Brad Smith

Windsor Central High School

Class of 1974

→ Join 1884 Alumni from Windsor Central High School that have already claimed their alumni profiles.
→ There are 64 classes, starting with the class of 1944 all the way up to class of 2017.

BRAD'S PROFILE

This is a limited view of Brad's profile, register for free or login to view all their profile information.

Brad Smith - Class of 1974 - Windsor Central High School

First Name	Brad
Last Name	Smith
Graduation Year	Class of 1974
Gender	Male
Current Location	Horseheads, New York
Hometown	Kirkwood, New York
Relationship Status	Married
About Me	Raised in Kirkwood, NY "as a country kid", "a mountain boy". I walked and rode bicycle to get around to see friends and play neighborhood sports. The hill (Ostrum Road) got me in shape, especially when I had a paper route. I was nuts because I would come down the hill on my bike and not hit my brakes until I came to Rt 11. I was clocked at 45 mph once. I went to elementary school at Floyd Bell School, then Windsor Central Jounior and High School (74) In high school I tried my best to be an athlete. My knees still hurt from doing so, but I can say that I loved my 3 years of football. shooting the discuss and playing basketball and volleyball were a bonus. I am proud to be able to say that I never lost a game that I played in those three years of football. We were undefeated in 9th and JV and nearly so my one year of the varsity. Also proud that some of "our" players still hold records today at Windsor. To name a few I saw in a recent homecoming program. Jeff Seward, Joe Kosloski, Jim Gorman, Scott Vint, Mike Rock are one's that I remember. The real beauty was the balance and depth that we had by many, many others that did not have the stats but were tough on the field. I salute those kids of long ago. My greatest memory in high school is when we played our last JV game at Sidney. We were undefeated but Sidney played us tough and it was cold and the ground was hard when tackling. I remember I just wanted it to end. It did and we were ahead on the score board. I don't remember celebrating on the bus ride... I think we were pretty tired and beaten up. After we got back and cleaned up the parents surprised us with a party! It finally dawned on me... we just went undefeated! My cheerleader girl friend was there and the love in the room for us was very real. Then I stated in Windsor for a halloween party (with the girlfriend). After that I got to experience a Trick or Treat session in Windsor. I left before my comrades got the fire hose turned on them. By graduation and the summer after I realized that sports wasn't my ticket in life so I applied myself in going to BCC. Since I paid for it, I worked hard at doing my best. Thanks to Mr. O's physics class in high school, I excelled in physics in college and took similar courses that lead into engineering. I was ready to conquer the world after graduating. Too bad the world didn't know me. In summer 1976 I went camping with some of the high school friends... Jim Andrus and we met up with Tom Yarish and John Perry and Tom's brother Bill if I remember right. Had a good time at Lake George over the bi-centenial. Stayed out of trouble though it was all around us. I remember the motor cycle gangs rumbling down the streets of Lake George. I remember Jim Andrus pulling me away from a bouncer who wouldn't let me in though I was of age. And I remember the dancing at disco's, surely we lived in entertaining times. When I got back it was my turn to house sit and mom and dad and sisters went on vacation. I was at my cousins house in Endwell (10 miles away) and I saw a powerful lightning bolt towards home. It hung for about 10 seconds. I decided to leave immediately instead of staying overnight and found the house smoldering when I arrive. I made the youthful mistake of opening the door and it burst into flames knocking me back nearly out the door. Long story short. We lost a lot but gained a lot. Saved the dog, a tv, and cans of food. I know ha ha ha on the last one. Dialed "O" just to have the lady tell me a 7 digit number to call for fire. I pleaded that she make the call because I was in the house with the fire. Either she did or I did the seven digits on the rotorary phone. I got out of the house when the 22ga. shells went off in the closet. Life kind of changed in a hurry. We lived in the back yard as we demolished the remains and buried the house in the fields. Then it rained and rained. I remember that I still worked at Cortese Restaurant and of course had to clean-up. By the kindness of the Bukowski's I was able to shower there, even if they were not home. That is a good friend there I tell you. Andrus' also were kind. I remember sleeping over there to get away for a awhile. Life changed, but we pulled our selves back up. People came out of the woodwork to help. Neighbors that we never know helped us by loaning us a tractor and a wagon so that we could haul away the demolished house in pieces. Adams' took in all our china from the china closet and wrapped each piece and stored them in their basement. People from Mom and Dad's church came up and helped and brought food. Even the club my mom was in (mothers of twins club) sent work crews. A great memory of "there are good people is this world". I still believe this today, though it really gets tested sometimes. LOL. So I went back to BCC and started taking Engineering Science courses. I began to realize that I could not work, help build a house, and go to school too. Logic told me that I had an Associates degree already so I needed to let go of school. In the meant time I re-met this girl who I had in one class a couple years before that. She came back to take some classes too. We started dating. And yes we ended up getting married. I started my career as a Facilities Engineer for a company who's main client was .... IBM. It was a great job but there was no insurance or stability there. I interviewed and accepted a job in a place called Big Flats. I was an Engineering Technician which basically meant I did a lot of drafting for the Engineers and had small projects that I ran myself. I learned a lot in those Regan years. A couple times a year I had projects in New Jersey and found it fun traveling. By then we had a little boy so at times I did miss the family when away. This employer was good to me. They paid for us to go on to school, so I enrolled with RIT in their Mechanical program. Things went well on the job and in school until one day I got called to the bosses office. My last words were something like... "In an hour? I would have giving you two weeks notice" Some months later we had a party and we called it the "Have's and the Have not's" Party. It healed a lot of bad feelings and brought back the united team that we once had. Within a year or so the company went bankrupt and everyone was out of work. I ended up communting from the Elmira area to Johnson City, back as a Facilities Engineer with IBM as the customer again. Life was fine though the commuting drove me nuts. We ended up moving to J.C. with a family that included my wife, my son, and a dog. -More fill in some other time- I finished my last two years at RIT myself and went from a rich young man to a poor man in a hurry. But I finished in 1985 and got a degree in Mechanical Engineering. - More later...(read more)