I’ve seen a number of “what happened to So & So” & I thought I’d put my hat in the ring. So here goes. My family got to Randolph in 1960 from Germany. I was with the first group that entered RHS the day it opened. I had been (and stayed) in the RHS Band with Mr. Giesler (Calling him Bobby would not have worked in those days). Being in the RHS Band (Marching, Concert -Tuba) was the highlight for me. My other passion was photography (Below with the newspaper & annual staff). In 1964 my folks bought Circle K Steak House between Schertz & Cibolo (That will put a real damper on any semblance of a social life).
In the beginning of 1966 I enlisted in the Army (Volunteered Airborne & Vietnam), 1967 & 1968 with the 101st Airborne Division.
I got to 1st Brigade 101st HQ PIO office in August 1967... My first assignment's were both 1st & 2nd 327th line companies in Chu Lai...I meet with the Recon unit Tiger's & wanted to hook up with them but at first they were very reluctant, they had not taken a PIO guy out before for... I told them
that I had gone thru Raider School @ Bragg with the 82nd & could hold my own so they gave me a shot...I worked Tigers & A, B, & C companies 1st 327th thru the rest of the year & most of 1968. I then spent time with the line companies & Hawk Recon 2nd 327th for the rest of the year... The entire time my MOS was 11F Recon with a secondary of 84B (Combat Photographer). We generally worked as a writer/photographer team but most of the time I was on my own.... I was very privileged to have had my work published in the Screaming Eagle, the 101st annual tour magazines, Stars & Strips, major US newspapers as well as the New York Times. I was privileged to work with Frank McGee & his crew for NBC news.... Today you will see my shots at both Brigade HQ & HQ 1st 327th at Ft Campbe
ll KY on their wall of Honor, in their war & trophy room & at the new Tiger Force Barracks.Interesting note … When I got back in September 1968, I went into the VFW Hall in Schertz Texas, slapped down a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Parachutist Jump Wings and they refused to serve me a beer (I wasn’t 21 yet) … That will give you an attitude … To this day, I’m still very proud of this country & fly an American flag every day at my home.
I wound up in Austin, TX (in 1969 (Like a lot of us) rooming with Jeff Dusenbury & running around with the Austin/RoHawk group (John Stampley, Lisa McNabb (Now Lisa Atkins), John Briner, Terry Fox etc. until January 1st 1970 when I moved to Denver Co. I will be the first to admit that Austin days were a real fog (I remember those times that only I chose, I have a 20 year old son now) were really great fun and very scary but that’s another story.
After living in Vail, CO for a year, I moved back to Denver and went into commercial real estate. I got married & settled into a great job as head leasing agent for Cinderella City in Englewood CO, which at the time was the largest shopping center in the world.
My Dad died in 1977 (47 yrs old) of a heart attack. I got divorced, quit my job & moved back to help my Mom at Circle K. In a short time later I was back in Austin for even more scary times, then moved to Hawaii where I met my lovely wife (we’ve been together 27 years this August). She was on a lot of the movie set in Hawaii along with a 1-½ years from the pilot of Magnum PI (yes Tom Selleck is a very cool guy).
I moved back to Denver where Judy soon followed, then we got married. I started a new company & built a 1 million gallon per year ethanol plant (remember the old gas lines & gasohol). In 1986 I was offered a position with a large Investment Banking firm & wound up running most of the Western US for them. In 1988 I bought my own Broker/Dealer with James Watt (former Secretary of the Interior for Ronald Regan), built it to over 250 brokers. Those were very fun days.
From 1990 thru 1996 I consulted for a number of companies where we lived in Salt Lake City and Coeur d’Alene, ID. Our son Michael had come along in 1986 so he was at that wonderful age where being out on the lake, in the mountains and fishing was just a gas. Life has been very good to the Croxton’s.
In 1996 we moved here to St. Petersburg, FL. We’re avid sailors (learned here) … this place is nirvana for water & being outside. The biggest issue I’ve had over the years is every time we moved, our clothes shrunk really bad (some people call it getting FAT but I chose not to believe them).
Today I’m the CEO/CFO of an OTC public company (wwww.weslabs.com) and looking forward to retiring in the next year or so (well not stop doing something – that would be very boring to me).
We are looking forward to coming to the reunion in September. This will be a first for me. I can tell looking at your web site Gloria, that you have put a LOT of work into it over the years … Congratulations … You deserve a standing ovation for that one.
See you soon,
Ben
Benjamin C. Croxton (RoHawk '67)
ben@bencroxton.com
CEO/CFO
World Energy Solutions, Inc.
NASDAQ OTCBB: Symbol WEGY
3900A 31st Street North
St. Petersburg, FL 33714
800-526-1556
727-525-5552 Main
727-499-7413
Fax www.weslabs.com
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