A Bulletin That Changed Many Lives, by Bob

A LIFE CHANGING EVENT

by Bob

Many times life changing events are not thought of as such at the time they occur. This was certainly true in the case of the event that I will now describe.

Following my graduation from college in 1955, I went to work for the Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company at its home office in Hartford, Connecticut. Four years later I was working as a Special Agent at a branch office in Baltimore, Maryland. My job was to visit insurance agencies, answer any questions they might have, and help them drum up business for their agency and for the Hartford.

In the spring of that year, 1959, I was informed that my responsibilities were going to be changed from working in the field to supervising the processing of new policies and claims. Though the change would not effect my salary, in my view, it was a demotion.

It prompted me to give serious thought to something that had been in the back of my mind since my college days when I read an interesting item on the bulletin board. It was a Department of Defense advertisement encouraging those with two years of teaching experience to apply to teach American children at U.S. military bases in various locations around the world. At the time I thought, What an opportunity!

Teaching as a profession, quite honestly, had no particular appeal, but the chance to see other lands such as Europe and the Far East definitely did. The timing was ideal. It was just a month before the first summer session at college. There was such a shortage of teachers in Connecticut that the state had encouraged colleges to offer an eight week summer program to anyone that had a college degree. This would enable them to teach that fall on an emergency certificate.

I made arrangements to enroll, resigned my position with the Hartford, and after taking the summer program, I became a sixth grade teacher at Hicks Memorial School in Tolland, Connecticut. After fulfilling the two year requirement, I applied for a teaching position with the Department of Defense.

My first assignment was at Kindley Air Base in Bermuda. Two years later I was teaching at a school on the outskirts of Tokyo and four years after that I was principal of a school at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. Little did I guess when I entered that sixth grade classroom in the fall of 1959 that it would be the beginning of a 40 year career in public school education.

Written: July 20, 2008

Imagine the change in Bob's life when he jumped on board to go across the seas. While he may question whether or not he should have chosen teaching as a career, I know he influenced more lives than had he chosen any other profession. Of course, this is my opinion, but I know others would adamently agree. Bob described well the events that took place leading up to his change in careers which affected the rest of his life.

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