Home Department
(Visitors should begin here)
Natural Healthcare Concepts Education
by
ABC's of Health, Inc.
A Natural Healthcare Education Company
doing business as (dba)
ABC of Health
Alternative & Complementary
Natural Healthcare Education Services
"Leading the way for much better
Natural Healthcare Education Services
for people living In America"
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We have developed remarkable
education services for select citizens
that live in the upstate area of SC.
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(Address for Shipments)
ABC of Health
201 B West Butler Rd., # 159
Mauldin, SC 29662
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(Preferred Mail Address)
ABC of Health
P.O. Box 127
Mauldin, SC 29662
+ + + + +
E-mail:
ABCofHealth@live.com
Phone: 864-329-0004
Fax: 964-329-0005
Office Hours for
Telephone Calls:
9:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Monday through Friday
Our professional voice mail service
is available during our business hours
when we do not answer the phone.
Special Safety Notes:
Visitors do not need to be concerned
about safety of personal data at our
educational websites. We do not sell
anything at our websites so we do not
ask for your name, or your Email
address, or credit card information.
Our customers deal directly with us by telephone or Fax or USPS mail, or Emails sent from their own Email system. This is as safe as it can get for customers in a practical and convenient communications system.
Email Suggestions
We get a lot of Emails daily so it is wise to also call us (phone) and leave us a message about your Email: your Email address, the main purpose of your Email, and the date and time of day when you sent us your Email - so we can quickly search for your Email among a large number of Emails that we receive daily.
Introduction of Preliminary Info
As shown above, we are in the Natural Healthcare Concepts Education Business. This website presents an incredibly important health-related education report that
can change your life for the better in several remarkable very valuable ways.
The practical value of this website to you personally can be enormous - more valuable than you
can even begin to comprehend at this point.
This website will introduce you to a goldmine of vital healthcare concepts
that can enable you to see and understand the conventional medical
healthcare systems in America much more clearly and much more
responsibly than you have ever seen them or understood them before.
The founder and president of our company, ABC's of Health, Inc., is Lonnie Willoughby, Jr. (Lon Will o bee). He is the author of this health-related educational report that explains how and why we strive daily to help many American adult citizens enjoy a much healthier life than most American citizens know how to achieve.
Read this extensive "free to review" health-related true story as if the quality of your life in future years depends upon this special knowledge - because it really does. This vital special health education can help you protect your precious natural health in very important ways.
Lon Willoughby carefully developed this revealing autobiographical healthcare-related report about his life in a "storybook fashion" for two main reasons.
The first reason is to present this vital health education report
in an interesting, informative, and entertaining manner that will be easy for visitors to understand and easy to remember.
The second reason is to inform American citizen adult visitors
about Lonnie Willoughby in
sufficient detail that visitors can get to know him well and develop confidence in his educational abilities.
As the author of this true health-related story, Lon reports some of his important formative life experiences so you can understand the person that he matured into as he aged over 85 years.
You will learn about the challenging way that he became an exceptionally well-informed natural healthcare consultant, nutrition consultant, and natural healthcare and wellness concepts classroom educator.
Lon is now capable of helping many American adult citizens learn how to take much better care of their precious natural health and their vital natural healthcare assets (natural functions in the human body that routinely strive to maintain good health).
Many Americans greatly impede these natural functions by frequently doing the wrong things. These natural functions can be improved if one learns how to avoid doing harmful things and also learns how to help these natural functions.
Lon teaches our healthcare education clients how to avoid impeding these natural functions and teaches them how to enhance these functions. These are copyrighted advanced level natural healthcare concepts trade secrets that are available only to our natural healthcare and wellness concepts education clients.
Confidence in Lon Willoughby
Throughout this true health-related report, each American adult visitor will need to be considering whether or not the author has believe-ability, credibility, and dependability about the very important health concepts and natural healthcare and wellness concepts that he introduces to American visitors in this health-related report.
If you learn enough about the author that you develop confidence in his honesty and his integrity, and his sense of dedication to his sincere purpose of educating many American adult citizens about vital basic and fundamental level healthcare concepts at no cost (free to review), and if you also develop a sense of confidence about his intellect and his extensive knowledge of vital advanced level natural healthcare and wellness concepts, then the healthcare concepts introduced in this "free to review" report can have super beneficial affects on your life - probably throughout the rest of your life.
However, if this true autobiographical report does not enable you to confidently believe that these healthcare and wellness education concepts are very important valid concepts that you need to know about, this may be an interesting and informative and entertaining health-related report, but you may not get a lot of healthcare benefits from the vital healthcare concepts that are introduced herein by Lon Willoughby.
Understanding those relevant factors, the author has tried to share enough personal information about his life experiences to enable American visitors to make those important decisions and judgments about him in a fair-minded, reasonable, and responsible manner.
Be patient with the author here; relax, and enjoy this "true healthcare-related report" because it will present some incredibly important and valuable healthcare concepts that can be vital life-changing concepts for most American adult citizens - and maybe for you also.
Some of this health education may be life-saving information for many American visitors, and this healthcare education may be life-saving for you.
This "true life story" will introduce you to vital healthcare concepts that
can help you learn about some responsible and sensible actions
that you can take to improve your life and better protect your natural health - probably for the rest of your life.
This may be the most important health-oriented report (or health-oriented story) that you have ever reviewed. You can evaluate this educational report after you complete the two-part report presented by Lon Willoughby.
Part One of this true autobiographical report is presented at this website; Part Two of this vital healthcare-related report is presented at our main healthcare concepts education website. (www dot ABCofHealth dot com)
American adult visitors will be detoured to our main healthcare concepts education website at the appropriate time with a convenient detour link.
The two-parts of this lengthy autobiographical report will present life-changing healthcare concepts that can be exceptionally important and very valuable to American adult visitors.
Please understand that Lon Willoughby will not attempt to educate American visitors
about which nutrition supplements they should take (herbs, minerals,
proteins, vitamins, etc.) or how much of each of those nutrition supplements visitors should take daily.
You understand that Lon Willoughby does not have personalized health data (laboratory reports and other vital health information) for
each American adult that visits this website.
You also understand that Lon has not been informed about the various health conditions of each American adult visitor, and he has not been informed about the pharmaceutical prescription drugs that some
American adult visitors may be taking - pursuant to a medical doctor's advice.
It should therefore be clear why Lon Willoughby cannot provide important and valuable nutrition supplement recommendations for American adult visitors at this website in a practical and responsible manner. He doesn't have the personal health information about each visitor that is needed for him to provide those healthcare services.
However, this two-part true autobiographical report will present vital healthcare concepts education that can be very important for almost all competent American adult citizens.
As you review this report, you will see that Lon has included some very important historical information that provides a brief review of situations that all American adult citizens should be aware of.
You may not understand why some of Lon's personal information was included in this story, but be patient with this website review because all of this information can be helpful in acquiring a better understanding of the family relationship concepts and various healthcare and wellness concepts that are introduced herein.
Lon's personal information can help a lot of adults, and the relevance of this information will be understood better by the time you complete your review of this very important educational report.
