Married Nola Bangerter in January 1962. We have five adult children and currently 15 grandchildren.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and grew up in Centerville, Utah which is 12 miles north of Salt Lake. I joined the Air Force in 1960 after serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints in Denmark. After Basic Training and Schooling I serviced GAM77 missiles at Mather AFB in Sacramento. These missiles were fired from specially equipped B52 bombers. I was assigned to OCS from this assignment in Oct 1962.
I have only the good memories of OCS. I can’t remember the Saturdays spent walking in a square or picking up things or being trained one-on-one or the cleaning, or the inspections, two-minute showers, or square meals requiring a late-night toothpaste supplement. Gone too are the memories of popcorn popping and other aromas sneaking into our area at study time after a good square meal. I seem to only recall a fish pond of Jello, the story of a runaway alligator, and very fond memories of a bunch of guys who worked together to get through a rough six months. I sometimes dream that I will someday be able to get to my graduating weight of 135 pounds.
After OCS graduation I was assigned to train in Mississippi, Texas, and California and was finally assigned to serve as a missile guidance officer for the Titan I missiles at Lowery AFB Colorado. I served with a crew of four at an underground silo and launch site every third day. These sites were an extended distance from Denver. The Air Force required that we be trained to survive if the transportation broke down. Last year I revisited as many of the sites as I could find and there is not a one that you couldn’t walk to a nearby community. Quite a change, but alas we all have changed. After the Titan I sites were replaced by the Titan II, I was reassigned as a Communications officer at March AFB, CA. I worked at this until my resignation was accepted and I was separated from the Service in January 1967.
After my release, Nola and I built a home in Moreno Valley California. We moved into this home in June and lived there for the next twenty-three years. During this time I graduated from Cal Poly Pomona, was an assistant business manager/chief financial officer for a large high school district. I started a business selling computer and accounting systems to businesses. This led me to develop a business which downloaded software to your local computer store for resale. It doesn’t sound exciting in these days of the internet but it was fun at the time. I feel so lucky that I have had fun for most of my working career.
I am working as a consultant helping small business owners become profitable. Most of my work is in California so Nola and I moved from Denver to the Sacramento area last July. I meet some very creative people and generally have a good time in these assignments. I am looking forward to spending more time at home in my workshop, more time with the grandchildren and more time fishing.
