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The Good Life – May-June 2024

On the cover – Frank Hunkler, Mentoring is Life. Also in this issue, Dad Life - Modern Dating as a Single Dad. Having A Beer with Peter “Casey” Absey, the Curious Creator of Blackbird Woodfire Pizza. Local Hero and Veteran Jim Deremo, Pinball Games and more.

On the cover – Frank Hunkler, Mentoring is Life. Also in this issue, Dad Life - Modern Dating as a Single Dad. Having A Beer with Peter “Casey” Absey, the Curious Creator of Blackbird Woodfire Pizza. Local Hero and Veteran Jim Deremo, Pinball Games and more.

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LOCAL HERO | JIM DEREMO<br />

When he finished training, he completed his “dream<br />

sheet” of where he wanted to be assigned.<br />

“I put down Vietnam as my first choice, so, of course,<br />

the Navy sent me to Naval Air Station Miramar,<br />

near San Diego,” Deremo said. “After about a year<br />

at Miramar, I got to fill out another wish list and, of<br />

course, I put Vietnam as my No. 1 choice. So, they<br />

sent me to a school at NAS Lemoore, California.”<br />

After completing the next round of training, he again<br />

listed Vietnam as his first choice. This time he was<br />

assigned to the USS Constellation, an aircraft carrier,<br />

and soon started his long-awaited trip to Vietnam.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y positioned just off Vietnam’s coast and supported<br />

ground troops by bombing enemy positions, supplies<br />

and supply routes. <strong>The</strong>y also shot down enemy<br />

aircraft, all while battling typhoons and jet fuel fires<br />

next to jets loaded with bombs and missiles.<br />

After his December 1973 discharge from the Navy,<br />

Deremo stayed with his parents in Arkansas City,<br />

Kansas. College was up next for him, so it made sense<br />

to transition at home.<br />

“I kinda missed the hippie movement, so I thought I'd<br />

let my hair and beard grow,” Deremo said. “Me and<br />

my dad were sitting at the table one night talking, and<br />

he said, ‘You ought to shave that beard off. What the<br />

hell's with that?’”<br />

Always ready with a clever comeback, Deremo<br />

declared, “<strong>Good</strong> enough for Jesus, good enough for<br />

me!”<br />

His dad quickly responded, “But Jesus didn’t live in<br />

my house!”<br />

So, off Deremo went to Dakota State College in South<br />

Dakota for a teaching degree.<br />

SEEING THE NEED<br />

While there, he was elected president of the Collegiate<br />

Vets. That connected him with more veterans as he<br />

attended state conventions for the VFW, DAV and<br />

American Legion. It also led him to a work-study<br />

program on campus, where he ran the veterans’<br />

office, filed paperwork, and spent time “fighting with<br />

the VA.”<br />

32 | THE GOOD LIFE

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