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After graduating, I went to work at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg while allegedly attending college. I spent a lot more time at the TV station and not enough at the college. After college, I married my first wife, Judy, in December 1967. She's from Akron, Ohio but was going to school in Pittsburg. I'm still married to my first wife. We'll celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary this month. Shortly after getting married, we moved to Ft. Smith, Arkansas in February 1968 and then to Miami, Florida in June of the same year. I was employed by TV stations in both locations as a newsreel and documentary photographer. Our son, Derek, is 20 and a junior at the
State University of New York College at Brockport. Our
In 1971, I briefly left TV to go into a management training program with American Express in their travel division but I missed TV and took a job in Hartford, CT in 1972 and returned to TV. I was a photographer, reporter, and producer-director with one of the TV stations during my stay in Hartford. In 1979, we moved to Buffalo, NY where we've been ever since. I worked through a variety of management positions at the CBS affiliate here before getting out of television in 1990. I was ready for a change and had always wanted to have my own business. I started a trade show display company and I've been doing that ever since. We produce portable displays and high impact graphics for clients primarily in Western New York but with the Internet, I have clients all over the country. It's been an interesting ride. I've enjoyed reading about my classmates and I look forward to seeing everyone in June. Ron Gates, Update 2008 The last five years have been very eventful for me. Just prior to our 40th reunion I was divorced. Shortly before the reunion I received an email from an old girl friend, Jean Harris (class of ’65) who I dated after graduating and while Jean was still in high school. She heard that I was coming back for the reunion and wanted to say hello. That hello has lasted five years and is going strong. Our dating continued into Jean’s first year in college. We broke up…actually several times…and in 1967 I got married and a year later Jean married one of my college roommates. They’ve been divorced a long time and a second husband is deceased. We went our separate ways until five years ago when we reunited at our 40th reunion. After a year of flying back and forth between Buffalo and Dallas, I sold my tradeshow display and graphics business in Buffalo, NY and moved to Dallas. I bought a condo on Lake Eufaula in Oklahoma…about 3 hours north of Dallas…and we lived in Dallas and spent a lot of time at the lake. Jean’s parents still live in Girard so the lake house became a midway point for our trips back to Kansas. A year ago Jean sold her condo in Dallas and I sold my place on the lake and we bought a house in Rowlett, TX, a suburb of Dallas. Two years ago I bought a franchise for NHance Wood Renewal and then bought a second one six months later. We do hardwood floor and kitchen cabinet renewal without sanding. No dust. No odor. No mess. So here I am at 63 with a two year old business and I’m working everyday. I have one daughter who is married and is a kindergarten teacher in a Minneapolis suburb and has given me my first grandchild, Alex, two and a half years ago. My son, Derek, is a marketing guy for a fitness company in San Diego and is single. I look forward to seeing all of you this weekend.
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