After high school I attended Wichita State, first as an engineering major, then switching to physics because the physics folks I knew were more fun to be around than the engineering group. Not the best reason for such a decision, but that’s youth for ya. I never really had a particular career in mind, but I liked math and science and hoped that something would eventually work out.
After a degree in physics, a year of graduate school, and two years at Boeing, I was still uncertain about career plans, but had at least become aware of some things that I didn’t want to do. In 1981 I quit my job and set out for what was intended to be a months-long cross-country bicycle trip. I rode with a friend from Hutchinson to Yellowstone, then went solo up through Montana and on to Jasper, Alberta, where the trip ended prematurely due to a bad wreck. It was an experience filled with difficulties and triumphs, appreciation of small wonders, and some great people along the way.
I returned to Wichita, took some more classes at WSU and began teaching there. I discovered that I not only enjoyed exploring mathematics but also enjoyed teaching and so I thought I’d try to keep doing both for a while. Along the way a friend introduced me to Becky Hartpence, and we married in 1983 and moved to Bloomington, Indiana where I entered the Ph.D. program in mathematics at IU. Becky is an RN and worked there in home health care before becoming a clinic nurse at the student health center, a job she especially enjoyed. In 1988 we moved to Norman, OK where I had landed a job at OU. Our son Adam was born a year later and two years after that I took a job at Angelo State University in San Angelo, TX. We lived there for the next 22 years and moved to Northern Kentucky in 2013.
Becky has retired from nursing and although I am not yet retired, I’m aiming in that direction. Adam has had a life full of challenges but has also always had a passion for helping those in need. Perhaps the two are related. He has been at various times a social services worker, a federal officer, a victim’s advocate, a human trafficking and war crimes investigator, and an active participant in Afghan and Ukrainian relocation efforts.
We all live just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati and enjoy having easy access to the city while not being in it. I plan to transition to half-time work this fall, with full retirement in another year or two. I then have some home projects to take care of that have been put off for far too long, and we have a lot of interesting places in our region that we hope to explore.
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