As the founder and president of ABC's of Health, Inc., Lonnie Willoughby, Jr. (Lon Will-o-bee) has worked diligently and responsibly for many years to enable and ensure that ABC of Health is capable of responsibly educating our natural healthcare education clients about how they can improve and protect their natural health in practical, responsible, and sensible ways that are cost-effective for most American adult citizens.
One of our primary objectives has been to enable our education clients to greatly improve their potential for healthy longevity (live longer in good health).
Let's Begin This Revealing Report
Premature Deaths in America
This very important health-related education report (story) begins with Lon's research finding of data presented at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (cdc.gov) about the death rates in the entire USA.
Reviewing this death rate data can show what medical profession healthcare actions in the USA have already accomplished for the healthy longevity of American citizens during the past ten to thirty years.
Lon has efficiently reviewed and evaluated CDC's death rate statistics for some relevant past years. Every competent American adult needs to become familiar with the vital information below.
Lon found that very important CDC death rate data show that many people die prematurely on an annual basis in the USA. He reports that annual data by months and also by weeks to make that data more helpful for this very important and very valuable health-oriented report.
He found that on average, more than 40,000 premature deaths occur weekly in the USA (deaths before age 90). That amounts to more than 160,000 premature deaths monthly and more than 1,920,000 premature deaths per year.
Lon's research also found that the total deaths per year average in the USA is about 2,600,000 - for all causes of death.
From the death rate statistics presented above, you can see that most deaths in the USA occur before people get to age 90. You will learn herein later that the average male in the USA will die before reaching age 78.
That means that about half of all American males will die before getting to age 78, and half of American males will live longer than age 78. Very few males will live to age 90. On average, American females typically live two to three years longer than the males.
Unfortunately, not many Americans are healthy enough to celebrate their 90th birthday. Of the few Americans who do get to that birthday, how many of them are in good enough health at that age to actually enjoy celebrating their 90th birthday? Lon believes that very few Americans (females or males) are in good enough health to actually enjoy that birthday.
You will probably agree with Lon that the CDC data enables him to report a very high number of estimated premature deaths in the USA on an annual basis.
From Lon's research and his healthcare work during the past 20 years, he understands why most Americans will likely die prematurely (before they succeed in living to age 90 or beyond that).
The healthcare education service presented "free to review" at our main healthcare education website will introduce American adult citizens to some of the primary causes of those very common premature deaths. You will learn in Part 2 of this healthcare report about the top five killer diseases of Americans.
Our main healthcare education website will also identify some natural healthcare actions that American adult citizens can take to greatly improve their lifestyle - practically, responsibly, and sensibly.
At the end of this website's introductory healthcare educational report, American citizen visitors will be detoured to our main healthcare education website to present Part Two of this very important and very valuable healthcare-related report.
Lon knows how to improve those annual CDC death rate statistics a lot over a period of years, but trying to educate millions of American adults about practical and sensible ways to improve their lifestyle is a gigantic task.
This website's very revealing true healthcare-related report will also help visitors understand why this would be a very difficult task and would likely be a very risky and dangerous educational task for our company.
Lon's healthcare-related report will also help American adult visitors understand what plan of progressive actions Lon has developed to help make some very important progress in this very difficult and risky and potentially dangerous healthcare improvement challenge for some natural-born Christian-oriented American citizens.
You will learn herein that Lon has developed natural healthcare and wellness concepts that can enable many American citizens to live a healthier and longer life with more achievements and more enjoyment and more satisfaction in their life.
Lon believes that many Americans can learn how to live to age 90 and beyond with a lot less sickness and disease, and a lot less pain and suffering, than is common for many citizens in America today.
He has good reasons to believe that many American adult citizens can be taught how to improve their lifestyle and their natural healthcare actions so they will still be reasonably healthy at age 90 (and may therefore live to celebrate their 100th birthday or more).
Lon's very good health at age 85, after he learned how to overcome two serious healthcare challenges that had caused very difficult health problems in his life for 25+ years, shows that he has learned a lot during the past 40+ years about developing a healthy lifestyle and defending and protecting and taking good care of his natural health and his natural healthcare assets.
Before Lon presents more information about this true educational report, and introduces some very important healthcare concepts that can help visitors daily for the rest of their life, he will take two minutes to explain helpful information about the colored text used throughout this website.
Colored Text information
This website uses a lot of colored text to emphasize certain words or phrases and to help improve clarity of meaning in some sentences.
Lon recommends that you review this website using a
computer if possible - to get the most benefit from our helpful colored text throughout this website and to also have a larger and better viewing screen. The computer review is also much easier to control and manage than a lengthy review on a handheld Smart Phone or Tablet.
NOTE: If this subject is being presented in all black text, you do need to activate colored text as suggested herein. However, if you see some colored text in this subject information, you are already in colored text viewing mode (you do not need to take the actions suggested in this subject).
People who use Android type or iPhone type Smart Phones or Tablets to view this website will likely not see our colored text until they activate colored text viewing.
They can easily do this by scrolling down to the bottom of this Home Department's lengthy presentation and find and select a link command below the last line of type titled View full site.
This easy scrolling action can be done very quickly (20 to 30 seconds), and it will enable you to find and select this View full site link command. It should instantly activate colored text viewing for most modern mobile viewing devices.
This easy action may also be used to activate colored text viewing on many mobile devices for other websites, but see the NOTE below before you begin this lengthy scrolling action for this website.
NOTE: An easier and quicker way to get to the bottom of this Home Department, for a computer display is to use the keyboard Ctrl F find function. For Smart Phones or Tablets, use the Find Function (if you know how to use the Find Function).
You will need to search for and find these words: bottom find function. That easy action will instantly get you to the bottom of this lengthy department - where you can see the link: View full site. Select that link to instantly get colored text viewing (for many viewing devices). (This special link will not be available if you are already in color viewing mode.)
After activating that link, you will now need to quickly scroll back to the top portion of this department to resume your review actions. Or you can again use your computer Ctrl F find function or your Smart Phone's or Tablet's Find Function and search for colored text to instantly get back to this specific instruction about our use of colored text.
If these Find Function actions do not activate colored text for your Smart Phone or your Tablet,
Lon again recommends that you review this website on a computer because
the colored text will always be available on a computer display.
Our use of a lot of colored text can be very helpful in this introductory education website's health-related educational report (story).
If someone that you know does not have a computer or convenient access to the Internet, let them know that they may obtain both services at the nearest public library - at no cost.
Most public libraries have multiple computers for use by library members and visitors. Library personnel know how to quickly educate people about using one of those computers to get on the Internet and review this website (or other websites). It takes about five minutes to learn how to do this.
If you know some adults who do not have computer access to the Internet, please help them understand that they should call the local public library and inquire about using one of their public computers for easy access to this very important website on Internet. This educational website may help improve their life in dramatic ways at no cost.
Lon's Early Life Experiences
Lonnie Jr. was generally a healthy person while growing up on a farm in North Carolina. He feels really fortunate to have grown up in that
rural farming environment because he learned many important things about
living a natural life - similar in many respects to the farmers who were busy growing food for Americans in the 1800's.
