Well, after #16, I sat the scheduling desk at BBP for
2 1/2 months. My
enlistment was up 22Apr, but they sent me out a month early.
At the time
of my discharge, I had attained AT-2, P-2. I had taken
the rate
advancement exam at BBP, but the results were not available
in March.
Had I known that I had made E-6, I may have hesitated a few more
minutes
before takeing my discharge papers! LOL
Marlene & I were married May 9,1961 in Minn.
We honeymooned at my folks
vacation home in Fla. We liked that
area, so I took a job with Piper
Aircraft at VeroBch in their newly formed electronics
R&D division. ( I
had aquired my "1st class radio-telephone lic" at Honolulu
just before my
last deployment to Midway. ) So, I also
licenced most of the VHF
tranceivers that Piper ever built. I
was with Piper about 4 1/2 yrs.
Then late '65 , as Piper was getting a little shakey with electronics,
(NOT
MY
FAULT!! LOL) I left there and went to Radiation Inc,
( now Harris Systems)
near Melborne, Fla. That was a great job.
All cutting edge technolegy,
with surface
and aero space systems. I was a Lead Tech, which
they called Engineering
Specialist in System Intagration. In 67 &
68, I also went back to school
at Fla. Inst. of Tech. at night, but after two interruptions
due to
project installation
assignments, I never could get back into sync with my required
math
courses. - so, never got that EE deg.
Then, in the spring of 1972, my folks were looking to completely
retire
from business. It was time for me
to sh_t or get off the pot! LOL
In June, after the kids were out of school, we moved
back to my home town,
Manahawkin, NJ., to take charge of the family retail furniture
business.
We never looked back, and never regreted it either.
The furniture business has been good to us. It
was 60+ hrs a week, but
our home was next door, and our kids grew up in our
store with us.
Then in '88, as the econmy sagged, we closed out our
furniture and
converted our buildings into rental store units and warehouse spaces.
It
took a few years to get good solid businesses, but we now
have 100% rented.
All solid tenents, Thankfully!
We have 3 childern, Barbara, Jim, & Janna.
All happily married, Janna-
last may, on our anniversary. - - and our older 2 have given us
2
grandkids, Taryn is 2 1/2yrs, & Kean 19 months.
We now own the old Fla. home that we honeymooned in also.
Marlene & I go
down Nov 1 to get the place opened up and ready for winter use,
then back
to NJ for 3 wks over Christmas. Then it's back to Fla 'til
mid Apr.
When we lived in Fla., Marlene & I injoyed fishing and
camping with our
younsters. We were both active in our church and taught sunday
school for
the 11+ years we lived there. We also saw
all the Mercury ( except the
1st one), Gemini, & Apollo launches from our back yard
or work. That was
an exciting time also! After moving back
to N.J in 1972, we both
were involved in scouting for about 16yrs.
I started as commitee member
in Scout Troop 23 and later as Advisor for Explorer Post 23,
- - also went
through Wood Badge, "Buffalo Partol". That was a wonderful
experience!
With scouting, and our family, we have been avid conoe paddlers
from Jersey
to the Mn. Boundry Waters Now,
we are enjoying our small
grandchildern. While in Fla. I play golf twice
a week with the guys and
a lot of fishing. I'm not sure just where the rest of
the time goes! LOL
I'll be 65 next Oct.
Our address is : Lee F. & Marlene Kalsch, 448 E. Bay Ave.,
Manahawkin, NJ,
08050, ph (609)597-5182. and in winter:
11400 Indian River Drive,
Sebastian, Fla., 32958, ph (561) 589-4108. ( no
E-mail in Fla. !)