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Today's Featured Biography
Cameron Murray
"Cam's" favorite expression is "I'll do it tomorrow." Future plans include Cornell University. Stage Crew.
"Whose words are few and also funny."
After leaving Cornell, at their request, in January of 1952, I joined the Navy in March. Spent about 15 months in training (mostly in the Bay Area), two years in Japan, and finished up in Winter Harbor, Maine. In September of 1956 made another try at college. This lasted 'til January of 1959 when they again requested that I go away. In March of 1959, went to work with RCA on the Atlantic Test Range. Spent 11 years in the Bahamas, Ascension Island, and Pretoria (Republic of South Africa). Pretoria is where Valerie and I met. Valerie was born and grew up in England, lived in Brazil for a couple of years, then moved to South Africa for 14 years, mostly working for the British Foreign Office. We were married in 1969 and while still in South Africa for a year, were able to avail ourselves of several vacations during 1970. The base at which I worked closed in May, so I became unemployed. We went to the Kalahari desert, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Kruger Park, Cape Town, Lourenco Marques in Mozambique (now Maputo), and spent 2½ months touring Europe on the way to the USA. We came back to the states in November of 1970 and I started work with Diebold in the Boston area in January of '71. I repaired ATM's most of the time, until I retired in February 1999. Haven't missed working yet, just the income.
We have lived in the same house in Framingham since 1973. Our two sons, Grant (b 1971) and Craig (b 1973), are out of College (MIT / Cornell) and at least one of them is out of the house now. Grant was doing something or other in investment advice, but is back home while he contemplates further study in economics. Next time he moves out, perhaps we will be able to see the floors and furniture again, that's if he takes his papers and books with him! Craig is an exercise nut - you know: bicycling, cross-country skiing, running, rock climbing. He makes a living doing geophysics. Started in North Carolina where he met is wife, Sara. If you can believe it, they met at church. They moved to California, living near Monterey for three years. We visited often. In 2005 they moved to Denver, shortly before our granddaughter Alison was born, sister to Aidan who was born in 2001, exactly 100 years to the day after my mother was born.
Valerie worked as a secretary, mostly in the legal area, including a couple of interesting stints in biotech. She got wise and retired in 2005, the day our granddaughter was born. We devote much of our remaining energies to training for, traveling to, or competing in orienteering events. Skip the next part if you (a) know what orienteering is, or (b) you don't want to know! But just in case you are wondering, orienteering is a sport where you use a compass, detailed topographical map and whenever possible, your head (as well as legs), to figure out how to find a bunch of markers someone has set out on small features, such as a 3-foot high boulder. This is a timed event with courses of different levels of difficulty for the varied skill levels (and ages) of competitors. We have traveled to many places on the eastern seaboard, to California, Washington State, Canada, and, often spend some of the summer in Colorado or Wyoming We enjoy visiting Colorado, not just for the scenery, but now also the grandchildren.
Since retiring we have enjoyed many Elderhostels: Mexico, riding El Chepe train through the Copper Canyon; New Zealand (a must see if ever there was one); Hawaii, five of the islands, just a paradise; St. Kitss and Nevis, service working on restoration of Brimstone Hill Fort; several around California, including Catalina Island and Desert Hot Springs (great place in Feb/Mar); others in the US, Key West included. backpacking in Arizona. Maybe we'll see a classmate at an Elderhostel one of these days.
When at home I volunteer as an ESL tutor, Valerie is on a couple of committees/boards and does Medicare counseling.
Looking forward to meeting up with classmates at a future reunion.
Posted and edited 1/09
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