I was born in the first half of the last century, and grew up in the small town of Grayslake, IL, about 35 miles north of Chicago. After high school I studied Biology and Chemistry at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI. In 1966 I signed up for a three year hitch in the Army, where good things happened. After 6 months training at the Naval School of Music, I was assigned to the 437th Army Band at Ft. Riley, KS and was spared a tour in Viet Nam. To those of you who served in Nam - Thank you. While in Kansas I met my wife of 38 years, Kay.

After my tour in the Army I returned to northern Illinois and found my way into electronics, software, and systems engineering. I took up woodworking and astronomy as hobbies in the early 80's. With close friends I co-founded two Chicago area businesses in the late 80's. By 1997 it was time to take a (somewhat early) retirement. Kay and I had always hoped to settle in the mid-South (read mountains). Kay had grown up in Virginia, only a few miles from the Cumberland Gap. As fate would have it we found Tennessee too beautiful to resist.

Now I am a reformed "Yankee". Since the move from northern Chicagoland to Tennessee in 1997 I haven't looked back. We built our home in the hills and my interest in woodworking resurfaced. I built bird houses, turned bowls, and built a few small pieces of furniture: did I mention burial urns? Around 2000 Kay expressed a desire for a mountain dulcimer. Being a woodworker, (and a little cheap) I bought a dulcimer kit. When I finally finished the kit, I thought: "I can do better". So... I read a couple of books on the subject and built her one from scratch. And, then one for my daughter's family. And then one for my son's family. And, then one for a niece, and sister-in-law, and a house-warming gift for special friends. And, well... I just couldn't stop. We took it on the road in 2004.