I was born and raised in southern Indiana, third in a family of eleven children, and grew up in a rural environment. I graduated from high school in 1965 and worked a couple of years for RCA in a factory. I served 4 years in the U. S. Navy doing maintenance on aircraft, of which I spent my last year serving in South Vietnam (HAL-3 and VAL-4) in the Mekong Delta. Upon mustering out of the Navy, I attended Indiana State University (BS in Manufacturing Electronics). I met my wife, Joyce, during my freshman year at ISU and we were married our junior year. My first big job upon graduation was with Bell Telephone Laboratories in Naperville. I worked there 26 years, raised two children (Beau and Natalie) and was forced into retirement in 2001. While working at Bell Labs, I got a MS degree in Computer Science at Northern Illinois University. Since "retirement", I worked as part time as a professional painter, carpenter, and plumber. I also did substitute teaching for at least 10 years.
My new life in Christ began in the summer of 1974 while selling books door to door in Alabama to earn money for school. I did some hard partying in school and it took the Lord a little more time to convince me of just what He had done for me. He had/has always been faithful and merciful toward me and He’s still working on me. After school, our family attended church, because that’s what families do and that’s what Joyce’s family did. After Joyce came to Christ in 1981, we left the Methodist Church and attended a Bible believing church. I have served in AWANA, as a Sunday school teacher, and I am currently serving as a Deacon. I believe the Lord has gifted me to help people, especially with things that need fixing.
Most of my leisure time is now spent ballroom dancing with my wife which has brought back some of the romance in our lives.