Gene Grindstaff

Happy Valley High School

Class of 1974

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Gene Grindstaff - Class of 1974 - Happy Valley High School

First Name	Gene
Last Name	Grindstaff
Graduation Year	Class of 1974
Gender	Male
Current Location	Elizabethton
Hometown	Elizabethton
Relationship Status	Single
About Me	Had various jobs in JC & Charlotte till '89. Then began a 10 yr career with FBI @ HQ's in DC as a clerk-typist updating arrest records from fingerprint cards sent in. Then in '92 began dream job as a photographer. Left there in '99 & began working in same position at Secret Service HQ's until retirement in 5/2020. That all seems like a dream now. I was VERY blessed to witness history & meet people that will live in immortality in US history. Especially the one time one of the last surviving Tuskeegee airmen gave a talk at Secret Service HQ's and I got to take pics of him & shook his hand! While at FBI worked on lots of evidence in the OK City bombing & stood directly in front of Timothy McVeigh as he was being fingerprinted for federal custody & assisted the specialists in that process. At Secret Service was fortunate to be on the street near Obama & Trump motorcades on Inaguration Day. Also close to Trump/family at Lincoln Memorial at his first term. My fav photo is of Air Force 1 arriving into NYC at one of the United Nations General Assemblies I was working at. You can see that photo on this site. A very special memory was attending the Olympics in Salt Lake City while employed at Secret Service. Especially the closing ceremonies and being at the stadium entrance high-fiving & thanking many of the foreign competitors. Also got to photo several of the medal ceremonies when the USA athletes were presented medals. Got to travel to & work in Athens, Greece/Zurich, Switzerland & Vaduz, Lichtenstein thanks to Uncle Sam. Visited Singapore/Malaysia & Ireland on personal travel. The Cliffs of Mohr & Newgrange were incredible. Newgrange is a burial site that you can enter & was built around 3100BC making it older than the Egyptian pyramids! My fav USA areas are anywhere in the SW desert. The Badlands, Grand Canyon, etc. is an amazing area to see! La Jolla, CA North of San Diego has a beautiful park/cove to see. I'd also walked the Santa Monica pier & been in the Pacific Ocean 21 yrs consecutively from '02-'23. Made it back summer of '25. Have driven all over Hollywood & into the hills by the gates of Hugh Hefner's mansion & near the Hollywood sign. Have seen a couple of famous actors while in a restaurant on Wilshire Blvd., John Cusack. He & Timothy Hutton came into an Italian restaurant I was at. At first I thought Cusack was Brent Spiner "Data" on Star Trek the Next Generation. They do favor, IMO. I've been blessed beyond my wildest dreams to see/witn...(read more)
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