Where did you grow up? What is your educational background?
I was born in Moline, Illinois, June 22, 1937. I lived there for four years and my dad moved us to Jamestown, North Dakota in 1941. My dad was a locomotive engineer on the Northern Pacific Railroad. He had started as a railroad fireman in 1928 and during the ’30s he was laid off periodically. My dad would have to go back to North Dakota and work, and he’d leave the family in Illinois. At the start of World War 2 he was able to get a full time job because the railroads were hauling war materials. There were a lot of jobs and lots of men were being drafted into the military, so we moved there in June ’41. That’s why I grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota.
I graduated from high school in 1955 and then I went into the Marine Corps for four years. I started college in September 1959, at a little school in North Dakota called Jamestown College. It is a little liberal arts college, maybe 1000 – 1200 students, a Presbyterian school and has been there since the 1880s. I went there for four years and received my bachelor of science degree in biology. I took all pre-med courses because they didn’t offer any ecology courses. I graduated in 1963, but wasn’t sure what I was going to do after that. I guess like so many students I didn’t know what I wanted to do. After expressing my interest in science to my freshman advisor, he steered me into biology. I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about it because all of the courses were pre-med courses. I was taking comparative anatomy, embryology and medical-related subjects. None of that really interested me. After graduation I was offered teaching jobs in small towns in North Dakota. I finally decided however, that I’d go back to school and get a masters degree.
