The next 12 years were hard for a little boy. Having an alcoholic father and a mother with only an 8th grade education. Moving from farm to farm, living in houses with no running water or electricity, attending 6 different elementary schools, working in the fields-pulling cotton, harvesting peanuts, shucking corn, loading hay bales, irrigating rows.
In 1952, Jay's mom and dad separated leaving behind Jay's older brother and father. Jay, his mom and younger sister moved to Denver, where his older sister lived. Suddenly, Jay became "the man of the house" and worked many part-time jobs to help support the family. They continued to move from house to house in order to have lower rent, but this time he only attended two schools – Grant Junior High and South High School. When he graduated from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he served honorably for four years. He achieved the highest rank in three years instead of four. He became a radar technician and electronic technician. He had two tours aboard the USS Ranger Aircraft Carrier and was honorably discharged in 1962.
Back in Colorado, he heard there were openings at the Rocky Flats Nuclear plant. He applied, and while waiting for his top secret clearance, he worked as a payroll clerk at Shwayder Brothers (now Samsonite) in Denver, where he met me. He proposed December 28, 1962, and we were married the following July.
He started working at the "Flats" in January 1963. He worked various shifts in order to make as much money as possible. In 1964, we bought a house, Jay enrolled at the University of Colorado, Denver Extension, taking one class at night, and Tracy was born. He continued working at the flats, all shifts, going to school part time, and in 1965 Michele was born.
In 1966 the "Peace Time GI Bill" was passed for vets that served between Korea and Vietnam. This included full tuition and a monthly stipend. We decided that Jay should go to school full time. So he quit work at the Flats and enrolled full time at University of Colorado, Boulder, College of Engineering-commuting daily from Lakewood. He worked full time during the summers of 1966. 1967, and 1968 for the Geological Survey as a lab technician, In the summer of 1969 went to work as a student assistant at NOAA with Dr. Roger Lehermite in the Wave Propagation Lab. Jay graduated in December 1969 with a degree in Engineering Physics and Dr. Lehermite offered him a full time job. He still commuted from Lakewood. He was tired to commuting to Boulder, so we moved to Boulder in 1970 and here we stayed. He went to work at NCAR in 1980. He said that his family would never have the hard times he had as a child.
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