Ya know, when the Rolling Stones celebrated a Forty Year Anniversary, they produced a best-selling, two-CD set to mark that occasion (Forty Licks). I cannot claim so much notoriety, but I've got a few things to note in my forty years since we all got our diplomas in the spring of 1969. I graduated from Pennsylvania Military College with a B.A. in Political Science (1973) and went right into the U.S. Army since I owed it/them four years for that scholarship I had. Just before graduating from PMC, I married Beth Pearthree (January, 1972) and we are still married 37 years later, with two children and two grandchildren to constantly entertain us and remind us what life is all about for us. While in the Army at Fort Knox guarding the gold (all four years and that took some doin'), I got a Masters degree from the University of Southern California in Information Systems (that would be IT today) so I could get a job after I left the Army (not too much need for tank commanders outside the Army). During our time at Ft Knox, our daughter Kris was born (1975) , making her a Kentuckian by birth. Upon leaving the Army, I became a Defense Consultant for about a year, working in New Mexico and then Oklahoma. Finding that nomadic life not too terribly appealing, I joined Southwestern Bell Telephone and our little family moved to St. Louis, MO for a couple of years, long enough for Beth to get her MBA and graduate with honors. We also were there long enough to add Josh to our family and for me to run myself crazy in a couple of marathons and just about every other distance the St Louis Track Club could create an event for.

Our next move was to New Jersey where I worked as an applications Programmer for AT&T. We were in Jersey for about nine years, but made sure we kept that once-undesired nomadic record intact by living in three different towns and houses. I left AT&T for a career change, becoming a Sales Training consultant (an off-shoot of something I picked up at AT&T) at a small, family-owned, Cincinnati-based company named Carew Positional Selling and (you guessed it) we moved to Cincinnati (1989), where we remained for 14 years, seeing Kris and Josh through high school graduation. I changed companies in 1998 and went to work for a similar company, Huthwaite, the creators of SPIN Selling (maybe you've seen "the" book?) where I remained for ten years. I just returned to Carew this August and am having a ball being back there, reuniting with friends and colleagues. Kris got married in 1999 and has since blessed us with two grandchildren, so in 2004, we moved to Licking County, OH so we could see all of them more often and so Josh could get his own house. We currently live in a log house on about ten acres out in the middle of pretty-much-nowhere and like it that way after all those years of moving around and living close to metropolitan areas.

In addition to spending as much time as we can with our children and grandchildren, Beth and I are very active in the Licking County Democratic Party, and recently were overjoyed when Ohio went "blue." Beth continues to improve our house inside and out, a skill and avocation she developed over all those years and all those moves. The difference now is she does it for our enjoyment instead of because we're selling and moving on. Over the years I've gone skydiving (once), thought I was on my way to a NASCAR career when I went to Skip Barber Racing School, white-water rafted, traveled to Europe and Asia a couple of times, taken some awesome motorcycle trips (round-trip to Minnesota from Cincy; around Lake Superior in 4 days; ridden from Ohio to Rolling Thunder in D.C. for the last six years) and pretty much enjoyed living a life I never imagined for myself in 1969. I think I must be one of the luckiest people alive and try to remind myself of that whenever life throws one of those sliders my way, which hasn't been very often. I'm really anxious to reconnect with all my friends from DHS and fondly remember those years as a significantly wonderful part of the happiest childhood one could wish for.