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Frederick E. Bonjour Frederick E. Bonjour, Born in Detroit, Michigan, USA on the 31st of July, 1950, eventually the oldest of six. I guess a more or less ordinary childhood until about the age of 12 when my dad, Eugene Edward, was admitted to a TB Sanitarium. This was the end of the era where TB was treated in such a manor. Two years later when I was 14 he died. My mother took good care of us. She arranged for my summers to be spent either on my Uncles farm, or with my Grandpa. These years were far more furtive than she thought as it was here where I learned may of basic skills that I now have. My grandpa was in the process of building a house by himself, contracting as little of the work as possible. I was his chief helper and I learned a lot. On my uncle's farm I functioned as a farm hand, usually getting a number of the more or less undesirable jobs. But I did learn to hunt, drive a tractor, plow and disk, and a number of other things. It was, frankly, fun.

I graduated from Detroit Redford High School in 1968, and went up to the UP (Upper Peninsula) to Michigan Tech in Houghton, Michigan majoring in Biology. Why Biology you ask? It's simple, of all my High School Teachers those that seemed to enjoy themselves the most where the Biology and Music Teachers, and I wasn't going to make a career out of Music. After two years at Tech and meeting my future wife I enlisted in the Navy to get electronics training. The recruiter talked me into Nuclear Power and (I thought) electronics training, and thus started my eight years of military service. I was assigned as a Machinist Mate (Nuclear), and volunteered for ELT, Engineering Laboratory Technician, to handle the radiation monitoring and chemistry of the nuclear systems. I married my wife on July the 1st, 1972, during the middle of my nuclear prototype training. Little did our parents realize how lucky we were to be able to keep the wedding date that we had picked over a year earlier. I was married on the 2nd day of a 4 day shift break during prototype training, talk about a short honeymoon. It wasn't until my third anniversary that I was able to spend it with my wife. I did all the right things, made reservations for dinner and all that, but my wife was getting very antsy and irritated. "Today being the 31st of June (my watch said so) everything was ready for tomorrow. To this day we celebrate on "June 31st" in memory of that day. If you haven't already figured it out, June only has 30 days guys, and DON'T EVER forget your anniversary because she won't!!

I have spent 8 years, (1970-1978) in the US Navy's Submarine Service and in many ways those are the experiences that have helped to shape me into what I am today.
My first command was the Submarine Tender USS Howard W. Gilmore ASR-16 based in Keywest Florida. The primary task was supporting the last of our diesel boats. They would go out and play "targets" for the fast boats out of Charleston, BUT they made an excellent "hole in the water" and frequently turned that into the ultimate advantage, victory. DBF (Diesel Boats Forever.
My first boat was the USS Thomas Edison, SSBN610. I took this boat through two deterrent patrols, an extended refit, the yards, ending with a missile shot over the bow of a Russian Trawler, (he was "fishing" a little close to Cape Canaveral during a post yard missile test). That number has followed me around since I left the service. My userid at detroit.freenet.org is AB610 as in A Boat 610 (submarines are boats, not ships). (OK, so that is a little stretch). My second boat was affectionately called the Crazy Polock, the USS Casmir Pulaski, SSBN633. This boat I also took through the yards. This yields what must be a record of ONLY TWO deterrent Patrols in 8 years of service. To this background I include a reference to the U.S. Submarine Force, The Silent Service.

On exit from the Navy I proceeded to get a degree in Natural Resources Conservation from the University of Connecticut. Trivia question, What to Redford High School, Michigan Tech, and UConn have in common? Answer, they are all Huskies. I have to date never attended any school where I could not root for the huskies. I attended Tech during the last of its good hockey years, where the big problem was deciding which of its All-American goalies to play in any given game. UConn is in the Big East, not Alaska, as some people think, and currently have a basketball team which will match up with any in the country. Why Natural Resources? I wanted Computer Science, but it would take an additional two years schooling. My degree has more CS credits than most CS majors, but no Engineering Physics.

While at UConn I volunteered with the North Coventry Volunteer Fire Department. The start of my volunteerism.
My first post-Navy job was with Gilbert Associates of Reading Pennsylvania as a Controls Engineer. I worked on several of our civilian Nuclear Power Plants while at this firm. While here I volunteered with the West Lawn Volunteer Fire Department, the Mulhenburg Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and Western Berks Ambulance as an EMT, Emergency Medical Technician, and became an Advanced and Standard First Aid Instructor with the American Red Cross, and a CPR instructor for both the Red Cross and the American Heart Association.

Eventually I ended up back in the Detroit area working for EDS (Electronic Data Systems) on the General Motors account. I have three wonderful kids, Alex, Katy, and Andy. Alex is currently a sophmore at Rose-Hulman pulling a dual major in Computer Science and Mathematics. Katy is a junior at Troy High School, active in band (Flute), Synchronized Swimming, Girl Scouts, National Honor Society, Environmental Club, and Koin. Andy is really coming into his own. He is a sophmore at Troy High School, working at his first real job, but his most remarkable feature is his creativity which is best shown in his stories.


Fred Bonjour
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