Mack Williams

My dad was a Methodist preacher (Wesley United Methodist in Longview) and we moved several times while I was young. We arrived in Longview in

1959 and I spent grades 9-12 there. When someone asks me where I’m from originally or where I grew up I say “Longview”. It is where so many of my

boyhood memories took place and probably my favorite town before I went out into the world on my own.

After being graduated from LHS I spent my freshman year in Jacksonville at Lon Morris College. It was a wonderful experience even though my study

habits deteriorated significantly. One of my professors gave us a brief glimpse into the world of computers - a little-known career at the time. I was intrigued

and decided to transfer to University of Houston to study math and take all the few computing classes I could find there. At U of H my study habits further

deteriorated (gosh the Student Union Building and Wesley Foundation were fun!). But I was graduated (barely) in 1966 with a BS in Math.

By that time the draft board was right on top of me so I enlisted in the Army, became an Artillery Officer and was stationed for two years at Fort Hood,

Texas. I think I was marking the countdown calendar the whole last year. While at Fort Hood I took a couple of computer programming classes at night at

the local community college.

When I finally said good-bye to the Army I left for Houston and found a job as a computer programmer with Gulf Oil in 1969. I stayed with Gulf for 16

years until it was gobbled up by Chevron Oil. I was offered a job in the San Francisco area and spent 14 years there with Chevron. The Bay Area was

wonderful but it was so expensive and the people were typically very different from Texans.

When I decided I couldn’t stand corporate life any longer I retired at age 54 and moved to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas where I live a delightful life

now. Why there? It is an extremely large gated community with about 8 golf courses for property owners and about the same number of lakes. There are lots

of recreational and service opportunities. I learned to play bridge and over time as my golfing time has dwindled I have increased my bridge time – now

about 3 times per week.

I have done a lot of traveling since I retired – Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, France, Belgium, England, Scotland, Australia, New

Zealand, Canada, Alaska, and lots of the US. I don’t have the energy for that any more but may try one more trip abroad – Norway.

While at LHS I sang in the school choir. I still enjoy singing and have sung in church choirs wherever I have lived. Lately I’ve been thinking about taking

piano lessons if I can find somebody who will teach an old geezer with no talent.

I’m looking forward to seeing some of my classmates and wondering how they got to be so old