From Watermelon Inspector to the White House

A Memoir

For an old country boy from South Georgia, I never dreamed of all the adventures my journey through life would produce during my eighty-plus years on this earth. I began life with two loving Christian parents who taught me I could achieve any goal if I worked hard and followed my Christian upbringing. I graduated from Leesburg High School in 1947, one of ten in my class, and set out to put those lessons into practice. After my first year at Emory at Oxford College, it was clear I had not been exposed to as comprehensive an education as many of my fellow students. I was a young man from a small Southern town, and I still had a lot more to learn. But I was also the son of parents who taught me the value of working and learning and challenging myself, so I never shied away from hard or demanding work. Decades of service in the United States Air Force, including two tours in Cold War Europe and leading a committee for the President of the United States, would continue my education. I approached each new challenge with the same understanding and determination as that first semester of college. Maybe I was not as equipped as I could have been, but I could learn and I would not quit. With each success, my bosses continued to recommend me for more important and more challenging work, and each recommendation gave me the confidence I needed to rise to the next challenge. Over the years I have laughed with famous actors and fighter aces, dined with mob bosses, and partied with presidents. I have worked to dig civilization out from the ruins of war, helped feed a continent, flown around the world in service to my country and her veterans, and built a life with the most amazing woman I have ever known. This incredible journey has taught me many important lessons and left me with countless stories of historic events and incomparable people. I feel blessed to have lived this life, and I hope my stories are an equal blessing to you.