Archie Tautfest

Lincoln Northeast High School

Class of 1959

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Archie Tautfest - Class of 1959 - Lincoln Northeast High School

First Name	Archie
Last Name	Tautfest
Graduation Year	Class of 1959
Gender	Male
Current Location	Denver, Colorado
Hometown	Lincoln, Nebraska
Relationship Status	Single
About Me	Once upon a time … long, long ago … in a land far away… A small boy was born. His parents were simple folks. Mom stayed at home and pa work the livelong day to earn enough for a dry loaf of bread and a piece of hard cheese. Ok, Ok, … it wasn’t in a “… land far away…” I was really born in St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, December 19th, 1941. No holiday yet but, there are others trying to have that day a Nebraska Holiday. What do you think about, “Archie Day”. Back to reality. I went from St. Elizabeth to Deadwood, South Dakota. I started Kindergarten in Deadwood in the fall of 1945.Then I started the 2nd grade in the fall 1948 at Lincoln/Havelock Elementary. I went to Havelock until, almost the end of the 6th grade (spring of 1953), and then the last 6 weeks of the 6th grade I spent at Huntington Elementary in University Place. Then the fall of 1953, I started the 7th grade at Northeast. Fast forward to November 1957, a year and a half before graduation I found myself in class at Waverly High School, Waverly, Nebraska. That last year and a half, before graduation, I spent my spare time in Lincoln visiting old friends from Northeast not Waverly. I found that once a rocketeer always a rocketeer. The 10th of May 1959, low and be hold, there I was picking up my High School diploma with the other twelve students of the Waverly 1959 graduating class. WOW, a whooping thirteen students in the graduating class of 1959. I did miss Northeast High School, it was my school. The 17th of June, 1959, less then 30 days after graduating High School, I found me standing in line wearing new cloths and my beautiful duck-tail laying on the floor of the Air Force barbers. I was in Air Force boot camp. What a culture shock. One day I’m eating Tastees at the Tastee Inn and onion rings at King’s drive-in and two days later, no more low slung Jeans, turned up shirt collars and my duck-tail laying on the floor of some barber in Texas. “MOMMY”, … “I want my MOMMY…” was some of this 17-year-olds first thought, as I stood in that barbershop in Texas. I had enlisted in the Air Force to be an Air Traffic Controller. I arrived in Texas and found that I can’t pass the eye test for being an Air Traffic Controller. After reviewing a two page list of other jobs I could do in the Air Force, jobs like cook, clerk typist, Medic, aircraft mechanic, and I think I even remember, butcher, baker and candle stick maker on the list. Let me regress a minute. Here I was a 17 years old just off the farm in Nebraska. I wasn’t very big, five foot six inches tall and I wore a boy’s large size shirt. So as I was perusing the Air Forces job list I came across “THE” job for me. AIR POLICEMAN. COP, MAN of the LAW. Bang, Bang, “you’re under arrest. WOW. At seventeen years old, I could wear a badge, carry a loaded “45” gun and I could arrest people. I found the job for me. (I still shake my head remembering the thought process of this 17-year-old.) So, by November of 1959 I had completed police school and I was driving police patrol at McChord AFB, Tacoma, Washington. A dream come true. Where were the bad guys? I won’t bore the reader with many details of my, almost 5 years spent in the Air Force. I will say It was a great place for me to grow up. I liked the Seattle, Tacoma area so when it was about time for me to be transfer out of McChord, (single airmen were transferred about ever eighteen months) I volunteered for the K-9 section of the Air Police. As a dog man I knew they wouldn’t send me to places like Tule AFB, Greenland or some remote location in Alaska. I Also knew that the Air Force was sending cops to guard airplanes in the Far East. I think it was called Vietnam. That wasn’t for me either. As a dog man in the Air Force I helped King County, Seattle, area Sheriff’s Department train their K-9 section. I was in the Air Force during the Cuban Crisis. Not a fun time to be in the USA Military. I meet a woman who was also in the Air Force and we married in the late summer of 1963. Then in November of 63, Kennedy was shot. For a few days chaos rained supreme at Mc Chord AFB. I did okay those 5 years. I made rank when I was eligible. I almost made the Air Force my life’s vocation. I left the Air Force in March of 1964. My wife and I moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, her hometown. I couldn’t get a job as a cop I was to small. Forty years ago, to be a cop in civilian life you had to be a giant, eight feet tall and you had to weigh a ton. But I did get a job training Seeing Eye dogs for awhile. That was enjoyable. I also made dishes for the airlines and air cleaners for over-the-road trucks. Then I went to work for the REA Express. (Remember the bright green trucks with the big red Xs on the side, delivering packages? Way before UPS or FED-X.) I worked for them for a number of years. While working for the REA Express my wife and I were divorced. I then moved to northern Minnesota (Brainerd, Minnesota) and drove Over-the-road truck for the Express. The Express wanted to send me back to St. Paul to work. I liked Brainerd so I quit the Express and went to work delivering laundry. During those years I lived in Brainerd I meet and married my second wife. I went to work selling insurance for Mutual and United of Omaha. All I can say about selling insurance is, I keep food on the table for my wife and I. This brings my sojourn of life up to Christmas time 1971. My brother, who was living in Denver, Colorado with his wife, call me in Brainerd and invited my wife and I to visit Denver over the Christmas Holiday. I made the trip alone to visit my brother. Within 2 days of seeing Denver and the Front Range of Colorado, I called my wife in Brainerd and told her to jump on an airplane. I had found the Promised Land. The Land of Milk and Honey. Nirvana. After my wife and I spent a few days in Denver we drove back to Brained, Minnesota and 45 days later we had sold 2 apartments building we owned. We had given up all we had in Brainerd and we were living in a small apartment in Denver and I was parking cars for a living. True Nirvana. Within a few months after moving to Denver I was hired to supervise the complete remodeling of the first hi-rise apartment building that was built in Denver. 