Prologue

This is the story of a dream come true.My dad was born on September, 1946 in Centerville, Iowa as the oldest of what would eventually be five siblings. After a difficult childhood bouncing between Iowa and Southern California he ran away from home the summer before his senior year. He would finish high school, and then spent four years in the Navy. Although he was in the Navy during the Vietnam War, he was stationed in the Atlantic and in his words the most action he saw during Vietnam was “throwing rocks at Cubans”.After his four-year tour, dad attended college and completed an undergraduate degree in Industrial Technology at California Polytechnic State University. He met and married his first wife, had what would be his only child, and went on to live his life. With a divorce, a second marriage, a second divorce, a graduate degree from the University of San Francisco, and a series of middle- and upper-management positions with various companies.Dad would eventually settle in San Die