Classmates
Douglas Reuter '67
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After graduating in '67, I entered the US Navy. Met my wife while based in Seattle, WA and got married in March, '71. Got out of the Navy in June, '71 and went to college - a BA in Business Management resulted.

Over a period of several years in the mid to late '70's, I invented the family board game SEQUENCE which has been continuously on the market since April, '82. I have invented a new game called QB8 (a numbers game) and QB8 WORDS (a word game) which is supposed to be available on or about October 1, 2015.

Following a few years of being a professional photographer in the mid-70's, I got into my main occupation which was Human Resource Management. I also worked in a Government Relations role in the '80's. I "retired" in December, '95 but in 1996 I ran for, and was elected to, the Minnesota House of Representatives. I was re-elected in 1998 and after serving two terms, we really did "retire" in Texas.

We had three children, a daughter in '78, another daughter in '81 and a son in '85. We have four grandchildren through our daughters. Our son, unfortunately fought a nine year long battle with Bipolar disorder. While in his third episode in Seattle, he got into an eight hour long stand-off with Seattle police and on July 5, 2013, two Seattle SWAT snipers shot and killed him. This happened primarily because the mental illness laws in the state of WA made it virtually impossible for anyone who did not want help to actually get it.

So, my wife and I set out to change that. We moved from our home in Dallas to Olympia, WA for the entire 2014 legislative session trying to pass new mental illness laws. We passed a bill in the House but the Senate killed it on the last day of the 2014 session.

We returned for almost the entire 2015 legislative session where we were successful in getting several different bills passed which were signed by the Governor - most of them on May 14, 2015. One of the laws we passed is formally named "Joel's Law" after our son - you can Google that law by name for all the relevant information.

As I mentioned earlier, I am retired. However, I still work on inventing and trying to license new board games. In addition to QB8 and QB8 WORDS, I have a completed work on Zigzaggle and Futility. I'm also an FAA Licensed Drone Pilot. Who knows how long that will continue to be fun - only time will tell.

Can't believe it's been over 50 years since graduating - where did time go?
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