The Tale of Chaos

A Few Words About Myself

My mother was pregnant with me in 1949 in Seattle, Washington during one of the worst earthquakes ever felt in the northwest United States. She remembers seeing unoccupied cars that had come off of their parking brakes rolling around in the street and colliding with one another. Following this shaky start, I was born there in January of 1950.

Dad came out of the Air Force after WWII and went right into aerospace work. The result was that we moved around as if we were a military family. I was six months old when we moved to California, so I can't really call Seattle my hometown. In fact I can't really call anyplace my hometown. I was enrolled in twelve schools during my first twelve years of school. Sometimes one school for three years, sometimes three schools in one year. It gave me a chance to see a lot of the country, and I had to be at least a little tough and smart since I was always the new kid in school.

The aerospace business turned to ICBMs and the facilities for them were usually in or near hick towns, so we always lived out in the country. This was very fortunate for me since it exposed me to high tech from the aerospace side while allowing me to develop a love for the country life that I continue to feel today. We lived in Washington, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Hawaii. We travelled through nearly all of the other states as well. I finished school, did the service thing during the Vietnam era, got a degree in business management and became a rock and roll star.

I went to work for Martin Marietta making me the fourth contigious generation aerospace worker in my family. My great-grandfather built planes for Donald Douglas out of spruce and canvas. My grandfather worked for Douglas, then for Lockheed building the fine cabinetry in the first airliners. Plane interiors were quite luxurious when only the rich could afford to fly. I've already mentioned my Dad was in aerospace, and I became a contract negotiator on the Space Shuttle and Titan missile programs.

It was wonderful to see the end of the cold war, except that it meant the end of the deep government pockets we had become used to. Martin Marietta, like all of the other contractors, downsized during this time. I went to ranching and trying to scrape out a living as a remodel contractor. I was married for ten years and divorced. I'm married again and have a year-old son, Travis Wayne Churchman, who was born just after my brother's birthday (August 17) on August 28, 1997.

How's that for a life story in a nutshell? My favorite things include playing acoustic guitar and singing standards and country songs. I really enjoy photography and do my own darkroom work. I love all things country including camping, horseback riding, hiking, wide open spaces and sunshine. I am learning computer programming and graphic design and have just opened a new Internet web site design business called 20/20 HindSites. Someday I'll be rich and famous!

Play Jeopardy

The Denver Broncos Home Page.

Back to Chaos' Page.

LinkExchange Member

Gary Churchman
garydebc@silcom.com

Copyright © 1997 Gary Churchman
This page was created Wednesday, April 02, 1997
Most recent revision Tuesday, August 25, 1998