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| Joe | Sunset/Paula | Larine |
If you want to visit with either myself, Joe or Larine, just click on one of us below.
To read our biographies, click on the person you want to see below.
| I was born Feb 14, 1955 to Martin & Catherine Greaser in Niagara Falls, NY. They met while my father was in the Navy and stationed near Boston, MA for a month. He and a buddy wanted to find some square dancing and they were directed to try out Rosecroix Dance Hall. Little did he know the love of his life would be there that evening (smile). I was the fourth of their nine children, but then again, all Catholic families are big!! We made our own baseball team <g>. |  |
Martin (or Dusty as some called him) and Kay (or Caddy as some called her) lived in a small apartment down on 7th St. While there, they had Elizabeth Ann, William Joseph and Kathleen Lucy. During this time my father and his brothers were building a real home for our family on Lockport Road where we all eventually grew. After they moved in, I was born, followed by Julia Mary, Teresa Martina, Michael Gerard, Patricia Ellen and John Donald. To this day they still live in the same house.
I attended St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus School (Roman Catholic) from Kindergarten in 1960 until the end of fifth grade in June 1966. I had Mrs. Hockinose in Kindergarten, Sister Alma in first grade, Mrs. Roundtree in third grade, and the horrible Sister Mary Rene in 5th Grade. And yes, those stories about being cracked across the knuckles, putting gum at the tip of your nose if caught chewing it are all true.
One of my memorable events is of a little black girl that ended up in first grade with us as part of the Integration Law. I only wish now we were all a bit kinder to her, but we only treated her as we were taught, which I know now was wrong. She was like Ruby Bridges though, filled with an enormous amount of courage. Another event was the assignation of President John F. Kennedy. I was in third grade at the time, and I remember the Holy Mother, Sister Kate, coming to our door and whispering to our teacher. When she told us there was a lot of mixed emotion. Little Mary Barry who was sitting next to me became so distraught they had to remove her from class. After going home everyone it seems was glued in front of the TV for days, which ran into weeks. I am sure glad they didn’t have the court coverage now like they did in the OJ trial...we’d never have seen Walt Disney again! (chuckle)
| After elementary school, I attended Edward Towne Jr. High School. It was a new one they built right next door to Niagara Wheatfield Central High School, which I later attended. I got glasses, and was the only one of my siblings to have them, it's good now to see they need them!! I met my very best friend there, Kathleen Susan Duckett (Ducky), her friendship altered my life... We were inseparable after 7th Grade. She practically lived at our house and went on summer vacations with us. She spent holidays over at our house, went baby-sitting with me just so I’d have someone to talk with & was forever standing in our kitchen corner with her hand in our cookie jar! Unfortunately, in our senior year of High School she was killed by a drunk driver. That left me so devastated, I don’t remember to much of the rest of my senior year. Although, the Vietnam War ended and Nixon was our first President to be impeached. Two of my sisters (Liz & Kathleen) had already gone down to the Pentagon to work, and my third sister (Julie) also followed in 1973. | Kathleen
Susan Duckett |
I attended College at Valparaiso University. I was one of 6 females that entered the Engineering College at Valpo in the Fall of 1973. It was a beautiful college, I always told folks I was accepted for two reasons, I was Catholic (Valpo was Lutheran University) and I was a female wanting to go into Engineering, neither of which were commonplace at Valpo then. I graduated in May 1977 with my Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. I was one of the lucky ones that made it all the way through without taking drugs or getting pregnant. Although most did tease the ladies in Engineering at the time that we were only there for our MRS Degree. We started with six women, and six of us graduated!
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I took a job with the Naval Ordnance Station in Indian Head, MD after my graduation. And, after 20 years I still work there. Although, it’s now a part of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, and I’m a Division Director versus a junior engineer. I love the work and the folks here, and the weather isn’t so bad either, well...not compared to Niagara Falls in the winter (smirk). The picture to the left depicts one of the many missiles I worked with during my first 8 years there. I worked with all the tactical missiles carried aboard ship. Now I work with the training rounds and devices use to simulate and train our Fleet personnel. |
In October 1980 my beautiful daughter Larine was born. She was, and continues to be, the joy of my life!! I don’t know what I would have done without her. It was so nice dressing her up in little frilly dresses and teaching her new things. Now, she thinks she knows everything, and her clothes are so big & baggy I’m not sure who’s under the baseball cap anymore! I look forward to special events, then I get to see her dress up!
In 1993 another miracle altered my life, this time over my keyboard. I met a guy named Lared on a local Bulletin Board System (BBS), and after several months of talking on the keys, and then on the phone, finally met one another. Believe or not, he came by to put a new hard drive in my 286 PC, and with time it flourished into a loving relationship. On 13 May 1994, Joseph Edward Hayes III, and I were married at St. Peter’s Church in Waldorf, MD. The following day we had a beautiful sunset ceremony overlooking the Potomac River at the Officer’s Club where I work. Joe then moved from his parents in Kensington, MD (near the Mormon Temple), to our small townhouse in Waldorf. Of course Larine wasn’t overly thrilled about having to share me and our home with someone else, but she has come to realize that Joe loves her as his own daughter, despite her quirks <wink>. And, she loves him despite his quirks! <g>
In February 1996 we started our own Bulletin Board System called Sunset’s Dream Palace, so please pop over there and take a look around. I’m proud of all the hard work Lared & I put into it. I did all the designing and he did the actual building of our Palace.
