I was born and raised in California. My first school was Westwood School in West Los Angeles. My favorite school and play friends were Scott Rosein and Bill Rodgers. I lived at the intersection of Comstock and Missouri Avenue where new apartments have been constructed, making the old neighborhood look completely unrecognizable. Back then we lived near 20th Century Fox Studios, which is now gone, and has been replaced by Century City. We used to sneak under the fence and explore the stages and film sets, until we got chased out. After school a favorite hangout was the Santa Glen Drug store for an order of French fries and a chocolate coke. Vicki Rogers was my first school girl crush, but she never knew it as I was too shy. However because of the Internet we did make contact and I was able to tell her after keeping the secret for over 40 years.

  After Westwood School I went to Emerson Jr. Hi. School and would walk to school along the railroad tracks along Santa Monica Blvd. It was not considered dangerous to do so back in those days. My best friend back at Emerson was Tom Maxwell. My first girl friend was Wendy Weatherford. I have not seen or heard from either of them since 1962. Westwood was an unusual school where kids were bused in from Bel Air and many of the students were related to famous actors such as Burt Lancaster, Rod Serling, and Red Skelton, to name a few.

  After leaving Emerson in the graduating class of 1962 I went to Uni High, but didn't finish out the first year, as I had a major altercation with a kid who now strangely enough, is on the "Lost Forever" list, and has been so for many years. So it was off to Brentwood Academy, which became co-ed in recent times and renamed Brentwood School. The school was like a prison for me, and I finally gained freedom in 1965 and went off to Thousand Oaks to California Lutheran College. My new-found freedom meant a new life and I had to make up for lost time, so the partying began and I managed to squeeze into one year, four years of missed opportunities.

  After flunking out of CLC I joined the Air Force to avoid getting drafted and winding up in a jungle, being shot at by guys wearing black pajamas. Four years of being a medic at March Air Force base taught me how to grow up and appreciate life. Although my career was a great experience, I left the Air Force with the promise to never work in a hospital again only to find myself working at Encino Hospital in the San Fernando Valley a month later.

  I went back to college and graduated from California State University at Northridge in 1974. I studied Geography and got my BA Degree in Geography. After many years of change and people going in different directions, I ran into an old school friend Rick Fournier. I not seen Rick since in 1959 and we found ourselves graduating from the same college many years later.

  I met my wife while going to CLC and got married in 1972. After graduating I got my first real job at Thomas Bros. Maps in Los Angeles, which has relocated to the San Diego area in 1976. Thomas Bros had moved but I didn't move with them, instead I worked for a map company called Landmark Publishing Company in Van Nuys. Landmark was a family owned business that was bent on self destruction so in 1978 we packed up our bags, and our first son, and moved to the East Coast.

  My first job was with the US Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia, but then another strange set of circumstances caused a change for me. I met up with an old friend from Thomas Bros. Maps who talked me into moving into the Washington, D.C., area and to work for the US Census Bureau. I worked my way up to a project manager position, and during my work years, traveled to most states and trained, managed and worked with hundreds of people in several different offices, but all for the Census Bureau.

  In January of 2006 I retired from the Bureau and now have found the time to do all the projects around the house, and traveling that I never seemed to have time for. Recently we took our first cruise and we are currently planning our trip to Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. Future plans include going to Hungary and visiting the family vineyard, which was founded over 200 years ago. The wine has a colorful history, and is the only wine that was named after an historical event.

  I currently live in a suburb of Washington, D.C., called La Plata, Maryland. My sons live in nearby Baltimore and Lexington Park, Maryland.



From left, Michael, Lois, Bob and Dan Bakondi.