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Gary Walliser
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Email:boardwalkgary@live.com
Birthdate: Dec. 22, 1946
Family
Married? divorced Married years? 15 Married times? 1
Children: 2 boy(s); 2 girl(s); 7 grandkid(s)
Personal/family website? n/a
Job
Company: Island Wall Perspectives
Career/Job Title: writer/speaker
No job:
Company website: under const.
Hobbies: walking, reading, thinking, reflecting, movies
Community:
How are you the same as you were at CHS? see "What I've been up to" below
How are you different? see below
What is your proudest accomplishment? see below
Where do you live? in the
Parents: Father: living, Mother: living
What have you been up to for the last 45 years?
Latest update: It is Sept. 16, 2009, and the last time I entered information on this page, it was just prior to the 40th reunion, five years ago. Now, less than forty-eight hours 'til this year's event, I am wondering if I will make it. I have been looking forward to this reunion with real anticipation. After 35 years of not attending, it just seems like the right time. But, it may not be working as planned. On July 4th weekend, I hurt my knee. It was sore and swollen, but I thought I could shake through it. Then, two weeks later, I really hurt it and could not walk. The doctor diagnosed probable strain or slight tear of the meniscus. Surgery could have been planned, but it was also expected to be able to heal on its own, if I took care of it. It took me several weeks, before I became disciplined in caring for it, but it began to get better. Then, about a week ago, I felt up to doing my special leg exercises, without wearing my leg brace. Something must have gone wrong, because, slowly, day by day it is getting worse. It feels like it did six weeks ago. I am not sure I am up to the reunion. My knee is sore, I cannot drive, and (when my mother peacefully died on the very same day that I hurt my knee the second time, I inherited her cat) so now, I need to return each night to feed it. I do not know how I am going to make it to the reunion. If I do make it, I will totally enjoy visiting and sharing with everyone. If I cannot make it, I will thoroughly miss it. The hours and minutes are ticking, so we'll know soon what has happened. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great reunion! All for now.
The years have included some momentous ups and downs, such as: losing a family, going broke - twice, and many times being humbled by weakness of character
on the other side, being acclaimed for the design of a specialty convention resort up in the Sierra's, for the design of a complex, competitive $100 million insurance contract, for notable administrative capabilities, for an aggressive work ethic, for an autobiographical manuscript, and for upwards of two hundred appearances on stage, all of which have helped shape a somewhat popular, but disappointing and un-ambitious young man into an older man who is ready to launch a career in an arena that he has dreamt about for at least thirty, and maybe, the entire forty years.
It is not a path or a time-frame that he would have chosen, but it has produced a focus and preparedness for the future that is greater than he ever, consciously, desired; and it has helped in understanding that it is never safe to assume that the race is over or the outcome predictable, but that it is far better to keep running all the way to the finish line.
For me, it's just now coming time to "let the games begin". I wouldn't trade away the past forty years, up or down, because of the reality and enrichment they have provided. So, it's Three Cheers for the path of life, both for the eighteen years leading up to and for the forty years since, the time when we all graduated.