Biography
I was born December 1, 1957 at Freeman hospital in Joplin Missouri. Mickey Mantle's son David was born there that day as well. But the Mick was hunting in Texas and wasn't there, much to my father's disappointment. We moved quite a bit as I was growing up. Some of my first memories are of living in Ohio near Lake Erie. Winter there was so cold that one night our dog "Boss" went outside and froze to death before he got back into the house. And there were tons of snow.
My family moved to Florissant, MO in 1964. A couple of years later my parents bought their first home and we continued to live in Florissant until 1972. It was a great place to grow up. The bluffs of the Missouri river were only a short hike away and much of my time was spent exploring the wilds of the area. Winters there were pretty intense and it was always a challenge to winter camp back then and not freeze. Gear in the sixties was pretty primitive! On one outing when I was 10 years old 25 of us scouts camped in the dead of winter at the Boy Scout reserve about 40 miles west of town. It was a cold ride out there in the back of an unheated Jeep. Shortly after we got our camp setup it began to snow so we all retreated to our tents. The tent my buddy and I were using was an old army surplus model with no door. I fell asleep in my cheap 40 degree garage sale sleeping bag with snow flakes floating in the tent. Maybe if I'd had some kind of insulation between my bag and the frozen ground it would have been better, but when I woke up to find the tent drifted full of snow I was so cold I couldn't believe it! The rest of the night was spent huddled around the campfire with everyone else. Only one scout made it through the night in relative comfort. He had an army cold weather bag and it was that night I vowed I would get a good bag someday and learn to conquer winter conditions. I'm still working on that!
I was diagnosed Aug. 2006 with stage IV colon cancer. Learn more about living and dealing with cancer. I've started writing down my cancer story. Read it if you'd like but be warned, it's graphic. Click here to read my story. I thank Dr. Coopwood, the surgeon and Shivers Oncology Clinic. They saved my life.
Youngest certified diver in Missouri.
I was is the 6th grade attending Coldwater elementary school when I became a certified diver through the Midwest Diving Council. I heard about the the diving training while drooling over all the neat stuff at the West End Dive shop. I must have been about 12 years old. It was winter in St. Louis so we trained at an indoor pool. It was great being dropped off by my mom and going in to swim and train with all the cool gear. It was primitive equipment and the training was way more involved than it is today. When I received my C-card it was the proudest moment of my life.
I started playing the drums in the mid sixties. I was in the 3rd grade. I was taking lessons at the music store as well as the school band. Plus my older sister was dating a soundman and she was stuck with me so I was going to all these battle of the band shows. I remember "Wipe Out" was a big hit at the time.
At age 15 around 1972 my folks and I moved from Florissant, Missouri to Marion, Arkansas. It was a real change of pace for me. The school I left was a little further ahead than the Arkansas schools so I had an easy go of it for awhile. It spoiled me.
I'm A+ certified. Products I've designed include a web based CRM interface utilizing a MySQL database, websites and created many logos, etc.
Thanks for looking!
