Barbara and I have been together for almost 16 years and I thought they were the best years of our lives.

However, as time past and things changed I guess I didn't realize what effect I was having on Barbara because sadly Barbara finally decided that we should do something that I would never have thought that would happen, she filed for divorce a week before my 83 rd birthday on September 1st.

And then on September 4th I was visited by the local sheriff and served with an eviction notice and was giving only 15 minutes to gather some clothes and medications an I was forced to leave the house with $9 dollars in the bank and the clothes on my back.

It was a very sad day.  Fortunately I have a family that stepped up to help me through this devastating time.

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I was born on September 5, 1941 near the start of the 2nd world war. A rather rude awakening to a life I would soon realize that was blessed beyond all expectations.  I grew up in Washington Indiana living mostly with my Grandparents  Raymond and Viola Henry while my Mother worked at an Insurance company.  But we all got along and loved one another very much.  My brother Rodney who was 2 years older actually spend most of our grade school and high school years very close as he mostly looked after me as his little brother all of the time and still does to this day.  I graduated from high school and enlisted in the Navy for 3 years and spent time in  San Diego in training and then in Turkey and then was in Virginia for a short time before I got out.  It proved to be one of the best things that I ever did. Upon leaving the service I moved to St. Mathews, Ky where I worked with my Dad delivering photos to various stores in Kentucky until I went to radio school and received my radio broadcast license and got a job in Washington at the local radio station where I was a radio announcer for several years.  While there I happened on the local airport and lo an behold I started to learn to fly and plane and went on to become a commercial pilot and flight instructor.  From there I met my wife Brenda and we had our first child Angela "Angie".  I then left the radio station and was hired as a flight instructor and charter pilot for Louisville flying service at Bowman Field and then we welcomed our 2nd child Stacey into the world.  I flew for them in Louisville until 1970 until a few years later unfortunately  Brenda and I parted ways and I moved to Indianapolis with my brother Rodney.  I continued to fly corporate air craft for various corporations, and was able to achieve a milestone in my flying by receiving a Lear Jet Captains Rating from the Grand Rapids flight school.  I still lived in Indianapolis until 1977 when sadly my step father "Nippy" Zinkan, passed away and then my my mother Hattie, died only a couple of weeks later. So shortly after that I decided to move to San Diego and did so in 1978. I worked as a  salesman for Business Office Outfitters in La Mesa, Ca and continued flying for several years including towing banners from the local airport with Golden State Flying Service.  I eventually was hired by King Schools as a pilot and learned graphic arts on the computer and was instrumental in creating most of the computer animations and graphics that John and Martha King used in their pilot training videos until 1989.

I then started a new career when I left king schools as a local website designer and did that for 13 years.   And then after the website design slowly became less and less profitable I retired

I had played the trumpet in high school but had not perused  it until I met a group of jazz musicians in San Diego that asked if I wanted to "sit it" with them on trumpet which I did. That would prove to be one of the nicest and rewarding things that happened to me because I started to play more and more as a jazz trumpeted at local clubs with other artists and pianist who would accompany me as I would play song from the standard  American Song Book on my trumpet and later a cornet.
During the time I was in website design I met my friends Flip and Joyce Oakes..  Flip designed a trumpet call of all things the "Flip Oakes Wild Thing" trumpet and I designed and ran his website for many years, and one year he decided to present me with a special gift or one of his trumpets and I will be ever so grateful that he did because I played it and a cornet that he also gave me as local clubs in San Diego for many years.  During one of my attending a jam session at one of my friends house I met a lady named Barbara who would later become my wife.We dated and lived together for several years but finally we decided we should get married so on April 16, 2016 we tied the knot. I moved in with Barbara and we lived in El Cajon, until we decided that the San Diego area was declining so rapidly that we decided to move and chose Prescott Valley, Az finding a small but very nice home with a park as our back yard where Barbara would not have to climb stairs to go to bed and clean a large home as it was small but very comfortable.  Perfect for what we needed.

We lived there until I turned 83 and Barbara was almost 90 when things sadly happened that I didn't see coming which was mostly my fault and it resulted in our separation on the day before my 83 rd birthday

So I got a flight to Louisville, Ky and am now living with my daughter Stacey in Charlestown, Indiana and looking forward to living out the rest of my life surrounded by my family with my daughter Stacey and Joe Doyle and my oldest daughter Angie and Joe  Kuerzi who also lives near in Corydon, Indiana and with my brother Rodney and Ginger who lives in Fishers, Indiana.  So as of September 5, 2024 my life has changed from one thing to another, some good and some sad but life must go on as they say.  So Be it, IT IS WHAT IT IS!