I was born and raised in Durand, Michigan and served as a Russian translator for the US Air Force before getting a Master's degree in Historical Geography from Michigan State University. I spent more than 35 years in the history museum field before retiring in 2007. Retirement quickly bored me, so now I am busy researching my family history, which I have been doing since 1964, teaching geography and Russian history at the local college, and I recently embarked on a new career as a screenwriter for television children's programs and feature length movies. I am a natural born packrat and collect and save everything that fits my lifelong interest in history and genealogy. My collections include vintage cars and motorscooters, phonograph records (78s and 45s) from the 1950s, antique maps and atlases, and Lionel toy trains.

I was born and raised in Durand, Michigan and served as a Russian translator for the US Air Force before getting a Master's degree in Historical Geography from Michigan State University. I spent more than 35 years in the history museum field before retiring in 2007. Retirement quickly bored me, so now I am busy researching my family history, which I have been doing since 1964, teaching geography and Russian history at the local college, and I recently embarked on a new career as a screenwriter for television children's programs and feature length movies. I am a natural born packrat and collect and save everything that fits my lifelong interest in history and genealogy. My collections include vintage cars and motorscooters, phonograph records (78s and 45s) from the 1950s, antique maps and atlases, and Lionel toy trains.