1960 Anchorage High Reunion: Classmates

Page posted Mar 21, 2010

Updated June 3, 2010

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Lash Hansborough

AHS yearbook, 1960

Lash today

ldh@crestedbutte.net

I am 2nd from left above. My last period of active duty was in charge of one of the Big E's propulsion plants during an overhaul in which both nuclear reactor cores were removed and replaced in Newport News, Virginia. I left active duty in August 1970. I did remain active in the Naval Reserve and retired as a Captain in 1996.

After returning to the University of Texas at Austin, I was awarded a MS in mechanical engineering in 1973 soon after marrying my first wife Kay. In 1974, I became a Staff Member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, providing engineering support for plasma physics experiments. From 1977 until I retired in 2001, I worked in the area of accelerator technology.

I attended the University of Texas in Austin from 1961-1966. While there, I designed, built and raced two cars for Sports Car Club of America road races. I was graduated with honors with a BS in mechanical engineering and commissioned into the navy as an Ensign, USN.

After completing naval nuclear power training in 1967, I reported aboard the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) where I spent the remained of my active duty. On the first cruise "to the exotic Far East on my rich Uncle's yacht", we unintentionally became the nearest US warship to USS Pueblo when captured but could do nothing. Highlight of the cruise was a visit to Hong Kong, absolutely the greatest city that I have ever visited. By the time the Big E returned, I realized there was really something wrong with this war.

In the second deployment, while off Hawaii on 14 January 1969, the Big E had a major flight deck fire in which 28 of my shipmates perished. My Big E GQ post was in the propulsion plant where I just did what I was supposed to do; the heroes were fighting the fire. Later, I helped one of those heroes towrite a book about the fire and as a result, appeared in the Discovery Channel presentation of "Supercarrier in Crisis". When we finally got to Vietnam, we almost immediately returned to North Korea after the EC-121 was shot down. The rest of the cruise was "the usual" at Yankee Station except for a port call to Singapore.

Kay and I were divorced in 1979, and I turned my energies to long-distance running, finishing two full marathons (the best in 3 hours and
20 minutes) and two ascent runs up Pikes Peak. After returning from a year
working at a Canadian laboratory in Ontario, I married my second wife Arlene in 1982, with her two children, Rob (11) and Allison (7).

Memorable projects for me at Los Alamos were the BEAR project that operated the first proton accelerator in space, the CRITS RFQ project that was the first time a CW (continuous wave) proton beam had been injected into an RFQ accelerator, and the last project that was for the LEDA project, the design, construction, and successful operation of the world's most powerful proton injector. LEDA was the first step to an accelerator that could burn up radioactive waste while producing all the power to run the accelerator plus supply 2000 megawatts to the electrical grid. The LEDA program was so successful that it was immediately cancelled, and now the South Koreans are continuing it.

It was time to retire, which I did in 2001. The chosen spot was Crested Butte, Colorado, a wonderful little town in a high Rocky Mountain valley, to
a dream home with an awesome view down the valley. In addition to skiing and hiking, I enjoyed being a school crossing guard and talking with the kids. It was a good retirement, and I seemed to "have the world on astring", but that ended in a very messy divorce in 2009.

At present, I am splitting my time between Fredericksburg, Texas and Colorado. I am very fortunate to have two step-children whom I raised and who still welcome me in their homes. They have given me three grandchildren, two girls and a boy, a source of real joy to me. At this stage in my life, I want to finish a book of history on which I have been working for many years, and I would like to teach part-time at the post-high school level.

I feel I've had a good and successful life, if not in my personal affairs. At present, I have no objective other than enjoying each new day as it comes. Life is good!

Lash

Check out this update from Lash today, June 3, 2010: