Bruce Patton

I went to Whittier College for three years and then Berkeley for the last two in Civil Engineering.  I was drafted in 1966, got a 1S deferment.  I ruptured a disk and had it repaired before the 1S ran out so I am not a Canadian citizen.

I worked for way too many years at PG&E, especially Diablo Canyon Power Plant.  Started there when we just were beginning to move dirt, left as a Start-up Engineer after paralleling the plant to the grid in 1976 as part of Hot Functional.  I spent 3 years in the Sierra Nevada building Helms Pumped Storage Plant and then to San Francisco to be the DCPP schedule/planning manager to retrofit the Three Mile Island, lessons learned.  I went back to San Luis Obispo at DCPP in 89 and worked as a Project Manager, eventually becoming the Used Fuel Storage Project Manager for DCPP and Humboldt power plants.  I retired at 63.

In '72 I married Polly, had a daughter in '86, still married, 39+ years.  Our daughter graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 4 years, including one in Glasgow Scotland.  Went a fifth and got her Masters and a Teaching Credential.  She lives in Portland, Oregon.

I started flying gliders right after High School and built a 15 meter HP-18 glider in '89.  I've flown many contests with some success.  Built a RV-6A two place power aircraft in '99 and we fly all over.  It's range is 550 miles at about 200 MPH.  I am building a 4 place RV-10 now.

We moved to Independence Airpark, Oregon in 2011.  Interesting place, 240 houses each with an aircraft hanger and full of friendly people. We designed and built a  2800 sq ft house (the third house we have built) with an attached 50' X 44' aircraft hanger.  Wonderful place, except for the rain.

I'm in reasonably good health, considering.  That thing about it taking courage to grow old is only too true!

We are planning to fly to the Bay area, get a car and go to the 50 year (NO WAY!) reunion.