Biography
I am a Floridian from Central Florida. I have been turning since I was about 10 years old, messing around in my dad’s shop. I spent about 8 years in the Navy, as a Machinist Mate, during which time I helped put the USS Trepang (SSN-674) in commission and helped decommission the Arnold J Isbel (DD-869) which was turned over to the Greek Navy as the HS Sachtouris (D-214). After the navy I worked 31 years at the nuclear power plant in Crystal River, Fl in the Chemistry and Radiation Protection department. After retirement my wife and I along with my oldest son and his wife built and ran the Starchild Academy (daycare facility for children age 6 weeks to 5th grade) in Oviedo, Fl for 17 years.
I got involved in organized woodturning after picking up a brochure for Florida West Coast Wood Turners at the Tool Show at the Fairgrounds in Tampa. 6 or 8 months later I found the brochure and discovered that they were going to have a meeting that very night. I drove 2 hours south to attend the meeting and when I got to the parking lot another guy pulled in and asked me if this was the place where the woodturners had their meeting. I told him that I had just seen a guy with a wooden bowl go into the back door. That meeting was memorable because the demonstrator was unavailable for the demo because he died! The guy I walked in with, Norm Rose, stood up and said that he would teach everyone how to run a skew if they wanted him to. That is where I learned the ABCs of woodturning. A – anchor, B- glide the bevel on the wood, C – lift the handle in the direction the flute is pointing till the tool begins to cut. Norm turned a straw stem goblet from a 6-inch piece of spruce 2 x 2 that night! I got so excited that I drove 2 hours back home to try it out and much to my surprise it worked. I turned a walnut straw stem goblet from 1 by walnut about 5 inches long.
I later became the president of FWCWT. Another fellow called me asking where the meetings were, that he was moving to Dunnellon. I told him about FWCWT and asked if he wanted to ride with me, He said, “No, I know where it is.” That was Ken Jackman. After the meeting he said that we needed to start our own chapter closer to home. I gave him a few names and phone numbers of folks that I met recently at another Tampa Tool Show. The next weekend we had the first meeting of Hands-On Woodturners. Ken then said that we needed to have a regional symposium and that is how the FWS got started.
I became president of HOW and started having “Saw dust sessions” in my shop on Sunday evenings, where members of HOW brought in any problems that they had during the week or just to watch. I carried on doing that for 12 years, until I moved to Oviedo. Whenever I do a demo at HOW some of the old members ask when I am coming back and restart the Saw dust sessions!
I was a board member of the Florida Woodturning Symposium for the first couple of years and was recalled to be the Registrar after a 2 year absence from the board and finally retired from FWS last year after the 2024 symposium.