My father, raised on a farm in Kansas in the early 1900s, became a history professor and taught at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Urbana, where I was born.Mom and Dad enjoyed entertaining and, because my father was on the faculty, my early years were blessed with a mixture of country living and academia. In 1956, just after turning 5, my family moved from Illinois to California. There I was to spent the next three years attending a different elementary school every year. The friendships I made followed me through high school and into some college. After high school I was accepted to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where I entered their Electronic Engineering program, only to have it cut short when my father passed away and I took a break to help support my mother. Little did I realize I wouldn't make it back to complete my degree.