Tom Harritt

Got an Air Force ROTC scholarship and graduated from Florida State University in '73. I went on active duty with the Air Force and was sent to pilot training at Moody Air Force Base, Valdosta GA! Florida State was right across the border and it was some 53 of the best weeks of my life! Like college except with jet airplanes and money!! After getting my wings and advanced flying training, I served several years on active duty then transferred to the 104th Fighter Squadron, Md Air National Guard, where I flew until retiring from military in 1995. I began my career as an airline pilot in 1982 and am currently a 34 year Boeing 767 captain for United Airlines, flying the North Atlantic to Europe. My whole life I have been very fortunate to have been able to make a living doing something I really love to do.

With the exception of reunion 20, I have not been in touch with any high school classmates since college until making contact on this website. I moved away after graduation and never moved back to Florida. My kids are New England Yankees! Oh, the irony. On this site I have tracked down my old buddy Tom Cornelison and through Tom's email list, my unforgettable date for the senior prom, Kathy MacArthur! It was great to see what a couple of wonderful people from some of my very formative years grew up to be! I hope this site will help me get in touch with more old friends.

Since my senior year in high school, the only jobs I had until I graduated from college were as a lifeguard. I think being a lifeguard at the Florida State University student union swimming pool during college would be in the running for the best job I have ever had (for good, clean fun, if not for the money!) but I flew fighter aircraft in the Air Force and a number of different types of airliners in my civilian career. The military flying is by far the best thing I ever did in my life. Of course now, years later, I only remember the good stuff about it!

Airline pilot, Captain Boeing 767. I fly mostly North Atlantic to Europe but occasionally fly the Pacific and South and Central America.

I have been blessed with six children; three sons and three daughters. Like most parents, their care and feeding has been a big part of my life but, as they leave the nest, one by one, and become successful and independent, I have begun to focus more on friends, work and travel. I have been privileged to earn my bread doing things I have always loved to do. Much of my spare time is spent with close friends or traveling to far away places. I don't eagerly anticipate retirement but it is pleasant to contemplate that I will be able to keep doing many of the things I enjoy today.

Three grandchildren, Conner age 6, Lucas 4, and Brynlee newborn! The potential exists for some pretty big family reunions if I live long enough!

I really enjoy Norway. Sweden, and Denmark. I lived for seven years as a youngster in a little town outside Naples, Italy, called Marechiaro, so Italy will always have a special place in my heart. I believe Phil Pirisino and I attended the same school in italy at the same time. Northern Germany was a big factor in my Air Force experience and I made dear friends during my duty time there. Because of my work, I spend almost half my life in one country or another in Europe. There is much to love about the continent of my ancestors but it seems to be changing in so many ways so very fast that I don't know if I would recognize it in a generation. It is a truly a wonderful place to visit but there is still no place like home!

I don't feel old at all but I don't measure the passage of time by my own birthday any more. It is the kids growing up that marks time in my mind. I admit I was almost always the most "mature" looking guy at my youngest daughter's school events. I concede that a look in the mirror reminds me of my dad! Isn't 60 the new 30? If it is not, it should be! That would be good for those over thirty because they could be trusted again. Just never trust anybody over 60!

Every year on August 15, I remember the beginning of Rebel football two-a-day practice sessions. NB Forrest Football was a three year right of passage for a guy like me with a lot of determination but not a hell of a lot of natural talent! Those thunderous pre-game pep rallies in the gym and the big game itself always made it all worth it. I have never heard Dixie played as well or as loud since! Enough to give a young Reb goose bumps! Being on that team is still one of the highlights of my life.

Some of my fondest memories are of the swim team. Being the Gateway Conference's least capable one-meter springboard diver did not spoil it at all for me. The practices and meets were coed and the girls looked great in speedos! Go Rebels!

I have wonderful, fun memories of acting in some of the plays put on by the thespians our senior year. I especially remember playing opposite the lovely Rita Ballard in the Senior Class production of 'You Can't Take It With You'. Some may remember that Rita and I actually had a romantic kissing scene in that production and it scared me to death! Rita had the poise and confidence of a veteran stage performer and I was an awkward, self-conscious kid dressed up like a grownup. I might as well have been on stage with Ann Margaret. As far as I was concerned, she was a goddess. I would not have been surprised at all if Rita had gone on to make it big in the real world of stage and cinema! You would not have to be a theater critic to recognize that she had real talent. She was a natural performer. Rita got me through a couple of unforgettable onstage kissing scenes and forever won a special place in my heart. We were never a real-life item, but I was deeply saddened to hear of her passing. I never saw Rita again after graduation, so she is still a beautiful, vivacious, young teenage girl in my memories and always will be.

Several ocean crossings in a single seat fighter without a bathroom! Don't Ask! Also, I managed to be present at and "participate" in the births of all six kids (not as easy as it might seem with a job like mine!).

I don't remember where I learned these but I live by them:

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target. (This one I am particularly fond of but I discovered that it really wasn't the correct philosophy to earn the right kind of recognition for air to ground gunnery in the Air Force!)