Lon's father and mother were both intelligent responsible
farming people who had grown up on their own family's farm. They both grew up in large families with multiple brothers and sisters.
Lon's parents were hard working farmers with a strong desire to be productive, progress, and to succeed in life. They helped first-born son Lonnie Jr. learn how to plant, nourish, grow and harvest many
food products for sale and as food.
Those important experiences enabled Lonnie Jr. (Lon) to understand how several food products are planted, and how they are nourished with fertilizer nutrients, cared for carefully during their growing season, and then harvested properly for marketing.
A ton of fertilizer is equal to 2,000 pounds of nutrients for plants, usually supplied in 200 pound bags. As a high school student, Lon weighed only 133 pounds (5 feet, 8 1/2 inches tall), but he learned how to manhandle those large 200 pound bags of fertilizer pretty well.
For several years, while he was growing up on the farm, Lon distributed a lot of plant fertilizer to various types of plants (in large fields - many acres in each field).
He also drove a Farmall Cub four-wheel tractor in plowing fields of different types of plants. He helped his father a lot, for several years, with these very important essential farming tasks.
His parents also helped him learn how to raise animals such as chickens, a milk cow, and about 20 White Faced Hereford beef cows, and several hogs. Those animals could be sold to local people and some animals would provide food for the family.
Over the years, Lon milked a series of milk cows, milking one milk cow each morning, seven days per
week. That continued until he was graduated from high school and went off to college,
leaving that daily chore for his younger brother (his only sibling - who was about 20 months younger).
The Willoughby family had fresh cow's milk to drink daily. They made their own natural
butter from some of that milk. They also had a lot of chicken eggs, and plenty of chicken, beef, and pork to eat and to also sell to other local people.
Each year, they had a large garden where they grew an assortment of special vegetables for additional food. Lon's mother also canned some of those vegetables for food during later months (canned food for the fall and winter seasons and early spring season).
His mother also baked white refined "enriched" flour as loaf bread and as biscuits for the family to eat with meals. She was a very good cook who knew how to prepare very good meals.
Lon
always had a friendly happy dog as a pet.
It was a very good life for a young farm
boy with lots of interesting and challenging things to do and to learn as he was growing up.
Lon
remembers that he was twelve years old when the local electric company made electric service available to the farms located beside the narrow two lane dirt road where he lived
(about two miles from the nearest town - Tabor City, NC). The small town was near the South Carolina state border - about forty-five road miles from Myrtle Beach, SC.
Prior
to that time (in year 1948), the Willoughby's did not have hot and cold running
water at their kitchen sink - there was no electricity to operate an
electric pump to get well water into their home.
Without electric service, they
could not have electric lights, or an electric
refrigerator, or an electric water heater. Consequently, they could not have a conventional bathroom because they did not have cold and hot running water in their home.
Bathing (washing) was done from a "foot-tub" - a larger than normal bucket (galvanized steel) that contained water from the well - warm water was produced by mixing well water with water that had been heated on the kitchen stove.
Until the Willoughby's got electricity in 1948, they had a typical outdoor toilet (outhouse) instead of a commode. They did not have toilet tissue - just pages torn from last year's Sears and Roebuck Catalog or last year's Almanac. When those pages were all gone, they used corn cobs from ears of corn that had been run through the manually operated hand-turned corn shelling machine.
There was no convenient and practical way to wash one's hands after using the outdoors outhouse as a urinal or for a bowel movement.
Visitors should realize that this is the way that most rural people in America had lived for many years. You can see that many people probably got sick from microbe infections because they knew very little (if anything) about dangerous microbes, and they did not have convenient and practical ways to have good hand hi-gene.
Was it much different for American city dwellers during those same years? Lon doesn't know, but he believes that many people living in Tabor City, NC did have electricity and bathrooms with cold and hot water before the late 1940's - early 1950's when rural America began to get electrical service.
Sanitation Problems
Small towns and larger towns and cities throughout America had previously had major sanitation problems for hundreds of years. Our founding fathers and mothers and their children had serious problems with disposing of human bowel movement waste and urination waste.
Without electricity and electric pumps, effective practical sewage systems were not available for small size, medium size, and larger towns and cities in America. That was also a common major sanitation problem throughout Europe, Asia, Africa and other locations, as it had been for thousands of years.
Microbial Infections
Remember that people did not learn about dangerous microbe infections and diseases until after year 1864. Millions upon millions of people got sick and died from dangerous microbes.
Some of the most dangerous microbe infections occurred from infected fleas on mice that got transferred to humans. That is what is believed to be the cause of the Black Plague in Europe around 1347 to 1351 - a bacterial infection that was much more deadly than the current viral Coronavirus pandemic.
It is believed to have killed 25 to 50 million people. It had a death rate of about 50% for most people who got infected. In some places, it killed 80 to 90% of the population.
Prior to 1864, people throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, America and other countries had been dying at
young ages in large numbers for a long time, but no one knew what was causing so much sickness, suffering, and death. Many children died before they were five to ten years old.
One of President Abraham Lincoln's sons died at a young age from a microbial infection.
Bacteria were finally discovered in year 1864 - by French chemist Louis Pasteur (working in France) after he had been commissioned by a major wine maker to try to discover what was causing so much good wine to go bad.
Using his microscope, he was successful in discovering that a lot of wine was contaminated and ruined by bacteria in the wine.
Now you know how and why bacteria were finally discovered by Louis Pasteur in France.
As a result of education efforts started by Louis Pasteur, and public newspaper articles, medical doctors and nurses in France began to learn about bacterial infections during the 1864 - 1866 time period.
Prior to that time, medical doctors and nurses (everywhere) did not know about the great importance of carefully washing their hands between patients - even when they were delivering babies in hospitals, several times per day.
In some major European hospitals, it was common for women to die from infections that occurred during childbirth at the rate of 10% to 20% of childbirth cases. The infection rate from childbirth cases at people's homes with midwives was much lower.
It took many years before those infection rate differences were understood. Medical doctors in hospitals would walk from working in the hospital morgue (with dead patients - autopsies, etc.) to the maternity ward to deliver a baby - without carefully washing their hands.
Medical doctors knew nothing about very small microbes that could not be seen by human eyes. They therefore had no reason to bother with carefully washing their hands before assisting with a childbirth situation.
The doctor would sometimes transfer dangerous microbes from their morgue work to the mother who was giving birth. The mother would then get infected, get sick, and many of them died from those infections (10% to 20% death rate was common in some major hospitals in Europe).
Those very dangerous infection situations did not happen with the midwife birthing assistance in people's homes because the midwives did not work in morgues just before assisting in childbirth cases.
Prior to 1864, medical doctors and nurses (in all locations) did not know that medical tools and utensils needed to be carefully washed and "sanitized" after every use.
If those medical tools and utensils were casually wiped off and appeared to be reasonably "clean" - that was good enough - they routinely thought. Before year 1864, doctors and nurses did not realize that some very dangerous microbes were much too small to see with human eyes.
