Yo-Hi,
Class of 1964
Student Spotlight
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**(click on any image for a larger size, use back button to return here)** Martin Gene Schoonderwoerd, Yo-Hi Class of ‘64; at Yo-Hi, I was known as Gene. After Yo-Hi, I attended Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago on an NROTC scholarship and graduated in 1968 with a commission as Ensign, US Navy. I served 20 years and retired in 1988 as a LCDR. Most of my time was served aboard ship (7 total) and I served as Chief Engineer on 3 successively larger ships. I served on gunboats in the rivers of South Vietnam and saw multiple combat actions in the same stretch of river nicknamed “Rocket Alley” where John Kerry claimed fame. In April and May 1975, I was on the USS Midway during the evacuation of Saigon – that was an experience to remember. Remember seeing the TV news footage of us pushing Vietnamese helicopters off the flight deck? After the Navy, I went into hospital engineering and have stayed in the San Diego area as Director of Engineering in several San Diego hospitals. It is very much like the engineering department of a ship – boilers, air conditioning, emergency generators and the same kind of people that enjoyed working on them as I encountered in the Navy. For me, that was an easy transition. Officially, I retired in 2012, but have worked occasionally since then in a consulting role. Along the way, I earned an MBA on my GI bill and earned the American Hospital Association's Certified Healthcare Facility Manager (CHFM) and became a Fellow in the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (FASHE). One of the hospitals where I worked (Coronado) was the same hospital where I was born. Before old age caught up with me, I ran the Honolulu Marathon twice, Waikiki Rough Watr swim, Maui Channel relay, several century bike rides, Kona full triathlon, and a whole bunch of runs, swims, bike rides, and triathlons just for the T-shirt. Nowadays, I walk about 3 miles almost every day and that's all I can handle. I married twice, had two sons and a daughter; my oldest son is named Martin Craig, but goes by Craig, named after one of our classmates. My beautiful wife Vicki and I have been married for 22 years; she has two sons and between all 5 of our kids, we have a mob of Grandkids. Vicki is now a 6-year cancer survivor. For fun, we have season tickets to the San Diego Padres, go on cruises to whenever we haven't been, and enjoy our Grandkids and Southern California. In my spare time, I forge custom knives and Brad Collins bought my first two knives in 2006.
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