Graduated high school in Wagner, South Dakota.  Ended six years of military service in the Army National Guard as a First Lieutenant.  Received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of South Dakota.  Worked my first 15 years in special education as a speech and language therapist in public schools in Nebraska, Oregon and Alaska.  Worked the last six years of my career as a regular classroom 7th and 8th grade social studies and history teacher.

     Met my wife, Diane, in Nebraska, moved to Oregon for two years and then to Alaska in 1982.  Raised two sons and built our home in Fairbanks.  Built a remote cabin with my sons the summers of ’99 and 2000.  Our oldest son died in a snowboarding accident in December of 2000.  Our younger son and his wife now live in Fairbanks.  Their two children, our two grandchildren, are now our greatest joy.  It is for my son and these grandchildren, and perhaps for all young parents out there, that I have written this book.  I have never before published anything and hope that this writing can be useful to the reader during times of challenge and dramatic change.