Yearbook photo

Yearbook name: John Michael Espen

Address: 22 White Dr., Newcastle, Oklahoma 73065

Wife’s name: Deborah L. Espen

Children’s names from oldest to youngest: Joanne, Ronald, Celina, and John M. Espen III

Email: mikedebbie@pldi.net

Cell phone number: 405-922-2428

Land line: 405-387-3285

Bio: Retired from the Army with 22 years as a CWO3 (I was a real warrant officer, not a rotorhead). More to come…

Well I promised more information on what I have been doing since graduation so here it is:

I went to Bowling Green State University in Ohio for one semester but college at that time was not for me. I returned to Falls Church where I was a Dental Technician apprentice (learning to make crowns and bridges). After one year, I was drafted into the Army; during basic I enlisted and was trained as an Offset printing equipment repairman at Ft. Belvoir Va. My duty assignments were, MACV HQ Viet Nam, 30th Engineer Bn.(TOPO), Office of the Joint Chief of Staff The Pentagon, SHAPE HQ Mons Belgium. During my tour at SHAPE HQ, I applied for, and received, a Warrant as a Warrant Officer (Reproduction Technician). I was then stationed to the following units: 649th Engineer Bn. (TOPO), Heidelberg Germany, 30th Engineer Bn. (TOPO) Ft Belvoir Va. , 29th Engineer Bn. (TOPO) Ft Shafter Hawaii , 30th Engineer Bn. (TOPO) Ft. Belvoir Va. and lastly the 29th Engineer Bn.(TOPO) Ft. Shafter Hawaii where I retired in 1990 as a Chief Warrant Officer 3 the senior warrant in my specialty.

As a Chief Warrant Officer, I was a platoon Leader and technical expert for the Reproduction Platoon in the Battalions, where I was responsible for the printing of military maps – 20 to 30 enlisted personnel (depending on which battalion I was stationed with) and over 1.2 million dollars worth of printing equipment both mobile and stationary.

I met my first wife while stationed in Belgium; she also was in the Army. We had two children; then, when assigned the last time in Hawaii, met my second wife and had two children.

After I retired in 1990, I moved to Lawton, Oklahoma, got a job in a small printing co where the most important things happened in my life – I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and met my current wife Debbie with whom I celebrated our 19th year of marriage in January. My children are scattered around the county and world – one daughter Joanne is married and lives in Louisiana, the other Celina is married to a young man in the Air Force and stationed at Misawa Japan. My Oldest son Ronnie lives in Kansas and is medically retired from the Army as an Staff Sergeant, from a wound received in the first Iraq war. The other John is stationed at Ft. Bragg and is still on active duty. (An aside on John – he and I both took basic at Ft Knox K lived in the same barracks.) Both are married. By marriage, I have two more kids, Briana and Allan; both are married and live in the Oklahoma City area. With all these children, I am the proud Grandpa of 10 grandchildren ranging in age 3 to 20.

I am now completely retired and live in the small town of Newcastle, Oklahoma just south of Oklahoma City, where I enjoy doing woodworking and bicycling (road bikes). I currently have 4 bikes and always look for one more, and Debbie has 3 (of which two are recumbent). I am active in my local Masonic Blue Lodge, Scottish Rite and the Consistory and York Rite Commentary.

Debbie is an Assistant Professor at University of Oklahoma Health Science Center.

Photos:

Here is a picture of me (beard is now gone) in Japan when we visited our Daughter living at Misawa Air Force Base, Misawa Japan