John Manton            Barbara "Thompson" Manton

Subject: Re: 68 Reunion
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 98 05:49:47 -0500 (CDT)
From: John Manton

Dear Joe,
A few months back I found your web site, probably through the mailer you sent out. Then I lost it. As luck would have it, an old friend and classmate (Bobby Wyatt) began emailing me and we talked about the 68 reunion and he gave me your website address. (Of course, that communication almost never came to pass, since Bobby sent the first email under the name bigbarney@webtv.net... I almost hit the delete button when I saw the address, but decided to read it anyway...)

I saw the email from Ernest Gill, another long lost friend/classmate... no wonder I lost contact with him... he was hiding on the other side of the planet. I'm still looking to find David Smith, an old school chum. Problem with that is, have you ever tried looking for anyone named SMITH?

In 1970, I married Barbara Thompson (also 68-Central senior). Barb says "Hi!". We've had three kids, John (16), Douglas (15) and Teresa (13). Last year we accomplished two of my personal goals. We took a nice long trip to Disney in Orlando and we saw the launch of the Space Shuttle STS-87, truly an amazing sight. This year a visit to Alaska might be in the cards.

What's been up in my professional work world? I know you didn't ask, but here it is anyway...
I left San Angelo in 1970 to head to Dallas to get "learned in "'lectronics"... did that, taught electronics and computers for a year at DeVry and learned that teaching was hard work and not something that I wanted to do long-term. In 1973 I was accepted a job as a Test Engineer at Mostek, a semiconductor company in Dallas. A couple of years later I was promoted to manager over the Memory Products Test group. I also ran the Data Processing operations for the engineering side of the company. In 1982, I left Mostek and with a friend, started my own company, APSTEK. The company designed and manufactured memory cards and multi-function boards for a new product on the market called the IBM Personal Computer. I wonder if that will ever catch on...Two years, later in 1984, I sold the company and took a position with a semiconductor startup company named Dallas Semiconductor. I've been with Dallas Semiconductor http://www.dalsemi.com almost 14 years now and my current title is Director of Information Services... in other words Head Computer Geek. Just last week we completed a major move to consolidate computer systems from 5 buildings into our new Data Center building. So much for the rest of my thinning hair...

Now if we can just get through this summer in Dallas and it's 100+ degree days...

It's great to hear from all the old Central students... cmon... let's have more people yakking their fingers off and send some email to Joe. It's great to hear how the class of '68 has helped and hindered society through the last 30 years. Who knows what kind of craziness we'll bestow upon civilization during the next 30 years.