Rocky Ridge, OH

I was raised in Rocky Ridge, Ohio till the age of 13.  Rocky Ridge is surrounded by open fields and has no stop lights or convenience stores.  I lived with my grandparents, my mom and my uncle's family.  Some of my relatives still live there.  My grandfather did carpentry work and my grandmother was a housekeeper.  My family also worked in fields picking vegetables and fruits.

I was young when my parents divorced and my father died when I was 10 years old.  Both my mother and father are from Texas originally and both are Mexican-American.  My father worked as a laborer while my mother worked as a social worker and eventually received her Master's from Bowling Green State University.

My grandparents moved to a 70 acre farm in Williams County, Ohio and I visited often spending my summers there.  My grandfather raised animals and planted crops.   Both my grandparents were heavy smokers and my grandfather died of cancer when I was 11 years old.  After my grandfather died my grandmother moved back to Rocky Ridge and we rarely went to the farm.  My grandmother went on to outlive him for 21 years then she died on March 7, 1999 of heart failure.  Not much is left of the farm after a tornado hit it in 1990.  I loved living in the country.

1979

In 1979 I moved to Toledo, Ohio with my mom were she worked.  I graduated from Whitmer High School in 1984 and enlisted in the Army.  I spent 3 years in the Service; half of that time was spent in Germany.  While overseas I was able to visit; France, Italy, Spain and Crete, Greece.  Later, I served 6 years in the National Guard as a combat medic.

I attended Bowling Green State University and  took up nursing and graduated with a 3.6 GPA.  I met my wife Cathy in nursing school.  As a new graduate, I found it difficult to find a job in Toledo.  Finally a was hired at Sinai Hospital in Detroit.

I bought a house and moved to Warren, Michigan, a heavily populated suburb of Detroit.  My home is a brick ranch with a basement.  I wish I could have bought a home in the country but I couldn't afford it.  I have to mention my cocker spaniel named Gabby.  He is a dear member of our family.