You graduated from Allen-East, where your dad was (is?) the band director. I assume you played at least one musical instrument -- what did you play? Did your dad teach you? Was it tough having your dad as the director?
My dad is still the band director and my mom works in the cafeteria, talk about never being able to get away with anything! I played trombone and tuba primarily because those were instruments he needed, but I enjoyed playing both and even played for a couple of years in college. I had my dad for class from 5th grade through 12th grade. No, it wasn't tough, it actually was probably different from most homes when you sat down to dinner. We all talked about what happened at school that day because everybody had been in the same place all day.
How did you make the decision to attend ONU for your undergrad degree? What was your major? Is that where you met your wife?
I'm not sure when the aha moment was for attending ONU. I visited Capital but it just wasn't a fit. It seemed having a first class university right in my backyard was the perfect fit. I was a Business and Communication Arts major, I chose business to dodge a year of a foreign language in the Arts & Sciences college. My year of a foreign language was accounting. I met Jami, my wife, our senior year at ONU, but our paths crossed so many times before that that we should have met long before.
Have you lived in Ada since graduating from college? Did you begin working at ONU right away?
After ONU, we moved to Nashville where I worked for Opryland USA theme park (now an outlet mall) then we spent some time in Pigeon Forge where I worked for Dollywood and the Music Mansion. We then spent several years in Columbus before moving back to Ada in 2003. We moved back because it was important to us for the kids to live close to their grandparents. My parents are in Lafayette and Jami's live outside Kenton. We both always thought it would be great to go back and work for our alma mater too.
Tell me about your job at ONU. How long have you been in that position? What do you enjoy most about it? Do you know all of the students on campus? You must see a lot of them every day.
My job title at ONU is Director of McIntosh Center, but I am always quick to add "and other duties as may be assigned." McIntosh Center is a pretty busy building as it is the place in Ada where the town and the gown come together. I moved from the Purchasing Department to this position in 2006. The best part of the job is the students and that may sound cliche, but there is something so different and refreshing about working on a college campus. Seeing a student come in as a freshman and the changes that happen to them in just 4-6 years is absolutely amazing. No, I don't know all of the students, but I wish I did.
The first time we met was when I interviewed you for a story about your "second" job doing sound for musical events on a cruise ship. What was the cruise line? How did that come about? What all did that involve? Do you still get to do that once or twice a year?
We worked on several cruise lines over the years (Carnival, Norwegian, Premier). I worked as a sound guy for a travel agent out of North Carolina that I had met when I was still at Dollywood. He specializes in charter Christian cruises and we spent several years doing one or two cruises each year. I lost track after about 15 cruises. My last one was in 2010 and in God's perfect timing we knew that we would not being working 2011 due to lack of sales and in 2011 is when I was diagnosed, right at the time we would have been leaving to go on the boat.
Do you still run the sound for ONU events?
Yes, probably a little more than I want to at times, but many of the events I would be attending anyway so it's good to be able to help out. Knowing how to run sound is kind of like owning a pickup truck, everyone wants to use your services.
Tell me about your family. How old are your kids? What do you enjoy doing as a family?
Jami and I have been married since 1995 and we have two kids, Nora (fourth grade) and Ian (third grade). As a family we enjoy hanging out at home. It seems we are usually running so many different directions though that doing nothing can be pretty refreshing. Of course, nothing beats a good beach vacation, we do like that..
Living in a small town is viewed by some as "boring". Do you hear that from students? How do you respond to that attitude?
If you think living in a small town is boring, then you're a boring person! Occasionally, you do hear that from students, but the beauty of ONU is that these people chose to be here in Ada so they knew they were getting a small town before they ever moved to college. It's not for everyone, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Didn't Ada appear on some list of boring places recently? I remember you reacting to that pretty quickly -- obviously you don't agree with that assessment.
Ada did appear in a list of boring college towns and that could not be further from the truth. There is so much to do in Ada if you are open minded enough to give it a try. Go see a lecture on Middle East relations, check out a student's senior music recital, stroll along the Green Monster and look at the Remington Statues or an art exhibit, go to a sporting event, little league, high school or college. You could conceivably be doing something every night of the week in Ada! Most of them, for free!
You're pretty well known in Ada for a number of reasons. I imagine most people know about your recent bout with cancer. Can you explain that briefly and provide us with an update?
A bout with cancer is God's way of telling you how much He loves you. I had so many people express care and concern in the time I was sick it was incredible. I was diagnosed with stage four throat cancer on 2/2/11, finished treatments on 5/2/11 and from that point it has been all about getting back to "normal." Just last week, I had what I hope will be my last PET scan and it came back all clear. That's quite a relief! My oncologist told me, "You make it to a year from the completion of your treatments without a recurrence, you throw a party." I am definitely in the party mood, God has been very good to me.
One of your responses to the cancer was to initiate a 5K non-competitive run/walk around Big Green on the ONU campus. I ran in that and my first thought when we arrived was "Wow!". How many people were involved in that? It seemed as though the entire ONU and Ada population participated, as well as many family and friends from out of town.
I think there were between 400-500 people out that day. Of course it was the hottest day of April last year and I think everyone would have been out to enjoy that day anyway! I was very blessed to have that much support during that whole time.
How long have you been running? How many times have you run the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati? Are you running again this year? How do you feel about it this year versus last year?
I ran cross country in high school, I was terrible. In recent years I picked it back up and the marathon thing was just to see if I could do one. One led to five. I have run the Flying Pig three times, the last time was the day before my last radiation treatment. My slowest time, but a completion I am probably most proud of. We are not going to Cincinnati this year as Ian is in "The Music Man" at Bluffton University and it is the same weekend as the Flying Pig. I had already registered, but seeing him in his show is much more important than another medal. Maybe this fall. I really got out of shape as I was sent home to recover from treatments. There is just something mentally strange about sitting around wondering if they got it all? I got lazy, but I plan to change that very shortly.
Okay. One last question: Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Any goals for your future?
In ten years, I will have two children in college. I hope to still be active in my special little community. I really can't imagine life getting any better than it is right now. God has been very good to us.
