Patrick Skelly '52

   I never made it into Chemical Engineering in the Navy, as I'd planned all through high school, and as was noted in our Senior Class Prophesy - I left that to my son, he's career Navy.

   I was a College Student ... and College Student ... and College Student ... mostly part-time toward my interests of the moment until my company told me I couldn't break out of my technical niche without a degree, any degree. I finally buckled down, received a B.S. in Business Administration in 1978. By putting together all I'd done before, 180 semester hours at seven colleges, I had enough diversity for five minors!

   All in all, I've had a far richer and more interesting life than I'd ever visualized. Now I'm stretching into new adventures. But I guess that's the case for all of us. We've all done things we'd never imagined possible when we were in Nurnberg! My more memorable highlights include:

• To feed my body:
• NCO-in-charge, Computation Lab, US Army Ballistic Missile Agency
• Computer Specialist, RCA Service Co. - Ballistic Missile Early Warning System in Thule
• Field Service Manager and Project Engineer, Ampex Computer Products
• Project Engineer, General Electric Computer Division.
• Operating Systems Test Director, Program Manager for Software Release, Honeywell Information Systems
• Studio Director, Recording for the Blind
• To feed my mind and dreams:
• Competition Driver, Sports Car Club of America ... long, long ago
• Chairman, Standards Committee, Association for Computing Machinery
• Member and officer, several American National Standards Committees
• Scout Leader, BSA and GSUSA - 15 years with handicapped American Indian youth
• Forum Leader, America Online - created their disAbilities and Scouting forums
• And more recently:
• Military Historian - you'll find much of my work on the Military History Network
• Life Member, Military Historical Society of Massachusetts
• Webmaster, 34th Infantry Division Association, (WW II).
• Webmaster, The BETFOR Association, (British Element Trieste Forces, 1947-1954).

   Even now, I still haven't learned to settle down!

   Like many of you, I spent the early years of my life moving every three years - or oftener. Then in 1965 I bought a house in Phoenix, stayed there until after the mortgage was paid off, though traveling a lot on business. After almost 30 years in Phoenix, I moved to Cape Cod in 1994 - after the temperature in Phoenix hit 122 degrees for the second time. (Ralph Lurvey, living only two miles from me in Phoenix, tracked me down about then and told me of our Alumni Association.)

   I now have a small RV, travel extensively, much of it visiting family out west (sister, son, daughter, grandson, a 2nd grandson just recently) and friends all over - supporting World War II veterans' associations, and doing research in military libraries and museums. At home I assist my partner, Genevieve, with her online book store: where I've given myself the title of Warehouse Operations Manager: building bookcases, loading shelves, helping to pack and ship orders.

   All of my military history work is now focused online. The real pleasure comes with the e-mails from the families of veterans saying, "He never talked about it, what happened?" I'm able to give them some detail, point to other resources, or show them information I've gathered about other units or veterans who had experiences which were just about the same.

   Maybe I'll start to slow down in a few years. The problem with all my traveling is that with each trip I collect enough background and website information to keep me busy for a year. I joke that I've now got enough to keep me going until I'm 120.

Return to Yearbook + 50