Ted Yamada

Even after 20 years, I think our yearbook says it all about class of 88 - “A Touch of Class”. It’s been wonderful reading everyone’s bios and seeing what they have been up to for the last 20 years. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and their families at the reunion.

Well after high school, I followed many of you down to NMSU, not knowing what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life. NMSU was an extension of high school for me, as studying was not my highest priorities. After a year, I then decided I wanted to go into Architectural drafting and headed to Phoenix. I graduated after a year with my certificate, but decided drafting was not my passion. Not knowing what I wanted to do, I decided to move to Albuquerque and work for a while. Monica and I were still dating and this cut down on our traveling to see each other out of state. I worked several jobs; projectionist at a movie theater, service technician for several companies, but nothing career sustaining. I finally decided to go back to school. I was fortunate to be able to work for my fathers company part time, while pursuing my degree in Computer Engineering at UNM. After graduating, I worked for my father a while longer, till he decided to semi-retire. I am currently the Director of Operations for my father-in-laws company where we manufacture test stations for Fuel Cells.

Monica and I finally tied the knot in 1993. A year later our family began to grow with our beautiful daughter, Kiana Nicole. She was “Daddy’s Little Girl” from the day she was born. Then four years later, our son, Tetsuyoshi Tyler, was born. You would think that after tormenting teachers during role call I would name my son something easier to pronounce. He is my little sports fanatic with lots of energy. He loves football and wrestling. Then in 2000, our son Masahiro Zachary was born. Here we go with the name thing again. Actually, I wanted both my boys to have part of my name in theirs.

They are great kids and have changed our lives tremendously. Now, I find myself busy coaching their teams – football, wrestling, and baseball. We have stayed close with many high school friends and it is fun to see our children play with each other as we did when we were kids. I look forward in seeing everyone at the reunion.

Special thanks to all our military, congratulations to all the new additions, and blessed prayers to all our lost loved ones – The Yamada Family