Tommy Hayward and me
30 Jan. 2021
I never met Admiral Tom Hayward. Not once. But he was a giant influence in my life. There's no question of that. I'll tell you one of my short tales. I usually don't write short tales, so this is rare for me.
It was either late 1982 or early 1983in that timeframe. I had moved my family from Texas to Gulfport, MS, so I could attend my junior and senior years of college at the U. of Southern Mississippi's (USM) Long Beach campus. I had a VA Work-Study grant at the local unemployment office – giving job counseling to out-of-work veterans. I had a volunteer gig at a place called Cheshire House, a home for mentally handicapped adults. To round out my resume', I was an E-6 reservist in one the Navy Reserve units that drilled at the CB Center in Gulfport. My wife, Irene, worked for the Gulfport Police Department. Irene and I didn't make much money, but we lived a good life.