Nick Klasovsky
 

Well let's see...it sure has been a long road...all of 40 years now. After working at the Mt. Hope shipyard summer of '68 with Ken Field, went to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio for 2 years, coming back in the summer of 69 to work at Mt. Hope again. Got tear gassed in Washington DC in 1969 protesting the Vietnam war, and got shot at in 1970 at Kent State, then spent 1971 working on the Gatun Locks overhaul and helping my parents pack up and move to Florida when my Dad retired. Worked factory jobs in Ohio and Florida, in 71 and 72, then went back to Ohio for welding school. After welding school I worked in Ocala and Mobile but the South didn't pay welders enough so I moved back to Ohio. Married my first wife Nancy, in 1973 and we honeymooned in Panama. Spent most of the 70s working in Ohio and vacationing in Panama. In 1977 I got laid off and we drove to Panama from Ohio, spending 4 months in Mexico and Central America and 2 months in Panama with my brother Ivan and his wife Chrisse before shipping our van back to Florida.

I finally got tired of getting laid off, breathing smoke, and getting burned, and graduated in 1981 with a Business degree in Transportation and Logistics, which I ended up never using. I interviewed for lots of jobs, most paid less than I could afford to take. Finally settled on job as a parts specialist supporting domestic and international distributors and service centers for Terex earthmoving equipment. From there I moved on to technical writing and training, to computer systems analyst, working on the implementation of document management systems and content management systems, and am now back to technical writing and illustrating. I have two children: Dan, 28, working and going for a degree in microbiology after discovering that a degree in English didn't do him much good, and Jean, 26, who just got her masters from Boston College and is now teaching high school French in Chicago. My first wife Nancy and I divorced in 1987. Tragically, she died in an automobile accident in 2001, leaving Dan and Jean, her husband Jim, son Sam, and twin daughters Maggie and Annie. In 1998 I married my dear wife Cookie, and inherited two stepdaughters, Brandee and Courtney, who subsequently got married and had children, so I now have grandsons, Nathan 3, and Michael 8 months. We live in Amherst, a little New England-like town in northeast Ohio, 4 miles from Lake Erie and just west of the lake-effect snow belt, which means that even though I have a snow blower I rarely have to use it. I introduced Cookie to snorkeling back in 1992 in Cozumel, and she has forced me to take her to the Caribbean every winter since, to where the water is warm and clear, where the coconut trees rattle in the wind, where the rum is sweet and the air like perfume, where the sand is powder under your feet. Needless to say, I don't protest at all, because every trip takes us someplace different. She loves Panama, especially Isla Grande, where I subjected her to the "Panama Test" back in 1995.... 4 days of living in a wooden shack, sleeping in hammocks, spending our evenings lying on a blanket looking up at the plane of the galaxy, with the majesty of all the stars in the Milky Way spread out before us, while down the hill the surf curled in a line along the reef and lulled us to sleep every night. Damn, there are no better memories than that......may God bless you all and keep your memories of Panama sweet, bright, and clear as a dry season day...Nick.

Born August 17, 1950 ~ Cristobal, Canal Zone

Born in Cristobal, Nick had his 12 years of education in Canal Zone schools. He enjoys outdoor sports such as skin-diving, fishing, and hunting. He also has a special interest in motorcycles. Nick's future is still undecided. After graduation, he will either enter college, a trade school, or enter the service.