,About the Founder
BIOGRAPHY
I was born in Beaulah, MI. and then moved to small town Clare, MI population of 2,500 when I was 3 and stayed there until 18+. Great place, you knew pretty much everyone, we were safe and in a loving stable home, it was child paradise. Me and my best friend, Bill Stanley, who I met when we were 3, and we’re still best friends to this day. We ran around the neighborhood, free as birds, building forts, climbing trees, going to the frog pond and just on a constant exploration. Our child games of; can’t touch the ground, and no-one –can- see-us, it was fantastic. Played sports, golf, basketball, little league and feel it gave me this base of known love that I can build on and which I know is always there to support me which has given me the freedom to spread my wings, to live my dreams, and to just do things, I’ve been so lucky.
Dad taught me how to play, have fun, value family, the games he would make up or allow us to make up – mole was my favorite which was basically trying to go behind him as he sat on the couch and knock him off it, I just loved that game, and then the army man/hallway/marble game. He was just a game player and a good natured game player, he would laugh at himself for sure. He was also funny and had a great voice. He could sing, he always sounded or reminded me of old blue eyes Mr. Frank Sinatra. My dad also worked in his family’s insurance agency. So he was there for me, and then there’s mom, fiery, opinionated, a little firecracker. She had many interests, and just being herself. She became a school teacher to the mentally challenged. We would always take vacations as a family, great vacations.
First Houghton Lake for years and then on to Callaway Gardens in Georgia, what a place, for probably 8 years in a row, we would pack up the car and drive down there for not just 1 week like most families, but 2 weeks. It was so fun, my first kiss, first water skiing, circus. Wow, what a place. Anyhow what a blessed childhood I feel I had.
However, I wasn’t the best in my teen years and there are stories I have, but I survived and kept going. Jacque Costeau II I was gonna be; after dropping out of Eastern Mi Univ after my first year, moving back home and working in a pallet factory ($2/hr) me & a buddy went to the Florida Keys, he was a certified diver, I don’t know if I had ever snorkeled, but I was a water boy for sure, from the years in the pools, lakes, etc. We got to Keys and he rented a motorboat (don’t ask me how, he was 19 like me) and we got 2 dive tanks and equipment and he just took off and we dove into the ocean. Into a new world, and what a beautiful and exciting world it was, and water covering 3/4 of the earth I was gonna be a part of it. I didn’t become Jacque Costeau II, but I am a diver, snorkeler, surfer, paddler, a sailor & more and have been around the world doing them. I’ve ran with the bulls in Spain, hiked the Himalayas in Nepal, been on a safari in Africa, and paddled in the Amazon and much more. And I’ve followed my passions and made my own mark & in my own way I am a definitely an explorer & adventurer.
After college moved to CA, got married, had a child & worked as a Customs Broker helping companies import and export for years and ran an office when we moved to Portland, OR. Life changes though and after going through a divorce, I sold a rental house and traveled the world for 7 months with my snorkel gear and surfboard. I was already investing in real estate and when I returned got my license and started listing and selling real estate full-time as a broker and also as an investor. So that’s part of what I’ve been doing for the last 25 years or so and in the middle of that got married a couple more times but now I’m on my own again, semi retired and thinking what next? And this is a part of it.