Paul Williams:
CLASS OF 1979
Reeds Spring High SchoolClass of 1979
Reeds spring, MO
Fenton High SchoolClass of 1974
Bensenville, IL
Zion Lutheran SchoolClass of 1970
Bensenville, IL
Paul's Story
Life
Life questions....wow....how tough can this be...huh?
Well....my parents moved to a little town in Missouri called Kimberling city in 1979, believe it or not the Mayor of the town at the time was Ned Locke, ring any bells, how about Ringmaster Ned from Bozo's circus. No Joke!! He was also a realtor and sold my parents thier house. I had the chance to ask him about Bozo's circus one time, I asked him what it was like and he told me "If it wasn't for the damn screaming kids he would of had a great time"....serious as a heart attack folks.
The little town is located about 18 miles straight west from Branson, Missouri, now I know that most of you have heard about Branson but for those who have no clue, Branson is located in the southwest corner of Missouri, about 200 miles west of St. Louis and about 180 South of Kansas City.
My father passed in 1983 of a Brain Hemmorage, my mom remarried in 1989 and moved to an even smaller town called Forsyth just a few miles north and east of Branson as the crow flies, as the car drives about 18 miles by road.
I married for the first time in 1982 (dumbass me) it lasted a whole 2 months, she was more in love with her car (70 1/2 Camaro) and how I could rebuild it than me.
My second marriage was actually not official, it was more or less common law, we lived together for almost 3 years. I found out that she had a lot of love to share, just not with me all the time.
I met my current wife actually while I was still with my first wife, she just moved back here from her origional home town of Gary, In.. I met her again when I was casually dating between #1 and #2, in fact I was dating her friend she moved out on 9 months earlier. She started dating a coworker and good friend after I hooked up with #2, so we seen each other alot. I was like her big brother ( hey ya perv's, it wasn't like that) I looked out for her and kept the flotsam away from her. She married my buddy in 1985 and in 1986 we all, Me and #2 and her and her husband, moved up to Kansas City because of better employment opportunities.
in 1986 just after moving to KC #2 neglected to tell me that she invited her boyfriend up from down south when we moved and I accidentally caught them, so, bye bye #2. After a few casual dating experiences (accidents more like it)I felt like joining the Stooges Woman Haters Club. So instead of dating I hung out with my friends, and ended up being the body guard for Shellie my current wife, because my friend was not only a jerk and an ass**** to her but basically ignored her. Now Iknow that you all are thinking I decided to put the moves on her and you are all wrong. I waited till she decided to divorce him and made it official. I Didn't even give her the slightest idea I was interested until she through his ass out, in fact I told her she needed to give him and thier relationship another chance.
To make a long story short, Shellie and I have been married now for 15 years this coming December. She is not only my wife but my best friend.
Since she can not have any kids we decided that pets are better, we have had everything from a potbellied pig named chopper to a quaker parrot named chicken and many other "Kids" in between. We moved in with my mother this past May because she is now 89, blind as a bat and has problems walking. We all take care of each other!
School
I gotta tell you that Fenton was one of the most fun times of my life. Between Band trips with Mr. Lewis, getting in trouble for ordering pizza during Band practice and having it delivered to the back windows of the drum room, to streaking the halls, do ya remember that larry, I bet you do big guy!
Hanging out with Scott Schoppe, Ron Seilkopf, Bill Waterfield, Candy (Moose) Yaeger and many more. We all did some much in so little time it some times seems very unreal but very very enjoyable and unforgettable.
I spoke by e-mail with Mr. Lewis in 2003 just after he retired and he remembered Me, Al and Scott as being his biggest trouble makers but also his m...Expand for more
ost fun students. He especially remembered the Christmas party of 1973 when big Al dressed up as Santa and the rest of the percussion section dressed up as reindeers. And he also remembers that we used to stick his batons in the ceiling, hence the new baton he recieved for christmas that year.
He also remembered all the trouble that we got into on the 73 Florida trip. Anyone remember Mr. John Sims and the sunburn he got when we decided not to wake him up when he was sunbathing?
All I can say about 1970 to 1974 is AWESOME, I wish I could relive it again!!!!
Workplace
After leaving Illinois I got a job in a boat repair facility in Kimberling city and worked there for 3 years. A friend of mine was into electronics and asked me if I wanted to try something new, I figured it was time so I started Installing Burglar Alarm Systems. This led to my move to Kansas City, where I started out as an alarm technician.
The owner of the company bought the franchise to Brinks Home Security Division for the KC Metro area and I started selling systems as well as installing them, he promoted me to Manager of Technicians and sales. The company sold in 1988 and the new owner made me the GM. After having some problems with an alarm system that I designed and installed personnaly, and knew it was in perfect working order, I went out on an alarm response to that location because the cops were taking almost 30 minutes to respond and I knew inside that the place was being set up. I got there, contacted my call center, told them that I was going to enter and to have the police respond immediatly. After trying all of the trailers, the last one was an unlocked storage trailer, I got up on the back of the trailer, opened the door and out jumps this white dude. I reached for him and tried to jump off the back of the trailer at the same time, my left leg touched the ground but my right one hooked on the back of the trailer, destroying my knee in the process. It took right at a year before I could walk without any help. Shell and I had just gotten together during my therapy process and after I was released, we decided to return home back down south.
I went back to work at the aforementiond boat shop but decided that I couldn't do that anymore. So off to cooking school I went. Big career change huh!
I have worked in 5 or 6 small restaurants and a couple of corporate ones as well. I owned my own restaurant (major mistake doing it with partners) and my own bar (even bigger mistake with one partner) didn't give up either one without really trying, in fact at the restaurant, I was working from 5am to 2 am 7 days a week for 4 months because of extremely lazy partners.
After major burnout I decided it was time to get back doing what I have always done best, I went back for a 3rd time to the boat shop and when a better offer presented it self I left and started doing what is called rigging.
I did that there for 3 years when out of the blue I got a call from a competitor offering better pay (alot better) benefits and all, hell yes I took it. I have been there now for 8 months, I am writing this while siting here with my leg up because last week I over extended my left hip and tore the muscles and tendons and will be out for about 3 weeks.
An update to the last sentence: The injury was a lot more severe than previously thought. In fact it was to the back and not to the hip and I am now totally disabled.
I also on the side build custom bikes and am in the process of starting a clone muscle car business (no, no partners this time, except for my wife of course). She has been a waitress all of her working life, in fact has been at the same place for 10 years now in Branson, here is the gratuitous plug, Sadies Sideboard Restaurant, it has been in Branson since about 1982. We also detail cars and boats and she also sells avon.
Now you can't get anymore redneck than that, well actually, we owned a mobile home before we moved here to Forsyth, ain't no trailer hitch on this place though.
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