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After high school I graduated from BJC, went a year to St Cloud
State and in 1975 moved to Tempe AZ to attend AZ State
University. I worked and went to school part time because I
couldn’t afford the out-of state tuition, finally graduating
with a degree in finance in 1979. I went to work for a large
corporation, then another and another. Was married in 1981 and
was transferred to Dallas/Fort Worth in 1989 but it didn’t work
out so moved back to Phoenix in 1992 to work for Integrated
Support Systems. In 1994 the owner died of cancer and two of us
employees bought the company and I’m still there. We represent
the manufacturers of a couple of lines of equipment that are
commonly found in data centers/computer rooms, Liebert computer
room A/C and power conditioning and Tate Access Floors.
We have two children, Kristen is single and soon to be 26.
She has one degree and is back in school working for her nursing
degree. She should be done next year.
Taylor is 22, single, and wants to be a pro mtn biker. He and
I chased the National Off Road Bicycle Assoc. (NORBA) series
around the country for 4 years, winning a lot of races. I ended
up national age group champion four times in downhill and superD.
He started as a downhiller but gravitated to endurance and now
specializes in ultra endurance solo mtn biking. He won his age
group at the World 24 Hour Solo Championships in 2009 and took
2nd in Australia in 2010 and we’ll be in Canada in September for
the worlds again. That’s riding for 24 hours straight with only
a few minutes per 1-1.5 hour laps off the bike. He’s good at it.
I was divorced in June of 2009 and on Christmas Day of that
year my house caught fire. It is now rebuilt and I moved back in
January 2011.
I still love the AZ outdoors. I ride my mtn bike 3-5
days/week on South Mountain where my house is. This time of the
year I ride over the top of the mountain home and back into work
once a week. I’ve ridden dirt bikes in Baja CA a number of
times. Used to barefoot water ski a lot. Lately into rock
crawling. Started with a 1968 Ford Bronco specially fitted for
crawling. Then recently upped the ante with a full tube buggy.
It’s the most fun you can have in a vehicle at 1 MPH.
It was great to see you all at the reunion. We don’t have
much time left on this earth so might as well have fun while
we’re here. Good luck to all of you. |
