Russell Bastian
PO Box 1058
Claremont, NH 03743
Upon leaving Stevens HS with diploma in hand I was guaranteed
aircraft maintenance school with the Navy at Naval Air Station in
Memphis, TN. Five of us from the class of '61 joined and went to
boot camp together. Three of us went to Memphis.
After school I was stationed in Brunswick, Maine for the rest of
my four year term. During the Cuban crisis I was sent to live and
work with the Marines on base. After the crisis I was put in
charge of a DC-3 aircraft and made a lot of flights on the east
coast.
Returning to greater Claremont in 1965 I worked for the Fellows
Gear Shaper Corp. In Springfield, VT, until the spring of 1966.
Very dissatisfied with wages and the social life, I sold my car
and rode my 1952 Harley Davidson out west and settled in
Edgerton, Wyoming. It's a small oil field town of 500 people.
Edgerton had no running water and water was purchased by the
barrel. I worked six and a half days a week in the oil field and
later worked on a drilling rig up in the Fort Reno area. This paid good
but was dangerous work. With winter coming, working outside
was harder and living alone I found myself up in Kaycee in the bars
most nights. It was time for a change.
In November, I disassembled the Harley and put it in the back of
my 1950 Mercury and drove forty eight hours straight to get home.
I went to work for the world famous Bryant Grinder Corp. in
Springfield, VT, as an electrical assembler and tester. Early on
I was laid off several times and worked with dynamite in Derry,
NH, and Sharon, VT building I89.
At age 27, my long search for the girl of my dreams came to an
end. I married a pretty 20 year old widow named Mary Lou Hagen from
Greenbush, VT. We've been together for 35
years. Just after we married we sold our toys: my '62
Corvette, '52 Harley Chopper, and Mary Lou's '70 Mach 1 Mustang.
With the money I bought an old D2 Caterpillar and logged enough
lumber off our 80 acre hillside farm to build a chalet. It
took me 2 years to finish.
We have 3 great children. Jim was born in 1974, Amber in
1975, and Ross in 1980. We now have 4 granddaughters, the
oldest is 5 years old.
After working many years at Bryant Grinder, at age 58 I was
offered an early pension and severance pay as part of down
sizing. Since retiring I've finished building our 1932 Chrysler
Street Rod, powered by a 440 cubic inch Chrysler V8, bought a custom
Fat Boy model Harley Davidson and 2 bigger than life 20 ton D8
Caterpillar tractors made in 1950. And then there's the
ever-changing antique shotgun collection.
Life is good!!