Early Years
I was born in Philadelphia Pa, on March 2nd, 1957. I lived in Philadelphia until my family moved to Bowie, Maryland when I was 6 years old. I began school and attended Saint Pius X Regional School. As a kid and through these years I played baseball at the community Boys and Girls club and was an Alter boy for Saint Pius the X Church. My ambition was to grow up and be a priest, but my educational opportunities shifted. After completing 8th grade at Saint Pius, I attended Benjamin Tasker Jr. High (now Benjamin Tasker Middle School) for my 9th grade year. This is where I was introduced to drafting and graphics. After graduating Junior High I attended Bowie Senior High. My major interests were drafting and wood shop. While attending Bowie High, I created house plans for about ten different model homes. The plans were donated to a builder in Florida who later built a subdivision in the Tampa area using my floor plans. Also during this time I spent many afternoons, after school, working with a teacher as he built additions to homes in the area. On March 2nd, 1973 my family purchased a 13 acre farm nearby, which the family owns to this day. I quickly learned about running a farm and began to manage and work on the farm. This is the time the family also got into the thoroughbred horse industry. I learned about breeding and raising horses and eventually racing. I graduated Bowie High with my sights on college.
College Years
I attended the University of Maryland after graduation from Bowie Senior High. I entered college as an undecided major. I was hoping to get into the college of Architecture. I took a couple of prerequisite architecture classes but because of a large submission of applicants and very few openings with no sponsorship I was unable to continue, so I shifted to a business major. Computers were just making their debut and took up huge areas of space. I added computer studies to my curriculum as well as astronomy and sociology. During my College years I continued to work on the family farm and assumed more management roles. We rented the house on the farm and I gained valuable experience dealing with legal matters, people, purchasing, budgets and even scheduling. I also designed a new home for the property and with the support of my family began and completed construction of a home. During this time I also worked part time at a retail store, Best Products (now defunct). I used all my earnings toward the construction of my home on the farm. I finally graduated college and continued working at Best Products full time.
Post College Years
After college I continued working at Best Products. It was there that I met the young lady who became my wife, Susan. I have been happily married to Susan ever since. After completing construction of my home on the family farm I went into business for myself as a licensed home improvement contractor. I spent several years building additions and remodeling homes and eventually went into consulting for home remodeling. An opportunity came up at a construction company, Dico Inc. At Dico I became the office manager and the director of material utilization. Dico is a custom and production residential foundation contractor specializing in the concrete industry and erected poured concrete walls for both commercial and residential construction projects. I also continued to work on the family farm and manage all farm and most racing activities with my father who was now a retired FAA engineer. As my family grew with the arrival of two daughters Christina in 1989 and Cindy in 1990 an opportunity came up to change careers again. I took a job as a drafter for Lockheed, contract to Goddard Space Flight Center. I quickly became a designer and eventually the manager of the the design drafting department. At about this time I became involved at St Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, where a kind gentleman named Walter Marook taught me to be a sacristan. It was from Walter that I learned that teaching others, even to do your job, was a good and noble thing, he was right. Eventually the job at Lockheed turned into a job at Bendix. Contract changes provided yet more opportunities and I became a systems analyst. A gentleman named Ted Farraro became my mentor. Ted showed me that positive attitude and cooperative spirit and good hard work, no matter how adverse or tough the job was, made things work out. Ted also provided me with many opportunities to take on responsibilities and succeed.
Modern Day
In 1995 I surprised my family when my wife and I decided it was time to change our lives. We picked up and moved to Florida. This was a gutsy adventure because I had no job. I knew that with all I have learned over the years and with my good work ethic I would get a job, even if it meant saying “would you like some fries with that hamburger”. Within 3 months I got a job at United Space Alliance, a new company assuming ground operations for the space shuttle. I did not know, at the time, what I was going to do but eventually ended up a job as one of twelve Support Test Managers. I am also involved with Most Precious Blood Catholic Church, as a sacristan. I served as the president of my home owners association for ten years and retired to give other an opportunity to serve. I occasionally take on freelance opportunities as well as web design and programming. I occasionally take on projects in database programming and software development, and thanks to my daughters, who have resurrected my childhood model trains, I have gotten back into model railroading after 30 years. Following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011 a bad time for employment it took me sixteen months to find my next job. During that time I made good use of my time and wrote three science fiction novels two of which are published and the third is soon to be. My next job was a change in careers. I began working for Florida Hospital as a consultant trying to understand why they were losing three million dollars’ worth of linen. I soon found an answer and became a permanent employee of the Hospital Laundry. Five years later cut backs found me and once again I was out looking for a job and this time in just a month and a half I joined a company for yet another career change to the financial field putting to use what I learned years ago in college and resurrected at the Hospital. And that’s where I am today.