Stories of Life Paths of Two Classmates of the Class of ’62

By Misty Cryer

Two gentlemen, Glenn R. Heard Sr. and Mark Miller, from Carlsbad High School’s Class of ’62, recently shared their stories of life after high school.

Glenn said he was born and raised in Carlsbad and has enjoyed all of his years here. Swimming in the Pecos was among his favorite memories of growing up in Carlsbad. Like many Carlsbad natives, he said he lived away while pursuing an education and developing a career before returning to his hometown in 1981, where he currently resides with his wife of 62 years.

The Echo, Carlsbad High School’s yearbook for the 1961-1962 school year, lists the D.E. Club as an activity that Glenn participated in during high school. He is pictured in a yearbook group photo that reads, “D.E. develops future leaders for marketing and distribution.”

Glenn said he worked at Cashway Grocery while in high school. It was a grocery store located on Canal Street that later burned down. He also said he worked as a mechanic until the last year of his advanced education, when he worked in a pharmacy.

Glenn married Judith Monfredini from Carlsbad High School’s Class of ’63, whom he met in high school. “She was a cosmetician and continued as such while I worked and went to college,” he said, adding that Judith also taught at Albuquerque Beauty College.

In early times, Glenn said he attended New Mexico State University in Carlsbad and Eastern New Mexico University in Portales before earning his degree in pharmacy at the University of New Mexico. He said he graduated top of his class in 1969 with RHO CHI honors.

Glenn said he was inspired to become a pharmacist by a close friend, Johnny Volpato, who owned Corner Drug. He said Johnny recently passed away in Raton.

After graduating from UNM, Glenn and Judith lived in Hobbs, Roswell, and Albuquerque before returning to Carlsbad. In Albuquerque, he taught at the College of Pharmacy for a year, which he said he enjoyed.

In Carlsbad, Glenn owned Star Pharmacy for 12 years before selling his files to Walgreens and going to work for them. When he left Walgreens, he went to work at the Hospital Pharmacy, which he said he liked the most. “I have enjoyed my career in pharmacy,” he said.

Glenn said he went into racing, traveling in New Mexico and Texas. “I built my own engines,” he said, adding that the fastest went 175 mph in a quarter mile. While it wasn’t enough to break even, he said he enjoyed it.

“We had one daughter and one son,” said Glenn, referring to himself and his wife, Judith. “We have been married 62 years. We have had a good life,” he said.

Mark Miller said he currently lives in Tucson, AZ. According to The Echo for the 1961-1962 school year, Mark served as Sophomore Class Vice President, Junior Class President, and Student Council President. He participated in Dawgs Basketball, Caveman Baseball, and Caveman Basketball. He was a candidate for Vanity Fair King and was the Junior Class favorite, as well as being a Junior Rotarian, serving on the Echo Staff, and being a National Honor Society member.

As far as Mark’s ambition, the yearbook says, “To get all the learnin’ I can so I can do all the living I can.”

After graduating from high school, Mark said, he enrolled in New Mexico State University. “It took me four and a half years to graduate with my bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.”

He said the Mechanical Engineering Department gave him a teaching graduate assistantship. “They paid me to teach freshmen- and sophomore-level courses. The money they paid me to do that allowed me to get my master’s degree in mechanical engineering,” he said.

“I left New Mexico State University not owing a dime for my education there, which I have always really appreciated,” he said.

Mark said he went through the complete Army ROTC program at New Mexico State. “As soon as I got my bachelor’s degree, I was commissioned as an officer in the Army Reserve,” he said, adding that he received a deferment that allowed him to get his master’s degree.

After receiving his master’s degree, Mark said he drove off campus, dumped off everything that he couldn’t take at his mom’s house in Carlsbad, and drove to Fort Sill, OK, to begin his two years of active duty in the U.S. Army.

In the first year, Mark said he learned to be an artilleryman through the Army Field Artillery Officer’s Basic Course. “My second year of active duty was in Vietnam,” he said, explaining that he served as a Field Artillery Officer the entire time that he was in Vietnam.

After his first year of active duty, Mark said he asked his wife to marry him. Three weeks before he left for Vietnam, he married Jan McLaughlin. “She had a job working for a school that she graduated from in Missouri, so she was real occupied for that year that I was there,” he said.

Jan said she was in the Class of ’67 at Carlsbad High School. She and Mark have been married for 56 years, and they have two kids.

After active duty, Mark said he got a job with Duval, a copper mining company in Tucson, AZ. “They had a copper mine south of town, and I went to work for them,” he said.

At one point in his career, Mark was offered the opportunity to work on projects overseas in Indonesia and Singapore. He said he and Jan took a trip to check things out. On the last day, he said they decided that if there was a good school for the kids, they were going. “We went and looked at the school, and it was fabulous, so we went,” he said.

“That time that we spent overseas was very special. When we went over, our daughter was in the fifth grade, and our son was in the eighth grade. He graduated from Jakarta International School,” said Mark, adding that their daughter stayed there until her senior year, moving to Singapore American School due to his relocation.

“Both of my children had an absolutely excellent education over there in Southeast Asia,” said Mark. After returning to the United States, he said they built a home on a lot they owned in Tucson.

“We’ve had a great life,” said Jan.