Born: 11/06/48 at La Harpe, IL (Western part of the state halfway between the quad-cities and Quincy.)

My father was a tenant farmer. We moved to a new, better farm every two or three years. I had an older brother, Wayne, a younger brother, David, and a younger sister, Carol.

We had a TV set (1955) before we had running water or indoor plumbing (1957). Starting in the third grade, I developed a life long friendship with one of my then classmates and his family. Unfortunately, they moved away and we didn't reconnect until we went to college.

September 30, 1962: My Father and younger brother were killed in an auto accident. My sister and I survived the accident with various injuries. I had a broken jaw and broken left wrist. My tongue was almost severed. This messed up my sense of taste. I also temporarily lost most of my memories of childhood. I eventually regained most of my memories back through third grade, but before that time I've only recalled traumatic events and other bits and pieces. Various of these memories are available in a separate write-up. My childhood was happy but rather dangerous. I came close to dying several times and suffered various other injuries. Growing up on a farm and doing 'science' experiments can be hazardous to ones health.

High school was uneventful with few close relationships. I graduated third in a class of 40+ kids taking every class offered except home-ec and a few business courses.

I started college at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in June of 1966. My college days were a very happy time. While working on a masters degree in physics I  ran into financial difficulties.

In 1972 I took a "temporary" job with a medical information system development company, Regional Health Resource Center, (RHRC) that lasted 20 years. I spent the first 10 years designing and programming various medical information systems (history, physical exam, clinical lab, blood bank, etc.) The last 10 years I worked on database programs of navigational structures for the Army Corps of Engineers. That was still with RHRC, which had moved away from medical systems development except for blood banking.

In 1975 I had pancreatitis and gallbladder disease. The surgeon gave me a 50/50 chance of surviving an operation and no chance if I didn’t have it. I lost 70 pounds in 10 days in the hospital. Fortunately, I made it through the surgery. In 1981 my blood pressure went from 110/70 to 210/140 within a two month period. Hypertension drugs and diuretics were effective in treating the problem, but the doctors didn't really look for the cause of the high blood pressure. This turned out to be a big problem.

November 2, 1981: My mother died unexpectedly of a heart attack due to blood clots. Her funeral was one day before my birthday.

In 1989 I had some problems with lightheadedness. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. This was treated by using an air compressor to keep my airway open while sleeping. The treatment also caused my high blood pressure to go away. In retrospect it would appear that I have had sleep apnea most of my life. Until I started treatment for it I always woke up feeling worse than I did before going to sleep. I didn’t know what the question "Do you awake refreshed?" meant because I never felt "refreshed" after sleep.

Late in 1991 I started missing numerous days of work due to weakness & fatigue. By June 1992 I was forced to quit work for RHRC. Medical tests turned up no diagnosis or treatment.

I ran through almost $100,000 trying to start a computer consulting business and a mail order rare coin company. I failed at both of these ventures, due to continuing health problems and poor business skills. I should have taken those high school business courses.

By early 1996 I was unable to work, I was deep in debt, and I had major tax problems with the IRS. These problems forced me to sell my house for no profit. I went through various short periods of homelessness. I was briefly treated for depression with Prozac. It had no effect.

In Late 1997 my friends here in Lake County got me to come to Grayslake, IL. I recovered my health for a while, and I was able to work for most of 1998 at a security software company updating their programs for the Y2K problem. By the end of 1998 my health problems had come back and I was forced to quit work at the end of January, 1999.

I have been overweight since childhood, but I gained around 100 pounds in 1998. In 1999-2000 I lost that weight gain and returned to the weight that I have hovered around for the last fifteen or twenty years. Unfortunately, in 2003 I gained even more back, so that I weigh the most that I ever have. This has gotten even worse recently for no obvious reason.

In March of 1999 I was diagnosed with depression and put on various anti-depressants which didn't have any major effect. I was also diagnosed with Orthostatic Hypotension (very low blood pressure when standing up.) This condition causes weakness, fatigue, fainting at times, etc. There was no effective treatment for this in my case. Fortunately, I only have 3 or 4 bouts of this, lasting for a week to 10 days each.

I have been unable to work due to recurring weakness, fatigue, and depression. I had individual counseling for the depression from March, 2000, through August, 2000, and group sessions after that.

June 8, 2000, my older brother, Wayne, died unexpectedly while on vacation at Disney World. He was 55 years old. While on a train going to his funeral I tried to find some way to keep from going into an even deeper depression. I came to the conclusion that I had lived most of my life as a "closed" person, unable to really show my feelings to others. Using this I was able to turn things around for a couple months. I was almost manic during this period, talking rapidly and frequently, feeling "up" most of the time, finding connections and coincidences everywhere. For the next couple of months the pendulum swung back and I had returned to a depressed state.

I have been on Social Security Disability since March, 2002.

Finding the FunTrivia site in Nov. 13, 2005, has helped me work through my depression and other problems. Editing the Who Am I? database, working with the USA MidWest Team, and earning badges has been very rewarding.

In July, 2006, my friends, who had been supporting me financially, began divorce proceedings and were forced to sell the house they had been letting me use. Fortunately for me, I was able to get financial help from some of my 31 first cousins while continuing to wait on additional government assistance(5+ years on a waiting list). I've been living in my current apartment for 2+ years now, and I get out twice a month in my 1978 Caprice Classic for a few hours to get groceries and pay bills. At the moment things are stable. I actually have some hope for the future.

Happy Trivia!