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Larry and Beverly Gandy
When Larry Gandy graduated from Dublin High School in 1996, he knew he wanted to get out and see the world. So after a year of working in town, Gandy joined the Air Force.
He was first stationed in Alaska, where he learned a trade: working on safety features of Air Force planes. “I maintained the ejection systems, working on ejection seats on fighters and bombers,” he said. “It was a lot of basic safety and by-the-book, no nonsense maintenance.”
Gandy worked his way up in the field over the next 20 years. “When I started out I was turning wrenches,” he said. “When I retired, I ran the egress shop out here at Dyess [Air Force Base near Abilene], and had 36 people who worked for me.”
One of Gandy’s favorite memories of his time in the Air Force is of being part of the team that handled combat air patrol when George Bush was president. “We used to come down to Texas from our base in South Carolina and fly air patrol over his ranch,” he said. “We were in the shadows, but doing an important mission, protecting the president. We used to come every time he would come to Crawford, so that basically meant every Thanksgiving or Christmas.”
He also spent two separate years of his career in South Korea working on planes there. “That was kind of a culture shock, being a country boy from Texas,” he said. “Especially going to Seoul for the first time. I’d been to Dallas and Fort Worth, but I’d never been to a city with 9 million people.”
Looking back at his military career, Gandy is happy with what he accomplished. “After 20 years, [my work] led to three successful ejections,” he said. “So you could say I saved three people’s lives.”
In 2018, Gandy decided to leave the Air Force. “It was just time,” he said. “After 20 years of doing the same job, it was time to do something else. You’re kind of an old man, but you’re still young.”
His first few months out of the military, Gandy took the opportunity to pursue one his childhood dream of becoming a truck driver. “I always wanted to do that, but never got the chance,” he said. “So I got my CDL and drove a truck in the oilfield for a year.”
But Gandy ended up deciding truck driving was not something he wanted to do for long, so soon after he applied for a job as a mail carrier with the United States Postal Service, and that’s what he has been doing ever since.
Six days a week he walks a route in Sweetwater, Texas. He enjoys the stability of the job, and looks forward to retiring in a few years. “It’s a good career,” he said. “When I get ready to retire for good, I’ll have set myself up to have a military retirement and a post office retirement.”
Gandy and his wife of two years, Beverly, live in Trent, Texas, a small town outside of Abilene. Gandy has three children from a previous marriage. Cheyenne, 20, is a taxidermist, Abby, 24, is a mortgage broker, and Kenny, 26, is a submariner in the Navy.
When they have free time, the Gandys enjoy camping and taking trips to New Mexico.
Throughout his life, Gandy has drawn inspiration from his parents, Earl and Beth Gandy. “I grew up watching them work hard for what they got,” he said.
Gandy’s advice to Dublin graduates is to do anything they do wholeheartedly. “Work hard, because nothing comes for free,” he said. “And you don’t live forever, so waiting until tomorrow is usually not a good idea.”
Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.