Robert Waite

Hi Jan!

I just reviewed all the Bio¹s that you have been so kind to send me. Thought if I was ever going write mine, I better get busy. Also, I found my “La Solana” today so now I have refreshed my memory (yes I am starting to get those Senior moments of what day is it and where am I) of times past in Central. I am still not sure I will be able to make the reunion this fall. You will have to read my Bio right to the end to understand why I probably won¹t make it. Well here goes, I hope you don¹t get put to sleep.

After graduation from Central I was accepted to attend Pepperdine College in Los Angeles. Which was a good thing because it was the only college I applied at. I was able, with much effort, to graduate in May 1965 with a Physics degree. After college I didn¹t know what to do so I went to Graton, CA (north of San Francisco) and taught at a Christian High School.

The best part of that year was meeting and marrying my wife of 34 years (35 years this Oct.). Of course this was during the Viet Nam era, so rather than be drafted I enlisted in the Air Force in March 1967. After completing basic training, I passed the medical exams for the U.S. Air Force Officer Training School entered Officer Training finishing it in Nov. 1967. My first assignment was to attend graduate school at the Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma. For some reason the Air Force thought they wanted me get my masters in Physics. I almost made it but a course called “Quantum Mechanics” and the math course required for it got too theoretical for me and I didn¹t keep a “B” average. So what does the U.S.A.F. do with someone that doesn¹t meet their expectations.

They send them to SAC (Strategic Air Command) Rapid City, South Dakota to be an ICBM Missile Combat Crew Member. Yes, I was one of those officers responsible to launch Nuclear Warheads on Russia. After five years and two daughters later we got new orders that took us to Biloxi, Mississippi where I was trained to be an Electronics Officer.

Next stop was Fairchild AFB in Spokane, WA for two years with SAC again. I just couldn¹t seem to get away from Nuclear weapons. My job was to issue special communications devices to the B-52 crews that were on 24-hour standby to launch their planes armed with nuclear weapons. Finally, with the end of the Viet Nam WAR I was able to resign from the Air Force (they said they didn¹t need me, along with a lot of other Officers) so after almost 8 years in the Air Force what do I do now? Who needs a former Capt. with ICBM experience in SAC? I applied to the U.S. Federal Civil Service Commission in Los Angeles to get rated as an Engineer. After many months of harassing them they finally rated me as a Mechanical, General, Electrical, and Electronic Engineer, thanks to my Physics degree.

Now comes the hard part, to find a job in the Federal Government as an engineer. Well after many months I got a job offer but the big surprise was the location working for the Air Force at the Navy base in El Centro. We moved to Holtville and I worked at the Navy Base for almost two years. Somehow during this time, I got interested in investing in oil and gas well development in Texas (remember the gas price increases in 1975-76) so off we go to Ranger, TX. I helped drill a couple of wells, but no luck hitting it big except for my son who was born there.

Well back to the government as an engineer. I managed to convince the Bonneville Power Administration to hire me and teach me to be an Electrical Engineer. You would think with all of the moving we had done until now I would be ready to settle down. During our first 12 years of marriage we moved 13 times and I was still married to the same woman! Well now come some more moves to be able to advance in my new profession. We lived in Lewiston, Idaho for 2 years; Burley, Idaho for two years; Haley, Idaho (next to Sun Valley) for a year; and then to Walla Walla, WA. I managed to stay in Walla Walla for 10 years and then due to a restructuring of Bonneville Power I was going to have to move to either Portland, Oregon or Vancouver, WA but I don¹t want to move to the big city (Walla Walla has a population of 35,000).

I managed to get selected for the BPA Regional Manager¹s job in Redmond, Oregon (pop. 12,000) where we moved in June 1994. We left our oldest daughter, son-in-law, grandkids, and my parents in Walla Walla (I moved my parents here from El Centro in 1993) so I promised my wife and myself that we would move back to Walla Walla as soon as possible. Six years later in August 2000 I finally got a job with BPA in Pasco, WA. So now I am driving 49 miles one way to work from Walla Walla.

I plan to retire from the Government (34+ years) in Jan. 2002. But, I will still have to work since we have a 10-year-old adopted son. Also, I am supporting our Albanian daughter Brikena Haxhiraj (she considers us her American Parents) at the Univ. of Oregon in Eugene. This summer an Albanian couple with their American born son (born in Redmond, OR March 31, 2000 my wife and I were present for his birth) will be coming back from Belgium to stay with us. We are now considered their American parents and have another grandchild (Angelo Xhemalaj).

I have probably written too much but after getting started it just seems to keep going. If you have any interest in how I got involved in Albania, the trips I made there and the Albanian people that we love and who are now a part of our lives just ask and I would be happy to write more. But it is not a short story since it started in 1993 and continues to develop.

I am very blessed that God has given me good health but especially a wonderful Christian wife, daughters, sons and Albanian son, daughters, and grandson. My life since high school has gone in directions I would have never imagined and I have come to realize how that people are so much more important to my life than my job, money, success and all those other things most Americans consider important.

But, that is a story for another time!

Robert Waite (The one in La Solana who didn¹t have anything to write!)