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The following is a (very) brief synopsis of a 26-year career with the United States Air Force. It is from an article printed, in part, by our newspaper - The Traverse City Record-Eagle:
Having grown up on the Connecticut River, and graduated from the University of Connecticut on the same weekend as receiving my commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force, it was a natural transition to retire 26 years later once again in the Great American North Country .
This time it was Michigan, my wife Amy's native state; but anyone who's ever been in both places can immediately recognize the similarities ... The rolling hills, lakes & shores and fall colors of Leelanau and Grand Traverse counties could as easily be those of New England; the changing seasons and spirited peoples as comparable as they are unique. And show me someone who's visited the small towns of Massachusetts' Cape Cod and isn't mesmerized by Fish Town in Leland, the Dunes of Glen Haven, or the lighthouse at Old Mission Point.
OK; so my home page title should read "Come Home - to my (adapted) Home Town - Traverse City"! But I AM home, here. Probably more so than I would be in today's New England. I brought my small family of four here upon retirement from Wurtsmith Air Force Base, just across the state, in late 1984. My son and daughter established their own lives after college, but they, as well as Amy & I, are still here in the beautiful Grand Traverse Bay Area, and likely always will be.
I joined Real Estate One, Inc. almost immediately in 1984; and it has been my company ever since. My "Second Career" highlights include: GRI (Graduate, Realtors' Institute) in 1985; MLS Chairman with the (then) Traverse City Board of Realtors in 1990, when we built the New Boris computerized MLS system (still essentially the same today); Board of Directors and President of the Board in '93, when we renamed it the Traverse Area Association of Realtors (find us now at www.taar.com); CRS (the "masters degree" of real estate: Certified Residential Specialist), in 1996, and SRES ( Seniors' Real Estate Specialist), in 2000. A good Real Estate career is one from which there is no retirement. Clients & customers, whose lives I've had the good fortune to touch by helping to sell or buy their homes and establish their futures, still call me today, and hopefully always will. I remain steadfastly proud of my country, and the commitment I made to defend its people in my first career. But I am equally proud of my second, in knowing I've made a difference in a much more personal way for many of those people.
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