Laurence Smiser

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I was born at the home of my paternal grandparents where my family was living at the time. About one or two years later my father purchased a farm a built a small house. There was not electricity, running water of plumbing in it. Our only amenity was a battery powered radio. The telephone came later. We had a car but due to the cost of keeping it operational it sat on blocks in our front yard. I was forth of five children, three boys and two girls. We were really poor but well fed and cared for by our parents.

After we left the farm my father went to work for the Santa Fe Railroad on what was called the "Extra board" and was on call to work odd shifts when regular employees were on vacation or sick or when they needed extra workers for any reason. About a year an a half later in 1947 we moved from Paris, MO to Marceline, MO where dad had a permanent job as a Switchman in the local yard. This is where we lived until I left for College in 1957.

My first college was Hannibal-LaGrange, a two year college in Hannibal, MO and the successor to old LaGrange College, a Baptist Academy in LaGrange just north of Hannibal. After completing two years in Pre-Engineering I transferred to The Missouri School of Mines at Rolla, MO to complete my undergraduate studies in Ceramic Engineering in 1961. I then took a teaching position at the Ceramics School at Iowa State University. I taught and finished studies for a Masters Degree in Ceramic Engineering in 1964.

My first position was as a Researcher at the Pemco Company, a manufacturer of glass for industrial porcelain enameling of stoves, washing machines, refrigerators, stoves, bath tubs and other metal products. Three years later I entered the Ceramic Engineering graduate school at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Unfortunately I didn't realize that several of my paternal and maternal ancestors had lived in that area and to the immediate Western parts of New Jersey. In 1972 I received my PhD in Ceramic Science.

My next stop was the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. There I spent two years investigating and characterizing the Shuttle thermal protection tiles. After that I was hired by Rockwell to work with nonmetallic materials for the Shuttle program. I retired in 1999 after twenty-fiver years on the program. We now live in retirement in the great city of San Clemente, CA.