MAJOR:
History
DEGREE:
B.A in
History
from Florida
Atlantic University
with a minor in
Anthropology
, 2001, summa cum laude
CURRENT
POSITION:
Curator of
Education, Historical Society of Palm Beach
County and the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum
FIRST
JOB:
I had two at the same time, part-
time as a handyman at the apartment complex my
family lived at and part
-time working at Winchell's Donuts in Everett, Washington. A
fter I left
Winchell's for the military, it was a long time before I would eat donuts.
BIGGEST
CHALLENGES:
Completing twenty years in the US Army as a Military Policeman;
developing some of the Historical Society’s first education programs for children; developing a
docent program for the Johnson History Museum
. The latter
was a challenge because I had to
train twenty
-three docents to be ready when the museum opened. This was done without the
benefit of training in the museum because it was being built out
while we were training so I had
to be really creative.
BEST
FAU
MEMORY:
My favorite memories are thos
e of my history professors, Dr
s.
Norman, Breslow, Engle, Curl, Lowe, and Hanne.
ROLE DEPT. OF HISTORY PLAYED IN YOUR CAREER:
The History Department
play
ed a big part in my career. It was through the department that I found out about an internship
at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County. I was able to intern at the Society for two
semesters and then volunteer. Because of my internship, I was hired
as the education
coordinator at the Society following my graduation. If it had not been for the History Department
and Dr. Norman, I would not have been able to secure a job in my field. Thank you FAU History
Department! Internships do lead to jobs. I am a
firm believer in that.
GOAL:
To be as good as I can be at my job, as a husband, and as a father.
Favorite Book:
This is a difficult question for me because I have read so many good books. I
will have to say that as a teenager I read most of, if not all, the books written by Edgar Rice
Burroughs and then Patrick Smith’s
A Land Remembered
, a historical novel
about Florida.
PERSONAL:
I like to photograph nature; my wife and travel when we can; of course history, particularly Florida history and ancient history; I collect ancient coins; we have one son, Logan, who graduated from UF last year with a masters in art and is now an adjunct professor at UF and our other son, James, is married and graduated last year with a BA in philosophy from Indiana University at Purdue University at Indianapolis. James is now applying for a graduate program. I am co-author of Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America: West Palm Beach: 1893-1950 (2006) and Palm Beach (2009); author of Arcadia Publishing’s Then & Now: Palm Beach (2013); and producer and co-writer of the Historical Society’s one-hour documentary: “Puddle Jumpers of Lantana: The Civil Air Patrol’s Coastal Patrol Base 3” (2007), which has been aired on local television.
