Life According To Grandpa II

Reseck’s life as a wonderer (a person that wonders how and why everything works) took him from the Antarctic to the Arctic, South and Central America, Africa, Iceland and many Pacific islands. During the span of his travels, he became a qualified college instructor of marine biology, martial arts, SCUBA diving, photography and a safe boating instructor for the US Coast Guard.

In the course of his life journey, he collected many honors. In Judo, he became a black-belt, winning a trophy in the YMCA western US championships; set a world record by kayaking from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 33 days, received two patents in chemistry, was selected to be memorialized in the NAUI Diving HALL OF HONOR along with Jacques Cousteau. He was the first person to dive under the sea ice shelf in the Antarctic and was a member of the first team of five US biologists sent to the Antarctic to study fish in 1958.

In his early life, Reseck recalls working for a company, “… that didn’t exist and did things that never happened.” After retiring from his college where he taught marine biology science, SCUBA diving, and martial arts for 30 years, he joined the Coast Guard Auxiliary for 18 years, acted as a Qualifying Examiner and wrote a training manual for the Coast Guard.

He taught specialty courses on the campuses of UCLA, UCI, University of Hawaii, Texas A&M, Simon Fraser University in Canada and local junior colleges in southern California. His SCUBA program certified over 10,000 divers and his kayaking club had 125 members that paddled in three different countries. He tried bicycle racing and made it to the Olympic trials in 1960. He lost his scholarship to UCLA to play football (due to pneumonia) and had to drop out of school.

He says the secret to an exciting life is to open every door you pass. You might find something that you can do better than most others. If you do, run with it until you get bored and then open another door. If you don’t have a challenge in your life, you’re not learning anything. Find something that is hard for you to do and learn to do it well.