I was born in San Antonio, TX, in the late 1930s to a stay-at-home mom and a strict disciplinarian father. I began working at the age of twelve, dropped out of school at sixteen, and enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard at the age of seventeen. I spent the first few years of enlistment attending military training schools and being transferred from unit to unit. I survived a disastrous marriage of six years, producing two children and multiple separations, divorces, and remarriages. I finally met the woman who would become the necessary anchor to provide the stability I needed to focus my life in a meaningful way. I continued going to college, ultimately receiving an Electrical Engineering Degree. I scaled the enlisted ranks to Chief Petty Officer and was appointed a Chief Warrant Officer (CWO). After spending five years as a CWO, I attended an Officer Candidate course for CWOs and graduated as a regular commissioned officer in the grade of Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG). I spent ten years as a regular line officer, advancing to Lieutenant-Commander rank, before retiring in 1984. Upon retirement from the Coast Guard, I worked for several aerospace companies for five years as a Program Manager and then joined a major lighting manufacturer as a District Lighting Engineer. I retired from active work in 1995, and my wife and I spent the next thirty years touring the country in the Summertime, and spending our Winters in Florida (fifteen years) and Arizona (10 years).  In 2007, we bought a small place in the mountains near Flagstaff where we spent from June until October each year. I lost Marie, the love of my life to an incurable disease on the day after Thanksgiving 2021.