My Teacher Changed My Life

It has been a very interesting life, both professional and personal. After going to six different high schools (including summer school), I never graduated. My goal in life from an early age was to be an automotive engineer. In my senior year of high school with no chance of graduating, I abandoned that goal. One of my teachers, after hearing of my dreams falling apart, worked with me and got me into a fantastic engineering school without needing to complete high school. This was in 1962.

Over the years, I completed my master's level in mechanical, electrical, and systems engineering and in computer science. Almost all of my career was in planning for and developing future technologies of many types. A few years ago, while at a resort in Sint Maarten, I met another couple and the man asked me what I did and turned out that both of us were engineers. He then asked what kind of work I did and with what companies, and when I replied, he practically shouted, "Oh my god, you are that Lee Armstrong I researched and studied everything I could find that you wrote and did."

My first marriage was good at first, but then she started an affair with a man just getting out of prison for murdering his wife. I tried to get her to end it, including moving to a different state. She even said, "Why can't you just share me?"

My second wife was incredible (she passed as this was being prepared for printing). After forty years of marriage, I still had a hard, passionate love for her; we were not just a couple. For a long time, my work took me all over the world. She started to come with me, and we would usually spend another week or two as vacation time. I was consulting, so I could work anywhere, even on that tropical beach. Between work and pleasure, for many years, we averaged six months a year away from home, averaged for about fifteen years, going to five different countries each year.

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