Woahh… has is been 50 years, already? Man, that went quick! After college and a stint in the Navy, where I got some really good electronics training, I got hired by IBM, and spent the next 25 years working in the computer field chasing 1's and 0's. During, and after that time I worked as a D.J. for radio stations in Maryland, Virginia and Florida. Radio and music was my real love, but computers paid the bills… and, quite frankly, it was pretty exciting. My brother, Johnny, class of ’59, and I played in a Bluegrass band for years at the Red Fox Inn, or Fairmont Ave. in Bethesda. I think it’s gone now, but some pretty famous folks got their start there… The Seldom Scene… Emmylou Harris. We might have become just as famous, but, my brother’s boss, Uncle Sam, thought that fighting in Viet Nam was a better choice for his career, so the band broke up. (At the time he was a Captain in the USMC. He ended up as a Colonel… headed for General, but the effects of “Agent Orange” did him in, and he, unfortunately, left us in 1989.)
I got married in 1975, had 2 beautiful children, a boy and a girl. They are both grown, well educated, and both are living in the Reston area. I am retired, and living my dreams in “Paradise,” Sarasota, Florida… in my opinion, the prettiest place on the planet! For hobbies, I play music, sing, play the guitar, bass, harmonica, and my favorites, the “dobro” guitar, and steel guitar. In the winter, here in Florida, when the weather outside is close to perfect, there are lots of Bluegrass and music festivals… and I hit ‘em all. During the summer, when it’s a little… warm… I jump on a jet and head to New England, Canada or the Rockies for festivals there. When there’s not a band to pick or sing with, I head to one of my favorite karaoke spots on Siesta Key… which, by the way, has the number one, top rated beach in America… and, in my opinion on the planet! (I love Ocean City, Maryland, spent lots of time there when I lived in the D.C. area, and I still love to visit it with my kids, but, there’s nothing like piddling around the house in the morning, and then, think, “Hey, I’d like to go to the beach…” and 10 minutes later…. I’m there! … Siesta Key Beach… there’s nothing like it!)
I am an active ham radio operator, call sign: WA4I, love dancing, both country and ballroom, play tennis, still snow ski (took my daughter and her husband to Stowe, Vermont for our birthdays last January,) do lots of boating here in the beautiful waters of southwest Florida, love to travel… have done Europe 3 times, and I love to cruise. I am really looking forward to the reunion.