Everett High School Graduates
Lansing, Michigan (MI)
Joseph Rakus
Everett High School
Class of 1963
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JOSEPH'S PROFILE
| First Name | Joseph |
| Last Name | Rakus |
| Graduation Year | Class of 1963 |
| Gender | Male |
| City | N/A |
| State/Province | MI |
| Country | United States |
| Occupation | Retired Computer Programmer |
| Married | Yes |
| About Me | Since I am not going to be able to attend this class reunion at the end of September I thought I would go over what I have done for the last 50 years. We are presently taking care of my 93-year-old mother-in-law who lives with us for the last four years and it has taken most of our time. After graduating from high school I work for the highway department in Lansing. The first summer was drawing up sign standards that were used on the interstate system. The following year I worked in the research department from the Department of Transportation and the third year I work worked on developing on and off areas for businesses. I had completed my associates in science degree at Lansing Community College. I went to work at Dow Corning Corp. in Midland Michigan as a technician. During this next three years. I was able to completely bachelor’s degree in chemistry. I was able to obtain a process patent for the manufacturing of a chemical called mercaptoproply trimethoxy silane {HS(CH2)3SI(CCHE)3} which was used to chemically bonded fiberglass to rubber tires. As a technician I worked on the developed of processes from one liter glassware to 50 gallon vessels. After completing my bachelor’s degree I have transferred to working as a laboratory supervisor in making small product sizes of materials. One of the materials at you might be a will familiar is the gel that was used in the breast transplants manufactured by Dow Corning in our medical products division. During the same time I was able to learn to program computers which became my life for the next 29 years. I worked on various systems such as payroll with 6000 bosses and their wives, group insurance, traffic information which you see on various trucks down the highway, and finally material safety data sheets from chemical properties. The last project enabled me to get a chance to visit Sydney Australia, Korea and Taiwan. I retired on February 28th 2001. I am now working on that famous honey dew list that seems to get longer all the time. Some of my interests for the 50 years include dog showing, foster care, cruises, and adopting children. During dog showing we were able to obtain many American and Canadian championships with one of its smooth collies becoming ninth in the United States for one year. Our sharing has included a smooth and rough collies, shih tzu, shelties, and Scottish terriers. In the foster care arena we had 64 children aging the age from newborn’s to 16 years old. Our first two children included a mother who was 16 and her four months and a four-month-old baby. The last four children we had were five years old, four years old, two years old and one-month-old from one family. They had remained with us for two years and we were hoping to adopt them but they went back to the mother. They had been removed twice more, a total of five times before the courts give them to a family to rise properly. Two of those children became our children through adoption. Erik was seven days old and we are allowed to adopt him at four months old since he was not apnea baby. Erik, we learned later on was dyslexic but was able to complete his Eagle Scout. Christine was 16 when we adopted her and she was learning handicap to be in those able to only operate at the fourth grade level but she was the first one in her family to graduate from high school in three generations. The last four children we adopted were from Russia north of St. Petersburg. We had traveled to Moscow Russia and then traveled to their hometown by train. Adoption was handled in a Russian court in the town located where they were living in the orphanage. They were in the orphanage for five years before we are able to obtain them. In the court the judge is more concerned about how our son Erik would handle four new brothers and sisters. The courtroom came with a jail located in. Their names are Julie, Tatiana, Anthony and Elizabeth. We tried to name them similar to their previous Russian names. They are now 24, 25, 30 and 31. When we adopt them my comment was was sheet cake since their birthdays are May 16, June 2, 4 and 6 with Erik’s birthday of May 20. The last three children were stepchildren 40, 44,45. They live in Standish, Montrose and Indiana. We have been on 14 cruises with most of them on the Eastern Caribbean. We were able to take a cruise through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles from San Jose. We have taken our children with us on some of these cruises including Hawaii, the Caribbean, we all to go on another cruise to the Panama...(read more) |
Class of 1963 Alumni
→ Reunite with 36 class of 1963 alumni that have joined.
Sandy Carroll
Class of 1983
Angie Gemalsky Mcphail
Class of 1981
Shyla Crump
Class of 2012
Kathleen King
Class of 1973
Cathy Box
Class of 1970
Shelley Mathews
Class of 1991
Paul Baker
Class of 1969
Shawn Lundy
Class of 2013
Paulette Wilke
Class of 1962
Dennis Shevrovich
Class of 1981
Karen Ruthruff
Class of 1966
Thomas Densmore
Class of 1973
Michelle St. Peter
Class of 1987
Rayla Van Amburg
Class of 1972
Dave Evert
Class of 1973
Tom Sandberg
Class of 1987
Susan Danek
Class of 1988
Elena Burgess Elena Burgess
Class of 1959
Recent Class of 1963 Reunions
Plan a Class of 1963 Reunion for Free
Class of 1977 And All Alumni Get Together
Invited Classes: All Classes
Date: Aug 18, 2017
Description: The Class of 1977 invites you to an all alumni night at Reno's West. You will be responsible for your own food/beverages...(read more)