Burgers to Better Buddies
Del Raby rinses his double down with a vanilla shake. Can you guess the venue?
On a recent afternoon, Memorial Day to be exact, three Sunrise members met for an informal lunch. Burgers, shakes, fries and peanuts made a great combo to discover several unknown details of each other's background.
Two of the three are military veterans, one above pictured at Del's party last week. One's Draft number (301) was never reached. One member, all are male, served stateside as a training officer, teaching infantry skills to recruits. During his off duty time, he met his wife to be, a sewing instructor ~ civilian! The other veteran, a California native and member of a prosperous Central Valley family who built a pharmaceutical company after experiencing discrimination in San Francisco of all places. Both gender and ethnic discrimination tried to inhibit career choices in family members. Fortunately family and community support overcame academic admission prejudice and a person gained professional acceptance, success and gratitude.
Medical and humanitarian skills served the other veteran and his comrade's well. Ezbon survived duty as a combat Medic in Vietnam, returning to civilian life and obtaining advanced degrees in Public Health. Ask him about the secret he kept from a parent during his tour of duty.
Our hunger for food started our conversations. Our curiosity and desire to build goodwill and better friendship continues to nourish deeper understanding, the quest for best burgers, or lunch locale. Ezbon and Del, thanks for the memories!! Readers, it is up to you to decide who and where the WWII training officer was stationed and what Del and his wife drove for their honeymoon.
Enjoy the surprise of discovery ~ lunch with a semi-stranger.
