Bill Slayton

I knew most everyone at Forest Hill High School, not from attending the school, but rather from such places as Forest Hill football games while still in elementary school; from kindergarten; Van Winkle Elementary School; Van Winkle Baptist Church; Boys Club Baseball, Basketball, and Football; Cub Scouts; Boy Scouts; Oak Forest Elementary baseball fields and then at the Forest Hill High School baseball field; And a few from my eight years at McCluer Academy and many others I met at Shoney's parking lot and other "social gathering spots"; And there was also Sunnyside Deer Hunting Club in Port Gibson. I only spent my Senior year at Forest Hill but feel like I've been a part of it forever. My Mom even attended Forest Hill back around 1949.

During that Senior year at Forest Hill, I spent my mornings at Vo-Tech in Raymond, learning how to Weld. After graduation I spent the next three years as a welder, first at Marathon-LeTourneau in Vicksburg (where you see me outside the plant in the picture below shaking hands with Governor Cliff Finch when he was going for re-election), then at Cataphote in Flowood, then lastly at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans. When I returned to Mississippi from New Orleans, the recession during the early years of the Reagan administration was in full swing so I had to get a job as a painter at Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson. It was soon after when I realized I was ready for school again and enrolled at Hinds Junior College in Raymond with my sister, Mable. We took a couple of classes that Summer of 1981 and then she and I enrolled at USM that Fall.

I met my first wife at USM in 1986, were married in 1987. After graduation in 1987 with a Bachelors in Computer Science, we moved to Birmingham where I worked for a bank as a programmer/systems manager. Then, in 1989 with the first child on the way, we moved to Atlanta where Allyson, and two years later, William, were born. In 1993 she decided she missed her Mom and took the kids and moved back to Mississippi.

I met Paula (the girl of my dreams) in December 1994, we married in 1995. She had a son, Kevin. Later Gabbie was born in 2000. We're very active in our church where I play Bass in the praise band (see picture below). I am currently working as Director of Process Improvement and Best Practices at a global computer services firm. My life now is full of family, friends, work, and most importantly... serving the God who made me.

Looking forward to hearing how all of you are doing.

Here's some websites for more info:

http://www.eleven36.com/ (my band's public website)

http://www.paulaswalk.com/  (my wife's blog)

http://eleven36.pbwiki.com/ (password: eleven36)