John Brocker Retired:  

Life: Anita and I are parents and grandparents; we have two grandsons and we have two daughters, Ann and Kate, and two grandsons, Liam and Emmett and and a new grandson due 6/21/20111 We had a big family Christmas in Kentwood, MI for the first time since moving here in the fall of 2001. I retired on 6/25/2008 when I became 62. I picked up the trumpet again. One of the things I do in retirement is option trading; I have been either the organizer or the assistant organizer of of the Grand Rapids Investors Business Daily monthly Meetup meeting at Panera Bread in Cascade, MI (free, all invited). My ultimate goal is to be a guest conductor at a Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra concert and other venues. I hope to take the conducting course at the best in the nation for conducting, University of Michigan. I took one semestersemester of music history and two semesters of music theory at Purdue University as part of my BSEE, graduating in 1969. Due to 13 years of playing the trumpet, Iam an excellent sightreader, if I do say so myself. Also, I plan to upgrade to the Amateur Extra Class license I am active in amateur radio again. I plan to contact (have a "QSO") with classmate John Squires, who lives in Yellowknife, NW Terrtitories, Canada. I also talk wih Bob Roehrig, K9EUI and plann to talk with, Jr. Highclassmate, Bill Bily, WB9DIG. This is all from Mom's cottage, just North of Pentwater, MI. I will also be active starting this fall from our condo in Kentwood, MI. School: High School was the greatest time of my life (up to that point!). My favorite teachers were Miss Powell - Latin and Mr. Medendorph - Math and Mr. Gansman, Orchestra and Varsity Show Band Conductor where I played 1st trumpet for 3 years. Miss Kilgore was the coreographer of the very sexy dance line; I will never forget the girls dancing in ultra tight black leotards! I had a fantastic time playing trumpet in the Varsity Show Band, Concert Band, Orchestra and Pep Band. We even had an Amateur Radio Club. Another favorite teacher was Arthur Sweet, Concert Band Director. I also played 1st trumpet for 4 years in the concert band College: I graduated from Purdue University in 1969 with a BS degree in Electrical Engineering and, while working at Motorola, completed 30 credit hours of MBA course work at Northern Illinois University with a 4.0 GPA. I was in the Purdue Marching Mand where I marched and played at all football games as wellas all Big Ten Games, home and away (also Notre Dame!). Workplace: I spent most of my career at Motorola, retiring with a "golden handshake" after 33+ years in 2001. We moved to Grand Rapids, MI from East Aurora, NY in November, 2001 when I was took a position as a Supplier Quality Engineer with Leica Geosystems, LLC, a Swiss Company. Since then, I have worked in similar capacities at Lacks Trim Systems, Johnson Controls and Eaton Corporation. Military: My contribution to the Military was to play trumpet in the Regimental Band at Purdue for ROTC in my freshman year. When I went to work for M...Expand for more