Steve Hale

In April of 69 I enlisted in the U.S. Navy on a delayed program. I went active on the 17th of August and spent 4 years active duty on 2 ships. One was the U.S.S. Suribachi, AE-21 stationed out of Mayport, FL and the other was the U.S.S. Vulcan, AR-5 out of Norfolk, VA. I enjoyed my time in the Navy but was glad to get out and start a family. The first year was spent in San Diego and 6 months in the Med. Saw Rome, Barcelona, Naples, the Island of Crete, Malta, Greece, Turkey and the Suez Canal. The rest of my time was in Norfolk, VA. on the Vulcan. We went to Halifax, Fort Lauderdale, FL. and Cuba.

I married Deb Nolting, (Class of 1971), in June of 1972. She was in X-Ray Technologist School here in Topeka, KS. I was discharged in August of 1973 and she graduated from training the first of August. We have lived here in Topeka since then. I worked with Craig Sylvester at the Topeka Foundry and Iron Works as a machinist, Craig is the Foreman in the structural steel department, he is still working there. I went to work for St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in December of 1979 in the Education Department, was there 5 years and transferred to the maintenance department. I am now the Lead Plant Operator at the hospital and am enjoying my work. We have 2 great kids, Carrie is a senior at Seaman High School and will be graduating in May of 2000. She is the Captain of the Varsity Cheerleading Squad and has been a cheerleader for the past 5 years. She is on the varsity swim team as well. Our son, David, is a Sophomore this year and graduates in 2002. He was born with a severe to profound hearing loss and uses sign language and lip reading as his primary mode of communication. He is in band, marching band and pep band, in the percussion section. He has been playing drums since he was in the 5th grade at Crestview School. This year is the second year he and his sister were in the same school district and the first year they were both in the same building. He went to Topeka 501 schools for the first 10 years, Preschool through 8th grade. He is on the varsity swim team for the second time and working on his second letter for swimming. He also participated in track last year and is planning on it again this year. I'm real proud of both of our kids.

In November of 1976 I joined the Soldier Township Fire Department as a Volunteer Fire Fighter. Deb and I enrolled in the EMT class at Washburn University in Jan of 1979 and are certified as EMT's. I have been appointed as LT / Fire medic and am involved in the training of the rest of the department in all areas of fire service. With my class at WU and classes at KU I became a Journeyman Fire medic through the state of KS in 1981. Deb is the Chief Technologist at a Radiology Clinic here in Topeka, she is licensed as a RT, in Radiology, CT, and Nuclear Medicine. She is happy to be out of the hospital setting, she worked at Memorial Hospital in Topeka until it closed in 1988 as the Director of Radiology. Deb and I are very active with our church youth group and both of our kids participate in many of the activities as well.