My 50th College Reunion

I’m packing to leave for Brookings SD to attend my 50th College Reunion at South Dakota State University, the A&M of South Dakota. It does not seem like 50 years when I walked across the stage to get my BS in Political Science degree and also be commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the U.S. Army. 1959 was a great year to be a 22 year old young man and to look forward to the future and not have any idea what life would be for me in the next 50 yrs.

There was not a war yet, but Viet Nam was just around the corner and President Eisenhower was just finishing his last term in office and warning about the military- industry complex.

I had two years of active duty ahead of me so I just guessed that things would work out and they did.

After the army I talked the University of Denver into letting me attend graduate school. My grades in college were not exactly graduate school material. But the army had matured me and with a lot of studying I did well and received my Master in Public Administration.

I joined the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission as an intern and spent 6 years in Las Vegas and the Washington DC area working mostly on equal employment program. Along the way I became a Democrat I suspect due to President Kennedy. But I was bored being a bureaucrat and jumped at the chance to move to Houston and help set up two urban research centers. I was also happy to get away from my first wife and get a divorce in Texas.

For the next 35 years I lived in Houston and worked for the Mayor of Houston, for the President of a natural gas company, as a lobbyist for a number of companies and nonprofit groups, as a political consultant for over 80 candidates and issues, as a political analyst on TV and radio and as a writer for my own web site, www.political.com.

I also was a husband again(to number 2 wife), a dog trainer and owner, a uncle to many young people, a lover and friend to several great ladies, a brother to my sister and brother and a son to my parents each of whom have passed away.

It has been a fast 50 years and I look forward to seeing old friends and classmates as well as seeing the University. I have not been back to Brookings for 34 years. I was there in 1975 as the honored alumni playing the part of Weary Willie at homecoming.

So, I wonder just like I did 50 years ago what lies ahead. Will I be around for the 60th reunion? Will my beach house survive another hurricane like the one last year? We will just have to wait and see.

George Strong, June 8, 2009 (My 72ed Birthday)