Personal Home Page of Donald E Luth

PNC(SW) Donald E. Luth, USN, Retired

Some Personal Information

Let's see, just exactly what have I done since High School at Castle Park Hig in Chula Vista, CA. I graduated from there in 1970. I went to work as a Garbage man (real glamorous). I needed the job because I married my Junior-high sweetheart in September of 1970. Everything was going along fine until they laid me off. When I found that K-Mart wasn't going to pay the bills, I enlisted in the Navy. I stayed there until 1991 when I finally retired. After that I worked for a wholesale drug company in Nashville. I left there to go to school and finally combined all of my degrees. During the summer months I worked at Opryland (a theme park in Nashville) on a ride called the Sky Coaster. It was super, but way too much time in the sun and on my feet. But I was running circles around all of the young pups, so that didn't make me feel too bad. Next I had a couple of oddball jobs until I worked as a Graphic Designer for a church organization. They let me go because I wasn't an artist. What they wanted and needed was an artist, and I was a designer, two different things. Finally I got a job with the State of Tennessee Department of Transportation. That's where I've been ever since.

I've lived in the following places: San Francisco, CA; Subic Bay, RP; Washington, D.C.; Long Beach, CA; Huntsville, AL; Norfolk, VA; St. Marys, GA; Keflavik, Iceland; Nashville, TN.

After what I thought was 8 wonderful years of marriage, my first wife and I had a falling out so we were divorced. Before that though we had twin sons that didn't survive their early birth. Nowdays it wouldn't have been any problem. We went on to have two more children, both girls. The first is Tammy who currently lives in Tulare, CA with two of my grandaughters (yes we are that old) and one grandson. My second daughter Shirley lives in Jeffersonville, IN with three more grandsons. Next is Desire'. She is the oldest of my daughters from my current marriage. She lives in Joelton, TN, which is only a few miles from me. She is the mother of two more Grandsons. Finally we have Clara, the baby of the family. She is 22 now and married to a young man named Donnie and has a daughter named Allison.

Currently, and forever, I am married to a wonderful woman named Sheila. I met her in Washington, D.C. over 31 years ago while we were both on active duty in the Navy. We've been together since. In fact, we've now been married for 29 of those years. We already have our plane and hotel reservations to Hawaii for our 30th anniversary.

Current Projects

Sheila and I are active in a local Gold Wing Rider Association Chapter here in Nashville, TN. Last year (2007) we were selected as "Couple of the Year." Currently we are proud to have also been selected as Assistant Chapter Directors. Our Chapter is active in the community such as escorting bicyclests in charity rides in the area. We also used to ride judges around in tri-atholons (sp?). Although we still have our Ham Radio license, we haven't been as active in that, but it does come into use during these bike rides. In other words, we don't have many free weekends.

Personal Interests

I enjoy collecting Stephen King novels. I have several that I haven't even read yet because I figure that they'll be worth more someday if they stay in their dust covers. I've also started to collect PEZ dispensers and 1/64 scale race cars. During the summer months I have two hummingbird feeders set outside my front door. I'll go through 5lbs of sugar a week. That's how many hummingbirds I have. I enjoy feeding other birds, but hate Black Birds, they just throw around all of the seed, and attack the other birds that I want to attract. When my grandkids are around they are extremely fun, and keep me on the run all of the time. I also enjoy Amateur (Ham) Radio. I am a member of Davidson, Cheatham and Robertson County ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service). I am also a Weather Spotter for the National Weather Service in Nashville, TN.