Today's Featured Biography

 
Jerry Johnson

We graduated on June 9th and on June 20th Alex(Ray)Ramiriz (Class of 60),and I headed off to 16 weeks of USMC Boot Camp in San Diego. After Boot Camp and 20 days of leave Alex and I reported to our new duty stations back in California. Alex reported to a Tank Battalion and I headed to 1st LAAM Battalion in 29 Palms CA. My BN was the Marine Corps 1st Hawk Light Anti Aircraft Missile Battalion. Spent the first 2 years learning how to deal with average Summer temps in the 110 to 125 range,raking diagonal lines in the sand around the barracks,Sergeants,Desert sand storms, scraping and repainting the same equipment over and over again.You always had to be doing "something" even if the "something" you where doing was "nothing". On Sunday October 21,1962 all that changed. I was at the Base Theater when the movie stopped, lights went on and everyone was ordered back to there Units. I walked into my barracks and was ordered to turn in my car keys and pack all my "civilian" things for storage. Then I was told I was being transferred to 3rd LAAM BN. I asked "when"? I was told "now". Up the hill to 3rd LAAM BN. found a empty bunk dropped my Seabag on it and looked around. Place was in a termoil. People returning from liberty, people from my old unit walking in with transfer papers. No time to shut your eyes. At 3:00 am all of the 1st LAAM transferes had to get a whole round of shots, because all of our "shot cards" had been lost. Worked the rest of the night loading equipment and blanking out Unit ID's.The Sunday paper had reports about a border war between China and India but on Monday I walked by my old units Rec Bldg and heard JFK on the TV. It was Cuba not China. On Monday evening we headed out for the airfield.It had been less than 48 hours since the lights went on at the base theater. When our convoy got to the Freeway the only traffic was military and guards were on every bridge. The airfield was about 150 miles from Twenty Nine Palms, close to L.A., at the entry a hill blocked your view of the runways.When we reached the top of the hill we could see hundreds of Transport Planes waiting to be loaded. 3rd LAAM used 110 of them. Normaly loading our trucks trailers and equipment took a very long time. The Loadmaster was always careful of total weight and moved things back and forth to balance the load. NOT THIS TIME - there where red lines evenly spaced along the entry road. It took 3 to 4 trucks and trailers to fill the spaces.Every thing that fit between the lines was loaded on the next plane. When we asked our pilot if our quick loading would cause a problem he said to look out the window and if we were off the ground at the end of the runway we shouldn't have any problems. When we were in the air the pilot opened his sealed orders we found out that one of our Batterys was heading to Gitmo, to set up perimeter defense, and we were headed to Cherry Point, NC to load up on ships. We were to be part of the strike force set to invade Cuba.Up until about June of 1962 USMC battle plans had us coming ashore in a late wave, the new invasion plan had us coming in the 2nd wave. The Bay, at Marine Corp Air Station Cherry Point ,was filled with ships. As soon as we landed our trucks started loading our equipment on the the cargo ships. I was in the missile test unit and we had to test out hundreds of missiles before the could be loaded on the ships. The invasion fleet was ready to leave port when we were ordered to "stand down". JFK had put out the Fire.

I got out of the Marines 3 months early on a College Cut on March 20, 1963. Because our father was killed in Action during World War II my brother Denny and I went to school on the War Orphans Program. This program gave the suviving children the educational benifits earned by the Veteran in the GI Bill.


**Two years at U of M in the School of Pharmacy.

Met my first wife,Donna (RHS Class of 64), while going to the U of M. Got married and dropped out of school when I discovered I couldn't support a growing family on the $1.25 per hour wages I was making as a Intern Pharmacist.

** Ceramic Tile Contractor - 47 Years - so far

Went to work for Dale Tile as a ceramic tile estimator. Spent the first couple of years learning the trade and bidding all the odd projects that the "older" sales people didn't want to mess around with. Then in the late 60's I got in on the ground floor of bidding and doing Fast Food Restaurants and Mall Food Court stores. I had Tile crews that traveled the country for me installing tile in all of the lower 48 states.I did a lot of traveling myself and over the years tiled 1200 - 1500 restaurants. I worked at Dale Tile for 18 years than on my own for 3 years.

Shortly before I left Dale Tile my first marriage broke up.

After shutting down my Company I went to work for Heuler Tile out of Milwaukee. My job was a little different there. Instead of running 10 to 20 jobs at a time I only had one project at a time. Heuler Tile's specialty is Tiling Shopping Malls. Shopping Malls require 150,000 sf - 200,000 sf of tile and 9 to 16 months to complete. The project manager had to live by the job site.

Heuler, like Dale, was a great company to work for. I met my 2nd wife, Shelley, while Tiling Countryside Mall in Clearwater Florida.(Any of you familiar with the Tampa Bay area will know that Countryside Mall is the one with the skating rink in center court).

Gave up my Job with Heuler and went to work with local Tampa Bay Florida tile contractors. First with Art Dale Assoc.than with Craig Tile.

I did two shopping centers with Art Dale Assoc.

At Craig Tile I did alot of Hospital work, Theme Parks, Hotels, Resorts, and The Bucs
Training Park.

My wife and I have six kids,(3 each)between the two of us, and 3 Grand Kids, Kaylee (2004), "THE TWINS" Ava & Gavin (2006).

1. Tammy is the oldest and is a Physicians Assistant. Lives in Crystal and is the mother of Kaylee.

2. Kelly is a DR of Forensic Psychology, the mother of the twins (Ava & Gavin)and Lives in Shakopee. My son-in-law Dr Kirk Wilson just finished ALL his Medical training.

3. Aaron works for American Express, lives in St Louis Park and is looking to build a career as a writer.

4. Samantha got a BA at UCF worked at several government jobs. Sold everything she owned quit her job so she could see the World "while she was young enoungh to enjoy it". She met her future husband on a tour of Europe. Got married and moved to Austalia. Her husband Al is Austalian. After 7 years they moved to the States and are now living in Chicago.

5. Ari got his BA at UCF was going to take some time off but went into the Army to pay off his student loans. While in Boot Camp met his future wife Jen. They got married and spent the first year apart. Ari was stationed in Korea and Jen at Fort Sill. After Korea Ari joined Jen at Ft Sill They have spent the last 2 years together. Ari added 4 years to his contract with the Army and will be off to Afghanistan on September 9th.

6. Ashley will get her BA at Florida in May. She changed majors 3 times and Schools 4 times but still has a 3.85 GPA

In the last 20 years Shelley and I have enjoyed travel to all 50 states,and over 30 countries. Its been a great trip.

Has it really been 50 years? Just think the year we graduated the "Class of 1910" was celebrating 50 years. They would be 117 - 118 years old now. But that 50 years must have taken longer than our 1st 50 years.

So see you at our FIRST 50 year reunion.

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ROBIN'S SCHOOL SONG

THERE�S A YELL FROM THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

AS THE TEAM GOES MARCHING BY.

THERE�S A CHEER FROM THE STANDS AND THE BLEACHERS

AS THEY PLAY TO DO OR DIE.

AT THE HALF YOU CAN TELL WHY THE GANG CAME

WE�VE A TEAM THAT CANNOT FAIL.

WHO�S THE WINNER OF THE BALL GAME?

IT IS GOOD OLD R O B B I N S D A L E !