Comments:
PLEASE NOTE: I have decided (5-26-12) to place a date at the start of updates to make it easier for those who want to avoid finding in all the other trivia I may have written before. But the changes will be at end of the section unless date is inserted in mid sentence like above.
Attended Clemson University School of Architecture but did not complete due to health. Began working at Clemson Theatre as projectionist.
I began working at Duke Power Company To have a better income to support my future wife. I moved from Clemson to Six Mile located about 10 miles north of Clemson. I married Betty on Christmas eve, 1967. I was soon working for the Clemson Theatre part time. This allowed Betty to see all the movies. After my daughter, Melissa was born in 1970, she had a place in the projection booth with me. I continued to work for the theatre until transfered by Duke. When Melissa was 6 weeks old, my father (Physics teacher at Bradford) and my mother were visiting from their home in Fort Collins, Colorado. My father was with me in the projection booth when Betty, my mother, and Melissa had a head on collision on their way back to Six Mile. My father continued to run the projectors while I went to the hospital. He only did minor damage to the lamp house which I repaired. Later when my mother and father moved to Forest City, NC, he began to run projectors at the Rogers theatre. I was treated to Star Wars by him.
I worked for Duke Power Company for 25 years beginning at Oconee Nuclear Station. Oconee was about eight miles from Six Mile which I considered much too far to travel each day. In my anticipation of a transfer, I bought a small piece of property as close to Catawba Nuclear Station site as I could find in March 1974. My work at the Clemson Theatre almost ended when I was transfered to Catawba Nuclear Station in November, 1974. My son Philip III was born November, 1975. Christmas found us in Six mile and at the theatre to visit the manager. He had no one to run the projectors that night so I ran them one last time.
At Duke I did many things in Construction such as the design of the temporary buildings used by construction personnel to work out of. The buildings kept changing and growing. I also developed a method of identifying cadweld splices by location for use by QA to verify that splices required on the design drawings were there and inspected. I produced drawings that clearly located them. I also produced drawings of plate weld locations and of leak chase. While the plant was designed by the design department, the temporary buildings and all civil, mechanical, and electrical details were left to the Construction Department; in other words, me and a few others. Temporary buildings were large metal buildings and lesser "shacks". Parking lots, entrance roads, and even temporary rail roads were done by me and a few others. Some of the furniture was also temporary and was designed by me and built and finished by on site craftsmen.
To simplify my explanation of what I did at Duke, I have told many that I was practicing temporary architecture.
When I retired from Duke, I went to work for the Janitorial subcontractor as a janitor. "A security clearance is a terrible thing to waste!" While I was working for Duke, they were trying to figure out how to get the water line inside the protected area without violation of the electronic area between the dual fence. I suggested a route to design then had a 12" corrugated metal pipe buried under the fence route. Surveyors took the coordinents which I relayed to Design several times. While working as a janitor, I saw the pipe installed through the CMP. I had also seen too many retirees come by for a visit, go home, watch TV, and be dead within about 2 years. This was a program I did not wish to participate in.
I had to leave my janitorial 'career' due to illness after a little more than a year.
I became a security officer with Wackenhut. I became site security supervisor while stationed at American Eagle Wheel in York. Wackenhut lost their contract and American Eagle Wheel asked that I take over and start my own group. I hired my son and later had to fire him. Things got sort of crazy there and I finally quit after having my fill of 60 hour weeks caused by others not coming to work. At this point I was salary and being paid for 40 hours.
I got a job at McDonald's in Lake Wylie where I worked behind the counter and got mixed up in random repairs and some maintenance. It was an old building. A new owner took over from McDonald's Corporation a year before the new building was completed. When we moved to the new building, the old one was promptly torn down. I finally quit after about a year in the new building. I wanted to take the opportunity to grow a beard. The grocery store gives 5% off to senior citizens on Wednesday. So every Wednesday I eat at McDonald's prior to shopping to prevent buying the store out. A couple of weeks ago they asked if I would come in to clean the ice cream machine like I used to do. I declined because I would have to shave off my beard.
