Were you born in Bluffton? If not, how old were you when you moved to Bluffton?
My parents, Dick and Elfrieda, moved our family from Illinois to Bluffton in 1969 when Dad started a job at Bluffton College. I was 7 and my sister, Martha, had just turned 10. We lived in a white house at 108 Spring Street. Our neighbors on either side were the Slotters and the Friesens, with the Raids across from us. Stan and Ruth Naylor lived down the street, and I became good friends right away with their son, Jeff. I started third grade that fall in Mrs. Shetler's class.
You must have graduated sometime in the 80s, but I can't remember the year. What do you remember about your childhood? Funny stories? Favorite teachers/courses?
I graduated from BHS in '79. My favorite teachers - both in the English department - were Mr. Ehlen (better known as Mr. E., who was my junior-varsity basketball coach) and Mrs. Naylor. I also have fond memories of Mr. Wade, Mr. Brown, Mr. Bostdorff, Mr. Stitzel, Mr. Bruskotter, Miss Duffield and Mr. Greenway.
I loved growing up in Bluffton. Just a few of my memories are building rafts to float in Riley Creek, swimming at the Buckeye, picking melons at Suter's in Pandora, riding bikes everywhere around town, watching BHS football games on Friday nights, working as a busboy at Ingall's Restaurant (now Tu Pueblo), and watching the antique car show every summer on Main Street.
In the early '70s we moved about three miles outside of town to a house my folks built at 8950 Lugabill Road. There were plenty of neighboring families with kids, including the Setzers and the Naylors.
Where did you and your friends hang out in high school since this was before coffee shops were big? What did you do for fun?
Much of my free time was devoted to sports, including pickup basketball at the Buckeye and BHS, but I also rode motorcycles off-road with a group of friends, went to movies at the Shannon Theater, hung out at the Lima Mall and cruised around in cars in and out of town. My senior year and throughout college I used to drive a '65 Ford Falcon convertible that was turquoise and had a white canvas top. I have a feeling a few of your readers will remember that car.
What car did you take your driver's test in? What are you driving these days?
I took my driver's test in, of all things, an AMC Pacer - and I failed the test the first time because I missed a stop sign. I kept my emotions in check long enough to pass the parking part, but I had to wait a week to take the road test again. I was one of the youngest kids in my class, and among the last to get my license, so that extra week seemed to crawl. (It turns out that a couple of classmates flunked their tests, too, but I didn't know that at the time.)
Another driving-related story: One day outside the high school, Bob Fields was showing me how to drive his Jeep, which had a stick shift. I pushed too hard on the gas pedal, popped the clutch and peeled out at the four-way stop on Jackson Street. Not a big deal, except that it happened in front of Jim Hicks, the chief of police, who was watching us from his squad car. He got out, shaking his head, and motioned for me to pull over. Bob could hardly keep from laughing, but I managed to avoid a ticket.
Here in Maine I drive a '98 Honda CRV. We also have a Toyota Sienna - the family van.
When did you develop an interest in writing? Were you on the Buccaneer staff while in high school? What is the first article you remember writing?
I always liked to write, and used to compose stories on Mom's Smith-Corona typewriter. At the time I was into detective and mystery stuff. I remember gaining confidence after I won a short story contest in Miss Herr's class in the 7th grade at Beaverdam Middle School.
At BHS I wasn't on the Buccaneer staff, but I was an editor of the Cutlass newspaper - Linda Begg and I shared the job our senior year. The Cutlass was published back then on a page of the Bluffton News, and Fred Steiner came into our class one day to talk about journalism. That's how I got to know Fred, and that's how I ended up working for the News for three years when I was in college.
The first piece I remember writing was a Cutlass editorial that critiqued a federal work program in town - I'd seen the workers sitting around at the job site and taking lots of breaks.
I know you played basketball in high school. Any other sports? Did you play in college? Do you still play basketball?
I played football through my freshman year at BHS, but I focused on basketball after that. My classmates on the team our senior year were Tim Closson, Joe Goodman, Andy Herrmann, Don Carroll, Jerry Shaw, Tom Boehr and Gary Hofacker. (I still keep in touch with Joe, who's an artist in Columbus, and I spent a great afternoon in 2008 catching up with Tim, who's the principal at Bluffton Elementary School.) I still play b-ball a couple of times a week, either with some guys at work during our lunch hour or in an over-30 league in the town where I live.
You went to Bluffton College and had a major in communications. What were your plans at that time? Fill in the time between college and moving to Maine. What was your first journalism job?
I finished at BC in May of '83 and started graduate school in August at the University of Missouri. I was in the broadcast program at first - radio and TV - but I switched to the magazine sequence to focus on in-depth reporting. I graduated in '85 and spent the summer in La Junta, Colorado, where my parents had moved. That fall I bought a one-way ticket to London and lived for nine months in Europe, working at a youth hostel in Scotland, traveling and writing short fiction. When I returned to the U.S., I found a job at a ski resort in Colorado, eventually ending up in Maine - more about that in a moment. My first journalism job after graduating from Missouri was as a staff writer, part time, for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram.
How did you choose Missouri for graduate school? Were you working at that time?
