Our Irish Roots

The Anderson Family Reunion

20 - 28 October 2005

Haines City, Florida

  Colonel Anderson was born on June 16th, 1931 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to John Vernon and Narissa Anderson.  Starting at an early age, he worked hard harvesting the mid-west throughout the summers.  This sparked a deep interest in farm machinery and he gained a life-long fondness for all things mechanical.

  David graduated from Classen High School in 1948, attended Oklahoma A&M (now OSU) while working in a motorcycle shop.  He transferred to the University of Oklahoma where he met and married the beautiful Deona (Dee Dee) Kay Kolb.  He graduated from OU with his bachelors degree in Industrial Education in 1953.

  David attended ROTC while at OU and was called to active duty soon after graduation.  After his tour he worked as a safety engineer for an insurance company and then for a steel fabricator.  During this time he continued to serve as a reserve officer with the 795th Maintenance Battalion of the 95th Infantry Division.

  A few years after that and between his 5th and 6th child, he was commissioned as an officer in the Regular Army.  He served at the field artillery at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, then at as a Hercules missile test officer at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

  In 1962 after the birth of his 8th child, David bought a 1950 Fageol Twin Coach bus that t was originally designed as an Army ambulance.  He stripped the interior and designed the bus to contain 8 triple-high bunk bends and a crib.  Fortunately, David found welding very relaxing.