Many very serious microbial infections had been passed from patient to patient by medical doctors and nurses in hospitals throughout mankind's history without the medical doctors and nurses realizing those critically important microbial transmission problems existed.
Medical doctors and nurses in France began to learn to wash their hands and medical tools and utensils carefully between patients some time after 1864. Education efforts quickly spread to medical doctors in other locations in Europe.
It
was many years after that before a lot of adults in Europe, Asia, Africa, America and other countries had been educated to understand that human hands
needed to be washed, even when they looked like they were reasonably
clean - before eating food (using their bare hands, as common people routinely ate some of their food).
During the Civil War in America (April 12, 1861 to May 26, 1865), injured soldiers on both sides of the conflict suffered terribly from dangerous bacterial infections, but no one in America knew about microbe infections at that time.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died after days, weeks, or months of very painful suffering from microbial infections.
Medical doctors and nurses in America did not learn about dangerous bacterial infections, and then gradually learn how to treat those infections, until after the civil war ended on May 26, 1865.
At that point in time, American adults had not yet learned the great importance of washing their hands carefully before eating their food. They knew nothing about dangerous microbes that could be on their hands and fingers (and under their fingernails) that could contaminate the food that they were eating with their unwashed hands.
Modern Day Parents
It is very important for modern-day parents to educate their young children about microbes. They should be carefully taught (multiple times) about the importance of carefully washing their hands before putting anything in their mouth with their fingers. (Especially after using the restroom).
Children should also be taught to not rub their eyes with unwashed hands because that is a common way for dangerous microbes to get into the eyes and then contaminate the body.
Adults should of course use reasonable sanitary caution about using their fingers to put food in their mouth. Parents can use these situations as repeat examples to remind their children about using good judgment about washing their hands carefully before using the fingers to put food in the mouth.
We do not want young children to become paranoid about this hand sanitation, but we do want them to use reasonable good judgment about using their fingers to put anything in their mouth or handling food items with their fingers.
Back to the Willoughby Family
Most farm families used wood burning stoves to cook food with, but Lon's parents used bottled propane gas to fuel their modern gas stove. They also had two small propane gas heaters to help the wood burning fireplace (in the living room) heat their home during cold
winter weather.
Lon
remembers that the two bedrooms would get really cold during the winter because there was no heat source in each bedroom and no way
to circulate heat from the living room fireplace, or the two small propane gas heaters into the
bedrooms.
One small propane gas heater was in the short hallway going to the bedrooms, and it did help heat the two bedrooms somewhat. However, without electricity, they could not have electric fans blow heated air into the two bedrooms so very little heated air got into the bedrooms.
Lon's parents had learned some helpful information in their public
high schooling about dangerous bacteria, and they had purchased a big white
appliance that
was cooled internally by a big block of ice (it needed to be replaced
when
the block of ice melted over a period of many days). That ice box
appliance was used to keep food cool to reduce the potential for
bacterial contamination.
Periodically, the ice man would reliably come by their farm home to sell them a replacement big block of ice.
Things
improved a lot after they got electric power service to the home in 1948. Lon's
father installed an electric water pump for the well water (previously used a hand operated pump).
They now had working electric lights and electrical outlets in each room because the home had been wired for electricity when Lon's father had their home built several years before 1948. Lon's dad also installed an
electric water heater.
The new electric water pump enabled them to have adequate water pressure for both cold and hot
running water at the kitchen sink.
Lon's parents also purchased an electric refrigerator to replace their "ice box" appliance.
Lon's father had also installed water pipes for the kitchen sink and the bathroom when the house was built. He proceeded to install bathroom plumbing fixtures,
including a lavatory sink, a white metal enclosure shower stall, and a commode.
With their new electric water pump and their electric water heater, they had hot and cold running water for the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink and the shower, and they had cold water pressure for operation of the commode - which used a typical septic tank for bowel and urine waste residue.
WOW!!! Getting electricity to their home enabled all of those major improvements for their two bedroom home that Lon's
father had built years before with a small vacant room for that
bathroom.
Several years later,
when Lon was in high school, they got telephone line service out to
their home, and it was really convenient to be able to easily receive and send telephone communications.
They also got a black and white picture T.V. set. The
only usable T.V. transmitting station was about 65 road miles away in
Wilmington, North Carolina. Lon's father installed a tall metal
telescoping T.V. antenna pole with a large T.V. antenna at the top.
That
antenna received enough T.V. signal to provide a fair quality T.V.
picture; it was much better than having no T.V. service. Prior to that
time, their only daily contact with the outside world (news media, music, etc.) was with their radio.
Lon
remembers those important improvements, and he reports these situations for website visitors who have been city dwellers all of their life.
Those visitors can get
some understanding of how typical rural farming families lived throughout
America prior to the late 1940's to the early 1950's (when electric power
services began to be installed in many rural areas in America due to some very important U.S.
Government assistance programs).
Unlike
city residential areas, where homes are fairly close together, rural farming
families lived much further apart. Consequently, electric power companies would not invest the money needed to install many miles of electric
power distribution lines in rural areas.
There were not enough potential customers per
mile for power companies to justify spending the large amount of money needed to pay for installing many miles of electric distribution lines to acquire a small number of additional paying customers.
Without
the federal government assistance funded programs such as the Rural
Electric Authority (REA), or the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), those electric power distribution lines would not have been installed for rural farm families in southern states (including rural North Carolina, where Lon Willoughby's family lived).
Those federal government assistance funded programs were part of the New Deal
under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that helped Americans recover
from the very serious economic depression of the early 1930's - that
actually began with the major stock market crash in October 1929.
If
southern rural area farmers were fortunate enough to get electric power service to their home,
their life could improve a lot, as shown above for the very fortunate and happy Lonnie Willoughby
family.
Flash Back In Time
It
is important to pause here briefly and think back and remember that early Americans did not
have electric power services (thus no electric lights, no water pumps and other types of electrical appliances).
Consequently, early Americans did not
have hot and cold running water for their kitchen sinks, and they did not have bathrooms, like most
Americans very fortunately have today.
Trying to heat homes in the winter time was a major responsibility to deal with, and this was usually done with wood burning fireplaces or wood burning heaters or stoves of various types.
For
the first eleven years of his life, without having electricity at their home, Lon's
family members lived very much like farming families in America
dating back into the early 1900's and earlier 1800's and 1700's time periods.
Getting electric power service to their home in year 1948 enabled the Willoughby family to improve their life a lot in very important ways.
Many other rural area families in America were enabled to achieve similar improvements at their home through President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal government assistance services. Those very important assistance services gradually helped millions of American rural area citizens a lot, as reported herein for the Willoughby family.
Those very helpful government funded assistance services continued for many years after the great depression years in the 1930's.
Very important government assistance funded services gradually spread to many rural areas in America, and they helped millions of Americans become much more productive and much more effective in helping build a better America.
Lon's Education and Training
Lon attended 12 years of public schooling in the Tabor City school system, and he was graduated from the Tabor City High School in June 1954. There were fifty students in his graduating class.
