A short story written with my father accompanied with his high school yearbook class of 1960

Bill Shockley and I were high school classmates and friends. We grew up in Madison, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City near Bell Labs (now Nokia Labs).  Bill’s father was William Shockley, Bill Sr., one of the most respected researchers at Bell Labs for his role inventing the transistor, a foundational achievement that led to the modern-day microprocessor. In 1956 Bill Jr. and I started our first year of high school together. That same year Bill’s dad, Bill Sr. won a noble prize and subsequently left his family and moved to Palo Alto, California where he started his own company, Shockley Semiconductors. Several other engineers at Bell Labs followed Bill’s dad to California. After a year, eight engineers found Bill Sr. so difficult to work for that they quit Shockley company to start their own, Fairchild Semiconductors. Back in New Jersey I became increasingly interested in amateur radio and transistors while Bill Jr. focused on track and tennis. In 1960 Bill Jr. and I both graduated high school, I went to Cornell University and Bill went to Lehigh University. I heard Bill Jr. subsequently dropped out after a year and moved to the Greenwich Village scene in New York city. Meanwhile out in California Fairchild Semiconductors’ success was so great it had earned the California South bay the name “Silicon Valley".  That same year Bill’s dad subsequently sold his company to the industrial company, Clevite. Bill’s dad went on to teach at Stanford University.  He retired in 1975, and by the time of his death in 1989, was mostly known for his controversial views on eugenics. In 1968, I moved out to Santa Clara or “Silicon Valley” to work as communications engineer too.  I still live in there today. Bill Jr. and I lost touch after high school.