I guess the worst thing that stands out in my mind about my four years at good old Hopedale High was the hard time I had with academics. The waiting to get the tests back and having the grades read in front of the class caused me to want to crawl under the desk and hide. I also spent a long time being the shortest and skinniest kid in the class. What fond memories. Thankfully, I enjoyed my senior year and that made up for the rest. Some of the better times I remember were on the trip to Washington and all the great fund-raising events we held to raise money for the great adventure I still remember our trip to the burlesque theater and the girls from our class, names to remain anonymous, who sat beside this man with a hat in his lap. It was a frantic escape from the place when he removed his hat!!!!!

      Upon graduation, I attended a one-year school in Boston and graduated as a genuine Medical Laboratory Technician. I can remember going for job interviews and getting offers of $4.00 per hour and having to live away from home. I finally decided the United States Army would be a better place to be. The pay was about the same but they gave me a place to live and even fed me. What more could a young man ask for.

      I started Basic Training in Georgia and then went to be retrained "The Army way", as a Medical Lab Tech., At San Antonio Texas. There I was indoctrinated into the fine art of drinking and chasing women. I never caught any women and did not do very well with the drinking either. From San Antonio, I went to Valley Forge Pennsylvania for advanced Lab training. The place was so old; I kept looking around to see if George Washington was still there.

      I spent the next six years as a Lab Tech in Denver Colorado and San Juan, Puerto Rico; both places were great, one for skiing and one for surfing. At this point, I decided Officer Candidate School was the way to go so off to Ft. Sill Oklahoma and nine months of misery. It was a lot like the West Point yelling and harassing but thank god not as long. I graduated as a Second Lieutenant in the Artillery, sort of like advanced Boy Scouts shooting big guns. The next fourteen years went by in a blur; Ft Hood Texas, Ft. Sill Oklahoma, Vietnam, Ft. Sill Oklahoma, Ft Carson Colorado, Vietnam, two years college at Clark University to finish up my degree started in night school, back to Oklahoma where I did a week end masters program, and finally Ft. Meade Maryland and retirement as a Major. I can remember contemplating getting out of the service after three rears. I went to see Mr. Burke, the guidance counselor at Hopedale High. I asked what he thought I should do. He said, with your grades, anything but college. So much for guidance.

      I returned to Hopedale in 1980, opened a daycare center called Luv'n Care, on Dutcher Street and still have it today. A friend and I started M & D Builders. We built five houses in Mendon and one in Upton during the wonderful building boom of the early 1980s. Luckily, we got out just before it all fell apart. Just to fill in time during the late 80s I got in on my fiancees cleaning business and we earned enough money to move to Beverly Hills Florida in 1995. Any one want to buy a Day Care Center?

      The personals are:. Married in l960, in Denver Colorado, son Stephen born there in l961, daughter Janice born in Puerto Rico in 1964, divorced l987, stayed miserable for a few years. Re-married to Paula Stone of Hopedale 1995, she tells me I am not miserable any more.

      It seems strange to condense 43 years into such a small article but if it were any longer, no one would want to read it. Being in the service, I moved 25 times in 20 years, and had as many different jobs. My fond memories are not of my jobs but of the great people and the great things there were to do in all the different places. My favorite thoughts today are about me playing golf in 70-degree weather while northerners are shoveling snow.

And I am not miserable any more!!!!!!!!!!

E-Mail mr&mrsh@shadrach.net