He began his
freshman year of college in the fall of 1954, at Mars Hill College, in Mars Hill, North
Carolina (near Ashville, NC). This was a Southern Baptist oriented college, about 300 miles from Tabor City, NC. It had a very good and well respected academic reputation.
Lon's small high school did not have a guidance counselor to help
senior students try to determine what kind of career work they wanted to
do.
He understood farming work, but he did not know what kind of work he
wanted to do after his college education was completed. Consequently,
he did not know which college study curriculum would be the best curriculum for him to
choose.
He was technically oriented so he chose to get educated in the pre-engineering study curriculum (chemistry, physics, mathematics, and English).
A point of interest - electronic calculators had not been invented so engineering type students used "slide rules" for several types of calculations.
After completing the freshman year of college, Lon decided to join the U.S. Air
Force (USAF). Lon realized that his parents were hard working farmers, and it was a
difficult financial struggle for them to pay for his college expenses,
in addition to all of their other many farm operating expenses.
He realized that this decision would eliminate additional college expenses for his parents, and he believed that his Air Force education and work experiences
would probably help him make important career decisions that would affect his working career in the future.
As reported in this autobiographical story, that was a good projection of what actually happened during Lon's four years in the U.S. Air Force.
Lon's decision to join the U.S. Air Force turned out to be a very good decision for the Air Force, and it also turned out to be a very good decision with regard to Lon's future career work options.
Airman Willoughby received some very good education and training that helped him greatly in determining a career path forward after he completed his four years enlistment in the USAF.
Joining the Air Force was probably the best decision that Lon could have made about his future career work. Let's review how that decision worked for the Air Force and for Airman Willoughby.
U.S. Air Force Basic Training
During the first two days of basic training in September 1955 at Lackland Air
Force Base (AFB), located near San Antonio, Texas, the two instructors
in charge of the flight of 60 airmen recruits selected airman Lon Willoughby to be the "flight leader" for that flight of basic
trainees.
There were 30 training flights in the squadron, and each flight had two instructors that worked together to train their assigned flight of about 60 airmen basic trainees.
There was a weekly
competition among the 30 training flights to see which flight could
achieve the highest weekly rating for the way they made their bunk beds and other housekeeping duties.
Lon was apparently a good "flight leader" because that flight of basic trainees won every award that was available for a flight of basic trainees to win while going through basic training.
Lon's basic trainee flight won first place in the
squadron for seven weeks in a row. That was a remarkable achievement that may not have ever been accomplished before.
One of the perks received for being in first place was having a T.V. in
the flight's barracks. They were the "outstanding flight" of basic
trainees for the entire squadron several times.
Airman Willoughby learned later - that at the time the basic training program was
almost completed for his flight, the two instructors for his flight of
basic trainees had recommended to the squadron commander (an Air Force Major) that Lon should
be assigned to the Instructor Training School (an eight weeks education
and training course) that was also located at Lackland Air Force Base.
Airman Lon Willoughby did not have any choice in that decision. He was
immediately transferred directly to the Instructor Training School as soon as he
completed the basic training program - where he would be educated and trained to become an Instructor for basic trainee recruits.
The Instructor Training School was a complete education system; they
had their own barracks for instructor trainees; they had their own chow
hall (also used by the nearby Officer Candidate Training School
Program); they had the classrooms, overhead projectors, movie projectors, microphone sound systems, and other equipment that was needed
for that special instructor education and training program.
It was an excellent instructor training program; the students were taught public speaking skills and classroom education and training skills.
Students were also taught to develop very strong voices that could command 60 marching troops, marching in the commonly present Texas wind, and all 60 troops needed to hear every marching command clearly and distinctly.
Having grown up on a small farm, and
having gone to a small high school, airman Willoughby had not learned any of those special skills so he had a lot to learn during those eight weeks.
If he was going to be an Air Force Instructor, he wanted to be a very good instructor, so he applied himself well and progressed well in the instructor education and training program.
After eight weeks of special education and training, airman Lonnie Willoughby was graduated near the top of the class of 60 students in the USAF Instructor Training School in the fall of year 1955.
For the next 18 months, he was an "academic instructor" and a "drill
instructor." He taught education classes in a classroom about various
military subjects to flights of basic trainees
at Lackland Air Force Base. He also taught all of the "drill"
(marching) and the "exercise" activities.
Airman Willoughby lived in the barracks with each new flight of basic
trainees (60 men) that were assigned to him and one other
instructor.
Each instructor had a private room, and the basic trainees had double
bunk beds (upper and lower level beds) in an open bay area in the two
story barracks that housed sixty new Air Force airmen recruits.
In the summer of 1956, Airman Willoughby had an opportunity to travel back to Tabor City, North Carolina and marry his high school girlfriend (Margaret). She had recently been graduated from the four years of college that she had attended in North Carolina. (Margaret was two years ahead of Lon in her education.)
They traveled back to San Antonio, Texas by automobile and moved into a small apartment that was about ten miles from the Air Force Base. Thereafter, Airman Willoughby drove his automobile to commute for his instructor work at the Air Force Base five days each week (Monday through Friday).
Airman Willoughby taught several academic subjects, and he had a professionally
developed lesson plan for each class that he taught. The lesson plan
for each class subject helped ensure that the instructor would teach all of the important topic
points in optimum sequential order in a competent professional manner.
One of the subjects that Lon taught to each new class of basic trainees was about Brain-washing - How to Recognize Brain-washing and How to Overcome It (if a captured U.S. airman was being subjected to brain-washing actions and techniques by enemy military personnel).
Brain-washing Education
That specific information was very helpful to Lon Willoughby many years later as
he considered how medical doctors and medical nurses get seriously "brain-washed"
when they go through their complex medical education and training.
Lon will come back to this subject later in this story and explain how that special education was very important to him many years later when he was studying natural healthcare education.
Change of Military Career Fields
During year 1957, Airman First Class Willoughby had an opportunity to change military career fields, from being a USAF instructor of basic trainees (an "academic
instructor" and a "drill instructor") to become a USAF electronics technician.
He was enabled to do that by completing 33 weeks of RADAR training at Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi (summer 1957 to early 1958).
As
a reward for being a successful instructor for about 18 months,
Airman Willoughby was offered a special opportunity to choose any one
Air Force school he wanted to attend out of about 400 education schools that were available to him.
His USAF mental aptitude tests had shown that he had a good
balance of aptitudes that qualified him to attend any education and training schools
that were available in the USAF for enlisted airmen.
Lon was technically minded, and he was also very interested in learning about electricity and
electronics. He chose to attend the long-range RADAR school because it was the
longest electronics school available to him (33 weeks of electronics education and training).
Airman
Willoughby quickly moved his wife from their apartment in San Antonio, Texas to her parent's home in Tabor City, North
Carolina for the 33 weeks period that he would be in training at
Keesler Air Force Base in the summer of 1957 to early 1958. (Located in Biloxi, Mississippi - right beside the Gulf of Mexico gulf coast area.)
During the third week of the RADAR technical education and training program, Airman Willoughby had an opportunity to voluntarily compete in a selection process that would choose a successor Student Squadron Leader for the training squadron of about 300 airmen electronics technician trainees.
