One grandfather was a professional basketball player. His wife (my grandmother)was also a professional basketball playerHis brother was a sniper in the Marine Corps on Iwo Jima dring WW2.
A great aunt was one of the original Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.
My aunt was a technical artist at Sandia Labs. She illustrated manuals for things like nuclear weapons. Years ago, she even got to observe a weapons test before above ground testing was discontinued. There are not that many people left alive that can make that claim.
My father was a rocket scientist for NASA during the heyday of Gemini and Apollo. I got to see Apollo 17 launch from Cape Canaveral. I also had the pleasure of having Buzz Aldrin and Pete Conrad attend cast parties at my house. (Their wives were active in our local community theatre.)
My mother was an artist. She was the scenic artist for a local TV station before she married my dad.
I personally am professor of theatre and a lighting and sound designer. I have worked with Karen Finley (One of the “NEA Four”), Blue Man Group, Stuart Ostrow (Broadway producer of “Pippin”), Charles Strouse (Writer of “Annie”), Jerry Bock (Composer “Fiddler on the Roof”) and three time Pulizer Prize winner Edward Albee.
I also had a cousin that rode with the Hell’s Angels during the 60’s.
My uncle is a horse wrangler for movie productions, including some for the movie Far and Away. Since he was a golden glove boxer when he was younger, he was asked to give Tom Cruise some fighting tips.
His son is a stunt man in westerns.
My great, great, great, etc. grandfather Antonio Baca was mentioned in a book concerning New Spain history (in the area that is now New Mexico)
“He was the main ringleader in the anti-Rosas faction which
caused this Governor’s death. He also was the leader of the people who defied the Governor by barricading themselves with the friars at Santo Domingo Pueblo. His turbulent career ended on July 21, 1643, when he was beheaded with others in Santa Fe.”
One uncle used to design toys for Hasbro. As a kid, he was our hero.
My grandfather was a steelworker and got sued by US Steel (um I think that was their name) for $1 million dollars (this was back in the 50’s) for attemtpting to organize his fellow steelworkers.
My brother is turning 50 in March. He’s retiring after 25 years working for the state of Colorado. His new job? Running a private fishing camp high up in the Rockies.
Both of my parents, before they retired, worked for the CIA. My dad was some sort of executive, my mom collected locally-made maps from all over the world.
My husband’s friends, before we got married, teased him all the time about how much trouble he’d be in if he ever did me wrong. They stepped up the teasing at our wedding, saying that my parents’ house was a safehouse, that if he backed out, frogmen would come up out of the water and he’d never be heard from again…that kind of stuff.
At the reception, one of them started joking around with one of my uncles about it. My uncle just looked at him and started speaking Russian…he was an interpretor for the Navy during the Cold War. My husband’s friend just turned pale.
I have another uncle who is a ski patrol guy, which doesn’t sound that impressive until you know that he learned how to ski when he was 65. He’s about 75 now. His son kills chickens for a living at a chicken factory. Not a very prestigious job, but an odd one. His wife is a roofer. She’s one tough chick.
