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| I was raised in Hardin, Montana and spent a lot of time on the Crow Tribe Reservation because my father was an extension agent for the indians. As a result, I was exposed through my formative years in high school to a different and extremely interesting culture. Of course, I didn't appreciate this until I was much older! At right is a photo of my family when I was a young pup. We lived on a small 4-acre farm and raised a plethora of animals (sheep, beef cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, dogs, and cats) which kept me busy early each morning and provided numerous projects for the 4-H club to which I belonged and where my father was a leader. | ||
| I went on to receive a B.S. at Montana State University in Bozeman, with a major in Botany and an minor in Microbiology. This was the era of the Vietnam War and a time of tremendous social-consciousness. It was an exciting time to be on a college campus! Unfortunately for me, the Selective Service instituted a lottery system to pick draftees for military service in 1972 (the year I graduated), and my ticket number, based on birth date, was 2! Needless to say, I had only several weeks to decide whether to be drafted for two years in the Army or enlist for four years in another branch of the service. I chose the latter because it offered more choices (one of them NOT being Vietnam). During basic training with the U.S. Air Force, I was "forced" to volunteer for language training because of scores on a screening exam. My language choices were limited: Vietnamese, Chinese, and Arabic. All seemed to be difficult, so I picked Arabic because the length of training was shortest (52 weeks) and it seemed like a fun language to learn. | ||
| While attending language school in Washington, D.C., I met my wife-to-be, Sonja (or Sunnie as she prefers to be called) on a camping trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She was employed as a Medical Technologist, a profession which she continues to work in to the present day. We dated for only three months, at the end of which time I was going to be shipped off to Crete for my "real job" as a security analyst. She couldn't come with me unless we were married, so we took the plunge -- the trip to Crete gave her a little extra incentive to say "yes". |  |
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| After getting married, we spent a whirlwind honeymoon at Disney World-Florida, and then a more leisurely honeymoon for the next year and half on Crete. I don't think the Air Force was very happy that I refused to re-inlist, and so my last year of duty was relegated to Andrews Air Force Base as a telephone operator. It was an easy job, but an incredible waste considering how much money the government had spent on language training and a top secret security clearance. |  |
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| After my discharge from the service, I returned to Montana to work toward a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology, initially working with Jim Shepard on viruses in tobacco protoplasts. However, it wasn't long after I started that he left for Kansas State University. I wasn't interested in moving again so soon, and so I switched to a mycological problem and worked with Don Mathre on etiology of Cephalosporium stripe disease of winter wheat. In 1979, as I was finishing up my dissertation research, our lives changed dramatically and wonderously with the birth of our daughter, Elise. She was more than a week overdue, but a cross-country ski trek (see photo at right) accelerated the process. |  |
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| My first "real" job was with Cargill, Inc. as a sorghum breeder/plant pathologist in Lubbock, Texas. I lasted only one year for three reasons: (i) the geographic and political landscape of Lubbock, Texas did not appeal to Sunnie or I, (ii) I could not tolerate the "8-5" mentality and lack of creative freedom, and (iii) I wanted to teach. A position at West Virginia University opened for a forage plant pathologist (not exactly my forte), and I was lucky enought to be hired. Morgantown turned out to be a very special place and, as a result, we have never left! | ||
| Now that Elise has grown (see link below) and no longer lives at home with us, Sunnie and I had to learn how to have fun as a "two-some" again. We have returned to camping, but in better style (its an age thing) with the tent package that is an accessory with the Pontiac Aztek (and can be erected in less than 10 minutes!). We bike a lot more with the many beautiful trails in the area. I also spend many hours before and after work maintaining our property (and just enjoying nature). |  |
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OTHER FAMILY TIES
