Pam and me with my parents in July 2005.

Growing Up

I was born in Huntington, Ind., on October 23, 1956. On that exact day, the Hungarian Revolution started. The hospital in which I was born was torn down in 2002.

My childhood was split between four states:

9 years in Indiana
3.5 years in Harrisburg, Pa. We were drawn there partly by the chance to help plant a new church under the leadership of Ray Seilhamer. We left midway through 7th grade.
3.5 years in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Here, we once again served as laypersons to help a new United Brethren church get started.
2 years in Pixley, Calif.

Dad became a minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in 1973, which is when we moved to California. I graduated from high school in 1975 from Tulare Union High School in Tulare, Calif. I played basketball there as a junior (sat the bench, mostly), and played two years on the varsity tennis team, which won the conference championship both years.

In the fall of 1975 I entered Huntington College, back in my hometown. My parents met there, and I never really considered any other college. Besides, HC gave me a whopping $500 tennis recruitment scholarship. I played four years of tennis (#1 and captain as a senior). I claimed my Bachelor's degree in Communications in 1979. Made a number of life-long friends. (They renamed it Huntington University in 2005, which is supposed to sound more impressive.)

I hold two college degrees:

1975: B. A. in Communications from Huntington College, Huntington, Ind.
1995: Masters in Public Relations, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.

There, that's more than you wanted to know.