PROFILE OF A MUSEUM VOLUNTEER
GLENN BOOTHE

Glenn was born on February 20, 1938 in Hanford, California to Charley and Blanche Boothe. He attended Willow Grove Elementary, a one room school, until the fourth grade. The family then moved to the Fresno area where he attended Malaga Elementary through the eighth grade. He graduated from Fowler Union High School in 1955, enlisting in the US Navy in August of 1955. Glenn attended recruit training in San Diego and then attended Sonar “A” school and graduated in May of 1956. He was then ordered to the USS WAXBILL (MHC-50) based in San Francisco. He spent two years on the WAXBILL while it was involved in harbor and sea lane approach surveys. Glenn attended a course on the maintenance of mine locating sonar. During his tour of duty on the WAXBILL he was advanced to Sonarman Second Class.

In September of 1957 Glenn met Paula Edgin who was to become the love of his life. They were married in February of 1958 and are still living happily ever after. Their marriage produced two wonderful sons, Mitch and Tom. In early 1958 Glenn volunteered for submarine duty. He received orders to enlisted submarine school in May of 1958. This was shortly before the USS STICKELBACK (SS-415) was rammed and sunk by a US NAVY destroyer. Perhaps this was not Glenn's wisest decision. He graduated from submarine school in New London, Connecticut in August 1958 and was ordered to the USS DIODON (SS-349). Glenn reported aboard the DIODON in October 1958 while it was in the Western Pacific. The DIODON operated with the 7th Fleet and visited several far East ports and also conducted those special operations that U S submarines are so good at (If you did not see us, we were never there). The DIODON returned to her home port of San Diego, California in the spring of 1959. Glenn completed the submarine qualification process and was designated “Qualified in Submarines” in March of 1959.

After local operations in the San Diego area and a five-month overhaul at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, it was then time to deploy back to the Western Pacific with stops in Hawaii, Midway Island and Chi Chi Jima Island. While in the Western Pacific, Glenn received orders for shore duty at the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He arrived in Hawaii in December of 1960, accompanied by his wife Paula and their infant son, Mitch. Their second son, Tom, was born during their wonderful time in Hawaii. Glenn was assigned to the electronics shop in the Submarine Repair Department where he worked on submarine sonar equipment and on submarine antenna systems. Glenn was the only person in the electronics shop who was submarine qualified, which led to some rather interesting work assignments and he was promoted to Chief Sonarman in April of 1963. In November of 1964, Glenn received orders to Key West, Florida to attend a special sonar course. After completion of the twelve weeks course he received orders to report to the US NAVAL FACILITY, Coos Head, Oregon. The NAVFAC at Coos Head was an oceanographic research station. Glenn served at Coos Head until August of 1966 when he made the difficult decision to return to civilian life.

Upon discharge, he returned to the Fresno area and was employed for a short time by Vendolator Company and then was hired by PPG Industries as a Quality Control technician in their glass manufacturing plant south of Fresno and worked as a Programmer/Analyst in the Fresno plant. In 1969 Glenn joined the U. S. Naval Reserves and served for eleven years as a Chief Sonar Technician and as a Chief Data Processing Technician. In 1975 he started working at the Computer Services Department of Fresno County as a programmer. He retired from Fresno County in March of 1996 after achieving the position of Manager of System Software. In 1997 Glenn was accepted as an associate member of the Fresno Chapter of U S Submarine Veterans of World War II. He served several terms as Secretary/Treasurer for the chapter. He valued the opportunity to know these extraordinary people.Since retirement, Glenn and Paula have enjoyed their quiet homelife and travels to many wonderful places.