Kenneth L. Gates

I've lived in Loveland CO since Oct 2012. Nice and close to Rocky Mtn Nat Park. The front range foothills are just a short distance out my back door. Walking and hiking is a nice activity with the mtns being such a beautiful backdrop. Hey everyone ....... GET YOUR SHINGLES SHOT--NOW!!!!!

Please call if you ever pass thru Loveland.... 402.429.7285 cell. I've got a couple spare bedrooms and would love to take you into the mountains.

Since graduation from LHS .... attended Nebraska Wesleyan and UNL. First serious career position was Public Relations Director for the Southwest Division of Union Pacific Railroad. Based in Salt Lake City UT. Jo Anne and I met in SLC and got married in 1972. We moved to Santa Barbara CA in 1977. That was a fun place to live. But we were so far away from family. With two kids wanting to connect with their relatives we made the decision to move back to Nebraska. I found a nice job with a small hotel company based in Norfolk NE in 1984. When I retired from the hotel business we were no longer a small hotel company. We owned 135 hotels all over the USA. I did marketing, corporate training, HR, operations, and more. Nice career. I feel very fortunate to have had a wonderful supportive wife, two great kids, great life. But ...losing Jo Anne to brain cancer was a devasting event in our family. Why does God take the good ones?

After Jo Anne passed my life eventually regrouped. I found a new friend and stepped into the boyfriend/girlfriend life. Nice!! Travel and companionship is pretty cool!

My lifelong buddy from grade school, jr high and LHS, Dennis Gordon, is a SCUBA diving instructor. We reconnected back in the 1990's when our jobs crossed paths. It is so nice to have that friendship and diving hobby together after all these years. I have also reconnected with another lifelong buddy, Bill Barnes. What a team we were back in the old days. We called ourselves "The Three Musketeers" all through grade school.

A story that often pops up when talking about old high school days is about the operetta we performed ... 'Robin Hood'. A couple weeks into practice I discovered that I had to sing a solo!!!! OMG! Our music director, Ivan Caldwell, said the best way to overcome stage fright is to simply pick out a person in the audience and sing the solo directly to that person. The song was a melancholy love song, 'Oh Promise Me'. So I followed Ivan's instructions and picked out a friendly face in the audience --- a nice little old lady. I didn't expect that she would start sobbing, then crying, and finally wailing out loud. The next night I picked out another nice old lady and the same thing happened again. Ivan came to me and said that I should take up acting. Sorry Ivan, that was enough for me.

But even more funny was when a bunch of guys in the audience pulled out their pea shooters and started launching peas at the "Tinkers Men" pots and pans. That made a heck of a racket and disrupted the whole show. I'm sure the 'shooters' and 'tinkers men' will remember that event! You know who you are!!! It still puts a smile on my face.

kensmailbox123@gmail.com