I transferred from Brookley Air Force Base to Keesler Air Force Base, on January 1, 1968. In arranging this transfer, I had to consider that Marie was enrolled at the University of South Alabama in Mobile to get her Masters Degree in Education, so she could teach in the Biloxi City Schools. She would use the car and continue to stay at the house we had rented at Theodore, Alabama and I would use the pickup truck, and live at our home on the bay in Biloxi. We would move our furniture from Theodore to Biloxi when she completed her degree work. I had just finished my degree work at the University of South Alabama to receive a Masters Degree in Education, but was required to teach three months before receiving my degree, but never was completed because I would not leave my job with the Air Force to do so.
The move went on as expected and I was assigned as an Accounting Officer, as Chief of Central Accounting Office, (Non Appropriated Funds). It took some time for Marie to complete her work at the University, and it was a very trying time for her to do this, because this one thing she always wanted to do after finishing Perkinston Junior College, way back in 1934. It was a great day when she finished her work and we could be back together at our home on the bay in Biloxi.

The office I was assigned was in the computer area and was kept at a temperature of no less than 60 degrees at all times. This was a problem because I developed very bad arthritis in my arms and legs and hands. I had to have injections of cortisone in my shoulders, to be able to move and work. One day at the office I had a seizure while sitting at my desk and was unable to move or speak for about two hours. Finally some one woke me up at noon, and I went to see a doctor, he told me that I had had a stroke, and sent me home for three or four days. I went back to work but had another stroke on the way home. I was finally retired after five doctors had decided I was to do so, on medical disability, in 1970.
This was a hard decision for me and my family to accept, as I had to use the "paraffin" treatment on my arms and hands. This was melting wax and mineral oil in a pan till it melted and then putting my arms and hands in the mixture, and then covering them with towels until the wax hardened. I also had to take mineral oil and cod liver oil for a long time, but finally the pain subsided.

So, I retired on February 17, 1970 as per certificate of service from the Air Force, with 25 Years of Federal Service. This includes the time spent with the Army Corps of Engineers, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and time spent as a Captain in the Air Force Reserve, but does not include time spent in the US CCC. I recall two Majors from the base came out to the house to present me with my Retirement Certificate.