Friends

After high school, I was in the Army for three years stationed in Germany and France, returned to Sarasota and was employed at EMR in the Calibrations Department. I enrolled at Manatee Junior College and took college–level course work in this field, and became an independent subcontractor as a designer of printed wiring boards. After traveling around the U.S., I returned to Sarasota, got married and resumed employed at EMR.

After six years of marriage, I divorced (no children) and traveled as a Sales Representative for Southeastern Sporting Goods. After several years on the road, I returned to Sarasota and married the former Karen Henderson (SHS graduate Class of ‘62). Karen has five sisters (Sandy, Jere, Ruth and Marsha Henderson) which you might remember.

Karen had just graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida with a degree in history/English and was living in Gainesville, FL when our paths crossed by accident on a weekend trip Karen had made to Sarasota. After two years of a long-distance relationship, we married and bought a home in Sarasota.

At the time of our marriage, I accepted a position with U.S. Home as a Warranty Service Manager and worked until Karen and I both retired in 2006 (Karen was an Administrative Assistant in the Sarasota School Board administration offices). We have two daughters, Courtney and Whitney, and one grandson, Ethan James, and we celebrated 32 years of marriage in August. Courtney is an Assistant Manager at Michael’s Crafts, and Whitney graduated from Florida State University with a degree in art history & museum studies and plans to attend graduate school. In August, Ethan is starting Kindergarten at the same school his mom and aunt attended--Bay Haven School of Basics Plus.