narrative description

  (childhood notes needed, grew up in Titusville PA, family crafting, filling hours with plinking at birds and squirrels and interest in ham radio [Macrame, Fieldcraft, Rifle, Signals])  

 A family connection led to jobs at the Edgar Thomson Steel Works during breaks in school [Metalworking, Operate Heavy Mach., Elec and Mech Repair, Craft Tools]. Jesse left college after his sophomore year to become a Peace Corps volunteer, Peru, (1972-1974) where he performed various work rebuilding after earthquake & landslide [Spanish, Operate Heavy Mach., Elec and Mech Repair, Signals, Art: Music and Song].  Jesse returned to Penn State and completed bachelor's degree in '77. 

     Employed by Bechtel (SF office), working on the James Bay Hydro Project, where much of his time was spent inspecting work in progress for compliance to plan [Drive Truck, Signals, French, Cree, yet more Repair and Art].  

     Personal indiscretions with locals led Bechtel to relocate Jesse in '79 to Southern California where he did little of interest - helping plan for the '84 Olympics and other scut work.  Spurred to consider a master's degree, Jesse took a leave of absence to attend college.  That plan was short-circuited when Jesse took a Photography class and met Louis, a cameraman in the 'film and hospitality' industry.

   Jesse fell into the Valley life style and appeared in numerous short films and scenes; he also took some turns behind the camera [Photography]. Jesse's taste for fun wasn't paying the bills however, so he took on construction work [Operate Heavy Machinery] and a few escort jobs when more cash was needed. Jesse was part of a fake band called the Working Stiffs (credited as Barry McCochiner) that played parties and music for soundtracks [Art: Music and Song].

Jesse talks about his personal cache

     "I bought a plot of land in a valley near Caliente.  It's close to the Flying S Ranch airstrip, a mile or so west of the Cowboy Memorial.  I buried a 1000 gallon septic tank about 6' deep with some good stuff in it ... lots of duct tape, the good kind, a couple gallon bottles of WD-40, a couple cases of '82 Bourdeaux, a small radiator thing that's really part of a still and some tubes to go with it; some duffel bags stuffed with underwear, socks, t-shirts, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, that sort of stuff. And some decent sound equipment. We're talking Marshall Amps, Alpine car speakers, my guitars, mikes, and the better bits of my record collection.  Books too, rebuilding stuff - whatever I could grab off the shelf. And a decent movie camera in case we decide to, uh, make ... documentaries.  Yeah.   Salt, dried peppers, peppercorns ... you know, trade goods that might be hard to come by. Several large cans of coffee. Perfume and other gifts for the ladies.  Like I said, it's 6 feet down and we probably won't be able to rent a back-hoe like I did when I buried it. anyway, let me mark it on the map in case I don't wake up ..."

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4047148,-118.4976485,305m/data=!3m1!1e3