Akron Life December 2023

FOREVER YOUNG

“That was remarkable,” says Greathouse, who grew up in East Akron and moved to Medina before graduating from Sharon Center High School. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.” His lifelong learning journey began when he enlisted in the Air Force in 1950 and was taught an entirely new skill dur ing the Korean War. “I got put into aircraft mechanics, and I’ve been eternally grateful for that ever since,” Greathouse says. “I really enjoyed the work I did. I loved working on aircrafts.” When he was discharged in 1954, he got a job as a Goodyear Aerospace Corp. electronic technician. He got married to Rose Marie, who he had known since he was around 8 years old. “Halfway around the world, came back and married the girl around the corner,” Greathouse says, adding that they went on to have seven children. “In the meantime, I was working days and going to school at night.” He enrolled at The University of Akron in 1958 on an engineering track. His goal wasn’t necessarily a degree — he hoped to gain the skills that would get him a position doing mechanical or electrical engineering at Goodyear Aerospace.

“For that, you need science, and you need physics, chemistry,” he says. “To get the physics and the chemistry, you have to have the math.” He started with math courses, and he remembers taking algebra trigonometry, which he enrolled in 10 years after graduating from high school. He was worried about whether he’d remember what he learned previously, but he said much of it came back to him, and he had a great instructor. Another memorable math course was integral calculus. “It really made a big difference,” he says. “It made it a lot easier once you had calculus.” Many of his fellow students were around his age of 28 and came back from the Korean War, so he had a lot in common with them. He made friends and enjoyed his classes, which had a large age range of students. His hard work paid off — he advanced his career, getting those engineering positions he was going for. Later when he was in his 30s, he found himself in a similar situation again, looking to gain skills to help him at work while Goodyear Aerospace was incorporating more technology. “We started using computers in order to test company prod ucts,” he says. “Went back to Akron U[niversity] again.”

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DECEMBER 2023 | akronlife.com