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April 9, 2007 A report from San Diego (Ramona actually, but who's ever heard of Ramona, CA, and that's pretty much the way Ramoanans like it). After eight years of college and graduate school, twenty-four years teaching and twenty-eight years in the "space" biz, the retirement curtain opened December 30, 2006. As I left ATK Space Systems, San Diego I could still feel a sense of excitement, accomplishment and fun reflecting on building some of the country's first communications satellites, hardware for the Hubble Telescope, GPS satellites, Chandra X-Ray Telescope, the Mars Rover expeditions and a host of other spacecraft including the current Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and New Horizons mission to Pluto. When I started with Composite Optics, Inc. (the original company) in 1978 there were only six of us and I had the good fortune to be the only non-engineer, so as the company grew I got to do everything else. When we were bought out by ATK in 2003 there were four-hundred of us -- what a trip! I wouldn't have missed it for the world. At the end of my tenure I was managing communications, including promotional work and web sites. So, now, Paula and I have a modest web development business -- DandP WebWorks. We hope to bring in a few extra bucks to pad the retirement nest egg. Need a web site? Give us a holler and we'll fix you up!
Speaking of web sites, here's one that's sure to be fun for all of us pre-old farts. Check it out and enjoy: Son John and daughter Dedra -- both in their 40s, geez! -- each have two kids and are doing well in the Bay Area, one in San Francisco and one in Oakland. John, formerly a brewery GM, is currently dabbling in the soft drink biz and house-husbanding Nathan 4, and Miles 3, while wife Patricia is an evironmental engineer for the Navy. Dedra is Director of the Undergraduate Computing Center at UC Berkeley, her partner Christa is with Pacific Gas & Electric. At preschool are Bailey 4 and Reed 2. All are well. We get up to see them at least once a year and they make the trek to our neighborhood at holiday times. Doctor and cardiologist tell me I'm still in fairly good shape -- a little overweight, need to shed 10-15 lbs, but then who doesn't? I have an arthritic left hip, however so far it's just a pain in the -- well you-know-where. Of course, I choke down eight or nine pills a day to keep all systems running within acceptable parameters and insure that the drug companies meet their profit margins. My mom lived to be 99 and didn't need no stinkin' pills, but then my dad checked out when I was 18, so I guess on the whole, I got a good genetic combination. Anyway,
enough rambling. I'm looking forward to the 50th next year and seeing
all of you there. I enjoy posting your news here on the web site
so keep it coming. You can contact us at the web address or at:
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Dave
Chamberlin 