1. Where were you born and where did you grow up?
On a cliff outside Marietta GA, when it was 30 miles outside Atlanta. Grew up in Lexington KY, and in my high school years lived on a horse farm (we didn't own jack, but it was a wonderful place to grow up)
2. Have you lived outside the US? If so, where and for how long?
Yes. Iceland, as a member of the 57th Fighter Interceptor Squadron 1979-80. Between 1991-95, practiced law and did business in the Arab (NOT the Persian...I was on the Arab side! :-) Gulf. Spent at least 6 months of the year, 2-9 weeks at a time there, mostly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also in Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE. I guess you could say I lived in the Arab Gulf as well.
3. Coffee or tea?
Both when I get to the office...strong coffee (prefer expresso, but strongest I can find, in a big mug). Typically one mug. In the early AM I drink black tea with honey and almond milk. Typically 2 cups.
4. Do you currently or have you ever played a musical instrument?
Yes. Played trumpet for 5 years in K-12. I own one, never play it now. Have a handmade dulcimer, have had it for 10 yearas, bucket list says I'll learn to polay it. My logical side says I should give it to one of my musically inclined grandkids in my daughter's house.
5. Favorite sport to watch? Favorite sport to play? Favorite sports teams?
I love watching college football, but also basketball (I'm from KY! :-) Do not watch pro sports at all (boycotting, even if I do love pro football...haven't watched in 2+ years).
Skiing is my sport of choice.
6. Who would you consider to be your “hero” or “mentor” and why?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
He remained true to the gospel of Christ when his life on this earth was at great risk. He was a pacifist who ultimately plotted against Adolf Hitler and National Socialism in Germany, and unlike most of the formal "church", refused to be assimilated into the "borg" of Hitler's philosophy concerning Jews, gypsies, and other minority groups. Teddy Kennedy's quote about his brother would serve well to describe Bonhoeffer: "[Dietrich Bonhoeffer] need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him...pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world..."
7. Do you speak any languages besides English?
Passable [very rusty] French (ask Lauren).
Used to be passable in Arabic, but no more.
8. What is one thing from your Bucket List?
Safari in a lesser known country in Africa. Want to see the animals without all the western tourists. Not sure they'll be here in 100 years.
9. What is one thing you’ve done that you never want to do again?
See the death and destruction that arises from war.
10. What was your first job?
KY Fried Chicken at age of 12 making $1/hr...working 12 hours a day on weekend. Saw men in their 30s and 40s with horrible scars on the inside of their forearms, arising from emptying out large pots of friend chicken. They had no education, and this was the best that they were going to get in employment. If I had ever contemplated kissing off my education, that experience at 12 fixed me forever. Education was my way out the door to the bigger world, and I was running for it.
11. How long have you been in Rotary? Have you ever been a Rotarian in another club? If so, where?
Since 1995 (25 years). No other clubs.
12. What is your favorite community service activity that our club has participated in?
Enjoy ringing the bells for Salvation Army (scheduling may prevent it this year).
13. What program have we had at our weekly meetings that you’ve found the most interesting?
The doctor who talked about prostate cancer years ago. I was disgusted that he was the program, almost left when he was introduced. Then he began presenting, and I was enthralled. He became my doctor that year, and has been ever since.
14. Who was your rotary sponsor?
Bob Spade...used to own the Independence Building (I was a tenant).
15. What board positions have you held in our club or in prior clubs?
On B/D several times. Program Chair. Sergeant-at-Arms for Joe Henjum when he was President. He's the one who got me immediately involved and inculcated a love of Rotary (his enthusiasm was contagious). President 2013-14. Served on a number of ad hoc committees, including By-Law rewrite and others.
16. We do a lot of good things in our club. In your opinion, where is an area that we could do better and how?
Mentor impoverished youth. Aid inmates leaving prison to transition well.
17. What is something else that would be interesting or entertaining for our club members to know about you?
I have flown 11 different types of fighter/trainer/observer aircraft in the USAF (T-33, T-41, T-38, 0-2, F-101, F-106, F-4, F-15 and F-16) and 2 fighter-type aircraft in Russia (L-39, MIG-29). I have seen the curve of the earth at 50,000' and the Northern Lights blazing by my canopy for several minutes in a fighter cockpit at 30,000' in the far north. I still fly - a Beechcraft Bonanza owned by a good friend of mine.
Picture is me in the F-106, just outside the air defense alert facility in Charleston SC, in 1985. The jet had my name on the canopy rail. This was the fighter I flew early in my career..my favorite.
