Survivors - From a member of the greatest generation

• His MEMORIES include the hardship he and his family endured Growing Up During the Great Depression and World War Two. They include his experiences during those years as a series of Short Stories. He has also included his only attempt at fiction. A short story with a bizarre ending entitled "Uncle Henry"
  
  
• His REFLECTIONS include those about Himself, Religion, Meaning, Expectations, People, The Iraq War, China and the ENIAC Computer.
  
  
• His OBSERVATIONS include Unusual Sayings and Songs, Things of Interest (though not his own) Idioms he has heard during his life and a Gee Whiz section.
  
  
• It includes the bizarre, the crazy, the extraordinary, the seemingly impossible, and in some cases - the outrageous. The book is highly recommended for the older reader who would like to reminisce or for those younger readers interested in what their parents went through during unbelievably difficult times.

I'm R. Duane Seaman, author of Essays in Idleness.

About the Author
Roual Duane Seaman was born in East Chicago, Indiana but at age six months his parents returned to Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up in the outskirts of Kansas City in an area between Kansas City and Independence known as the Inter-City. He attended Fairmount Elementary School there and graduated from Northeast High School in Kansas City. His senior year he was elected President of the Student Council, Vice-President of the All City Student Council, served as Police Commissioner on Student Government Day, a co-host of a Saturday afternoon teen talk show, was a cheerleader and a member of the track team and was elected to the Hallmark Student Hall of Fame. He served thirty months in the U S Air Force. When discharged he was with the 317th Fighter Bomber Squadron at Moses Lake, Washington. He attended college at the University of Missouri, Jochi Dai Gaku (Tokyo, Japan) and the University of Houston. At MU he was a cheerleader, a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, Student Council, Tiger Club, Student Red Cross, and the Stephens College Choir. He says his first real job was at the Hanford Atomic Bomb Plant in Washington State. A ‘Q' clearance (which is higher than Top Secret) was required for employment there. He left there to work for the Dynalectron Corporation as a contract technician retrofitting USAF aircraft with IFF (Information Friend or Foe), Automated Weapons Control, and installing atomic and hydrogen bomb carrying capabilities. Those duties included five years in the Far East and six months in Germany and France. He left Dynalectron as a Project Supervisor responsible for the activities of several hundred employees. In 1965 he was hired by North American Aviation (Manufacturer of the Saturn Booster and Apollo Command Module) in the same capacity - Project Supervisor - for work on the Apollo Project at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. NAA later became North American Rockwell. In 1970 he left the space program and organized AIM Financial Systems Group, Inc. He retired twenty-eight years later in 1998 as President and CEO. He also served on the board of American Credit Control and CASH Enterprises. He is listed in Marquis 1994-1995 Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Finance and Industry. Duane (as he prefers) has been involved in youth and civic activities most of his adult life. He both coached and was president of the League City, Texas Baseball Little League and the League City Football Little League. In 1975 he passed the Southwest Athletic Conference tests and began officiating Texas high school football games. In 2001 he was selected as a member of the Kansas City Consensus School Governance Task Force empowered to study problems with the Kansas City Metro school districts and report findings to the Missouri state legislature. He was a member and past board member of the Downtown Kansas City Optimist Club. For three years he served as president of the Northeast High School Alumni Association. With a member data base of over 15,000 and newsletters mailed to 10,000, it is believed to be the largest high school alumni association in the nation.

About my latest book, Essays in Idleness

R. Duane Seaman was a Project Supervisor on the APOLLO "MOONSHOT" PROGRAM. One section of the book addresses his experiences in that capacity. He left the Space Program after Apollo 11 reached the moon and formed Houston based AIM Financial Systems Group, Inc. He retired twenty eight years later in 1998 as President and CEO and returned to his roots in Independence, MO where he now resides.

The book has several genres including Duane's POETRY, MEMORIES, REFLECTIONS and OBSERVATIONS. As mentioned, one section deals with being involved in the Apollo Program. Although he was no longer involved in the Space Program at the time, in 2003 he challenged early reports of the Columbia Shuttle disaster the day after and was later vindicated by revised reports a year later. All of which is covered herein.

His MEMORIES include the hardship he and his family endured Growing Up During the Great Depression and World War Two. They include his experiences during those years as a series of Short Stories. He has also included his only attempt at fiction. A short story with a bizarre ending entitled "Uncle Henry"

His REFLECTIONS include those about Himself, Religion, Meaning, Expectations, People, The Iraq War, China and the ENIAC Computer.

His OBSERVATIONS include Unusual Sayings and Songs, Things of Interest (though not his own) Idioms he has heard during his life and a Gee Whiz section. It includes the bizarre, the crazy, the extraordinary, the seemingly impossible, and in some cases - the outrageous.

The book is highly recommended for the older reader who would like to reminisce or for those younger readers interested in what their parents went through during unbelievably difficult times.