I have been living in Texarkana, Arkansas since the age of three. I earned a degree in mechanical engineering, and worked for a couple of years in a product development lab for IBM in Rochester, MN, before joining the Peace Corps and serving in Eswatini, from 1969-1970. After the Peace Corps, I returned to Texarkana, and joined my father in the land surveying profession for 43 years until his father’s death in 2014. I'm involved in several civic organizations, including Haven Home, and Habitat for Humanity, and was a co-founder of a farmers’ market, hospital volunteer, and am a master gardener. I currently serves as an elected Justice of the Peace in Miller County. I was married to his wife Patricia from 1972 until her death in 2008. We have one daughter, Velvet Cool, three grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. I currently lives with his eldest granddaughter, Ariel, and her four children. I'm a former Presbyterian, and currently practices Buddhism. My hobbies include motorcycling, travel, sailing, woodworking and cooking, and like jazz and blues music.

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After reading about Denmark cohousing, I have been seeking a project to join. I attended a cohousing conference in Boulder, CO about 10 years ago and in 2015 became part of a group in the Dallas/Denton area attempting a formation The interest of the group dissipated but because of this effort I attended a retreat in Arizona dealing with conflict in community and also visited with another group member of a project in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Since then, I also looked into a project in Tulsa, OK, however these Oklahoma projects are not located in places where I have a strong desire to live. A recent Facebook post from the Foundation for Intentional Community listing CoHousing Houston reignited my interest. Coincidentally, the purchase of a sailboat in Houston last summer has introduced me to the many benefits the area has to offer.

After visiting with community partners, I feel strongly that CoHousing Houston and the city are a good fit for me. My plans in the coming months are to sell my land surveying business, complete my term in office, and sell or transfer my home. I will also be learning to sail and continuing to develop with my granddaughter a small farm we started a couple of years ago on a 37-acre parcel of land that is an inheritance from my grandfather.