I was born 5th to my Mother Juanita Valdez (Candelaria) and my Father Baldamar Valdez. I was born on October 11th, 1945 in the Old Kadlec Methodist Hospital in Richland Washington. When I was born, Mom and Dad were going to name me Henry George Valdez, but someone in the records department got the middle and first names switched, so I was George Henry Valdez on my official birth certificate, and that's who I have been ever since.

Growing up all was normal. I fought with my siblings, I did chores, I had pets. Even had a pet Chicken that I got from my Aunt Augusta (Auntie Gussy as we called her) who lived in Colorado. I loved our house at 524 Sanford in Richland and loved climbing the trees in the front and side yard. We had an apricot tree in the backyard and got many many fruits from that tree, years later we made fruit leather from those apricots. We had lots of relatives that moved here to find work and so we had lots of weekends where we partied with family. I remember the outside BBQ's we would have and I also remember going up the valley to the Mexican dances. Most of the time my Aunt Alvie and Uncle Tony Sandoval played in the band that we danced to. Aunt Alvie played drums while Uncle Tony played Saxaphone. Although, as a child I didn't do much dancing, just running and playing with all the other familys kids. Yes, during those days the whole family went to the dances and just had a great time.

I attended all Schools in Richland as I was growing up, except for one brief time period when I attended Jr. High School when living with my brother Joe and his family. I attended Sunset Jr. High School near Burien Washington for one semester in 8th grade, then back to the Richland Schools. The 1st school I attended was Marcus Whitman Grade School from Kindergarten through 6th grade, and then I attended Carmichael Jr. High from the 7th grade until the 9th grade. I went on to Columbia High School (now called Richland High School) and attended 10th, 11th, and finally graduated after my 12th year with a High School Diploma. In my Junior High school our Mascot was the "Cougar", in High School the Mascot was the "Attomic Bomb". The Bomb was a symbol of power and reflected the Atomic Bomb that was dropped on Japan to help end World War II. We are a Nuclear Town and it was here at Hanfords "B" Reactor where the Plutonium was manufactured for the Atomic Bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. My Father Baldamr Valdez received a Certificate for his "work that was essential for helping to end the war with Japan". The certificate was signed by Henry L. Stimson who was the Secretary of War during that Time.

After graduation in June of 1963, I moved in with my Brother Joe Valdez and his Wife Judy who were living in Fife Washington (near Tacoma) right on Old Highway 99. On my first Month living with my brother and his family, I met Merry Vogel. She was babysitting next door to my brothers house and was outside with the kids and they were doing a workout session when my brother Ken and I walked by on our way to the Piggly Wiggly Supermarket. We said hello and then we were on our way, but all the way to the store my brother Ken and I argued about who was going to ask her out. Guess who won that argument.

Merry and I went steady for about a year, and were engaged for about a year. I used to terrorize her school (she was still going in 1964) as I would drive by in my 1950 Ford, or in my brothers 1954 Ford Wagon. That car had glass pack mufflers and it was pretty loud. Merry always knew when I would drive by the school because I would rev it up then back off as I passed the school and I would rattle the windows of her classroom.

Merry and I were married on May 29, 1965 in Fife at the St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church. I was born and baptised a Catholic, but Merry was never baptised. She did attend Lutheran Church when she was younger though. But her Mom and Dad never had her baptised because they believed she should take the same faith as her husband. I guess they were pretty confident a beautiful young daughter like her was eventually going to get married.

As the years went by my working career started out as follows:

• My First Job out of High School was with "Christophersen Tool and Die Shop on the Tacoma

  Wa. Tide Flats area

• My second job was with Valu Mart in Tacoma Wa. as a Back Shift Shelf Stocker
• My third job was with Lucky Supermarket in Tacoma Wa. as a Box Boy
• My fourth job was with Hi Ho Supermarket in Puyallup Wa. as a Box Boy and Checker
• My fifth Job was with Apple Supermarket in Tacoma Wa. as a Checker
• My 6th Job was with Boeing Aircraft Company in Renton Wa. working on the Boeing 727. I

  eventually moved to to Everett Wa. to work on the Boeing 747.

