My Portfolio

It was an exciting day for me as I was anticipating a conference call with a potential new client for my business, LTA Media. I was pacing, waiting for the call  in the living room of our lake house at Rarity Bary in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The...

Charles & Carolyn Spratt with our two sons 1978 about a year before her death. March 28 1979 is a date that will live on in the memories of my family for ever . That is the date that my first wife , the mother of my first two son’s died...

I have been encouraged to write some more about my Grandma Beavers by my cousin . Because he said he didn’t know an awful lot about her except his memories of her soon after her husband had died and she was a crabby old woman . My mother was the youngest...

Since Tom Cormier’s son Tyler wrote a story about his experience with his dirt bike and his cars I will write one about my deceased son’s car. Since he is not around to do it for himself. It’s just too good of a story not to pass along. Charlie as we...

When I was in high school in Pauls Valley ,Oklahoma the main thing we did during the summer months was go camping at Lake Murray near Ardmore Oklahoma. This is about 50 miles from the Texas state line . It never gets cold until late December that far south . This...

September 11 2001 was just like all of the other days that had came before . I got up , made the coffee , got my lunch and my wife’s lunch together getting ready for another day at work . My wife always turned the TV on to listen to the...

But I was not surprised.

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Last week’s story prompt was something along the lines of “What proud accomplishment did you share together with a friend, colleague or family member.” I had to think a long time about that question, but finally I figured out the answer. It’s been...

Where were you when the terrorists attacked on 9-11 and how did you learn about it? It's the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States. Your feelings and personal perspective will be important to future generations. Politics aside, it's more about how you and your family were affected...

Willemke de Jong, the subject of this sketch, was born Willemke Steenblok to Tallegien (Talligje) Steenblok on November 21, 1844 in Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.   She was Tallegien's second daughter, according to records found in Groningen. Willemke Steenblok de Jong, about 1927 Willemke must have had a very hard life.  Her...

World Rally Championships, Rally Cross, or just Rally Racing in general just oozes skill and determination when you start talking about motorsports.  At 12 years old I was introduced, unofficially, into this world of on the edge of your seat racing.  Now some people might think that's pretty impressive to be...

It was about 3 years ago in 2008 that I had a dream that my mother was dying. I don't know what put it into my head but it was as clear as day. Thankfully, she is alive and well today at 83 and I couldn't be more fortunate to have...

Antoon Thiessens, ca 1927 (age 79 years) Antoon Thiessens, the subject of this sketch, was born January 28, 1848 the fourth child by the second marriage of Hendrik Thiessen or Thiessens.  Hendrik was a tailor by trade.  His mother was Grietje Bulthuis, and he was born in the norther Dutch city...

After the demise of our sign business in 1989 Christine, the boys and I were taken in by one of our clients and good friends, Robert Cyr, who was about to restore a 240 year old condemned farmhouse into a fabulous Victorian gingerbread Inn. It was just what we needed after...

    My grandfather Loy was born September 16, 1884, the same year as future President Harry S. Truman and "modern" Italian artist Modigliani came along. It was the year Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn, a well-loved and hilarious American classic now under fire due to our national romance with the...

I grew up in rural Belleville in St. Clair County Illinois in an area known as Dutch Hollow.  The kids were relatively safe and could go anywhere in the area and they knew if they misbehaved it would be dealt with then and there.  We had a neighborhood tavern where the...

When I was small I would go outside and play like any other kid so mom would tell me don’t go out of the yard.  Now you have to understand that I lived on a little hill and there was a field that my dad would put a garden in and...

When “The War” ended in 1945 we had lived with shortages for four long years.  We were ripe and ready for new things.  Our factories had learned to mass-produce guns, planes, tanks, and trucks.   Now with the war over they were “all dressed up with no place to go.”   They needed...

With 10 kids it was impossible for my parents to give any of us much one on one personal time. Although many of could argue that there was definitely a "favorite" and also the "baby" and of course, the last little girl, all of whom received maybe just a "little" more...

I was much too young to be personally involved in this escapade but it is a story that was told and re-told many times around the table in later years at family get-togethers. Knowing my older brothers as I did I am convinced it is a true story. *******     ...