Yearbook photo (1965)

Yearbook name: Nick Proferes (1965)

Address: 17 Turners Ave.,  Hawthorndene, 5051, South Australia
Email:  nproferes@internode.on.net
Phone: +61-8-8278-9242
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/nick.proferes.1
Spouse:  Sherry

We moved from Falls  Church to Annandale in the middle of my junior year so I had to leave GC Marshall HS and transfer to Thomas Jefferson.  Marshall had some great teachers and many friends there. Found TJ’s crop of teachers pretty ordinary with a few notable exceptions, I left Mr. Tischler in Chemistry at GCM and wound up with a guy who regularly either stepped in, or tripped over his rubbish bin, and occasionally singed his eyebrows lighting a Bunsen burner.   But made a lot of friends there, some I’ve kept in touch with throughout my life despite the tyranny of distance.  I was one of those who got baled up and kicked out at the start of my senior because my hair was too long (wish I still had it).  The students mounted a protest which received both local and national attention, and that sparked a life long questioning of those in “authority” by me. Thankfully, Australians have elevated that distrust to an art form so I am well placed among equals way out here. Thus I have spent my career challenging politicians and management on their practices and policies, even when I was part of the management team.

BSc in Aerospace Engineering from VPI in 1970

Moved to Sydney Australia in  1970 and began work as a design engineer on a number of projects including the electro-acoustics for the Sydney Opera House.

20 years in engineering design and senior management in a range of manufacturing – domestic appliances, car components, specialized air conditioning and refrigeration, electric power distribution, followed by a Grad. Dipl. in Adult Education and Training and changed careers taking up a position as a lecturer at a technical  college and part time at the University of South Australia for another 19 years teaching a variety of engineering design subjects as well as manufacturing management.

I met Sherry while in my senior year at VPI, she attended Radford and followed me out to Oz in 1971 and we married in 1979.  We have a daughter, Miranda, now a fully qualified architect working in Melbourne.

Along the way, I’ve built a three story beach house, doing most of the work myself and extended the lounge and deck on our first house in 1991.

I retired in 2009 and continue to follow my hobbies of restoring classic cars and motorbikes, making and enjoying wine, beer, and food.  Sherry and I spend quite a bit of time travelling the world, mostly Europe where we have quite a few friends, and Asia.

Photos:

Me shortly after arrival in Australia, 1971 living in Mosman and starting my car and bike collection

Sherry and I in Monet’s garden in Giverney, France

At our daughter’s graduation as she receives her Masters in Architecture