Bob informed us in 1988 that he had joined the Army in September of 1958 and retired as Staff Sgt. in 1979. He married in 1958 and they had 4 children - 2 boys who would now be 43 and 40, and 2 girls who would be 41 and 38. He divorced in 1971 and married again in 1985 and his wife Beverly, was a housewife. Bob spent 1 year in Vietnam, 3 years in Augsburg Germany, 3 years at Fort Lewis, and 3 years in Frankfurt Germany while he served in the Army. After retirement, he spent 6 months following the coastline from Seattle to Bar Harbour, Maine. He joined Burlington Northern Railroad in July of 1979 and had been living in a 26 foot travel trailer going from city to city and state to state, following the regional gangs of the railroad. He has been all the way from Seattle to Montana to California and points in between. He spent the 1987 winter in the California desert camping, fishing, rock hounding and sightseeing as snowbirds. Bob medically retired from the RR in 1997 and we moved to Sequim Wash. in an RV park at Diamond Point. We have continued to winter in the desert out of Yuma AZ until 2000 when Bob received 100% disability from the V.A. He needed back surgery in 2001 so we moved to Tucson to get the surgery done at the V.A. there. We decided this would be our winter home and bought a Park Model in Rincon County West RV Park. We had been spending summers at our lot in Sequim until January 2007 when Bev got a job working in a contract Post Office. Then my mother had a heart attack in April and I spent 4 months in California until she passed away. From August of 2007 until now we have been living in Tucson in our Park Model just living life, bowling most days ands that's all.
I received my BS degree from Brigham Young University in 1969 and shortly thereafter began a career as a pharmaceutical sales representative for Pfizer, Inc. I had enjoyed 30 years of successful sales positions in the Midwest before accepting a promotion to Sarasota, FL where I continued to enjoy success and the work before I closed out my 37 year career with Pfizer. In January of 2006 I retired, having earned distinction as a member of Pfizer’s coveted “Hall of Fame”. I currently am a member of Pfizer’s “Ambassadors”, a limited number of retired sales representatives that are invited to be consultants at medical conventions.
My wife, Dorothy, and I enjoy our retirement in our comfortable home. We leave home frequently to visit our 3 sons and our daughter in their homes in different U.S. locations and enjoy the company of our seven grandchildren.
From Dennis: After 2 years of college, 46 years of marriage, 28 1/2 years as a Naval flight engineer, 20 years of owning my own business and 6 years of employment in the private business sector, I am happy to say I am finally retired!
Jim attended Everett Community College for 2 years then joined the US Coast Guard. He Married in 1961 to Judy Anderson, from the Shoreline class of 1960. This marriage, unfortunately, ended in divorce after 17 years. He does have 5 grand children, two in Stanwood, WA from one daughter, and three in Idaho from another daughter. Jim lost his recent wife of 16 years in 2005 from a 7-year battle with ovarian cancer. Jim's work career involved 12 years with the Washington State Department of Highways performing various engineering and surveying tasks with highway construction on Interstate 5, I-405, and portions of I-90. He later moved to the computer integration and software engineering field being responsible for purchasing, shipping, and production management. On the activities side, Jim got involved with singing 4-Part Barbershop Harmony in 1970 and is still very active today in a quartet. He is also busy with his Rotary Service Club affiliation, fund raising for the American Cancer Society, and facility volunteer efforts at his Church. He is now Semi-retired as a licensed handyman doing small contract jobs as well as remodel projects to his view home in Mukilteo. He is now going through the task of "cyber-dating" looking for his last love. WOW, what a change from dating in the past. He is again on the Shoreline Reunion Committee as he has been for all previous events. I hope ya'll have a great time at the BIG 50-Year Reunion. Geesh, 50 years?
So much has changed for me since my days at Shoreline High that it really feels like it has been 50 years since the (mostly) dedicated faculty tried, with marginal success, to teach me something. With my lackluster academic performance back then, who would have thought I would end up going all the way – I did not even think about it! However, thanks to a number of seminal events in my early days, for the last 45 years I have had the best job on the planet. As crazy as it seems, I can track the “idea” for my career in marine biology and scuba diving back to events that happened in the Shoreline Community - seeing the movie “The Frogmen” about Navy divers at the Ridgecrest Theater in 1951, and in 1953 finding the books “Under the Red Sea”, by Hans Hass, and “Silent World”, by Jacques Causteau, in the Jane Adams Jr. High library, and in 1956 subscribing to “Skin Diver” magazine. I was fascinated by the world underwater. It is likely now safe to admit that I often skipped classes at Shoreline (using notes from my understanding mother) to go snorkeling in Puget Sound at Picnic Point and Richmond Beach. I started scientific research diving in 1965, and 43 years and in excess of 2,800 dives later, I still regularly “blow bubbles” for science.
