Born in southern New England in the year of the metal penny, I spent my younger years making my way through school and on through high school before heading off to college in Colorado. Falling in love with the West was easy.

After graduation, during what some of you may remember as a partially forgotten war beginning around 1961, I enlisted in the United States Air Force. I attended Officer Training School and then pilot training. After three survival schools and F-100 training, I was deployed to Vietnam for one year. One hundred eighty-five combat sorties later, I returned home.

I spent the next 20 years flying various fighter aircraft, including the F-4 and F-16, before retiring from the Air Force in 1989. I then went to work for TWA, which later became American Airlines.

After retiring from all that “fun,” my wife and I moved to Prescott. As a general contractor, I built our home myself—an experience much like drinking from a fire hose—and we have lived in that house ever since.

I had done some woodworking in the past, including turning, but now I finally had a shop with all the tools I needed, so things turned serious—pun intended. I joined the Prescott Area Woodturners about 15 years ago and have greatly enjoyed both the craft and the relationships it has brought into my life. For all of that, I am truly grateful.

Lots of serious improvements have taken place lately, especially my involvement with charities in our community and across the county. Wig stands, Empty Bowls, and Beads of Courage are all important parts of the woodturners’ outreach projects.

Keep up the good work, guys and gals.