Today's Featured Biography

 
Kurt Zimmerman

After graduation I went to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (CGA). Nice to look back, but adventuresome while it was happening, especially furling sails over 100 feet in the air on the royal yardarm of the square sail training ship US Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) EAGLE. Rick Johnston, always pretty classy, always contacted me whenever his Princeton basketball team came north to play CGA. I never played basketball, more the football type. But that only lasted a year and a half, when I had knee damage and switched to rifle team and intramural sailing.

After graduation in June 1964, I married my wife, Marian, who’s dad was the Lutheran Navy Chaplain at CGA for a while. We first lived in New London, Connecticut, where I was assigned engineering duty on the USCGC OWASCO. In the Fall of 1965 we moved to Hawaii where I was assigned to engineering duty on the USCGC BERING STRAIT. Our daughter, Kristin, was born in Hawaii in January 1967.

In May 1967 we moved back to New London, CT, where I was assigned as an instructor at CGA. During the summer months I continued to sail aboard USCGC EAGLE, but now as an officer. Much nicer. Our son Karl was born in New London in 1970. I earned an MSME from UConn at night school while there..

In 1971 we moved to Clinton, Maryland, from where I commuted to duty at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. In 1975 we moved to Seattle for two years where I had duty as Engineer Officer of the USCGC BOUTWELL. Duty was fisheries patrol along the Aleutian Islands. After the last patrol before another transfer, Marian said she was not going to be so close to Alaska and not visit, so she arranged a week vacation for our family into the interior of Alaska (Fairbanks, Kotzebue, Nome, and Anchorage).

In 1977, with our VW bug again in tow, we drove our Buick across country this time to Long Beach, Mississippi where I was assigned to the joint USCG/NOAA National Data Buoy Center. In 1980 I was again transferred back to CG Headquarters for my final assignment. This time in the Research and Development unit. I was lucky enough to travel a bit. On one trip to England, I was standing in line awaiting British customs chatting with the man behind me, when he suddenly asked “Did you go to Arlington High School?” Wow, was I surprised. It was Bill O’Brien!! We played football together at AHS.

I earned an MBA at night school while still on active duty. I retired from the Coast Guard in June 1984. We still live in the house we bought in Springfield, VA in 1980. After a couple of years working for a small consultant firm, I joined Electronic Data Systems (EDS) to work in contracts and financial support. I worked for them for 21 years, the last ten or so, commuting by Metro subway into Washington, DC daily. I retired in December 2007.

Our son Karl lives with us and is the only one in the house getting paid to work. Our daughter, Kristin is married and lives in the Cleveland area (6 hour drive). She just blessed us with twins in November 2009, to go along with a 3 year old son. She also is a Special Education teacher at a high school.

Life has been pretty good. I look forward to seeing old and new friends in September at the reunion.

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