I was born 1939 in Columbus, Ohio and for a short time in early childhood lived in Bristol, Pennsylvania. Educated in Columbus, including graduating from Ohio State University in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism. In 1962 I joined the Newport News Daily Press (Virginia) as a general assignment reporter, where I covered news stories as well as writing feature stories and doing book reviews. Living in Hampton, Virginia, I also toured Historic Williamsburg and Yorktown, and I had a long conversation with Senator Barry Goldwater when he was running for president. While at Ohio State, I did take ceramics classes and when I was in Virginia I made numerous sketches of the area, most of which I have lost over the years. I moved to California in 1965 where I got a job with Security First National Bank, where I stayed for 22 years, rising to become a vice president. When my department was closed and all of the employees laid off, I became a Realtor in Glendale. In 2000 I joined the City of Los Angeles, first in the Los Angeles Police Department and in 2001 – Department on Disability, where I have been ever since. In California in about 1976 I took a class in a Los Angeles Unified School District evening program in design and construction of stained glass with a wonderful French lady teacher who had studied with Roger Darricarrere, a world famous French stained glass artist who maintained a studio in Los Angeles. I even met M. Darricarrere and he assisted me on two stained glass windows presently in my dining room. I am particularly interest in advocating for full rights and full access for persons with disabilities, being a cancer survivor myself since 2003. For the past four years I initiated and have been Curator of the Disability Art Exhibit in the Third Floor Bridge Gallery in Los Angeles City Hall. The purpose of the art show is to show that persons with disabilities have ABILITIES and TALENTS, and the best way I could think of is to feature the visual presentation of artworks. Of course, persons with disabilities can be physicists, authors, managers, government works and many other occupations. I use art as a genre to SHOW their abilities.
