF (International Convention North Atlantic Fisheries) Boarding Officer and spent our many fisheries patrols boarding communist block fishing and factory vessels. When not on those patrols, we were patrolling Ocean Weather Station HOTEL with NOA. From Duane, I was assigned to the 7th CG District HQ in Miami, Florida as the Supply Officer for the Reserve Division. That was an interesting and fun assignment because I had the opportunity to frequently travel to and work with all the Coast Guard reserve units in the southeast United States and Puerto Rico. I was also not freezing my butt off in the North Atlantic! My first gig outside the Coast Guard was managing a roller-skating rink in Middletown, Connecticut, for my in-laws. That was during the height of the roller-skating craze in the early ‘80’s that eventually died around 1983 when we closed it down. It was a fun job, and I learned a great deal about managing a business and about the importance of providing great customer service. At this point, I made a career move into business-to-business sales and marketing, a path I followed into my retirement in 2023. In 1983, I accepted a position as a product marketing engineer with Texas Instruments in their DRAM division and we moved to Houston, Texas. With my GI Bill and help from TI, I went back to school at night and earned my MBA which really helped fuel my care...Expand for more