The current Student Squadron Leader was about to be graduated in his electronics training program, and he conducted a competitive selection process to choose a student airman to succeed him as the Student Squadron Leader.
The Student Squadron Leader interviewed and evaluated each of the several airmen that
were voluntarily competing in that selection process. He selected Airman
First Class Lonnie Willoughby to be the successor Student Squadron Leader.
Airman Willoughby had observed that the Student Squadron Leader wore a "white epaulet" right shoulder decoration daily that distinctly identified his leadership and management position in the squadron of student airmen trainees.
The "white epaulet" was commonly called "the White Rope" because it was an attractive woven small white rope style decorative device. For easy convenience, the Student Squadron Leader was commonly called "the White Rope."
In managing the squadron's 300
student airmen, the Student Squadron Leader was assisted with five Squad Leaders (wore a yellow shoulder epaulet)
and fourteen Barracks Chiefs (wore a red shoulder epaulet). The
barracks were two story buildings with typical military beds on both floors.
As the new Student Squadron Leader, Airman Willoughby worked under the general direction of the Squadron's Master Sergeant and the Squadron Commander, a Captain in the Air Force. They talked with Airman Willoughby briefly about the duties of the Student Squadron Leader.
He explained that he had almost three weeks of practical "education" about
the primary daily duties of the Student Squadron Leader because he had been observing how the Student Squadron Leader had performed his daily and weekly duties.
Airman Willoughby had already observed and learned what duties needed to be accomplished daily and weekly by the
Squadron Student Leader.
The Squadron Commander and the Master Sergeant quickly realized that Airman Lonnie Willoughby appeared to be knowledgeable
about his new day-to-day duties and management responsibilities for the squadron's 300 student airmen electronics technician trainees.
The Master Sergeant and the Squadron Commander understood that they did not need to give Airman Willoughby detailed instructions about what they expected him to
do on a day-to-day basis as the successor Student Squadron Leader.
They allowed Airman Willoughby to have the management freedom to do whatever he thought needed to be done routinely each day to manage the Student Squadron Leader's duties and responsibilities.
As
the new Student Squadron Leader, Airman
Willoughby understood that he was responsible for maintaining good military order in the
squadron at all times (24 hours per day, 7 days per week).
He also understood that he was responsible for evaluating and executing all disciplinary actions with the 300 student airmen.
Airman Willoughby quickly adapted to those new management and
leadership
responsibilities, and he conducted them easily without difficulty.
His
previous experience as an Academic Instructor and Drill Instructor for
18 months had prepared him well for those leadership and management duties and responsibilities.
Airman Willoughby led the marching of the squadron of
students (about 300 men) to the training buildings area on the
base each morning, five days per week (Monday through Friday), as the former Student Squadron Leader had done.
At the end of each day's education and training sessions, the 300 students were free to get back to the squadron in any way they chose.
They knew where the chow hall was located, near their squadron, and they could easily walk to that location for their late afternoon dinner (supper) meal. The squadron barracks where they lived were just a few blocks away.
Managing the Squadron
Airman Lonnie Willoughby talked with the five squad leaders and the
fourteen barracks chiefs about the performance standards that he wanted
them to help maintain for the squadron.
He also inspected
each of the fourteen barracks periodically to see how well the five
squad leaders and the fourteen barrack's chief were doing their jobs.
When he found some minor deficiencies in their management performance, he
diplomatically explained how he wanted their management performance improved and
they quickly responded.
Airman Willoughby was still a regular student airman in the RADAR education and
training program, and he went to classes just like other students, but he now had several additional management and supervisory duties daily as the successor Squadron Student Leader.
He must have done a pretty good job for several months as the "Squadron Student Leader"
("the White Rope") because the Squadron Commander recommended Airman
First Class Lonnie Willoughby for the special award that was given each month to
one student airman on the base as the Base Airman of the Month.
There were many student airmen in various training programs at
Keesler Air Force Base, but the student airmen that were most likely to
receive special recognition were the student airmen that were also
serving in leadership positions.
Airman Willoughby was subsequently awarded that special honor as the Base Airman of the Month, and he
received a $25.00 Savings Bond plus some other special perks for one full
month.
He continued working in the Squadron Student Leader position throughout the remaining weeks of the 33 weeks RADAR electronics education and training program that he was attending.
The squadron of about 300 airmen electronics technician trainees ran smoothly and well, day after day, and week after week during those seven months. There were only two discipline problems, with two individual airmen, and Airman Willoughby managed those minor disciplinary actions promptly in a reasonable manner.
When Airman Willoughby was graduated from the RADAR training program at Keesler AFB (Biloxi, Mississippi), he was assigned
to work at the USAF RADAR facility located at Moody Air Force Base (AFB), near
Valdosta, Georgia.
Lon drove from Biloxi, Mississippi to Tabor City, North Carolina to get wife Margaret, and they quickly moved into a furnished apartment in Valdosta, Georgia.
Airman first class Lonnie Willoughby drove his automobile to work daily at the RADAR facility at Moody Air Force Base (about eight miles distance from their apartment).
Throughout his military assignment in Georgia, airman Willoughby worked at a complex RADAR facility that had two types of RADAR systems. It also
contained the Air Route Traffic Control Center where military air traffic controllers used RADAR displays and electronic radio receivers and transmitters to direct all
military air traffic into and out of the Moody Air Force Base Airport - for more than
150 miles radius range in that part of Georgia.
Airman Willoughby worked on both of the RADAR systems and also the RADAR display scopes and other electronic equipment in the air traffic control facility. He was able to get some very good electronics technician work experience at that complex military facility.
Airman Willoughby remained in that very interesting RADAR systems work assignment until his four years enlistment in the Air Force ended in September 1959.
Margaret Willoughby gave birth to their first child (son) at the Moody Air Force Base Hospital on May 4, 1959, about four months before Lon's four years Air Force enlistment ended.
Getting Out of the Air Force
Going Back to College
The Air Force approved Airman Willoughby's timely
request to complete his four-years enlistment in the USAF several days
early (on September 7, 1959) so he would have time to quickly enroll in the fall semester at Gaston Technical Institute (GTI), located in Gastonia, North Carolina (in their pre-engineering curriculum).
GTI was an extension division of the engineering school of North Carolina State
College. Lonnie (Lon) Willoughby had already determined that this was
his most feasible option for obtaining additional technical education before he applied for a
job as an electronics technician with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Lon was somewhat familiar with the FAA from his Air Force work at the Moody Air Force Base RADAR facility in Georgia. Lon was hopeful of getting a job with the FAA after being graduated from Gaston Technical Institute with an Associate Degree in Science, majoring in pre-engineering.
Lon moved Margaret and four months old son Michael to her parent's home in
Tabor City, NC before Lon began his education at GTI in Gastonia, NC
(about 190 miles away from Tabor City, NC).
A few weeks before completing the second semester of education at
GTI, Lon fortunately saw an advertisement flyer on the student bulletin
board that stated that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was planning to hire some GS-7 (pay grade) electronics technicians.
