Father

My father, Reed McClellan Burkhart, was born on October 29, 1962 in

Lakewood, Ohio where he lived until he was 3 months old. His family, consisting of his
parents and older brother, then moved to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1967, his family
moved once again and settled in small town Red Bluff, California where he spent most of
his childhood. In school, he excelled in all subjects, but specifically in math. He hardly
studied, however was always the top of his class. Throughout his early years, he loved to
play basketball. Growing up in a small town, there werent malls or theaters, however
Reed finds there was much more to do. Reed and his friends would ride their bikes in the
hills for hours on end, play cliff tag, and later on they enjoyed coming together and
making music. He remembers every lunch during the fifth grade he would wrestle with
Dean Smith because they just loved to wrestle. Once he entered high school, going to
College seemed to be the obvious path to take. His junior year, University of Southern
California (USC) offered him to attend their college a year early, his senior year, with a
full scholarship. They would pay for tuition, living expenses, books, and everything
however; he decided not to leave because it was his mothers wish and recommendation
for him to stay home one more year. Some important events in his childhood consisted of
becoming drum major, winning second place in the Mcclatchy Newspaper Centro Valley
Math Competition, and trying skiing for the first time alone when he was only twelve.
His family spent most of their time in Red Bluff, however they occasionally took trips
down to Los Angeles to visit family. Also, once year his family friends would get
together and have a holiday party. This event, hosted by the Burkharts, indulged in
singing, talking, eating cookies, and just having an all around joyful time.

By the middle of his senior year in high school, Reed accepted a scholarship to
the California Institute of Technnology. At CalTech, he doubled majored in Eletrical
Engineering and Math, as well as minored in Music. Freshmen year, he learned to surf for
the first time, which he still is ecstatic about to this day. He did many extracurricular
activities in College including Water Polo, Basketball, Track, Choir, Orchestra, Jazz
Band, as well as many other on-side ensemble groups. He excelled especially in Water
Polo and even became All American and all-conference in this sport. He was an
extremely versatile player, being the only person in the history of the league to become
all-conference Goalie and all-conference Field Player in Water Polo. One crazy story
about college life was going on a date with Christine Kirven. Studying the entire the day,
he then rushed to their dinner date. In his rush, he had unknowingly cut his face in many
places while shaving. After sitting down for a few minutes, Christine politely excused
herself to go to the bathroom. His face had actually been bleeding in many places and she
never pointed it out. Despite the state of his face, the date went pretty well. He doesnt
remember when he noticed, but laughs at this story in retrospect. He studied more in
College, and even worked extra hard to finish his masters in Electrical and Computer
Engineering at UC Santa Barbara in only nine months. Out of college, he got a job with
the massive satellite company founded by Howard Hughes. This moved him close to the
beach, which he found excellent because he would be able to surf and play beach
volleyball without going very far. In this job, he not only worked in customer technical
support for major satellite customer, but he also discovered Faraday Rotation was causing
problems with satellite transmissions due to high solar activity in 1989. This was one of
the breakthrough discoveries he made during his career. He also did major business in

helping establish the national satellite systems in Thailand and Malaysia and helped
develop Direct TV. While traveling, he encountered a successful golf course designer on
a flight to Thailand. This man explained how he has been so involved in his work, than he
never found the time to settle down and start a family. My father then realized he didnt
want to become this man, and decided to take the initiative to start a family. Around two
years later, he met my mother, Michelle, at a party. They married around a year and half
later and had their first son, Tim, in 1994. A year and half later, Michelle gave birth to her
second son, Scott. Then again, two and a half years later Amanda was born. Although
Reed and Michelle had a strong relationship, there was a period of sudden extreme events
causing a heavy level of stress. Michelle ultimately called for a divorce in 2001. By early
2003, they had been fully separated. He continued in satellite design, working for Space
Systems Loral, while parenting three children alone. He became a freelance consultant in
satellites and technology, while tutoring high school students in math and chemistry,
which is what he is currently doing today. In his adult life, he enjoys different forms of
dance, surfing, and meeting new people. He hopes that people will come together with a
greater understanding of themselves in a world community.