bio.gorringe

Autobiographical Sketch of Randy Gorringe

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Hi, all, and great to be in touch with everyone. Here’s the last 40 years in a nutshell.

When I left St. Joe’s in my senior year in college, I took sometime out from life and vanished to a Franciscan retreat house in San Juan Bautista CA for about 9 months. Spent the time there making beds, driving a tractor, burning reeds along the lake, and doing odds and ends there until I was asked to help out with music at a church up in Oakland, Mary Help of Christians, a Franciscan parish. Not sure if it’s still there.

After a year, I was asked to be part of the official Franciscan brothers program and moved over to Stockton to St. Mary’s Church. I shortly started teaching in a Catholic middle school there before returning briefly to Hayward CA to complete my college degree at Cal State University Hayward while living in a Franciscan college house.

After college I left the Franciscan brothers program behind and taught for awhile at a Catholic school in Oakland, and then returned to Stockton again to the school where I had taught before. I pretty much settled in Stockton for the next 18 years, taught for a few more years before I decided I had contributed enough to society with my then poverty Catholic school wages ($11,000 annual income in 1980), took my retirement rollover payment from the diocese of $250 and moved on to the profession I’ve been in for the last 30 years and going. I am a salesperson of promotional products, logoed apparel, imprinted products, special awards, tradeshow displays. Now you know who to contact for these products! 510-832-1015. Thanks again Steve Essig for your orders years back.

After 18 years in Stockton, I sold my Stockton home and moved to Rancho Cordova in the Sacramento area for a few years until the company I worked for asked me to move up to Seattle, where I moved and stayed for 9 years.

After changes brought on by 9-11, the company I worked for went under and we were sold to a larger company where I work as an independent sales rep now. A few years ago, they decided to close the Seattle office. I was already getting depressed by the Seattle gloom and had planned on moving back to sunny California someday, so this just made the decision happen sooner.

I’ve been back in Oakland in the Lake Merritt area for 2 1/2 years, and enjoy the area immensely. I took up sweep rowing on the lake, so if you see a team out there gliding through the water, I might be on that boat. Feel free to check me out in a you tube video here: HYPERLINK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6tO8LBGYRA That’s me in stroke position in the stern of the boat facing the coxswain. The coach says I’m getting pretty good at it. Think I finally found my sport.

I’ve been single and independent most of my life. Haven’t been lucky enough yet to find the right guy yet. Maybe it will come. I do have an adopted son. He’s 33 now. I’ve been the Dad in his life since he was 15. He was a handful, but got through life unscathed, and I’m very proud of him. He just graduated from law school in San Diego, having been on a long journey of college and graduate school leading up to it.

In my immediate family, my mom and dad are gone now since 1989 and 1991. You probably remember some of my brothers who were in seminary. Rich is living in Portland; my twin, Bob, in San Francisco. Tony passed away from AIDS in 1993. Another brother has also passed away a few years ago, Ken whom you would not know. My 4 sisters and 3 of my brothers are still around.

Latest photo update 2013

I'm the third guy in wearing the red cap.

I continue to work and probably will be working the rest of my life, unless my son wins a class action suit someday and allows his dad to retire. *smiles*

I really enjoy rowing, so if we ever meet, be ready for a lot of rowing talk.

You can reach me by email at randy_gorr@yahoo.com

Cheers and best wishes to you all!

Updated: Feb 2, 2010