Scott Hunt

Wow, where to start. I guess by going back to 1987. After graduation I worked for Rojas Moving, a local moving company, to get money for college. I started at UNM that fall. An interesting story for all you Los Alamos folks is who my first roommate was. I checked into my room and there was this large grim reaper painted on the wall; not exactly my kind of decoration. Ha, ha. Soon after in came my roommate with some of his buds, buddies, crew, whatever. He introduced himself. "Hey, I'm Ashley Pond." After a moment of me looking at him dumbfoundedly he said, "You must be from Los Alamos." And then went on to explain how he was the great grandson of the real Ashley Pond, for whom the "pond" in LA is named. What are the chances?

I stayed at UNM for 4 years and hung out with Lee Souders, David Newell, Ronnie Garcia, Will Verzino, and others. I continued to move furniture during the summers (no backpacking trips to Europe ) to pay the bills. Of course the rents helped but the spoon was only partly silver!

Summer of 91 I graduated with a finance degree and moved to Denver and took a job as a stockbroker with some fly-by-night mutual fund firm in the DTC. That didn't last and, with my dreams of brokering crushed, I moved back to New Mexico. That Christmas, Joan Candler (class of 91) and I got engaged. I worked in Albuquerque for Sunwest Bank, graveyard shift in the bank card section as a peon, for a while but then sought employment at the Lab. I got a job at the Lab that summer as a property auditor, and actually worked for Rick Wangen's as yet to be wife, Shelley. Joan and I got married in July and then Honeymooned in Hawaii. After the honeymoon we moved in with the in-laws! Long story, but hey, housing in LA can be tough to come by and expensive. We saved up money and soon moved into my parent's rental on Orange Street (behind the High School), in the house (duplex) I grew up in.

I continued at the Lab and worked in Budget for several years before transferring to Accounting. I worked as a senior accountant there, closing the books (yes, all $1Bil.). About this time Joan (who was also now working at the Lab in procurement) and I bought some land up in the Jemez, in Sierros de Los Pinos. We built a house, mostly just the two of us. Several years later (and 3000 hours of labor) and we moved in. A cabin in the mountains-who could complain. We were there during the big fire and Joan's parents home was burned on 45th Street above Urban Park. My parent's on North Mesa were fine. I had been working several years in BUS-1, but as accounting wasn't my specialty or passion (can accounting be a passion Sorry all you accountants) I eventually ended up in project management. And while the work was interesting and sometimes challenging it still was not my calling. We were involved at this time in a little mission church in La Cueva and in 1999 I surrendered to Christian ministry and began to look for a seminary.

In 99 our first boy was born, Zachary Franklin. It was a great experience and to be repeated many more times. Interesting circumstances led me in 2001 to attend Sangre de Cristo Seminary (www.sangredecristoseminary.org). This is an extremely small (6-12 students) school outside of Westcliffe, Colorado. Also in 2001 our second boy was born, Ethan Candler. Wow, two boys. A lot of fun-little rest. I went to school for three years and in my off semesters came back and worked at the lab and lived in our home in the Jemez. Joan stayed home with the kids. Before my last year of school we sold our home in the Jemez. It was sad, but time to move on. I graduated with a Masters of Divinity (a pastoral degree) in December 2003 and in January took a position with a nearby Christian camp as, who could have known or desired, the Financial Director (doing lot's of accounting!). Okay, this wasn't exactly my plan but seems to be the way God often works.

By this time we had our first daughter, Grace Elizabeth. What a sweetie! I worked at Horn Creek (www.horncreek.org) for 2 years and we had another boy, Jacob Mitchell. Yes, that's 4 kids now. Kids are great, as many of you know. At this time I received a call to pastor a small church in the town of Westcliffe, Grace Bible Church. I have been at GBC since June, 2005. It is a blessing to be finally doing what I am passionate about but certainly Christian ministry has it's challenges and ups and downs. God has been faithful through all these years, and has blessed us and used us, even with all our baggage and flaws. In Auguest 2006 we had girl number two, Victoria Dannelle (Tori). Yes, that's 5 kids! Kids are great

We miss LA from time to time as both Joan and I grew up there, she even being born there (I'm a California boy). Her mom and my parents still live there. All retired. But for now we call Westcliffe home. We have a house in town and I ride my bike to church. I still workout and run to keep in shape. I hunt and do ATV treks (this year's was 700mi.) when I'm not hanging out with the family, which is almost all the time. Besides following Jesus, our family of 7 is largely what I am about. The mountains here are spectacular, with several 14ers. The schools are good and small town living is for the most part a joy. God is good!

Hope to catch up with many of you at the reunion. Or feel free to drop me a note before then.

Scott Hunt
106 North Adams
Westcliffe, Colorado 81252