Melissa has provided two granddaughters. Kristen was born in 1991 and Karah was born in 2000. Kristen has been to Germany three times (the last time involved a side trip to France) and Japan one time as an exchange student. Karah will be going to Germany for the first time in 2011. Both have been in Charlotte's German Immersion program since Kindergarden. Kristen graduated from High School in 2010. The two granddaughters can communicate with each other in German.
5-26-12
Some of you may remember Lisa Boatright who helprd me drive from South Carolina to the 40th and 45th reunions. She got others to tell her if I stopped interacting as I have a tendency to sit in a corner and watch. She was born Feb 15, 1961 which made her interesting. She has been very sick the last couple of years with inoperable cancer. Her health was the reason I put Maybe as to whether or not I would attend the 50th reunion which I missed. Lisa died May 16, 2012. I attended her funeral. The family had gathered some of her pictures including one of her with me at the 40th reunion. One of her sons asked how I got her into a dress. I replied that she did it by herself. I think the reunions were high points in her life. After the 45th reunion, she went into Lake Michigan and caught a salmon bare handed. I took a picture and she remarked, "you only took one?"
I no longer work at McDonald's and have grown an ugly beard. But I have been asked twice to come back to work but declined because I would have to shave. I am currently dating a woman that works there from Nigeria. I am also working on several projects in my yard. Recently I decided to install a small storage building in my front yard. It took me about a week to clear a spot and and mark exactly where I wanted it. Three men built it one rainy day in about 3 hours. Then I spent another 2 weeks painting, wiring, and underpinning it. I've also been planting still more trees.
6-30-16
The Nigerian woman, Mercy, moved in with me a couple of years ago. I had been taking her to work from her son's house in Charlotte. When York county told me I had to tear down the trailer that the tree had fallen on, I no longer had time to go all the way to Charlotte. At the suggestion of the people at McDonald's, Mercy decided to move in with me. Eventually she cleaned out the junk room that was supposed to be the living room.
I began to tear down one of three trailers that I had interconnected in one building. York county then fined me for tearing it down without a permit. I got a permit for all 3 trailers and a small brick building. I hired some help which made thing worse and have since done all the work myself. The last remaining large tree died. It is part of that tree that fell on one of the trailers while Lisa was living there. I was going to cut it down but was afraid it would fall backwards (east) into the power lines or south across the neighbor's fence. The neighbor, Nell Clark, had died and her property sold. The new owner started renovation of the house and finely tore it down. We had a lot of wind from the south, which is unusual, and the dead tree blew down to the north where I wanted it. I am still cutting the tree into small pieces with my electric chain saw. (I left the power on and put the breaker box from the trailer in a plastic box from Wall-mart designed to store lawn furniture outside. I added electrical outlets to it. I also have a drilled well which needs to be on when I burn debris. I will turn off the power when I am finished because there is a minimum charge I have to pay even if I don't use any power. I have a battery electric lawnmower that I use to cut the grass and weeds.
Pictures:
6/13/12 I had some difficulty figuring out how to transfer pictures from my Apple computer. Unable to drag from iPhoto, I tried to pick from data file list. Unfortunately, I finally got one from the wrong part of the list and had put a scanned copy of a page from my mother's book which I am trying to finish. I was so concerned about transferring pictures, it never occurred to me that I could make a current picture of myself even though the picture of my son was taken by the computer. The current picture of me has an old background. I think it was taken at the 40th reunion of the Kenosha lighthouse. I guess no one noticed the iceberg floating by. Since I never throw anything away, my son's picture has one of my old computers behind him.
7/7/12 I can't remember peoples faces or even convince myself that the current pictures are the same people in the yearbook picture. But, I can identify which Oscar Meyer Wienermobile I saw from pictures. This is pathetic.
