The Colonel and The Missus will be at The Roundup

Hey, “Trailboss” Stan and Jefferson High Classmates:
Ever the procrastinator, it’s Tom Kiehne checkin’ in from Austin, Texas! With the reunion only two weeks away, I figured it’s now or never. I’ve actually enjoyed reading the blog postings over the last 8 or 9 months. So, it’s my turn. I suppose these writings are expected to be long, involved, literary masterpieces. Prepare to be disappointed.
Learning to be a civilian
Has it really been 40 years? It doesn’t feel like a day over 39! Where to begin? I suppose 1990 since that was our last get together. Before that, life was the Army with assignments and postings all over this crazy world of ours (and getting crazier all the time). Regardless, the Army was great to us, the wife and kids – got me educated, let me grow up, kept me busy, got to “see the world”, and gained many life long friends. Regardless, I gladly left the Army as a Colonel in 1991 and since then I’ve gradually learned how to be a civilian – living, working, and playing (bad golf, among other things) in Austin.
Some young lady out there
For starters, I’m still with Anne – probably because she tolerates me effectively – nearly 34 years and counting. Our two boys, Thomas (33) and Steven (26) are also both currently in Austin. Thomas just finished a Master’s degree at UT and Steven is working in the Business School at UT (that’s University of Texas). Steven is single and living the good life – he thinks. There’s some young lady out there just waiting to convince him otherwise. Thomas and his wife will move to Seattle in September where he will work and Gwen will pursue her PhD in Psychology. We’ve been very fortunate to have the boys so close for the last decade. But that’s about to change. Oh well, perhaps just a good excuse for traveling to the Pacific Northwest. I understand it’s a beautiful part of the planet. No grandkids yet – all we can do is hope they’ll happen in our life time. By the way, my parents still live in Alex and celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary last December! I’m in awe of the fact that they’re still making it work after all these years.
The loose plan
I’ve been at UT for the past 14 years – teaching, working with students, and doing fundamental research in the Mechanical Engineering Department, and also directing a group of professionals at one of the University’s major research labs. I keep hoping things will slow down a bit. But the more I hope, the more they speed up! I must be doing something wrong. The loose plan is to work for another four years and then simply teach and work with students as a diversion. However, the closer I get to “retirement” the less appealing it seems. I know myself well enough to understand that too much sitting around, or for the matter too much bad golf, will quickly drive me insane. I’ll still need something to get me up and going the morning and to get the creative juices flowing. And Anne has me on notice that I “can’t just lay around the house”. So . . . this transition to retirement thingee promises to be interesting. Stay tuned!
Austin remains weird
On the whole life is good, we’ve got our health, and we’re blessed with family, friends, and reasonable prosperity. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion. We’ll arrive in Alex on the 4th and plan to depart on the 11th of August. So there should be plenty of time for visiting and renewing acquaintances. Beyond that, we’re living in our Retirement Home west of Austin in a village called The Hills of Lakeway and would welcome visitors at any time. The golf course is across the street, Lake Travis is five minutes away, and Austin is fun and remains weird! Please come visit.
Best Regards,
Tom and Anne Kiehne