According to my baby book I had read all my first grade readers before I was two years old
I entered kindergarten at 4 years old, 1947 North Queen Anne School.
The first eight grades of my schooling alternated between NQA school and Seattle Jr. Academy.
Grades 1,2, 4(1/2), 5 and 8 were at SJA and 3,4(1/2),6 and 7 at NQA.
I attended 9th grade at Walla Walla College Academy in College Place WA.
My highschool years 10, 11 and 12 were at Queen Anne Sr. HI. resulting in a diploma.
My early childhood residence was in a large house on North Queen Anne.
In 1954/55 when, after looking at many live-aboard vessels, mom, dad and I moved into the Cornelius Hotel.
This was a transient hotel in downtown Seattle.
My dad had helped write the first FCC licensing test and taught me electronics at a young age.
My parents were fans of Science Fictionand My dad had worked in radio and electronics
since the 20s and was a member of the Astronomical society and the National Spieleological society
(among others) so my recreation with my dad tended to be academic
In May 1961, I joined the Army, and after making rather high scores on the aptitude tests,
I was asked to volunteer for duty with the Army Security Agency, then a branch of NSA.
After training, I was assigned to Okinawa.
There I got my first chance to play with computers at JSPC on an IBM 1401.
The computer priesthood frowned on my independent nature and I could never show enough of the "respect" they felt due,
so I focused on telecommunications electronics.
In 1963, I was asked to volunteer for a special operations unit in Thailand.
My promotional opportunities were limited so late in 1963, when I was asked to volunteer for a special language school in Wash. D.C.
I left Thailand to study North Vietnamese at Fort Mead.
I had never realized I was gay though in hindsight I should have known when I was 11 years old.
Especially on Okinawa where I fell in love but no, I spent a couple of years denying (to myself) my sexual orientation.
With my return to the U.S., my homosexuality became obvious to me as it had been to family and friends.
I knew that hiding my orientation in the agency would leave me open to possible blackmail.
Besides I have a strong belief in honesty, so I informed the army
and received a discharge under honorable conditions in December 1964.
My parents and my sister, who was living at home again, accepted me back home with open arms.
My sister told me she had known I was gay since I was 11 years old.
(I asked her why she didn't tell me, and she said she figured that I'd find out soon enough.)
My dad and I finally started becoming friends and discussing things other than science.
As I had grown up, my dad had been more a teacher than a father.
Even with all the love, I felt uncomfortable and restricted when I moved back home
so at the earliest moment, I moved out on my own.
On the next blog pages I shall talk separately about my social history and my work history.
But that shall have to wait. We are still under construction here