Best describes me? Retired US Air Force officer, happily married with daughters 18 and 15 and son 12.  Since Broadmoor, short while at LSU, then to USAF enlistment at San Antonio.  Then back to LSU and AF ROTC.  Back into the USAF, moved to Dayton, Albuquerque, southern Maryland, and now settled in Niceville (near Ft Walton and Destin).  Still playing my trombone once in a while.  Never been to a reunion yet.  Perhaps this one.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:  Larry’s Life as a Spaghetti Western

It’s great to reconnect with people from Broadmoor, and I thank Leigh Wolf and Jim Thompson for tracking me down.  Yesterday, as I first posted some of my story, my daughter Katy (age 14) looked over my shoulder and pointed out that my tale was depressing.  So I will try to tell what I’ve been up to without being too serious.  And, as my title suggests, I’ve decided on a Leone/Eastwood theme.

1.      The Good:  My higher education followed a decidedly Texan trend and includes a BA in English from Texas Lutheran U, an MA in English from Texas State U, and a PhD in English from Texas A&M. After TLU, I became addicted to deer hunting—so much so that I wrote my dissertation on Shakespeare and the hunt so I could play at my work and work at my play.   I am now a tenure-track English professor at McMurry—a small liberal arts university in the “Big Country” of Abilene, TX. At McMurry, I teach courses on Shakespeare, Brit lit, tech writing, and composition.  My son Nick (age 19) is a freshman at McMurry, where he gets, as my dependant, a full tuition waiver.  Nick is majoring in history and getting a minor in music (He’s a good sax player, and his sister plays French horn). Right now, Nick plans to go to medical school, so he may change majors and minors soon, and Katy is talking about becoming a lawyer.  In 1988 I married Teresa Davis, who started seminary while she was pregnant with Nick in 1990.  She was ordained as a Lutheran Pastor in 1994.  I know, I know—those of you who remember my first mark on Broadmoor in1968 in the third grade when I, dressed in my Cub Scout uniform, defined the F-word for the class (old lady Schultz had stepped out for a moment) and got his and the mouths of his coconspirators washed out with soap in Mrs. England’s office; who remember my shameless exploitation of KK and his missing legs (that we slathered with ketchup for fake blood) when we dramatized Washington and Braddock’s retreat for Mrs. McDonald’s fifth grade class; who recall that Coach Cranford gave me licks for saying “Bullshit!” in ninth grade PE; who recall my delight at the bawdy passages from Richard III when we read it in Mrs. Cole’s class in 12^th grade English; who observed how much I skipped school (except for band!) in the teacher’s strike in the Spring of ’79; and who noticed that for a couple of years in high school how I spent every free moment playing jazz and listening to live jazz in various dens of iniquity in and around Baton Rouge— you folks will be astonished that I married a clergy-woman.  Indeed, I am still astonished at it myself!  Right now, Teresa is interim pastor at a rural parish outside of Abilene, and it looks possible that she will serve this parish in a more permanent capacity soon.

2.      The Bad:  Right after my BA in 1983, I was accepted into the fall class of St. Mary’s Law School in San Antonio.  On Thursday of the second week of that semester, I was driving to class when my car slid across a rain-slick road and struck another car head on.  I was knocked out, and I shattered my right femur into at least seventeen pieces.  Although I returned to class in a wheel chair a week later, I was in a lot of pain for the next four months, and I failed out.  There was no Americans with Disabilities Act back then, so the accident ended my aspiration to be a lawyer.  That January, I began my first semester in graduate English studies and made a 4.0.  Since then, I have generally been a professional student.  Besides teaching at TSU, I have taught at Austin Community College, the U of Houston-Downtown, and Texas A&M.

3.      The Ugly:  If you have looked at the “In Memory” page for the class of ’77, you have seen my brother Doug’s picture there.  He killed himself in 1999.  I was then in the throes of writing my dissertation, which is why I did not come to our reunion that year.  Although Doug’s death is the worst thing I ever faced, it removed a constant worry from my life as his depression and alcoholism deepened and he was repeatedly arrested for DWI.

Despite rough patches, my life has been more good than bad or ugly, and I am in a good place now.  I hope to publish my dissertation this year or next, my children seem to be turning out okay, and I have wonderful colleagues at McMurry. I hope to see you at the reunion in October.  Till then, I am looking forward to hearing from you and getting caught up on the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in your lives!

We are in Shanghai involved with launching professional ice hockey in China in a joint venture between the Central Government and the San Jose Sharks. Not sure I will be home for the reunion as our home leave is in July. Emails are welcome. Of course if travel plans bring you to Asia we are happy to show you around Shanghai!

My 11 year old just created our China website. If time and interest permit, please check it out at familyinchina.weebly.com.

On the health front, I took up long distance running to keep the weight down and have the energy to chase after little people. Ran the Silicon Valley Marathon in Oct 05 and Shanghai last Nov. Hope to run the Great Wall in May (maybe just the half as it is grueling over the ruins)