Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
My name is James Clay Ramsey. I was born at 11:30 PM PST,
on the 27th day of February, 1948. My proud parents, Allen Clay Ramsey and Elizabeth James Ramsey, both from Dallas, Texas (my Father actually came from a small town on the outskirts of Dallas, Irving to be exact), welcomed me into the world on this given day at this given time. I am most assured that they were more than overjoyed by this new life before them. Of course, little did they know how I would add to their lives, the joys, the sorrows and everything in-between.
I was a child of the 50’s. These years were pristine and relatively uneventful. The noted exceptions were that of the death of my maternal grandmother, Marie Haas-Hurt-McKay (born Marie Bolton in 1898). She died in 1956 from cancer. Shortly thereafter in this year of sorrows, I was given a puppy, Frisby. He, a mix of Chihuahua and Terrier was to be my four-legged companion for the next 16 years. He bridged three decades, bringing forth a lot of fun for one impressionable young man. How I miss him so from time-to-time, even now some 38 years later. Oh me, oh my. How the years have come and gone.
The 60’s were quite normal for me. I did the school thing, played in the school orchestras and marching bands, and prepared myself for college and what was to become the introduction into adult life. The times were good but without any major upheavals. As this decade came to a close, I looked forward to completing my education so that I could join the human race in its pursuit of success and wealth.
The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s were a collage of up-and-downs, some successes and some failures. I moved two times, went through several job changes and crashed and burned in two failed marriages. The time-frame may have been long, but it was consumed with self-consumption, little reflection and a lot of heartache.
In 1996, life for me was about to take a significant turn for the better. It was to be a major paradigm shift. I was single, fully employed with a good firm (Service Northwest, now Canteen) and seemed to be in a coasting mode. In that fateful year, I met a young German lass, compliments of the Net. She, one Helga Nobst, was living in Heidelberg, Germany. Our correspondence and subsequent personal encounter in June, led to matrimony, a job resignation (13 years with SN, a union house that shall soon provide me a decent Teamsters pension) and relocation. Oh me, oh my.
It is now 2010. I am still with this young lass, now together for some 13 years and counting. We both are stubborn and strong willed. She is now retired from her Dental Technician profession. It came earlier than anticipated, but arthritis in both hands, two carpal surgeries and the inability to find other work prompted her to seek out early retirement. As for yours truly, I am now with AAFES (Army and Air Force Exchange Service) some nine years and shall most likely remain with them for the foreseeable future. Likewise, I work on-the-side for a contractor (Italian) that supplies food stuffs for the Commissary at Ramstein Air Base.
As I write, I have hopes that I can continue with this work venue for a good period of time. In three short years, I shall be 65 and a Teamsters vested pension should be mine to access. A year later, at the tender age of 66, I can begin to collect my Social Security. With these two pensions, continuous work with AAFES and ACM (the contractor) and my wife’s pension, we shall survive with a modicum of comfort. God willing, our health holds and we have no outstanding debt. It shall be good indeed.
There is much more that I can say but what I have said shall have to suffice.
