In 1975 I married my husband Mike and have now been married for 36 years. We have three children, 2 daughters, Nadia & Anna, and a son Vincent.
I currently live in Waldorf Maryland, but I am helping my daughter who is in the Army. (Nadia) with her two children,, my only Grandchildren, Matthew & Laura down in Fort Campbell, KY. She has been deployed to Afghanistan 2 times,so perhaps it is good that I am retired an am able to help her care for her children while she is away.
I have two Min-Pins, Duke & Duchess, whom I affectionately call the Duke & Duchess of Waldorf.
I June 0f 2010 I suffered a stroke, it was bad, but I am fine and had no lasting affects from it. Everyday is a miracle to me, to be alive, healthy, and to see my grandchildren.
I never really left the Washington/Baltimore area, and I do love being so close to the city. It is lovely, the museums, the dinning, and shopping. Of course we have our beaches here to, 4 seasons, etc. My husband and I plan to move to the Eastern shore of Maryland as soon as the economy improves.
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Parents and siblings: My Dad went to Shippensburg and was a principal at Maryland Park in Seat
Pleasant as well as Shugart by Iverson and James Madison out by Millwood Pond. I caught a few fish
there. He retired and then he was principal at Grace Brethren Christian School. My Mom, a Georgia
peach, graduated from Florida State when it was a womens school as an RN. They met when Dad was
stationed in Tallahassee for prop mechanic training. Mom substitute taught at DH ES when I was there
and then taught grade three full-time at Francis T. Evans ES in Clinton. Mom and Dad both passed at age
93 three years apart several years after moving to Fredericksburg. They now reside at Arlington
National Cemetery. My sister and brother are older than me. My brother, Reiff (SHS class of 69) a
pastor, passed away from cancer a few years ago. He was in Leesburg. My sister, Susan (SHS 68), is in
NJ.
High School Days: What I enjoyed. Sports. Kirkland for College Algebra and Probability not so much. He
had a funny way of blowing his nose, wiping the chalkboard and flipping coins and he used a chalk
holder. Emmans had his idiosyncrasies, too, but he gave me the idea of having a Bible study in his room
during lunch. He blatantly favored the jocks and would say, “Aw fudge.” I had become more serious
about my faith my junior year. My family switched from Bethany Lutheran on Silver Hill (Mike Mattison
and I went there from kindergarten up) to a church in Barcroft NORVA. I had Emmans for Analysis and
Trigonometry. I liked Chemistry with Spriggs. The first earth day was a big deal and I became
environmentally friendly. They said we should put bricks in our toilet tanks to save water. There was
talk of VietNam war protests and blocking Pennsylvania Ave. I saw drugs in study hall and in the locker
room but didn’t use. I wrote an article on relevance and curriculum for The Echo. Anderson said,
“Ahem, that’s just the essay you wrote for my class.” Regardless, we had a day of seminars that year.
Related? I don’t know. They were pretty relevant seminars. I wrote stuff Mauer liked a lot but could
never get more than a B from her in a class called A Bowl of Mixed Fruit. She was kind of fruity. No
offense. I took gym all three years. And a lot of French including Madame Bledsoe. My math and English
SAT scores were equal and I’m a Libra. Well-balanced. I didn’t order a yearbook, but a box of factory
seconds were available at discount. My yearbook has a smudged cover, but I’m glad I got it. Henry took
a lot of pictures of me. My friend, the photographer. He and I worked at the Citgo on Pennsylvania Ave
near Penn-Mar the summer after graduating.
High school romance? Not really. One of the pom-pom girls in the junior class called and asked me to
take her to the fall dance at Lorraine HS because her Bishop McNamara boyfriend had dumped her for a
babe. Easy $20. LOL. The FSK JHS I crushed on and went to Sadie Hawkins with moved away to Florida
after 9th-grade. Speaking of girls, I was stunned in 10th-grade by what puberty had wrought in my female
classmates especially in the upper classes and from other feeder schools. Pom-poms were fascinating.
LOL. They killed it with an Ironman rendition.
