My entire life after RAHS has been a life of new adventures and experiences. I have loved every minute of it, almost...

My first stop was Fullerton Junior College as an engineering major; that quickly changed after about 1 year and changed interests to natural resources, transferred to Humboldt State and graduated in 1968 with a BS in Forestry. However, as a senior I was drafted, received a senior deferment, graduated, but had to report to Oakland 7 days after graduation for induction into the Army. In those 7 days, I got married and was recruited into the Air Force. I began training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX in the Officers Training School. I was in the AF for a total of 5½ years and was stationed at Chanute AFB, Urbana, Illinois; Cannon AFB, Clovis, NM; and finally, Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, AK. I enjoyed my job as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer, but my real passion was to be a fighter pilot. That was not to be, as I couldn't pass the eye test exam part of the physical. I reapplied for flight training 10 times with the same result.

After the AF, I worked for IBM for 13 years, Eastman Kodak for 10 years, Danka Corporation for 5 years, and finally Xerox Corporation for 9 years. In the summer of 2006, I retired and started finishing my projects at home, which has turned out to be harder than working at an actual job; don't know how I did both for so long.

My interests and hobbies over the years since high school have been: earning my Commercial Pilot license, both land & sea; owning my own float plane; owning and racing numerous snow machines; building, owning, and racing sports cars; windsurfing; jet skiing with my wife and daughters; fishing, camping, and motorhoming with the family; and more traveling which we plan on doing more of in the future.

Kathy, my wife, and I have been married almost 33 years. We have 4 girls (my two, her one, and our one) all college graduates. At present, there are 4 grandchildren with one more on the way. Joni, my oldest, lives in Texas; Kim is an elementary school teacher in Anchorage; Lesa lives in England and Christina is presently living in Vermont.

Kathy and I have two homes (Anchorage, Alaska/Ocean Shores, Washington). We keep busy maintaining both properties, but plan on doing more traveling as Kathy has just retired about two months ago (03/2011).

After leaving California 46 years ago, I have maintained relationships with a few friends from high school; Reed Smoke, Don Saul, and Jim (Jimmy) & Connie Silva. I have known these guys since elementary school. Reed and I "Skype" at least 2-3 times a month. Reed lives in Anaheim Hills. I am looking forward to re-meeting all at the 2012 reunion. We already have airline tickets!

John & Kathy Conger

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