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After leaving Kecoughtan I served over 2 years in the army and obtained the rank of Specialist 5th Class as a heavy equipment mechanic. Nothing great happened while serving except I returned home with my first wife and 2 children. The best thing that happened during that marriage was it ended in divorce.
After Uncle Sam gave me the boot I was desperate for work so I worked several years as a mechanic working at Tysinger Dodge. I learned very quickly that there’s not much of a future in coming home dirty and tired so I quit there and I tried selling Life Insurance for a couple of months.
The only thing I learned from selling life insurance was that everyone should really buy term insurance and invest the rest. That of course is still very good advise and I took that advise seriously. Besides, I was a very terrible sales person. I realized that receiving only one and a half percent return on an insurance investment wasn’t really sound advise. I just couldn't see myself selling something that even I didn’t believe in.
My cousin Steve Hensley finally convinced me to apply for a job with the Fire Department so I did. There I found myself spending almost 30 years working for the City of Hampton. That was back in 1972 and can you believe it, I really enjoyed firefighting. I just hated the emergency medical side of the job, but that's something I learned to cope with along with a lot of other things I won’t bore anybody with.
Heck, I’ve worked as a fire inspector, did a little fire investigating, did a little work as an instructor then was able to work as a station supervisor for the last 15 years while I was there. Oh, and I almost forgot, I did manage to go back to school and get some college education behind me. I guess you can tell that by the way I’m rambling on about myself. “Are we bored yet.”
The best part about working for the Fire Service is the part where I met my current wife Karen. She worked for me as a Medic/Firefighter in the early eighties and all I can say is we've both enjoyed the fringe benefits of falling in love with each other. That was over 24 years ago and we still put up with each other. There of course was a side bet within the fire department that Karen and I wouldn’t last more than 6 month’s after we were married. I still don’t know if anyone collected on that bet, but I’m still looking for my share of the pie.
Well, I was able to take early retirement using the sound advise I learned during my short stint as an insurance salesman. I invested very heavily in the cities deferred compensation plan and I am now reaping all the benefits. I'm smiling as I write this because a lot of my former co-workers kept telling me that they couldn't afford to invest and that they couldn’t trust anything that a City Manager would endorse. Now those same people can’t seem to understand why I haven’t worked since I've retired. ; )
Well I’ve bored everyone long enough now, but I’m now 60 years old, I still live with my wife Karen, 3 cat’s and a dog.