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By the way, if you're not sure where Waldorf, MD is located, we aren't too far away from the Clintons...you know, the ones in the White House. If you click on the image, you can go visit with our neighbors <wink>. Enjoy your trip through the White House... but, do tell them who sent you! <chuckle> |
Joe aka Lared
Hey, how about those Washington Caps??
Joseph E. Hayes, III
Our lives begin without memory, and sometimes end without notice. What we do with our lives can be a very rich story, or a very sad story, for most of us it is a mixture of the two. My name is Joe and my life began thirty-five years ago in Kensington, MD, a suburb of Washington, D.C.
Parents do the best they can to provide for their children, but sometimes the best intentions fall short of their intended goal. Our family is no different. My father worked for the National Institutes of Health, and my mother stayed home to care for my brother and me. From a very early age, my parents encouraged us to read, and that encouragement has led to a lifetime filled with reading. While my reading interests span many genres, my favorite is science fiction. I think that computers have led me to science fiction more than any other factor in my life. I work in the computer field as a programmer and consultant. Since the dawn of the computer age, the possibilities of computers have fascinated man. That fascination has produced a plethora of stories about computers and their possible roles in our society both today and in the future. My personal fascination with computers started at an early age. The Montgomery County school system requested permission from my parents to include me in a study. They designed this study to evaluate the differences between standard methods of teaching mathematics and instruction that reinforced skills with computerized instruction. My fathers love for mathematics made the choice easy for him. So from first through fifth grade, they complemented my studies with a computer aided instruction. This exposure to computers at an early age prepared me for my career.
After completing the required curriculum to graduate from high school, I enrolled in college. During my first attempt at earning a bachelor’s degree, I completed approximately fifty-six credits hours. These credits consist of courses that are primarily within my career field. I was not ready for college at this point in my life, and so I left school. While I did not complete the course work required to complete my degree, I did gain the knowledge necessary to start my career.
For the past sixteen years, I have worked in both public and private sector positions for many employers in the field of computer science. My experience working with many different types of computers and software has given me the ability to adapt rapidly to different environments. This ability coupled with an insatiable thirst for knowledge has brought me back to continue my education. The field of computer science is continuously changing. To remain effective, a programmer must update their skills regularly. With the changes in the field, I realized that my skills were no longer in demand. This realization is a major factor in my return to college. Another factor in returning, is that despite my experience, more employers are requiring prospective employees have a college degree. My educational goals include a master’s degree in the field of computer science, however, that is a long term goal at this point in my life. My more immediate goals are to update my skills in the field of computer science to expand my career possibilities.
While my primary career has and always will be computers, I am also a professional photographer. My photography is a source of reflection on life and the environment. Many people enjoy taking pictures of friends and family. I take pictures of friends and family, however, I prefer to take pictures of nature and wildlife. I feel more comfortable taking a picture of the beauty of this great land than a person. All too many photographs of people are posed pictures that do not capture the essence of a person. With nature, a flower or a mountain range exists within a certain context of time and place. The essence of nature is always there. People on the other hand can change their outward appearance and demeanor to suit a particular situation where a flower is constant. In my photography, I seek what is truly there, and avoid pictures that someone has posed. Pictures that represent the truth have more impact on a person when they can place those images within a context that they are familiar. Images of the fourth of July fireworks over the Washington Monument have visual impact for almost anyone that lives in, or has visited, the area of our nations capital.
Computers have invaded lives of almost everyone, both at home and at work. My life goes further than most in this area. Back in 1992, I started my own computer bulletin board system (BBS). A BBS, is a computer dedicated to taking calls from many different users and allowing them to use a particular computer simultaneously from different locations. After marrying Sunset, we started the "Dream Palace" and it ran eight lines. While the Internet has become the ultimate BBS for some people, for many, it is too impersonal or expensive. Often, the people that do not feel comfortable on the Internet but want to explore the world that computers offer turn to local BBS’s. Each BBS offers different options and themes. Some BBS’s are adult oriented, they orient some to children or families. I met my wife on a local BBS that they have oriented around adults talking with other adults. A friend introduced the owner of a local BBS to me during the time that I was starting my BBS. I tried the BBS, and met a wonderful lady that happened to be online when I first tried the system. After talking online for a short time, I sent an electronic mail message thanking her for the kindness in welcoming me to the system. After several weeks of correspondence in electronic mail, and talking online, I had the opportunity to meet her and install a disk drive in her computer. The opportunity to meet online and become friends first allowed us a higher level of comfort when we met in person for the first time. Initially, we planned on just being friends. However, we found that due to our initial friendship on the computer, we could move into a relationship that grew rapidly. After five short months, I asked her to be my wife. We have been married for since May 1994 and we live in Waldorf with her teenage daughter, Larine, from a previous relationship.
Larine
I am currently working on my bio, and it will be added here at a later time...
