Life After High School: Then and Now ... Bill Reynolds
For the first few years, I continued
to work at Jorgensen's Service Station in Halesite and spent my idle
time cruising around the area in my MGA Roadster. Thinking I should give
college life a try, I enrolled
in the University of Vermont. Most memorable moment of that endeavor was
when a professor wrote my father a note saying "your son does excellent
work; to bad he doesn't do more of it".
Not finding satisfaction there,
I enlisted in the Army in 1960 and was assigned to the Intelligence & Security
branch. After a year of state-side training, I was posted to an intelligence
operations unit in
Berlin, Germany. I was in Berlin on August 13, 1961 when the East Germans
began building the infamous wall and the US and Russian tanks were face to
face at Checkpoint Charlie. Nevertheless, my assignments were challenging
and rewarding, and I finally began to recognize the
value of the messages that I had received back in school from Hettler: "don't
try to run through a brick wall, go around it", Donifrio:
"use your leadership qualities, don't be a follower", and Schoepflin: "use
your head for something other than holding you cap up".From this point
on, my attitude and life changed forever.
I left Berlin in 1964 with a wife (Hildegard) and a daughter (Carolyn). I got involved with computers shortly thereafter while in Denver and attended programming school in NJ. My next assignments in Virginia, Colorado Springs, Viet Nam, Thailand, and Washington involved setting up automated supply systems for a variety of Army units.
I left the service in 1969 and was hired as a programmer with RCA Information Systems in NJ. Later spent a stint with EDS in NYC, then joined Unisys in 1972. I enjoyed the technical work and as my leadership skills were recognized, I rose quickly through the ranks of management. I was transferred to Minnesota in 1985 and remained there until I retired in 1998.
Our daughter had remained in NJ during this time so we opted to build a new home in Burlington and moved back to the area. Married off the daughter in the fall of 1998; first grandchild arrived in March of 2000 (second (and final?)) scheduled for a mid September arrival.
I keep busy nowadays entertaining the GK, building things, fixing the junk that Hildegard brings home from garage sales, reading, taking care of the yard work, and bunny watching at Island Beach State Park at the shore during the summer (NJ gives us old timers a free pass for state parks so I don't have to pay to watch!!).
I look forward to seeing some
of you at the Alan/Jack mini gala on the 15th and expect to see many
more of you in 2006 ...
below...posted 4/2/04 from March '04 65th birthday:
"Medicare is now a reality ... Scotty came over to make sure I
remembered how to open presents; in fact, he then decided he would open them
for me!!..."
SOOO, the question facing
the class is...which one is little Billy?