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Relationship

Married

Hometown

I grew up in Naperville, IL, a suburb of Chicago

Places I've been

As a kid I traveled with my family on vacations. Every other summer we went to Massachusetts to visit my mother's family. In the intervening summers we would rent a cabin in Wisconsin or Minnesota. As a student I studied my junior year in college in Durham, England, from whence I hitchhiked all over Europe and the UK. With Kay and our kids we camped all over the Eastern part of the US. After the last child moved out Kay and I camped our way through the Canadian Rockies to the West coast and then back through Yellowstone and other US National Parks. The next year we camped our way through eastern Canada and on to Newfoundland. Thereafter we took our vacations in Central and South America. Kay and I became co-chairs of a project through which our local church partnered with a remote village in Guatemala. The project sent two delegations every year. for years Kay led the February delegation and I the August delegation. I've been to Guatemala some 30 times, some of which were the delegations and some research trips working on a couple of books. For the last several years we have branched out in our travels to South Africa, India, New Zealand, Brazil, Vietnam and, most recently, China. The China trip was part of our celebration of our fiftieth wedding anniversary. We spent six weeks traveling independently in China, visiting about 15 places and making the trip up as we went along. It was a great trip, with the two of us in our seventies traveling with backpacks. People were unfailingly friendly and helpful all along the way. We left the 17th of March and returned the 28th of April--just two weeks before the big earthquake left such destruction.

Education

• Ellsworth School, Naperville, IL, general knowledge - 1939 to 1945
• Naperville High School, Academic, music, sports - 1948 to 1952
• DePauw University, History - 1952 to 1956
• Evangelical Theological Seminary, Theology - 1956 to 1960
• Rutgers University, Urban and Regional Planning - 1970 to 1972

Work

• DesPlaines Evangelical United Brethren Church, Minister - 1960 to 1965
• Peoria, IL Council of Churches, Director of Urban work - 1965 to 1970
• New Jersey poverty program, Research assistant in education - 1970 to 1971
• UMass Boston, College of Public and Community Serv, Faculty member - 1972 to 2001

More about me

I am a white male, 73 years old (2007). My wife, Kay, and I have been married 50 years, with our big celebration held on August 16, 2008.  We hired a hall, a band and a caterer and had nearly 150 guests.  Great fun!  We have three children, the oldest of whom is Jeff, 47, who is the founder of Eons, and Monster.com before that. Thus, my "handle" of "Daddyo," as the father of the founder, so to speak. Jeff is the father of three of our grandchildren, Ryan, Brooke and Cole. Our daughter, Heidi, 44, is a homemaker, and mother of our other three grandchildren, Steven, Jenny and Jered. Our daughter, Ellen, 40, is a real estate broker and works in human resources to keep food on the table. I'm retired (end of 2001) from the University of Massachusetts at Boston where I taught for almost 30 years, finishing up in my own version of Latin American Studies. I was a faculty member at UMass in the College of Public and Community Service, a unit that served students interested in working in the public sector or in community development. I'm currently writing a book on education in Guatemala. Kay and I co-chair a project in which our church is partnered with a remote, mostly-Maya village in Guatemala. The project recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a week-long set of activities (check it out under "Guatemala Partnership" at: www.needhamucc.org). I am currently chair of the board of Grassroots International (www.grassrootsonline.org), a progressive international development and advocacy agency. I am passionate about social justice and try to steer my life in a way that will make the world a more just place for everyone. Kay and I share a love of gardening, and I particulary enjoy garden photography. We work out at the local Y and try to keep ourselves fit. As you will gather if you visit my public lifemap, we love to travel and have visited many places in the world.

Activities

Being with my wife, traveling, visiting with family, reading, playing the recorder, working out at the gym, serving as chair of the board of Grassroots International, hiking, garden photography, writing a book, eating out with my wife, organizing the Guatemala project, keeping in touch with friends, playing with the neighbor children, working on my rock garden, doing the laundry and vacuuming, doing the dishes, participating in church, participating in protest marches, advancing causes of all sorts as a solidarity supporter, doing what I can to keep my college afloat and healthy, writing in a daily journal, playing gin rummy with my wife on our trips, keeping up with the news, learning as much as I can about a given area of the world, like Palestine, eating healthy food, using up 800 chars

Favorite Charities

Grassroots International, progressive media, Witness for Peace, The Washington Office on Latin America, NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with the people of Guatemala), church, CISPES (the El Salvador solidarity group), Casa Myrna Vazquez (a battered Women's Shelter), MoveOn,

Favorite Music

Classical of lots of composers, folk music, ethnic music we bring back from our trips

Favorite TV Shows

Not much of a TV watcher. Some sports, including the NE Patriots, the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Celtics, public television news, some nature shows, some drama.

Favorite Movies

I have trouble remembering the names. One of my all time favorites was Midnight Cowboy. Another, "Good Morning, Vietnam."

Favorite Books

Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed, " books by Antonio Gramsci, Sandy Tolan's "The Lemon Tree, " books by liberation theolgians, Paul Tillich's "Love, Power and Justice, " books by Chomsky

Favorite Quotes

"The struggle also teaches, "

Favorite People

My wife, my children and grandchildren, Paulo Freire, Nelson Mandela, friends we came to know in social justice struggles along the way. Former colleagues at the College of Public and Community Service at UMass Boston. Church friends from the guatemala project. Grassroots International friends.

Favorite Places

Home, Guatemala, Chile, India, Vietnam, China, South Africa, New Zealand, Russell Pond, New Hampshire, St John Island in the US Virgin Islands, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, San Fransisco, Boston, Chicago, Spain, Italy

Favorite Animals

I'm not an animal lover, I tolerate animals, but don't need them in my life.

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