#85 TOMMY SMITH Tommy Smith NIXA, MISSOURI TO CONTACT TOMMY, GO TO CLASSMATES.COM Occupation: semi-retired Marital Status: Widowed No. of Children: 2 From Tommy: I don't think my feet ever left the ground after I left Parsons. Got 2 years at JUCO "For What It's Worth" (Great song by Buffalo Springfield by the way) and took off running. Spent 4 or 5 years in the Quad Cities (Moline & Rock Island, Ill. Joined the navy. Got a Med. Discharge for 3 fractured discs in my spine. It wasn't a war wound or anything. It was a sledding accident. Got married & divorced there. Moved to Kansas City, Mo in the early 70's. Got divorced. It was all her fault. I was the perfect husband. Moved to Louisville, KY. a couple of years later following my management jobs and married again. Then we moved to CA. where I always wanted to go. Over 25 years I lived either across from the beach or up the street from it in Westlake Vil, or Malibu or Santa Monica. Divorced my 2nd. wife a few years after moving there. Got into the hi-perfomance tire bs. as a rep for Pirelli and my carreer took off. It was what I was born for. I developed a dealer and rep training program for Pirelli and got to travel most of the time. Lived & worked in Milano, Italy, Sao Paulo & Rio de Janearo, Brazil & later for Dunlop, 3 western provinces of Canada & Alaska. I've scubba dived up and down the CA. coastline and windsurfed off Malibu. I've had whales surface next to my windsurfer a mile-&-a half off Malibu point. On numerous diving trips to Goat Harbor on Catalina Island we had schools of dolphins trail alongside our 17 ft. Boston Whaler. The best lobster you'll ever eat you dived for after sundown and tossed in a big boiling pot waiting in the dark on the beach after the dive. Until they disappeared, the best abalone I dived for was off Catalina or some of the more distant islands off the coast of So. CA. I could go on but the best is yet to come. I met my soulmate, Shelly while living in Hayward, CA. & training for the Bay-to-Breakers in 86. She was the perfect 6' tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed California blond and way smarter than I could ever think about being. Her only flaw was she fell in love w/ me. We had 16 wonderful years together till I lost her to cancer in '97. I never remarried. I custom built 26 log homes in the Rockies on the Eastern slope over a 6 to 8 year period and then retired again to move to the Ozarks in Nixa, MO. I now work part-time at a small bs. I own and play & record music most of the time. I released my 1st. C.D in 2001, 3 years after Shelly died. Many songs were about her & loss. My best friend, Joe Land & I are in production of a second C.D. of about 20 new songs. They should be out in a year or so. How can you ever plan this stuff. I have 2 grown sons that I wouldn't trade the world for. Scott in Topeka w/ his wife and my 3 grandchildren. He owns his own Architecture firm and my youngest son, Neil in Denver who is giving Walmart Corp. a real run for their money. It's amazing how little we really need in our lives. For me, just give me a guitar and banjo and leave me alone. The next 50 years couldn't be this good, could they? Tommy's Activities at PHS Intramurals 63 School Service 64 Tennis Team 64 Career Plans - Commercial Artist THE WAYWARD WIND ME & YOU & A DOG NAMED BOO GO BACK