At that point in time, Lon's wife Margaret and ten months old son Michael were still living with her parents in Tabor City, NC, and Lon planned to finish one more year of education at GTI (two more
semesters) and earn an Associate Degree in Science.
Lon was a technically oriented person who now had almost two years of pre-engineering education with very good grades (Mars Hill College and GTI).
He did well as a GTI student by maintaining a straight A average in all courses for the first two semesters of a four semester education program.
Lon had previously completed 33 weeks
of RADAR training in the U.S. Air Force, and he had worked as an
electronics technician at the Air Force RADAR facility and military air
traffic control center at Moody Air Force Base (Valdosta, GA).
He believed that his two years of college education in the pre-engineering curriculum, and his
Air Force RADAR training and RADAR work experience might qualify him for
one of those GS-7 electronics technician jobs with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Lon decided that he should apply for a job with the FAA right away,
while they appeared to be in a hiring phase for some GS-7 pay grade electronics technicians.
He considered that the FAA might not be hiring 12 months later when he would be graduating from his two-year Associate Degree in Science Program at Gaston Technical Institute (GTI). Lon quickly applied for that FAA electronics technician position - following carefully the instructions in the FAA flyer on the bulletin board.
Lon got a mailed response from the FAA promptly. They had scheduled a job interview for him at the FAA Sector Field Office located at the Charlotte Airport - which was conveniently near Gastonia, North Carolina - where GTI was located.
He then participated in the job interview as scheduled. Shortly thereafter,Lon received a mailed response stating that his application for a GS-7
electronics technician position had been accepted.
Lon Goes to work with the FAA
Lon finished his last day of class for the second semester at GTI on a Friday, and he reported for work with the FAA in Raleigh, North
Carolina on the following Monday morning.
He began working with the FAA as a GS-7 (pay grade) electronics technician in early June 1960. That was a good entry level electronics technician position that paid more money than first year school teachers were paid in North Carolina or South Carolina.
He quickly traveled back to Tabor City, NC to get Margaret and 13 months old son Michael, and they moved into a conveniently located furnished apartment in
Raleigh, North Carolina.
Several months later, Lon voluntarily bid on (applied for) an advertised vacant GS-9 electronics technician position at an FAA staffed RADAR facility located on the Charleston Air Force Base in North Charleston, South
Carolina.
Lon's previous military RADAR training and RADAR system work experience helped him
qualify for that higher paying GS-9 electronics technician position, and he was competitively selected to fill that vacancy.
Lon and Margaret and young son Michael quickly moved into a furnished rental apartment in the North Charleston area.
In February, 1961, Lon moved Margaret
and son Michael back to Tabor City, NC to live with her parents again - during the
final month of her pregnancy with their second child. They planned that move because it should
enable Margaret to give birth to their second child at the nearby hospital in
Loris, South Carolina (just seven miles from Margaret's parent's home in Tabor City, North Carolina).
Margaret gave birth to their second son on March 28, 1961, and Lon was able to
travel from Charleston, South Carolina to be with her during the birthing experience at the Loris, SC hospital.
Margaret continued living with her parents in Tabor City, NC for about a month as she recovered from the birthing experience.
Her mother and father enjoyed that very special time with their daughter and
their two young Willoughby grandsons.
Lon traveled from North Charleston, SC to Tabor City, NC and moved Margaret and two young sons (Michael and Robert) to the furnished rental apartment in North Charleston, South Carolina where Lon was still residing.
Lon's Health Problems
Several years before his teenage years began, Lon recalls having difficulties frequently with nasal and sinus congestion problems that were a serious nuisance - usually on an ongoing daily basis.
He recalls that in later years, as a young man in his 20's, those nasal and sinus congestion problems got worse. His nasal congestion problems had become more difficult to cope with, and he began having frequent headaches that were a serious nuisance to cope with for many days.
Some of those serious nuisance headaches would turn into very painful migraine headaches that would persist for several days.
Lon observed that the migraine headaches only occurred when he had seriously impacted nasal and sinus congestion (he could not breath at all through his nose).
Lon was 27 years of age in year 1963 when he consulted with an Eye, Nose, and Throat Specialist (a medical doctor) in Charleston about his recurring nasal and sinus congestion problems.
At that time, Lon was still working with the FAA as an electronics technician at the long-range RADAR facility (200 miles radius range) located on the large Charleston Air Force Base in North Charleston, South Carolina.
The medical doctor did not ask Lon any questions about his diet (none
at all), but after inspection of Lon's nose, he recommended nasal surgery to help with those frustrating recurring nasal congestion problems.
Lon was ignorant about nutrition concepts at that time; he did not
understand that certain foods in his diet could be causing his
frustrating and irritating nasal and sinus congestion problems.
He trusted the medical doctor to know what actions were needed to help
with those congestion problems - so Lon agreed to have that surgery. He
was in the hospital for five days as a result of the nasal surgery
performed by that medical doctor.
There was some potential of dangerous nasal bleeding (hemorrhaging) so Lon was kept in the hospital for five days to help ensure that medical help could be provided quickly if that bleeding situation occurred. Fortunately, it did not occur.
Lon was so ignorant about nutrition concepts at that time that he did not even consider having a consultation with a nutrition consultant (a dietitian or a nutritionist) about his nasal congestion problems (before he had that surgery). He had never heard of a nutrition consultant, a dietitian or a nutritionist, and Lon was not aware of their existence in 1963.
Lon believed that an Eye, Nose, and Throat Specialist (a medical doctor) would be the health care person who would be knowledgeable about the causes of nasal and sinus congestion problems.
Over
a period of weeks after the surgery in 1963, the same congestion
problems continued for Lon. It was clear that the surgery had not made
any difference in Lon's nasal congestion problems.
It is very important to note here that Lon did not change his diet at all
because the medical doctor had not recommended any diet changes.
Lon continued suffering with those very serious frustrating and irritating nuisance nasal and sinus congestion problems routinely thereafter for years.
Those nasal congestion problems occurred many hundreds of times, days and nights, during the years after that useless surgery.
Additional Training for Lon
While Lon was working with the FAA at the RADAR station in North
Charleston, he was selected to attend special education and training programs
with two separate RADAR system manufacturers. Both of those business operations
were in different small towns near Baltimore, Maryland.
Education Program # 1
The first education program was a major upgrade to the RADAR system that FAA
technicians operated and maintained at the Charleston, SC Air Force Base
location for joint operations by the US Air Force (their local air
traffic control center and the military's Air Route Traffic Control
Center located in Virginia) and the FAA's Air Route Traffic Control Center
located in Hilliard, Florida (about 35 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida).
Lon Willoughby was later selected to travel from Charleston, SC to
Jacksonville, Florida and teach the new RADAR system upgrade to the FAA
electronics technicians employed at an identical RADAR system located at
the Naval Air Station on the south side of Jacksonville, Florida.
Lon quickly developed an education course for that objective, and he
resided in a motel near the Naval Air Station for three weeks while he
taught that RADAR system upgrade to the FAA electronics
technicians that operated and maintained that RADAR system - for joint
use by the Naval Air Station's local air traffic control center and the
FAA's air traffic control center.
