Must Read!

This is a picture I found of my dad with his classmates when he served in the Air Force. He was 19 years old when this picture was taken. I showed my dad the picture and asked him if he remembered anyone. Being 74, I figured he'd name 1 or 2 people. He named several actually! He especially remembered Everett Bradley, his best bud at the time. Jacob and I asked my dad if he still talked to Everett. My dad had no idea if he was even alive! So I decided to do some investigative work online!
It took me 10 minutes... but I found Everett E. Bradley. He was the only one online whose age was mentioned. 74. Just like my dad. It had to be him! There was even an address and telephone number listed in Florida. We decided that the only way to find out if it was really Everett, was for my dad to call him. So he called the number. A woman answered the phone. My dad said, "Hi. My name is Jake Stockwell. Did your husband happen to serve in the Air Force? I think I served with him..." Then the women put my dad on hold.

Everett came on the line. My dad asked, "Is this Everett Bradley??? .....This is Jake Stockwell. We served--"

"JAKE!?! HOW ARE YA!?"

All I could hear from the opposite line was excitement. We found him! I was so happy we found my dad's long lost friend. He hadn't seem or heard from him since they left Japan! That was over 55 years ago! They had no way of contacting each other. They didn't have all the awesome stalker technology that we have now lol.

They were on the phone for the longest time. Like two high school girls LOL! They tried to catch each other up on their lives, talking about where they moved, who they married, how many kids and grandkids they had, what their favorite sports are. ...And whadda ya know, they both play golf! Perfect. Of course, the last time they saw each other, they were both into basketball-- neither of them

I told my dad to ask Everett if he had a Facebook. Probably not, but hey, it was worth the shot! Well, it turns out he does. And he's active on there lol. More active than my dad. So we logged onto my dad's Facebook to find Everett. We added him while they were still talking on the phone, and Everett accepted our friend request (score!). We looked through Everett's pictures and found something he uploaded on June 2009.

A picture of him, my dad and their buddies from the air force! Can you believe he had this picture, too?? After all these years! Funny because we were looking at the same one before we found him! This was by far the most amazing day. My dad told me I made his day. I'm glad I was able to help him out. He was so happy, he couldn't stop talking about it. I took a picture of him while he was still in that state of happiness:
Yes folks, that is a before and after picture of my dad, Jake Stockwell. lol.

Apparently, Everett had more pictures! Check them out:
Above: Everett on the far left and my dad on the far right.

Look at the change in 55+ years...
Jake Stockwell at 19 years old (1955) and 74 years old (2011).
Everett Bradley at 19 years old (1955) and 74 years old (2011).

I hope my dad gets a ticket to Florida soon to meet up with Everett. They talked about catching up and playing some golf! :) Hooray for the internet! And hooray for finding long lost friends!