My first visit to Eugene was in the Spring of 1973. I was staying with friends from my hometown of Peoria, Illinois, who lived on Garden Avenue and between their apartment and the Willamette River was a fenced area where a research group was studying wolves. Everytime the train went by, day or night, the wolves would howl. When my friends had time away from classes, we hiked the Hobbit Trail to Washburn Beach, found the hot spring pools near Cougar Reservoir and climbed to the top of Mt. Hood. The Pacific NW seemed like a giant playground with endless possibilities and I applied to the UO and started classes the following fall term.

One of my earliest memories of living in Eugene includes a march that I joined from campus to City Hall to protest plans to log French Pete Creek. Local speakers included Wayne Morse, one of only two US Senators to vote against the Vietnam War and counter culture author Ken Kesey. At the UO Outdoor Program, I found a group of environmentally oriented mountain climbers and participated in a 60 day climbing/clean up trip to Denali, which later resulted in a photo/journal book I put together called Denali Diary.

I graduated in 1976 with a degree in Education, but there were no openings for teachers in the area. I worked for a contractor for awhile and eventually started a construction business and built two spec houses on Karyl Ave. in the SW Hills. The recession in the early 80s put a halt to home building and in 1986 I became a partner in Le Petit Gourmet Bakery in what was the Oasis Market, now known as Capella.

Along the way, I fathered three sons, Aaron, Sean and Cody who have grown into adulthood with their own unique stories of college, jobs, travel and marriage. In 2000, I became reaquainted with and married to my high school girl friend, Linda Dawn. We now have fond memories of multiple adventures to Europe, built a custom home on Terrace View Drive and have enjoyed being grandparents to twins boys, Maxwell and Jaxson.

I left the bakery in 1996 and became a realtor which I have done now for over 20 years. Since 2011, I’ve had my license at Hybrid Real Estate which was started in Eugene and is 100% locally owned. I have put my varied experiences in construction, business ownership and real estate sales to work helping hundreds of people either sell or purchase their home. I’ve always strived for win-win situations whenever possible. What is most important to me is that my clients are happy with my work so that they will hopefully refer me in the future to their friends and family.