Today's Featured Biography

James Shane

Hi All,
Well, during, and after graduation, I did some time as an apprentice electrician. Feeling a need for a better education that I couldn’t afford, and a desire to see the world, I joined the Navy, went to Electronics schools specializing in aircraft radar systems. This made it possible for me to become an air crewman first in Grumman WF-2, and later in the Grumman E2A Hawkeye. The way was paved for me to end up making two cruises to Viet Nam on the USS Coral Sea with many combat missions and even medals for it. Staying busy, I got married and had a son and a daughter with Sandy Shaw, also a Granitian younger than I. Also, along the way I kept up with my music but, without being able to get my drum kit in my locker, or a piano in my seabag, I took up five string Banjo, classical and folk guitar, learning volumes of tunes with my shipmates.
I decided that the Navy had shown me enough, and too much at the same time, I refused to “ship over” and got out in four years, came home, and quickly got an engineering job at Litton’s Data System Division working on defense contracts along with consulting for Sperry Univac. After four and a half years, I decided that three piece suits, brief cases, weekly trips to the Van Nuys plant, lots of air time and rental cars, no outside exercise to speak of, and no family time, was just not for me. In the meantime, my parents had been working on, and built the first and second additions of the Goldminers Daughter Lodge at Alta, and were working hard trying to keep up with the “greatest snow on earth”.
Shortly after quitting Litton, I built a Porsche repair shop in Murray that was called Perpetual Motion Inc. and with a partner for a time, a secretary, and eight employees we exercised our right to pursue “he who dies with the most toys wins” for sixteen years. We built fast cars, race bikes, off road machines, even three helicopters, to say nothing of never ending sundry repairs to almost anything. Lamborghini, Masarati, Rolls Royce, Mercedes, just not mine. I became a car show judge at the Concourse de Elegance for eight years, the Exec. Dir. of the Utah Antique Machinery Ass. for nine years.
And during this entire last phase, I made time to play and sing in a few bands all over Park City, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, including the arts festivals in Park City, and Salt Lake for several years. The country rock band that I played in for twelve years allowed us to be the warm up band for Willy Nelsen, Waylon Jennings, David Allen Coe, and got to play with many other notables. And I did fall in love again and raise another son, and a stepson and stepdaughter.
What? Too much information? Good, I’m out of breath……………….jim

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