Steve Epps:
CLASS OF 1968
R. E. Lee InstituteClass of 1968
Thomaston, GA
Gordon Junior CollegeClass of 1975
Barnesville, GA
East Thomaston Grammar SchoolClass of 1960
Thomaston, GA
Steve's Story
School
Well, I went to East Thomaston, then R.E.Lee Grammar, then 1 year at Community Center (Silvertown)in order to play for The Thomaston Tigers football team a second year and to gain some weight, since I was a skinny little jr. high halfback in the eight grade. Well, I gained about thirty pounds in two years and went to R.E. Lee Institute weighing about 135 lbs. soaking wet. I did ok in running the football, until my sophomore year at Lee, when we "Rebels" went to Bar Rest Ranch at Warm Springs, Ga. for summer football camp. Well, we had a cow pasture with gopher holes, or something for a football field there to practice on. We were going through pass receiving drills, from the "Great Mike Cavan", when I stepped into one of the holes and severely injured my left ankle. Well, so much for my little football dreams of someday playing halfback at Georgia. I truly admired Mike Cavan and his whole family and still have the utmost respect for them. and have followed their careers over the years. After my ankle injury, I had to walk on the side of my left foot for about a year, because my pain was severe from a torn ligament, which had a knot on the outside of my left foot. How I endured practicing football all the rest of the year, I don't know, but I tried and suffered with pain, and was demoted practically back to the B-team, since I couldn't run like I had been able to.
Well, I had other things going on in my family life, and I needed to work, so that is what I did at two different grocery stores afternoons, to as late as 1 a.m. sometimes and then go to school the next morning and take a nine weeks test without any study time, but somehow I managed to graduate and go into the Marines.
College
Well, after going to Upson Tech for a couple of years taking Auto Mechanics under the G.I. Bill, part-time,while working full-time as a water plant operator,etc., I decided to give Gordon Jr. College a try. I went to Gordon for two years straight, two or three nights a week and also worked for The City of Barnesville, operating two waterplants out on Hwy. 36 East of Barnesville on the 12 to 8 a.m. shift by myself. I actually made the Dean's Merit List my first quarter at Gordon, by making an A and a B+ on my two subjects that I was taking then. I enjoyed going to Gordon. I have in recent years found out through family research, that Gordon's founder, Charles Lambdin and I have family ties through the Stroud family of Stroud's Crossroads on Hwy. 83, between
Culloden and Forsyth,Ga.
Well, after my first spouse decided she didn't need me anymore, I quit college for awhile and then went back for a short while, but later just decided to concentrate on my water plant operator career. I have been a water plant operator for 36+ years, with the Class I Surface Water Plant Operator's license since 1985, which is the highest.
Workplace
I have been a water plant operator for 36+ years. I have worked for the water plant in Thomaston three times for a total of 13+ years. I worked for the City of Barnesville Water Plant for about 5+ years. I have worked at the Forsyth and Ft. Benning water plants. I have been working at the Henry Co. Water Plant in Locust Grove for 15+ years and we now have two plants since 2006. I passed the highest water plant certification test in 1985-Georgia Class I Surface Water Plant Operator. I was awarded an "Outstanding Operator Award for Summer 1989" in the State of Georgia by the Georgia Water and Pollution Control Association. In 1987 I passed my Georgia Class II Water Lab Analyst certification, which at the time was the highest in Ga.
I just got back today from the 75th Ann. Conference of the Ga. Assn. of Water Professionals, the new name for the GW&PCA in Savannah, Ga., where I received nice award for being a member for 30 continous years. A Life membership award, so I will no longer have to pay dues,etc. Today is July 18, 2007. I was congratulated by the President of the Water Environment Federation, and also a Ms. Dunn, who is from Texas and is a Vice-President of the American Water Works Assn. They were both very nice, down-to-earth people, to me, considering their high positions in the profession. Enjoyed some good food,etc. today at Spanky's on River Street, owned by our classmate,...Expand for more
Ansley (Andy) Williams, Class of 1968. Several of the HCWSA engineers, and the two top bosses were at the conference from Sunday till Wed. also, and every night we all were treated to some awesome food at very nice restaurants in parties of 12 to about 15. I've never been treated so well in my work life ever before! Actually, had a great time, and made new friends within the engineering section of Henry Co. Water and Sewerage Authority, which I normally have little contact with.
