CHS - Class of 79
History Since Graduation

Rick Burns

After graduation, I spent a semester at Brigham Young University and then two years in Denmark on a mission for the Mormon Church.  After returning from Denmark in 1982, I worked in Corinth for a year and then returned to Brigham Young University where I graduated with a BA in History, a minor in Scandinavian Studies and an Army Reserve Commission.  I have spent the last 13 years as
a Danish Linguist/ Military Intelligence Officer in the Reserves.  I am sure all of you feel much safer, realizing that you are protected from all of those Danish insurgent groups.

During that time I met and married my wife, Connie Sellers, in December 1985. She was a graduate student teaching German 102 and I happened to take her class.  She had her eye on a graduate student in our class - a good-looking, tanned, naval reserve pilot.   I accepted the challenge.  For propriety's sake,  I waited until after the final exam, albeit 2 hours, to go out with her. Five
weeks later we were engaged and 4 months beyond that, we were married.

I was having a very good time taking classes and exploring every major on campus, quite literally.  I think I was at least triple stacked in any and all general education categories when all was said and done.  Connie completed her Master's degree and was patiently waiting for me to settle into a major that would make us wealthy.  I was teaching Danish classes at Brigham Young University, which I absolutely loved, and enjoying the intellectual experience...a renaissance man, I suppose.  Our first two children were born during this period - Benjamin in 1987 and Allison in 1988.  Waking up one morning and realizing I had two children and a wife turned me from professional student to a member of corporate America.

After graduation in 1989, I spent 4 months in Virginia at an Army Officer Basic Course before returning to Provo, Utah and a job with WordPerfect managing a Danish documentation group.  I worked for Novell managing international documentation and software projects after WordPerfect was bought by Novell. Our last three children were born during this period - Christopher in 1990,
Daniel in 1991 and Emily in 1993.  I also completed an MBA somewhere in there.   I did learn something from my bachelor days and completed this in less than two years.

I was tiring of the constant layoffs and reorganizations at Novell, so I made a radical career shift and took a job as director of The Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa in 1997.  We bought a three acre place with a 1913 farmhouse.  There are nothing but farms around us and plenty of space for my very active children to roam.  I left the Museum after a year for a variety of reasons, chief among them was the time involved in keeping an international museum going in a small town.  I took a job with Inacom, a computer services company, as a Sales Support Manager and now commute into Omaha, Nebraska.

We are staying busy trying to keep up with our children these days.  They are all very active in all kinds of sports and other extracurricular activities.  Throw in Scoutmaster and a variety of other community and church projects Connie and I are involved in and it all adds up to a pretty good life.  It often gets to be quite a logistical challenge getting everyone where they belong, but I
wouldn't have it any other way.  Watching my kids grow up has been one of the great joys of my life.  I am also working on a second masters degree in organizational communications with the intent of moving into yet another career, teaching college, in the next 2 years.

My parents moved from Corinth shortly after I returned from Denmark, so I haven't taken the opportunity to return.  Since we live much closer now, I am looking forward to getting back home and renewing some old friendships.