Craig R. Lawrence III
Computer Resource and Information Group
Who is Craig Lawrence?
Named after my father and grandfather, I was born in Des Moines, Iowa in November of 1952, and moved to East Wenatchee, Washington with my family in the spring of 1958. I attended public schools in the Eastmont School District, and graduated from Eastmont High School in 1971. During high school and following graduation, I worked in a local fruit packing warehouse (Northern Fruit Co.) and at our family owned radio station (KMEL - AM 1340) as an announcer.
1972 was the year I enlisted in the United States Navy for a 6 year stint. My years of service included electronics training and tours on three ships: USS Lamoure Count - LST1194, USS Oriskany - CV34, USS Deliver - ARS23. A Mediterranean cruise and numerous Western Pacific cruises were some of the joys of my time in service, not to mention the many interesting and wonderful people I met and friends I made.
Following release from the Navy, I took a part-time position as a lab technician for KBI (formerly Kawecki Berylco Industries), an Aluminum Master Alloys producer. During that period until the fall of 1980, studies at Wenatchee Valley Community College occupied my spare time. After leaving WVCC, it was off to Pullman and Washington State University where I attained my BS-Mathematics in 1984.
Graduation led me back to the Wenatchee Valley where I returned to work at KBI, married the lovely Lori Brown and purchased our family home. It was here that we raised our children and enjoyed watching our grandchildren grow and learn to swim. It was here that we chose to open a book store in 1999 and then a "used book" store in 2000. And it is here that I made the big step of returning to school to finally obtain my MBA from WSU in 2005. We continue to operate Read It Again - Used and New Books in downtown Wenatchee, while I continue to work at KBI (now KBAlloys, LLC).
What is Computer Resource And Information Group?
Computer Resource And Information Group was created in the late 1980s as a method to promote my skills, knowledge and talents in the computer technology field. The group is not a group in the common sense of the word but rather, Computer Resource And Information Group is a “Bacronym” of my first name Craig.
At the time I created the term “Computer Resource And Information Group”, I was in the early stages of my computer technology learning curve. I had previously served six years in the United States Navy as an Electronics Technician where I obtained some rudimentary exposure to the Altair 8080 and the Basic programming language in the mid 1970s. Following my naval service I obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Washington State University. Digital electronics and Fortran programming were some of my relevant computer related studies.
In the mid 1980s I was given the task of managing our company's adoption of computer technology, a single IBM PC. This was new to me, but I quickly became the local plant expert and as the company’s technology grew, I continued to expand my skills, designing the quality assurance database and assisting other employees with their software and hardware issues.
I soon became the person family and friends were calling to ask question or solve their computer problems, whether hardware or software related. While learning to design the web site for the family owned book store I have continued to expand my knowledge.
I won’t say that I know everything (in fact not even close), but I can usually find an answer to most problems, or at the very least admit when I don’t know and direct a person to someone more knowledgable. A search of the internet or yellow pages will yield a vast selection of individuals and companies with superior knowledge and skills, and that is exactly why I don’t call myself a computer systems repair technician. It continues to seem appropriate to simply say that I am a resource for computer related information, and therefore Computer Resource And Information Group remains relevant.