Academic and Career Accomplishments
Ravenna High School set a solid foundation beneath my feet in preparation for several interesting and rewarding profession careers. I credit many teachers for percolating within me a love of learning which continues across a lifetime of eclectic academic pursuits. Chief among these disciplines has been a love of classical philosophy, which sharpens reason and clarifies thinking. These habits of the mind have proven helpful throughout more than thirty years as a federal criminal investigator with U.S. Naval Intelligence and the U.S. Treasury Department.
Participation in music, foreign language studies and athletics, while a student at RHS, rounded out an appreciation for working closely with others toward a common goal. I have been blessed with opportunities to serve as an ordained minister in three local parishes, to teach philosophy as a college adjunct-professor, and to enjoy travels with my wife and children to many interesting destinations.
Regardless of where such travels have led, however, Ravenna always retains the feeling of home when I am able to return there. Henry David Thoreau was required reading in American literature when I was a junior at RHS. It was he who proffered the challenge to, “…front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” I’ve embraced Thoreau’s challenge to lead the examined life by pursuing essentials more so than peripherals. I harbor no regrets for having done so.
Doctoral research in the realm of particle physics and systematic theology convinces me that there are far more opportunities for disorder in the universe than there are for complex life forms like us human beings. How fortunate we are then not only to “be” in the first place, but to be linked together in such purposeful and meaningful ways. If my wife, Roberta, and I are able to pass along any sort of legacy to our three children and their children, it is this: learning to form great questions is more rewarding than finding ready made answers. I’m honored to be a Raven!