While in the U.S. Marine Corps I served in DaNang, S. Vietnam in 1970. I was a Field Radio Operator, one time I was OJT supply man, one time OJT message center man, and my last year and a half in the Corps, I was a Corporal of the Guard of 10 Marine sentries, guarding nuclear weapons. I served in an artillery unit, in an Amtrac Battalion, in a Communications Battalion and at a spit-and-polish Marine Barracks. I served later as a U.S. Air Force Reservist for four years at Robins AFB, Ga. as an Environmental Support Technician from 1982-86.
I also served 4 months in 2nd Recon Bn. at Onslow Beach, Camp Lejuene,N.C. when I returned from Vietnam in 1970, and early 1971. This unit is now fighting in Iraq. May God Bless these Marine brothers and my other American brothers fighting for freedom and the American way of life. Semper Fi!
Military
Well, five days after I graduated from R.E. Lee, I was at Parris Island Marine Corps Depot in S. Carolina. Robert Kennedy had just been shot and killed by Shirhan Shirhan about five days before and young red-blooded Americans were dying in S. Vietnam by the hundreds. Well, boot camp was definitely a culture shock to me and my fellow Marine recruits, who were called "scumbags", "maggots", "pukes",etc.
The physical training and other training was very tough. All my years of football, baseball, and track practice, was nothing compared to this Marine training, but hey, they were training us to become "killers" of our enemy the Viet Cong and the N.V.A., the North Vietnamese Army.
Well, after the three hot months of June, July, and half of August 1968, my Recruit Platoon 177, was sent by bus to Camp Geiger at Camp Lejuene, N.C. for infantry training at ITR. All marines are trained as infantrymen, regardless of what their eventual military job might be. After another two months of training, I finally got to come home on leave for 20 days.
Next I went to Radio Operator School at M.C.R.D. San Diego,Ca., and made several trips to Tijuana, Mexico. When I finished radio school, I got sent to Hotel Battery, 13th Marine Regiment, which was a 105 mm howitzer artillery unit at Camp Pendleton,Ca.
I volunteered for Vietnam again, and came home for 20 days of leave, and then went back to Camp Pendleton for 30 days pre-deployment training for Nam. It was pretty tough,also.
Left El Toro Marine Corps Air Station headed for Vietnam in August 1969. Landed at Honolulu airport to refuel and off to Okinawa. Well, after one day they told us that half of us were going to Vietnam and the rest of us were being reassigned to units in Okinawa, that had just recently pulled back from Vietnam, like the 9th Marine Reg. and 1st Amtrac Bn. I was put in H&S Co., 1st Amtrac Bn. I was there for 10 months and again I volunteered for Nam.
I arrived in DaNang, S. Vietnam on about June 2, 1970 and was put in Radio Relay Co., 5th Comm. Bn. After going on R&R to Bangkok, Thailand for a week in Sept.,1970, my unit was deactivated and I was sent back to the World on Sept. 25, 1970. 5th Comm. Bn. was at Camp Hoa Long, which was on the beach at the South China Sea, between Monkey Mountain and Marble Mountain, and just down the beach from China Beach.
After being on leave at home I was put in the 2nd Recon Bn.,"Swift, Silent, Deadly" at Camp Lejuene,N.C. I left there after four months to go to Marine Barracks, NAS Cecil Field, Fla., where I spent my last year and a half in the Marine Corps guarding nuclear bombs and running bomb convoys to the USS Saratoga, aircraft carrier. Got out there in June 1972.
Went to work in the drinking water business a week later in my hometown of Thomaston, Ga. and have been in the field for 36+ years. I have operated 8 water plants since then. I early retired due to a few health problems on Oct. 30,2009.
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