A chapter from my new book: "Delco Electronics" By Ronald W. Cox
Chapter 14. Alien Technology?
As you know, I have a wide range of interests and have lived a fascinating life. I loved my work at General Motors, and they blessed me with the best jobs I could imagine.

When I was a young farm boy, my father, Robert Cox, always encouraged me to know about technology, and we both got interested in amateur radio together. This interest started in 1955 when I was 12 years old and still going to school in a one-room schoolhouse (8th grade). When I went to high school in Corning, Iowa, it was a big adjustment for me and not helped by the fact that I was sick with pneumonia. I missed almost half of my freshman year. I grew stronger with time and developed many friends who were like-minded (nerds they call them today) in having an interest in Science and Mathematics.
One of my best friends in high school was one of the smartest kids in the class, Steve Morris. He said he would attend MIT after graduation. Steve went into the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He was discharged early for telling his congressman what was going on with the bombing of Cambodia. After his discharge, he worked for Radio Shack at their corporate headquarters in Texas. He died in the hospital, from injuries suffered in an airplane crash, only hours before I was to visit him.

My other best friend, John (Bill) Arbuckle, followed my father and me into the radio world and also became a radio amateur, Electrical Engineer, and teacher of electronics in Iowa.

Fortunately, a high school science teacher, Ralph Curry, mentored me. I was surprised to receive the single honorary award given to the student in his estimation that had outstanding academic achievement, good character, and superior intellectual promise in the field of science. This award to a farm boy just completing four years of Vocational Agriculture, gave me hope that I was pursuing the right course for my future.
My brother, Roger Cox, 12 years younger than I, also followed me into being a radio amateur and an Iowa State Electrical Engineer. Mr. Curry also awarded Roger the honorary award for superior intellectual promise in the field of science.
My sister, Arlene, a teacher (and an ISU graduate), also became a radio amateur to keep up with the rest of the family in pursuing this technology and to keep in the communications loop.
The first 22 channel Cochlear implant was approved in the US in 1983. In 1987, my mother, Velma Cox, was one of the first 500 people in the United States to have a cochlear implant. By 1988, 1,000 patients worldwide had Cochlear implants.

So as you can see, technology and science (they say STEM these days) run very deep in our family.

Also, consider the age at which I decided what to do with my life. Just before I went to Iowa State University, Sputnik was launched, and the space race was in full swing. I was committed to being a pilot or astronaut in those days and participated in the dream by joining the Civil Air Patrol with Steve Morris and other friends.

I did well at Iowa State, especially in the technical courses. For the summer between my junior and senior year at Iowa State, I was selected for a summer job with AT&T. When I graduated, I wanted to work in aerospace, but engineering for the Apollo missions was winding down. The engineering was done, and the first landing on the moon only three years away.

I'm a person very interested in advanced technology, no matter the source. After GM purchased Hughes Aircraft, I worked in California for the world's largest spacecraft builder. I was assigned to the facility that made the Apollo Guidance systems and the Lunar Rovers.

I am just seeking the truth about so-called "Alien Technology," which might bring our civilization the ability to travel faster than light to the far reaches of the universe. A worthy goal, I think!