The author was born in 1936 in Murphy, a small town in western NC. Moving to the Washington, D.C. area at the age of seven with his parents, he later attended several local schools, including George Mason High School, the University of Maryland and George Washington University, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees, respectively, from the latter. He and his wife of 19 years have no children. He retired from the U.S. Department of Labor in 1995 after 36 years of Federal service in various mid-level positions, including 18 years with the Job Corps Program, maintaining statistics and helping to develop training programs.