• My 7th job was with Sandvik Special Metals in Finley Wa. working on all aspects of Nuclear Fuel

  Rod development

• My 8th job was with the Hanford site where I spent the next 30 years (until I retired) working on a

  variety of jobs to support the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) Nuclear Reactor, the 
  Decommisioning of K-Basins Nuclear Reactor Fuel, and many other facilities on the Hanford
  Site.  I worked as a Hot Cell Technician dismantling Fuel Rods for testing purposes.  
  I worked in other Hot Cell Facilities where we performed Destructive and Non Destructive
  testing on Nuclear Fuel rods and fuel pellets.  I eventually was given the Title of Engineer, 
  then Manager.  As a Manager I managed Procedure Programs at the 300 Area Liquid Effluent  
  Facility, the K-Basins, and with DynCorp as a Manager at the Company Level of all their facilities
  (Infrastructure) across the Hanford Site (such as Fire Department, Crane and Rigging,
  Janitorial, Transportation, etc).

I retired in the Spring of 2005, and was called back to work as a consultant for the Engineer Program at the Fast Flux Test Facility in the Fall of 2005. I worked for about seven months and wrote the procedures to dismantle the remaining Fuel Rods in the reactor core. After removal of all the Fuel Rods, the FFTF Plant was then set up for closure and eventual decommissioning. I re-retired in the Spring of 2006, and have never returned to the working world since.

I am very active in my Music at Christ the King Catholic Church where I Sing, play Guitar, and Direct Choir for the 11:30 AM Mass each Sunday. I am responsible for choosing and ensuring that the music we provide reflects the particular Sundays readings and Holy Days. I have been providing music for Christ the King Church since about 1972. My brother John Valdez was instrumental in getting me involved in the Church again after I had left the Church back when I was about 18 years old. Even though I do not read music I have been able to learn to play guitar and learned to Direct Choir through sheer will and determination. Well that and the Holy Spirit guiding me.

Today is September 15, 2011, and as I write this I am age 65 (October 11, 1945), but will turn 66 in a few short weeks. I just started using Medicare back in October of 2010. My health is Ok, but I do have kidney stone problems. I have had four Lithotripsy (Shock Wave) procedures and one Lithotripsy (Laser) procedure to get rid of two one inch diameter stones and one 1/2 inch diameter stone in the last few years. I have been placed on several different diets and supplements and lately some pills to add Potassium Citrate to my body chemistry to try to help keep the stones from forming.

Merry and I enjoy being retired and we don't really need to worry about income. Along with our savings from our Job (401K, IRA's, Savings Programs, etc) we also have income from Social Security. I also recieve a small amount of money for providing music at the Church. This was not something that I wanted, and had been doing this for free for many many years, but then the Church needed to hire a Main Choir Director, and that Director did not want the responsibility of the Mass that I was doing, so they so they hired me as a Self Employed Choir Director specifically for the 11:30 AM Mass.

Merry is now retired too, and we spend all our time together,,,,she is my Best Friend,,, we do almost everything together. We like to go to the Casino in Pendleton Oregon and spend time there trying to win money,,, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but regardless this is our fun time together. We continue to be involved in different volunteer organizations such as the Tri-Ciites Food Bank, The Tri-Cities "Operation Thank You" programs (Which sends care packages to our troops overseas and greets the soldiers when they return). We are also very active in lots of family events. We consider ourselves very blessed that all our Children, our Grandchildren and Great Granchildren all live close by in the Tri-Cities so we get to see them on a regular basis.

We love to travel and have been able to travel overseas to Hong Kong, and Vietnam. We were able to visit Hawaii many years ago when our Sister-in-Law Judy Valdez was sick with cancer, we enjoyed our time together with her. She passed away a few months later from Pancreatic cancer. We also love take Cruises when the time and money allow. We have cruised to the Carribean with our daughter Jackie Dennis and her husband Scott on their first Anniversary. We then Cruised to Mexico a couple of times and visited many different Mexican towns, including the Pyramids located in Progresso. A few years ago we were able to Cruise with Merry's family to Mexico, and we spent some quality time there with Merry's Brother Bill Vogel and his wife Shelda Vogel before they both passed away from cancer. We have also visited Alaska on a Cruise Ship where we were treated to a big surprise. Our youngest daughter Anna Valdez (Lawrence) and her fiance Ryan Lawrence got married on the Cruise ship in Alaska. We were joined by my Brother Ken Valdez, his wife Kay Valdez, and Merry's brother Henry Vogel on that Cruise. What a wonderful time we all had on that Cruise. We also were blessed to visit Norway in August 2011. Merry had met some long lost family cousins from her mothers side and we vacationed with them in 2010 when two of them visited Houston Texas. We met them there and got to know them and had a gfreat time with them. In August 2011 we traveled to Oslo and met up with all the family there. They are all added now to the Family Tree. We were hoping to visit the Phillipines this year but that trip never materialized. My Motto "Life is Good"!!

{Written by George H. Valdez" - February 5, 2011 - update September 15, 2011}