In 1958 I started at the University of Washington, trudging to classes with Dean Humphrey, Ken DeFleur and Bruce Richardson, not really knowing why I was there. Then it all came together in 1960. That summer I was very fortunate to go with Bruce to Kauai, Hawaii, where his family was on vacation when his father was conducting bird research – this was my first experience in tropical waters and my “dream career” in marine biology became focused on coral reef fish research. In the fall during my undergraduate studies, I took a class at the School of Fisheries and I met Professor Alan DeLacy, Wendy DeLacy’s father. Dr. DeLacy became my mentor and inspired me to pursue a career in marine sciences. I had not known that Wendy’s father was a marine scientist, and I had never even asked Wendy for a date although we had been in classes together since Jane Addams Jr. High - had I known about her father …… In 1963, I received a BS degree from the UW with a major in marine biology. After a year of graduate study at the University of Hawaii, I returned to the UW and in 1969 received an MS degree, with Dr. DeLacy as Chair of my Graduate Committee.
While all this was going on, in 1964 I started a fascinating and rewarding career as a Fish Biologist in marine science with the Washington Department of Fisheries (now Fish and Wildlife), in Olympia, which is still going strong 45 years later as the Senior Research Scientist. In 1985-1987 I took a two-year government service leave to be Chief Fishery Biologist for the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources. I had reached “nirvana” with a job requiring research and diving throughout the tropical Pacific waters from Micronesia south to the Cook Islands. My son, Troy Buckley, joined me in American Samoa after receiving a BS degree from the UW in fisheries science, and we had a wonderful time working, diving and playing together throughout the tropical south and central Pacific. Earlier in life I had “discovered” soccer when Troy started playing in the 8th grade, and Troy and I were able to continue our adult recreational soccer “careers” in American Samoa by playing on the same local village team – what a treat!
My current life started in November 1990 when I went to Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain, to give a research paper at a scientific conference. At the airport I met Marta Gomez Llorente, a marine biology graduate student at the Universdad de Las Palmas who was my interpreter and host for the conference. My bachelor days were over in an instant – it does happen at first sight. My Spanish language skills were worse than marginal, and oh how I wished I had been a better student in Mrs. Timar’s Spanish class at Shoreline. However, Marta’s English was perfect and we clearly spoke the same language. Marta and I were married in Olympia a year later, and over the years we worked and played together in Japan, Fiji, Hawaii, Guam, Palau, the Bahamas, the Mediterranean, Florida, California, and Alaska. For us 1997 was a major year - I received a PhD in marine ecology from the UW College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, assisted by many hours of diving by Marta, my marine biologist colleague. Also, I was appointed Affiliate Assistant Professor at the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, to serve on graduate student supervisory committees and lecture in marine sciences. But, the main 1997 event happened in August when our fantastic daughter, Adriana, was born. Adriana starts the 6th grade in 2008, and yes I have a daughter younger than your grandkids!
When I retire (soon) I will continue with the research on the Aldabra Marine Programme I started in 1999. Under the organizational umbrella of the University of Cambridge, UK, I joined two colleagues from the UK, and one from Spain, to conduct annual expeditions at Aldabra Atoll and adjacent islands in the southern Seychelles Islands, Indian Ocean. This research assesses the recovery of the coral reef ecosystems after global-warming and the 1998 El Niño event caused extensive loss of coral habitats. It is a tough job but somebody has to do it. However, my main interest in life is having fun with Marta and Adriana. Our family activities include beach walks (with a heavy dosage of the wonders of marine life for Adriana), cycling, hiking, soccer, swimming, X-C skiing, snow shoeing, canoeing and reading together. Thanks to Marta and Adriana, I am the most fortunate man on the planet.
Lori attended Central Washington College for 1 ½ years and married Jay Burmester in December of 1959. They moved to Kirkland in 1960 after Jay's graduation. They had a family retail furniture business until 1973 when Jay became a wholesale furniture agent and Lori went to work as an office manager of a dental office. Lori retired from her job in February of '88. She and Jay raised two children, Karen and Bob. They are both married and each have two children. Lori and Jay retired in 1997, moving to Wenatchee to enjoy the sun and dry golf course. They will be unable to attend the reunion.
John attended the U of W for 5 years, then worked as a designer for EISI (Engineered Industrial Systems, Inc.). He was self-employed for 3 years and then spent 10 years with Bumstead Woolfort Co, then was CEO, President and Sec./Treas. Of Industrial Power Corporation in Woodinville. He is married to Luana and they have 2 boys. He retired in 1998 at 58 and is enjoying life. They now live 1/2 year in Washington and 1/2 year in Arizona. His interests are Art (watercolor), Golf, Hiking and several business ventures.