I applied at Missouri because it had a good reputation - maybe too good, because I didn't get accepted. So I decided to drive to Columbia and introduce myself to the dean and some of the faculty. I asked Darryl Mathewson - a BHS classmate who's now an optometrist in Defiance - to come with me, and we took a road trip there. (Fred will appreciate this: I brought along a huge bound volume of full-size editions of the Bluffton News, which contained lots of my writing samples. I'm embarrassed to admit that I spread that thing out on a professor's desk to show him some of my stories - apparently I'd decided photocopies weren't sufficient.) Anyway, about a week after we got back I received an acceptance letter in the mail. The dean, Don Brenner, added a handwritten postscript referencing my trip: "Good strategy." I also owe thanks to Ron Geiser, a longtime journalist in Bluffton, who knew Don and put in a good word on my behalf.
How did you end up in Maine? Describe the area where you live...are the winters colder or more mild than Ohio?
My wife, Beth, had an aunt who lived in South Portland for awhile. We came up for a visit and ended up getting an hours-long tour of southern Maine, including the Old Port district in Portland and the spectacular rocky coast at Two Lights State Park. I remember sitting in the back of the car, thinking, "I want to live here."
That was more than 20 years ago. We started off in Portland and now live about 10 miles north in a small town called Cumberland. Winter can be brutal - not unlike in Ohio - but the real difference is that it drags on longer here, with a short, muddy spring. Summer is fleeting, but that's what makes it special.
Where did you meet your wife? Is Beth from Maine? What kind of nursing does she do? Your mom was a nurse also - do you see any similarities between the two of them?
We met at the ski resort I mentioned earlier - Keystone - where we were both on the property-management crew. Beth kept telling me about New England, so after a year in Colorado we loaded everything we owned into my car - a green Ford Granada - and headed east. Beth worked for an insurance company and then decided to go back to school full time to get her master's degree in nursing. She's now a psychiatric nurse at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
As many people in Bluffton know, my mother was an R.N. for years and also taught at Lima Technical College (now Rhodes State College). The similarities between Mom and Beth? They're both compassionate and caring, and want to help people feel better.
What's it like being the father of two daughters? Tell me a bit about them. Ages, personalities, interests, etc.
The girls add a wonderful dimension to our lives. Julia is 12 and in the seventh grade. She's artistic and creative, with a sunny personality, and she loves to read and write. She's active in swimming, track, tennis, skiing, chorus and our church's youth group. Our first-grader, Kate, is 6. She's independent and adventurous, with a great sense of humor. She's a big reader as well and enjoys swimming, skiing and basketball. We're not sure where Kate's heading, but she's definitely a leader.
You've had a variety of writing-related jobs. Tell me about some of them. How did you get into freelance writing and what kind of publications did you write for?
I've written at one time or another for newspapers, magazines, ad agencies, PR firms and Internet companies. I got into freelancing in 2001 after two consecutive dot-com positions disappeared, and I decided I'd have more security on my own. I was self-employed for seven years, mostly writing for trade magazines - covering the restaurant, seafood and health-care industries - plus consumer publications such as US Airways Magazine.
Lots of people dream about the freelance life, but it's a tough road. I was constantly on deadline and routinely worked nights and weekends, while splitting childcare with my wife. I'm now in corporate communications, which has its own challenges, but I'm not watching the mailbox for my paychecks anymore.
What do you most enjoy about writing? What is your favorite subject to write about? Of what piece are you most proud?
I like the challenge. Whenever I take on a big project, it can be a bit overwhelming, but I always feel better once I get started with the research and organization. My favorite part is figuring out, after I have all the raw material in hand, what the essence of the story is - the "nut graph" - and then everything flows from there.
I'm working on two personal projects - at night and on weekends - and I'm excited about those. Of my published pieces, I enjoyed writing about the Maine boat-building industry, the return of tiki restaurants, the rise of hybrid cars and the resurgence of recreational vehicles (RVs).
One of my most memorable assignments was a brief profile of actor William H. Macy. I was excited to do it, and everything went well: the research, the phone interview, the writing, the editor's response. When an advance copy of the magazine arrived, though, I was shocked to see that a fact error had been edited into one of the headlines, just above my byline. The editor apologized, but I was more than a little disappointed.
Tell me about your current job. Are you located in a headquarters or the main store or do you travel from store to store?
I'm a communication specialist for a large supermarket company in the Northeast. I write communication plans, business letters, intranet stories, news releases, slide presentations, webcasts, talking points, e-mail messages - pretty much anything that involves communicating with customers, employees, the media or investors. The office building I work at is just south of Portland and the parent company is based in Belgium. I don't have to travel much, but there are news conferences and other special events that I'll attend at some of the stores a few times a year.
When were you last in Bluffton? How had things changed? Did you miss anything in particular?
We spent Christmas 2008 with my folks, who moved back to Bluffton in 2001. They come to Maine a fair amount, but I hadn't been to Ohio in three years. It was great to see so many of the people I knew growing up, and to drive around town, walk along Main Street and explore the university campus. The biggest changes were the housing developments in and around Bluffton and the new buildings and facilities at the university.
What do I miss? The sense of community. That's something that hasn't changed - and I hope never does.
Your daughters aren't yet ready to leave home for college, but it's not that far off. What might you do after they've gone? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Any chance you might end up back in Ohio?
Wow, I need to give that some thought. In 10 years Kate will only be 16 - we got a late start having kids - so we'll be in Cumberland for awhile. After that, who knows? I hope I'll still be writing, whether it's in Maine or somewhere else. In the meantime, now that the girls are a little older, we'll probably make it to Bluffton more often. It's comfortable and familiar here and, for me, it feels like home.
