The author was born in Jackson Township, Wells County, Indiana, USA, on April 9, 1943. His family moved to Hartford city, Indiana, in 1952 and then to Mishawaka, Indiana, in 1958. He graduated from Mishawaka High School in 1961 where he had been president of the senior class and an exchange student to Germany in 1960. He graduated from DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, in 1966 with a BA degree in German. He was drafted into the US Army and served nearly two years, mostly in Germany. His main job in the army was battalion newspaper editor and photographer. Upon discharge from the army he lived in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he met Marlyd Kee Tirado, whom he married on March 17, 1973. The author served as a US Postal Service letter carrier for 3-1/2 years and then became a safety specialist for the US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He completed his Purdue University MS degree in Industrial Operations in 1979. The family moved to the Chicago, Illinois, area in 1982 for the author to follow his career, and in similar fashion later to the Washington, D.C. area. He retired from the Department of Labor National Office in 1994 as a Division Chief in General Industry Compliance Assistance.
