Well, folks, this is what happens when your nephew insists that you need a home page on the Internet! He says that having your own home page doesn't necessarily mean you have a huge ego or think the whole world is interested in you, it just means you want anyone who wants to know more about you to be able to do so.Fortunately, he knows much more about home pages (and English) than I do, so your visit should not be too unbearable.
So here goes.
I was born on March 14, 1943, in Oil Trough, Independence County, Arkansas. In case you are perplexed at not knowing where Oil Trough is, you might want to know that it has a population of about 250. I had all the advantages and disadvantages of growing up in a small town, but the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, in my book. One advantage is that a wild and stupid young man like I was is less likely to wind up in prison if he lives in the sticks.
Right after graduating from Oil Trough High School, I had the opportunity of serving in the U.S. Army as an Infantryman in Vietnam. That is one experience I would like to forget, but I came out alive, with only a slight limp for my trouble. I am one lucky guy and happy to be alive.
Shortly after my return from the war, I met the most wonderful woman in the world in a hospital in Birmingham. Her badge said she was a Physical Therapist, but I know a Drill Instructor when I see one. Elaine Hambrick was kind, caring, sweet, patient, and smart. She kept at me, and believed in me until I believed in myself. But we didn't know how much the other cared until I was out of therapy and I got a Christmas card from her, and we started dating. It felt kind of funny dating somebody who had seen you at your worst, but we were married on June 12, 1966, the happiest day of my life.
We were married for 24 wonderful years, having Christie on April 4, 1967, Sara on June 28, 1969, and Merrill on September 14, 1975.
We lost Elaine on June 10, 1991, just two days short of our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, after a long battle with cancer. That was the saddest day of my life.
But life goes on. I'm living in Zionsville (on the fringe of Indianapolis) now, and I took early retirement from Mobil. I've found a dear friend and companion, a family friend who has been an Angel in helping us get through our loss. She thinks the internet is a great evil, and would skin me if I put her name on this page, I'm sure.
But since we moved to town, where we have a phone, I am learning more and more about the internet, and think it is groovy, to use a term from my younger days. Most home pages have a few links, so here are some of the ones I think are interesting:
Oh, and one last thing: no, dammit, I have never seen a bigfoot!