1974 finished the job of supervising the remodeling of the hi-rise and I had been offered and I excepted a job of Property Manager for the largest apartment Management Company in Colorado at that time. I was managing 13 Apartment complexes in the Denver area. I did enjoy that job. By early 1975 the Management Company I was working for had temporarily transferred me to Colorado Springs, Colorado and I was in the middle of a divorce from my second wife. A year later, the divorce was over and the Management Company wanted me to move back to Denver. By that time I had fallen in love with Colorado Springs. So I quit the Management Company, took the appropriate tests and I started a construction company. ALT Enterprises was formed. Just before I quit managing apartment complexes I bought a home. I learned very quickly that I did not enjoy being a homeowner. Although I was a contractor and I had the tools, I did NOT like doing the repairs, nor keeping the lawn up. I was not a contented homeowner. During this time I was traveling all over Colorado shooting tournament Archery. That was fun, the traveling and the camaraderie of the other Archers was great. While I was involved with Archery I designed, manufactured and sold carrying cases to hold Bows and Archery equipment. I sold the cases under the name, GT Enterprises, in the US, Europe and Canada. Now we fast forward 3 or 4 years. Alt Enterprises was starting to grow so I gave up Archery and selling my Archery cases to put my time into the growth of ALT Enterprises. School Story: Well, in the spring of 1980 I decided to see if I could go to collage. Maybe some of you readers remember that while I was at Havelock and then Northeast and Waverly, I didn’t do to well in school and I was always causing trouble in class. Maybe some of you that went to Havelock remember the tunnel that ran between the 2 buildings. I remember spending lots of time in the tunnel by myself, because I had miss-behaved in class. And only a miracle and the help from friends in my classes did I graduate from high school. I remember Roger Kness at Northeast and Beverly Dillion at Waverly; they were my student angels. Thank you, you two. I also remember that when I worked for the REA Express I was offered an office job at the REA Head Quarters in Chicago, IL. But I couldn’t pass the battery of tests they gave me. So when I decided to apply to the University of Colorado I was very dubious about getting excepted. I talked to the admittance department at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado. I was informed that I needed my high school transcript and my SAT scores. SAT scores? After a lengthy conversation with the admittance department and they informing me that to be excepted to State run collage I needed to get my SAT scores. I could either drive to Denver to take my SAT tests or I could go to a local High School in Colorado Springs and take the SAT tests with High School students. I chose the latter. I found myself, a 40 plus year old, standing in line with 15 and 16 year old high school students waiting to take the SAT tests. I don’t know about you readers but I was embarrassed. An old man taking tests with high schoolers. I did want to see if I could get through collage, or was I as dumb as everyone told me I was? I took the SAT tests and like the other test takers, I waited for my scores. When the test scores arrived, my scores read like baseball scores. They were not good. Although my SAT scores weren’t good, CU allowed me to try the first 12 hours on a probationary bases. I needed a C or 2.0 for the 12 hours. I finished the 12 hours with a 3.5 or B+. I was on my way. Collage was very difficult for me. I had declared American History 1830 thru 1890 as my major. By the time the 3rd semester came around I was going to quit collage. I talked to the Dean of Education about me quitting. Well, he did some testing and told me I had Dyslexia. I researched it and I found that the symptoms were describing me. Causing trouble in classes, difficulty in writing and a myriad of other symptoms that were me. I then had a name for my learning problems. I could make the choices I needed to to over come the effects of Dyslexia. That takes me to 1985-86, I was a published writer (a short story in a now defunk magazine) and I had completed my Senior thesis, I quit collage. I still have about 32 hours left before I graduate from the University of Colorado. After more then 11 years as a contractor I closed the doors of ALT Enterprises. I went back to managing property and doing odd jobs as a handyman. Also during that time I became a volunteer adult probation officer in Colorado Springs. Then in 1991 I moved back to Denver and went to work for a clothing manufacturing company as their asset manager. I was responsible for their factories and retail stories. I traveled and got to see the US from Georgia to California. I did enjoy that job. In 1994 I open a Collectible Toy Store, Maggie May’s Sandbox, in Denver. That was a fun time playing with all of the toys I saw in places like Gold’s and Sear’s in Lincoln in the early 1950s. 8 years later I closed the doors of the toy store and went to work for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I played with hand puppets for the small kids that came into the Museum and I ran the Planetarium at the Museum. Now, The END. About 9 days after I turned 65 I left the Museum and retired. AND I’m enjoying getting up when I want and doing what I want. Not a bad life. I’ve been single for 34 years, that’s neither good nor bad, it i...(read more)