Robert Dyer:  

It is a short story over a long distance. The best of times, of course, was growing up and going to school in Baldwin. After BHS, I attended Kansas State for a year followed by four years of working at FMC in Lawrence. Some time was found for attending classes part time at KU while working. In 1967 I departed for Pittsburg State Univ., finished a BS in Construction Management followed by an MS in Industrial Technology graduating in 1972. Following receiving my degree there was a move to Kansas City where I worked for Thomas Construction Co. building the N. Kansas City General Hospital. A construction project has a beginning and an end upon which I headed to the southeast to work for Westinghouse building electrical generation plants in South Carolina, Alabama, and Florida. Most of this time was spent living near St. Augustine, Florida. As for most who stray from the place of their roots, there was a desire to return and from 1978 through 1982 was spent helping to construct the Wolf Creek Nuclear Plant. Baldwin hadn't changed much except many of my BHS classmates had found spouses and children. Again, the construction project found an end and I headed back to Florida. The desire to eat and pay the bills led to my seeking employment with Bechtel in Saudi Arabia (SA). SA was perfect monk training in that I learned to make wine, read extensively, and meditate in solitude. However, every four months, I suspect to keep us somewhat sane, we were given an R$R (airline ticket) to anywhere we wanted to go. This developed a wanderlust that began to take me to many places a Kansas farm boy is probably not supposed to see outside of the context of a National Geographic magazine. After a bit over two years, another project came to a close. Upon my return to the USA, I had developed a strong interest in international construction (travel) and sought out employment with that in mind. The US Dept. of State, following the Beirut bombings...Expand for more