Personal Information

I was born at a very young age (sorry, Chukels snuck in here; I'll try to contain him but... =|:o)% ...) November 26, 1938, in Lansing, Michigan, and raised in Greenville, Michigan, the home of the annual Danish Festival, the GHS Yellow Jackets, Gibson Refrigerators (etc.), Fred Meijer's first store, and the GHS Class of 1956.

Then came the BS (Mathematics) from Michigan State University in 1965, and More of the Same (Computer Science) at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado in 1974. I've decided not to Pile it higher and Deeper, but who knows about tomorrow?

Nancy Lynn Valentine became my bride (all together now: "Awwww, Harts and Valentines") in 1957 at the historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Greenville, Michigan. The divorce was final in 1992; she returned to Michigan State to earn an MSWII and is now a social worker in western Michigan.

In the intervening years, we raised (?) five children: two by natural birth and three adopted. CT (Charles Thomas, Tom), the oldest, left his high-tech job with Hewlett Packard, returned to the University of Northern Colorado for a BA in Visual Arts, with an emphasis in Graphic Design and has now successfully enjoyed stints with various companies as a creative director, graphic designer, technical illustrator, artist, and even photographer. He now lives near I-25 in northern Colorado, with his wonderful daughter, Brandi. Through his first marriage we also enjoy two grandsons, Jerry and Benjamin, who are now well into their teens.

Tim (Timothy Micheal) came next, and is a contract computer programmer. His degree in Computer Science comes from Regis University in Denver. Tim and his wife Linda live in Boulder, Colorado, and have provided us with two more grandchildren: Crystal and David. Crystal enjoys ham radio and is an Amatuer Extra, and will be a senior in high school in the fall; David is a black belt dan in karate and is now teaching Flatirons Martial Arts. Linda is an aspiring deacon in the Episcopal Church and a chaplain at Avista Hospital.

Julia is next in descending age, but the last addition to our family. We (or rather I) had decided that to do our bit about the World Population Explosion, we would adopt children rather than bring more into the world. Julia is an Oglala Sioux from South Dakota, and was 7 years old when she came to us from a very troubled background. In my naivete, I thought that a good w.a.s.p. family could conquer all problems, and I paid dearly for this blundering ignorance. I no longer have that family. We have little contact with Julie now; the last I knew, she was studying to be a court clerk in Denver.

Bill (William Richard) came to us as an infant. His papers said he was of northern European and Chippewa extraction; which means "he come from Minnesota, yaah, shoore." He now lives in Michigan, with yet another (our sixth) grand-daughter, Syndi.

And finally Terry (Theresa Lynn), the youngest, a Chicano infant who came to us from Colorado. She had married and was living comfortably in Michigan, and had presented us with our fifth grandchild, Angelynn (on my birthday!) in 1995. Tragically, Terry died just before Christmas 2002.

Officially retired from 25 years with IBM, I had been in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, teaching Information Technology at Western Nebraska Community College, when everything changed because of an accident I experienced on Dec. 20th, 1998. My 1967 Land Rover (109 series II) was destroyed and I was severely injured. I am now in an assisted-living facility in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

Miscellaneous Work in Progress