Bob Klass

After Tech, I went to the University of California, little knowing what the 60's would bring. I joined a fraternity and was relatively oblivious to the turmoil that was going on down on the campus. I have a lot of very vivid memories from those days, including seeing JFK speak at Memorial Stadium at Cal's Charter Day in 1962.

Mostly what I did at Cal was try to figure out what to do with my life, and I wasn't exactly hot to go to work, if you know what I mean, so I kept changing my major. I ended up with a BA in history and went on to get a secondary teaching credential.

In 1967, I started working for the Xerox Corp. in San Francisco because my girlfriend at the time thought corporate America was the way to go. At 24, I had a brand new Mustang convertible, a pretty girlfriend and I was making enough money to go out on the town. I totally knew that I was faking it.

Three years later, I was living in a commune outside of Eugene, Oregon with a bunch of people who jokingly referred to themselves as "drug crazed hippies."

Basically, I spent most of my 20's looking for something to do that I would feel good about doing. I made it back to the Bay Area and, in 1974, met my wife-to-be, Diane. She is truly wonderful!

I've spent most of my life figuring out how to get by without being tied down to a job. I currently live in Hawaii, and I continue to work on a number of writing projects, including a novel.

OK, enough for now. I'm glad I stumbled on to this site, and I'd be delighted to hear from any of y'all.

PS: I hope that I wasn't too obnoxious to you back at Tech!

I've been thinking about the music from times past. I still listen to people like Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Dion and the Belmonts amd others from that era, and I'm still moved when I hear a song like Buddy doing "Rave On" or Sam singing "I don't know much about history..." or James singing "Please, Please, Please."

Like a lot of us, I had a rather restless mind, and I'd spend a couple hours every night listening to the radio before I fell asleep. I remember discovering Wolfman Jack and when I heard certain songs for the first time (i.e. Santo & Johnny doing "Sleepwalk") I also listened to a country station called KSAY and to some of the soul stations like KDIA. At the time, I had no idea who Hank Williams or some of those other people were, but I liked the music then, and I still do.

I'd also like to comment about an activity that some of us were involved in in the 11th grade. Some of us who were some of the good chemistry students found the regular cirriculum to be a bit too mild, so we started "visiting" the chem labs up at Cal. Before long, some of us (you know who you are), were making explosives for the fun of it. The whole thing, thankfully, came to an end when some of the guys (you know who you are) blew up a young lady's mailbox. The girl's mother took great offense at the incident and called Dr. Bliss to find out what the (bleep) was going on. I had nothing to do with the mailbox incident, but I was one of the people who was called into Bliss's office for a little heart-to-heart chat.

OK, enough for now.

PS: Are there any football fans out there? Are you aware that Marshawn Lynch, the ex-Cal RB who had that amazing 67 ys. run to win the game for Seattle against New Orleans. went to Tech?

To All: Today is September 15, 2011, and September 17, the night of the reunion, will be my 68th birthday. Although I will not be able to attend the reunion, I hope you all have a great time! One of the best parts of this website has been getting in touch with people from those years and finding out what they've been doing. From all that I can tell, we went to school with some very cool people. Although I don't travel much, I'd be delighted to see people from Tech if you ever make it to Hawaii. Here's wishing the very best to you all! Aloha, Bob