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Self-Reflection In retrospect I find that life is a continuous trial and error experiment, the consumate practical example of the experimental method. I have enjoyed more adventures in more places than most people ever dream of. I truly embrace the concept of life long learning. I have always enjoyed the cutting edge of technology. As a teacher and an instructional technologist, I hope to impart that excitement on generations of new students. |
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Biography Impatient to start, I arrived several months early in 1951. Actually a little late if you consider that point in history, a little earlier and I would have been a barnstormer. My father was career Navy. I was the middle son of five children, the only one not born in Jacksonville, FL. The only "yankee" in the family, I managed to start my barnstorming career from a Naval hospital in Philadelphia, PA. During my youth I attended four primary schools, one junior high school, and three high schools. I finally graduated as a member of the largest graduating class in Duval County at Terry Parker High School in 1969. Little did I know at the time that my future wife was one of my 950 classmates. We met on the first day of college. We married a year later. Our first child was born almost five years later just before I graduated from UNF. We now have five children, four boys and a girl. The youngest of the four boys is just now finishing high school at our home in Crosby, TX. During college I was a member of the US Navy in the Aviation Reserve Officer Candidate program. After college I spent time training NAS Pensacola and the surrounding area. My career in Naval Aviation was dashed when they discovered the early symptoms of an obscure retina disease that was probably caused by my premature birth and a three month long stay in an incubator on an oxygen mask. At the time I thought is was early training for my flight career. :) I continued flying in the civilian world until the mid nineties. I flew all of the standard Cessnas, Pipers, and Beechcraft. I even owned Cessna N6649H, an N model C-172. I am proud to say that my father would actually fly with me. Dad always avoided flying, even in the Navy preferring to travel cross country on the old rail systems such as the Silver Streak. My favorites were the aerobatic aircraft such as the Citabria, Steerman, Pitts, and the Great Lakes. It is hard to decide which was my favorite, it was either the Steerman or the Great Lakes, both were open cockpit biplanes. Beyond the Navy I spent 25 years as an NFPA Certified Marine Chemist. Always interesting, I spent many adventures inspecting every type and size vessel that sailed the Atlantic or Pacific waters anywhere near a US territory or possession. Everything from small yachts, passenger liners, tankers, submarines, frigates, cruisers, and carriers. I ended up spending more time at sea than I would have in the Navy. I have enough sea stories to fill a fairly large book. I'm now teaching, something I always wanted to do. My spare time and particularly summers I enjoy many hobbies, four grand daughters, and figuring out new ways to barnstorm. |
Hobbies, Activities, and Affiliations
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