David R Long – David R Long

David R Long

I started thinking when I was in grade school that I was not really capable of much because my grades were never very good. That continued all the way through High School. My best subjects were Art, and Music. All the other classes were seemingly too difficult for me and thus my school record was pretty bad. I think I graduated with a C average and was linked over 100 out of a class of about 120.

I just had so much trouble doing my homework that I usually took books home to do the homework but I would either fall asleep or get so frustrated I would just close the book and not do anything until the next day.

I would do most of my homework before class started which only gave me about 10 minutes to do all of my work for the days lessons. I didn't realize it at the time but that was to be the norm for me to learn at an accelerated pace and not be slowed down by a day's routine toward learning. It totally changed my life but not until much later after I had graduated.

Also as I now know and remember that since I was born on September 5th and school started on September 6th, that meant that I was a full year younger that most of my classmates. That fact alone put me in learning environment that I don't think I was quite ready for but that also turned out to be a blessing later.

When I graduated from High School in 1959 from Washington High School in Washington Indiana I joined the Navy instead of even trying to go to college because I thought college was totally out of the question for me.

I was sent to Turkey for my duty assignment and the base was very small and required a top secret clearance to even get on base. I was assigned to copy Russian Code. I had a lot of time on my hands and there was not much to do on base so I enrolled in some college level classes through correspondence courses and much to my surprise I did very well. In fact I did great. I aced all of the courses and completed them in just a few months instead of years.

What I discovered was that my study habits in high school was so bad that it was caused by having to study at the speed of the class. In the Navy, and studying subjects like Algebra, Geometry, and other subjects that I skipped in high school because I thought that the would be too difficult for me turned out to be very easy because I could study at my own speed. Instead of trying to learn things that in high school that took days to cover I could learn it in one or two nights of study at my own pace.

What a revelation and a surprise.

After that experience when I got out of the Navy I went to work for my Father in Louisville, Ky driving our little VW delivering processed film from my Dad's Photographic Processing Lab to various drug stores around Louisville. I went to Radio School and became a Radio Announcer and was hired on at the local radio station in Washington, Indiana WAMW/WFML.

I worked there for a few years and then one day I was driving through the countryside and saw a sign that said AIRPORT and turned in and little did I know that trip to the Airport would be a life changing event for me.

Barbara H Long

I moved to San Diego in 1987 and then we moved to Prescott Valley AZ where I will have a smaller house and NO STAIRS to climb!

YEAH!!!

That's right, I have lived in California all of my life and enjoyed it most of the time. We had a lovely home here that has everything that we would want in a home and a house except for the fact that it is a two story house we both love it here but unfortunately we just can no longer afford to live in California. And after looking at other states where we might be comfortable and live out our lives we finally decided to move to Prescott Valley, AZ. We found a very nice home there that is much smaller that this one but it will be much easier to keep up especially since my eyesight has nearly gone away and of course it is only a singe level home which will be a blessing for both David and me.

So we have packed up most of our things and given away to Good Will much of our furniture and the house goes on the market this month. We hope and pray that it will sell for a price that will net us enough money to buy the house in Arizona and give us a little extra money.

We both hate to leave all of our friends and our life here in California but hopefully we will be able to come back to visit several times a year since we will be financially better off and coming back is only about a 6 or 7 hour drive and pulling our RV and staying at the Elks for about $20 a night is quite possible.

So wish us luck, keep us in your prayers and we will see what happens.