Having electronics technician Lon Willoughby go to Jacksonville, Florida
and teach that RADAR system upgrade during three weeks saved the FAA
thousands of dollars in expenses and it provided other important benefits for that RADAR facility.
That situation enabled the FAA to avoid the training course fees for
five FAA electronics technicians at the RADAR manufacturer's facility near
Baltimore, Maryland, and FAA also avoided the Per Diem costs and the travel expenses
for each of those five electronics technicians.
Each FAA electronics technician would have needed to make a two-weeks trip to the Baltimore area - at different times individually because they would have also had to maintain adequate staffing at the naval RADAR facility 24 hours per day, seven days per week, while each of the electronics technician was absent for that distant training.
Lon's ability to teach this impromptu electronics type course at the RADAR
facility made it much easier to maintain adequate electronics
technician staffing at the RADAR facility during the three weeks time
period that was needed for Lon to train the five local FAA electronics technicians.
The RADAR facility had to be staffed by qualified electronics
technicians daily, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and the on-site
training program prevented the need for each of the five technicians to
travel to the Baltimore area for a two weeks training program
with the manufacturer.
Due to Lon's previous instructor education and training and experience
as an instructor in the U.S. Air Force, he understood how to develop and teach
that technical electronics course in a competent teaching manner.
His
own training at the factory near Baltimore, Maryland enabled him to be technically qualified to teach that RADAR system electronic circuitry
upgrade in the training program that he developed.
His three weeks FAA training program at the RADAR facility on the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida was very successful.
Later that same year, Lon had a modest three bedroom home built in nearby Summerville, SC, and the family moved into their new home as soon as it was completed. Lon then had an 18 mile commute daily to get to work at the RADAR facility in the North Charleston area.
Education Program # 2
Many months later, the second technical training program occurred in
another small town near Baltimore - for a new modernized RADAR system that would
replace the old RADAR system on the Air Force base in North Charleston, SC.
In that situation, the costs involved for training the FAA electronics
technicians that would operate and maintain the new RADAR system (at the
Air Force Base in North Charleston, SC) was included in the contract
cost of the new RADAR system.
Shift Work Schedule
All of Lon's work at the RADAR station had been shift work, where he
would work a week (five days) on a day shift schedule (8:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m.), and then work a week on the evening shift (4:00 p.m. to 12:00
a.m.) and then work a week on the midnight shift (12:00 a.m. to 8:00
a.m.). He had two days off duty between each shift change.
The evening shift and the midnight shift had only one technician on
duty and they could not leave the RADAR facility to eat or otherwise.
There was no place for them to purchase a meal conveniently so all three
shifts required brown bag meals from home that were eaten during shift
duty hours.
That work schedule would repeat every three weeks indefinitely into the future.
Lon gradually realized that the shift-work schedule was difficult for him to
cope with. He had some
difficulty staying alert for eight hours throughout the midnight shift.
When Lon was driving the 18 miles commute to his home in Summerville, SC in the morning after completing a mid-night shift at the RADAR station, he was frequently very sleepy and that caused some very dangerous driving conditions for him.
He also had serious difficulty sleeping soundly enough in the daytime - after getting home from working the midnight shift and trying to prepare to go back to work for the next midnight shift.
NOTE: This work assignment was Lon's first experience with shift work - his RADAR work in the U.S. Air Force had all been day shift work only.
Lon wanted to
change his duty assignment to a steady day shift position, but that was
not possible at that Charleston Air Force Base RADAR facility.
Getting A Day Shift Position
In the summer of 1964, Lon Willoughby had an opportunity to bid on (apply for) an FAA electronics
technician vacancy in Montgomery, Alabama that offered a better work assignment. He was selected competitively
to fill that FAA electronics technician vacancy.
That technician position would get him off of the regular shift work
schedule, and it also offered some other electronics technician work experience opportunities that Lon
did not have at the RADAR facility in North Charleston, SC.
Lon quickly sold their home in Summerville, SC and moved his family (wife and two sons) to
Montgomery, Alabama where they rented a nice three bedroom, two bath home.
Because of his RADAR work experience, he usually worked at two different RADAR facilities in the Montgomery area, but he generally worked only on the day
shift schedule.
Challenging Job Opportunities
About six months after Lon transferred to the Montgomery Sector area,
the FAA's Sector Manager for the large Montgomery Sector jurisdiction offered Lon Willoughby a challenging opportunity to become the station chief of the FAA electronic facilities
that were headquartered at the FAA Flight Service Station located at
the airport in Northport, Alabama.
Lon quickly learned that the airport was across the river from Tuscaloosa, Alabama - where the University of Alabama is located.
He accepted that challenging position offer and moved his family to Tuscaloosa, AL
into a nice three bedroom, two bath home that he rented. Lon commuted
daily about five miles to his office at the FAA Flight Service Station at
the local area airport across the river in Northport, Alabama.
Within a year, Lon had a custom-built three bedroom, two bath home constructed in Northport, Alabama. The new home was about two miles from the airport where the FAA Flight Service Station and Lon's office were located.
About two years later, Lon had an opportunity to bid on (apply for) a vacant FAA
electronics technician position at the FAA Air Route Traffic Control
Center in Hilliard, Florida. (About 35 miles north of Jacksonville,
Florida).
That electronics technician position offered Lon an opportunity to gain some
important work experience that should be helpful to his future career
advancement opportunities with the FAA.
He was selected competitively for that position, and Lon promptly sold
the custom-built home in Northport, Alabama to one of the airplane pilots that
worked at the airport where Lon had worked.
NOTES: Throughout the time that Lon worked in Montgomery and Northport Alabama, he was having to cope with his nasal and sinus congestion - usually on a daily and nightly basis.
He had no idea what was causing that very serious health problem. He had already done all that he knew how to do about that irritating and frustrating problem. (The medical doctor in Charleston, SC and his surgery for Lon).
Lon then moved his family (Margaret and two sons) into a home that he rented on the north side
of Jacksonville, FL - in a large home subdivision where several of his FAA co-workers
lived.
He was then able to car-pool with several co-workers for the 30 mile trip daily to the Air
Route Traffic Control Center in Hilliard, Florida. Lon generally needed
to drive his personal car for that FAA car-pool just one day per week.
About 14 months later, Lon had an opportunity to bid on (apply for) an FAA
electronics technician vacancy located at the Jacksonville International
Airport (on the north side of Jacksonville, Florida).
Lon was selected competitively to fill that vacant technician position. He did
not need to move his family because the large international airport was
only eight miles from the home subdivision where Lon and his family were living on the north side of
Jacksonville, Florida.
Lon's Marital Problems
Lon had some marital problems with wife Margaret for several years and
they became more difficult to cope with as the two sons were getting older. Those marital problems had gotten more troublesome while he was employed at the Air
Route Traffic Control Center in Hilliard, Florida.
Those same marital
problems continued after he transferred to the FAA Sector Field Office
at the Jacksonville International Airport.
Background Information
Margaret and Lon had gone to the same small school system through high school, but Margaret was
two years ahead of Lon in the school grades, and they did not know each other at that time.