I lost 30-lbs our senior year by eating healthy and running laps on the second floor until the custodian
made me go outside when it warmed up. But I didn’t go to the prom. How was it? I should have asked
G.T. from the junior class but huge height differential. Bergman replaced Mortimer and the seniors
(ahead of us) hated him. Bergman got new uniforms and took us to Toronto. Very cool. Sold a lot of those big chocolate bars. Drum majoring was a lot of fun. My new trousers split open during the pre-
game show. Good thing we only had bleachers on one side of the field. I did the show backwards. Even my drill instructor asked me about me having been a drum major. So were my father-in-law and my son-in-law. Even Martin Luther King liked drum majors. Goff was a trip. Ibrahim, my H.R. teacher, sent me to
see Daily Wolfe for fighting. He let me off.
Hung out with Mike Muskiaitis sp? And Mike Buck a bit after high school at Clemson and Maryland. Mike
went to Clemson, too. I transferred to University of Maryland my senior year. I majored in Recreation
and Parks Administration (RPA). Not rigorous. I like parks and games. At Clemson, I played a lot of
intramural sports and marched in band. They offered me a drum major position, too. RPA got me
nowhere, so I joined the Navy and became a Naval Flight Officer in the E-2C Hawkeye. I loved aviation
since my earliest age and I was fascinated by the Mercury 7 astronauts. Soloed at 14 years of age and
got my license at 18. Trained at Freeway near 495 and 50. Church Rd was an awesome drive. But no, I
wasn’t a Navy pilot though I did give vectors to the Mavericks and Icemans. Cold war was fun in the
Navy. Lots of great ports and two-tours in Japan. Two Med cruises. 26-year career with duty stations in
San Diego, Omaha (where I ran a marathon), Virginia Beach, Mayport, Carlisle. Romance? Dated a girl at
Clemson my freshman year that wanted to marry me?? She married a graduate instead. Dated like crazy
my senior year when I went to church at Wallace Presbyterian in Hyattsville. But I didn’t meet the right
girl until I was stationed at Suitland in 86. I lived in Crofton and Greenbelt. That’s where I met Joji
through a blind date. She was an RN at Hopkins. We met just before I transferred to Mayport. We got
married after my deployment on Saratoga. I was on USS Midway, Saratoga, Independence, Saipan and
Kitty Hawk. Sara was also in Portsmouth Shipyard. Our first home was in Ghent/Norfolk. Very nice. Had
our daughter, JoEllen there. A honeymoon baby despite precautions. Our son was born in San Diego. A
pre-mature baby. JoEllen went to William and Mary. Jon went to UVA. JoEllen is a high school English
teacher and Jon is a programming consultant. JoEllen and Zach have a six-year-old daughter. Jon is
available and living near National Harbor of all places not far from Ft. Washington, the single-sided fort.
Never went to skip day. Mrs. Taylor was my Sunday School teacher and a wonderful friend of the family.
I just didn’t see any reason for skipping (shrug).
I retired from the Navy in 05 after 26-years out of Dahlgren, VA and we’ve remained in historical
Fredericksburg. I did fine competing with all those EE and aero engineers. It must have been Spriggs and
Kirkland. I am fully retired now, but I did some Defense contracting. I taught Government at a Christian
High School. Brats! My kids were valedictorians there. Smarts! And I was a barista at Starbucks. I go by
caffeinated Craig now. John Williams, Eric Olson and Jerry Bouchard nicknamed me Goose, but my Navy
callsign was Big Daddy. I’m still 6’3” and my weight is 212 my starting weight in the fall of 71. I have
hazel eyes and thin on top to say the least.
Goals: keep improving my chops leading and playing guitar in our church praise chorus. Learning tenor
sax. Teaching Revelation and other books in Adult Sunday School. Writing. Education councilman.
Taking less prescription drugs. Flying, shooting and fishing. Loving my wife and kids more and more. Let
the adventure continue.
Thanks reunion organizers, attendees and Rick Skeen. Great location, btw. I’m looking forward to this.
Word gave me a 64% for this bio. Mauer was right. Geller was wrong.
