Duluth Central High School Class of 1961
Classmates
Gary Thompson (Deceased)
Comments
Retired
Spouse: Kathy (Kat)
6 Children
9 Grandchildren
Information update: 05/15/2024
Since high school graduation I majored in business management, industrial arts and electronic engineering at various times and schools..and also picked up a private pilot certificate along the way. Did the Viet Nam war thing.USN...Worked on flight simulators and taught instrument flight procedures and navigation in the Naval Air Training Command in Texas.

My first marriage was to DCHS '65 grad Anita Johnson and we have a beautiful daughter. Anita and I decided to go in separate directions in about 1984. I married Kathy Busse Olsen, a Denfeld grad, in 1988. She's had a long and distinguished career as a medical lab technician and supervisor, and she's also a tenacious golfer. Kat had five wonderful kids from her first marriage and now we share nine grandkids, all nearby in Minnesota or Wisconsin.

My working career was spent as a marine electronics engineer. I've traveled to just about every seaport in the country to install or repair electronic navigation, communications, and steering control equipment aboard ships.

Kat and I built a house on our forty acre ranch north of Duluth and raised horses for many years. I was elected to a couple of terms on the local Town Board of Supervisors, and was privileged to help a lot of people by serving over twenty years as a volunteer firefighter and first responder.

We retired a few years ago. Golf has replaced big ships, horses, airplanes and fire trucks in my life now. During the warm months I can be found most days at Lester Park Golf Course or at home gardening, and early winter is for woodworking. But February, March, and April are devoted to escaping Duluth's endless winter by hacking our way around golf courses in the warmer latitudes while on a quest to find the perfect BBQ joint or taqueria.

I discovered the secret to golf and living life is that "It's not what you fling, but rather the fling itself". I remind myself often when sandbagging Kathy beats me.