July 31, 1977 was the beginning of my lifelong journey with Melanie Janell Roll. Today – July 31, 2022 is 45 years, 4 and 1/2 decades and 16,425 days into that journey. As we stood in front of a packed church in Clinton, Oklahoma in 1977 – on that day so many years ago holding hands

I believe that everyone has that ONE teacher that changed them. Believed in them. Encouraged them. Helped them to believe in themselves, maybe for the first time. That ONE teacher for me was my Jr. High & Sr. High English teacher, Mrs. Sarah C. Turney. Melanie and I have remained in contact with Mrs. Turney’s

About eighteen years ago – I had an awesome idea. My boys were teenagers and we’d always bought firewood. It made sense to me that we could cut our own and actually make money. I did some research on chainsaws, bought one, an extra chain, gas can, 2-cycle and chain oil and gloves.

One of my key components of success is a serious sense of urgency. Just like in the Olympics, those that win the medals have a serious sense of urgency. They are always looking for something that can give them that .001 percent advantage over their competition.

This saying is one of my earliest learnings on how to be successful. It was during my early years at United Supermarkets of Oklahoma where I spent the first 27 years of my career. I went from being a produce manager, assistant manager, store manager, director of I.T. systems to head buyer and got to