About the Author

Capsulizing a life extending from the plains and mountains of the West to the Eastern seacoast – and now to the hills of Tennessee – is not just a difficult but an impossible task! Some, for one reason or another, may be interested in a fuller and more colorful synopsis. In such a case, I refer to a soon-to-be completed (31 chapter) series of autobiographical sketches which I first entitled, in 1990, Days of Golden Fire.

Briefly, I was born in a small West Texas town. Upon graduation from high school, I went to college in Colorado to major in forestry. Though I enjoyed weekend U.S. Forestry work in the “heart of the Rockies”, I transferred to Abilene Christian University to follow a lifelong interest in art.

After graduation, I moved to New York to find work in the art area and to help with church mission work. I began teaching there and had initially planned to stay only a short while. However, the church work was so challenging and the art experiences so rewarding, that New York was to become our home for the next 43 years.

For 33 years, I taught high school art and engineering drawing. Fourteen of those years I served as district-wide art coordinator. I also taught adult art education and summer gifted and talented courses for Long Island’s East End.

During all of this time, I was involved in full-time ministry and the teaching of teen and adult Bible classes. In the living room of our house we started a small congregation, which has now purchased a church building and minister’s home. Our reason for staying in the Northeast, however, was not totally altruistic! Purely by happenstance, we ended up in an aesthetic “treasure trove” of cultural and art opportunities, vocationally and otherwise.

I received my master’s degree from Long Island University (near NYC with a satellite campus in Southampton). I have written one book, The Eternal Instant – a composite theory relating to the metaphysical with a religious, scientific, and artistic bent. I have also written seven loose collections of verse. In retirement, I have been involved in combination art exhibit/ book signing/ lecture presentations. I remain active in various types of creative writing, church work and art.

We located to East Tennessee in December, 2005. Looking, today, through the blue mist at beautiful Mt. LeConte, I often reflect upon that lengthy and varied journey. Still, I am pursuing a singular, lifelong quest for self-expression in those areas chosen from so many – teaching, art, and writing. My autobiography, Days of Golden Fire, will conclude (sometimes with humor) the account.