Gerry Surette

Gerry Surette

"MY LIFE AFTER FARFAN"

1965 - 1966


March 30th, 2008

Had fun in Panama but like all good things it came to an end in 1966. I got transferred to a DD out of Newport when the option came up, a Forrest Sherman class DD the USS Davis DD937. Went on a springboard cruise and then over to the Med in time for the June 1967 war. I ended up being the radioman on the rescue crew for the USS Liberty AGTR5 after Israel tried to sink her. Never even thought of re enlisting after that got covered up so I went home and went in the Merchant Marine working on tugs and tankers.

I was happy doing what I was doing until I met my future wife and she told me she wasn't getting married to anybody that wasn't home, so I went to school for electrical engineering and got hired by a small company called Xerox as a field service technician. That was in 1969 and I ended up doing 20 years there until the high pressure high tech stuff got old. During that time we moved to New Hampshire where I still am and had two kids, a boy and girl. Now I have four grandkids from my daughter and my son is still unmarried at 35. Smart boy.

I got real tired of doing the same old thing and went back to college for industrial refrigeration and have been working with that since. Worked in a place called Stonyfield Farms for 14 years until a French company bought them out and now I'm working at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH on refrigeration and AC.

Along the way I've been a firefighter here and on the zoning board. I did some work with the NH Fish and Game Department as a fishing instructor for their freshwater fishing basics program and co authored the instruction manual for the salt water program. That is being used in Maine and New Hampshire now. I've been a hunter and fisherman all my life and now I've been passing that along to my kids and grandkids.

The wife is retiring this June after 27 years as a teacher and I'll be doing the same a year from now. I've always wanted to get back to the canal and we had a trip planned but a small thing called an invasion took place so that went out the window. We had booked a trip to Taboga and a cruise through the ditch. Maybe that will happen in the future.

Gerry Surette

Former RM3

NavCommSta Balboa

1965-1966

 

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