The life and times of ROBERT (BOB) SMITH

After leaving the carefree years at Acalanes behind, I attended J.C. and Cal. Hearing that the ladies liked men in uniform, I joined the submarine reserve while furthering my education. That was a fortuitous decision as, on a whim, I took the 2 ½ day exam in an attempt to win one of two fleet appointments to the Naval Academy that was apportioned to California. It worked and this country boy headed for Annapolis not knowing what was in store.

After graduating from Canoe U. (US Naval Academy) with the class of ’60, I spent a short tour of duty on the Academy staff as an instructor and company officer. Then it was off to Pensacola where I earned my wings of gold in March of ’62. The adventure had just begun.

I elected to fly anti-submarine hunter killer aircraft and had an interesting
6 ½ years on active duty. Flying P2 and P3 patrol aircraft, I saw night turn to day while airborne during the atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific. I danced with the Northern Lights North of Barrow, Alaska just off the Russian coast. I tracked Russian submarines off Okinawa and in the Mediterranean and saw Viet Nam up close and personal.

I completed my active service career as an instructor pilot at Moffett Field in Mountain View, California. Even with all that flying, I still found time to marry a local lady who presented me with two beautiful daughters.

While delivering my best friend’s body to his widow in Texas, I flew in the cockpit of an American Airlines freighter and that hooked me on becoming a commercial airline pilot. In September of ’66 I left active duty and started my career as an American Airlines pilot. The pay was better, the food was certainly a cut above Navy box lunches, we stayed in nicer accommodations and, best of all, nobody shot at us.

Flying as a captain on 727, DC-10, 767 and 757 aircraft I saw a lot of this great country in addition to Mexico, Canada, Germany, France and the Caribbean. For most of the time I was domiciled at SFO and lived in Saratoga and Pleasant Hill. I did transfer to Texas once but couldn’t learn to speak the language and returned to California.

No complaints about my personal life either. Although my first wife, the former Barbara Kaufman (Las Lomas graduate), decided to take early retirement after 24 years of marriage, we had two great children and six wonderful, beautiful and intelligent grandchildren.

I had not planned to remarry, but I found a lady that possessed the two qualities I required in a spouse. She had poor eyesight and was a lousy judge of character. In short, she was one of the few women on earth who could live with a guy like me. Shirley and I met when she was office manager for Dr. Engel, a Walnut Creek dermatologist.

I retired from the Navy with 20 years of combined active and reserve time. And, I left American Airlines in 1996 after 30 years of service. The time seemed right to leave the rat race, move to beautiful Colorado and search for some good fishing holes. While waiting for the fish to bite I reminisce about the good times when Hoky’s was the place to be on a Saturday night. And, I take pride in knowing that, forevermore, I will be a member of the Acalanes class of ’54.