| Charles Tate Houston, TX |
After SHS, I attended La. Tech for one year,
then worked for the La. Highway Dept. building
the
I -10 interchanges between Sulphur and Lake
Charles, during which time I got married and
started a family. After 2.5 years, I moved to
Houston to attend an IBM sponsored computer
school, then moved to Ponca City, OK, to work
for Continental Oil Co., now known as
Conocophillips. During my 10 years there I
moved from punch-card operations to
mainframe programming, and also worked for a
local bank datacenter as operations
manager/programmer.
After a divorce, I married a piano/organ/voice
teacher/organist, but I still can't play the piano -
not her fault. Between us we have my two
daughters and a son and Joy's daughter, nine
grandchildren, four more by marriage, and six
great-grandchildren, at last count. Four
grandchildren are currently in college; one in
LSU, one in Ohio State, two in OK, and the last 4
aren't very far behind. Also, my youngest
daughter's son is currently serving in the Army
stationed in Germany. God bless our troops
everywhere!
then worked for the La. Highway Dept. building
the
I -10 interchanges between Sulphur and Lake
Charles, during which time I got married and
started a family. After 2.5 years, I moved to
Houston to attend an IBM sponsored computer
school, then moved to Ponca City, OK, to work
for Continental Oil Co., now known as
Conocophillips. During my 10 years there I
moved from punch-card operations to
mainframe programming, and also worked for a
local bank datacenter as operations
manager/programmer.
After a divorce, I married a piano/organ/voice
teacher/organist, but I still can't play the piano -
not her fault. Between us we have my two
daughters and a son and Joy's daughter, nine
grandchildren, four more by marriage, and six
great-grandchildren, at last count. Four
grandchildren are currently in college; one in
LSU, one in Ohio State, two in OK, and the last 4
aren't very far behind. Also, my youngest
daughter's son is currently serving in the Army
stationed in Germany. God bless our troops
everywhere!
In 1972 we moved to Lake Charles where I
worked with offshore production platforms'
automated process control systems which
permit oil and gas to flow ashore even during
hurricane evacuations. Seven years later
transferred to Hobbs, NM, to supervise the
programming of similar systems, but these were
for pumping oil wells, waterflood, and CO2
injection systems - a whole different world! In
1988 transferred back to Houston as a member
of the Field Automation Support Team for the 7
division offices around the country. I've seen
enough FORTRAN to last me a long time!
Before receiving my "Golden Boot" in 1993, I
moved to the Office Automation Group (PC's) as
a Local Area Network (LAN) administrator.
After retirement, became a Certified Netware
Instructor for Novell network software and for 4
years traveled the country as a self employed
contract trainer. Taught classes for the Social
Security Admin. from CA to their Baltimore
headquarters, as well as independent computer
training centers. These past few years I've
worked several computer related jobs and
recently retired - for good, I hope!!
Although computers have been my vocation, my
avocation has always been my love of music.
And since I couldn't sing and blow my trumpet
at the same time (that hurts), I put the horn
away - only blow it occasionally. Over the
years, I have had the privilege of singing with
and directing several church choirs, community
choirs, and men's quartets. Here in Houston, I
was also privileged to direct the Conoco
employees' choir of about 40 members for
several years. We did Christmas and 4th of July
patriotic programs at Conoco and for patients at
the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center and the local
VA Hospital, as well as for nursing homes and a
home for "special needs" adults. Our
audiences especially enjoyed the sing-along
songs and looked forward to our visits each
year. No doubt they blessed our lives more
than we did theirs!
I've been blessed to have had so many great
opportunities career-wise and otherwise. And
I'm especially thankful for the many friendships
I've made over the years, including so many of
my SHS classmates! As Bob Hope always
said.... Thanks For The Memories!
worked with offshore production platforms'
automated process control systems which
permit oil and gas to flow ashore even during
hurricane evacuations. Seven years later
transferred to Hobbs, NM, to supervise the
programming of similar systems, but these were
for pumping oil wells, waterflood, and CO2
injection systems - a whole different world! In
1988 transferred back to Houston as a member
of the Field Automation Support Team for the 7
division offices around the country. I've seen
enough FORTRAN to last me a long time!
Before receiving my "Golden Boot" in 1993, I
moved to the Office Automation Group (PC's) as
a Local Area Network (LAN) administrator.
After retirement, became a Certified Netware
Instructor for Novell network software and for 4
years traveled the country as a self employed
contract trainer. Taught classes for the Social
Security Admin. from CA to their Baltimore
headquarters, as well as independent computer
training centers. These past few years I've
worked several computer related jobs and
recently retired - for good, I hope!!
Although computers have been my vocation, my
avocation has always been my love of music.
And since I couldn't sing and blow my trumpet
at the same time (that hurts), I put the horn
away - only blow it occasionally. Over the
years, I have had the privilege of singing with
and directing several church choirs, community
choirs, and men's quartets. Here in Houston, I
was also privileged to direct the Conoco
employees' choir of about 40 members for
several years. We did Christmas and 4th of July
patriotic programs at Conoco and for patients at
the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center and the local
VA Hospital, as well as for nursing homes and a
home for "special needs" adults. Our
audiences especially enjoyed the sing-along
songs and looked forward to our visits each
year. No doubt they blessed our lives more
than we did theirs!
I've been blessed to have had so many great
opportunities career-wise and otherwise. And
I'm especially thankful for the many friendships
I've made over the years, including so many of
my SHS classmates! As Bob Hope always
said.... Thanks For The Memories!
