I was born on a farm in the north woods of Michigan.

I joined the United States Marine Corps when I was 19 years old. I went through boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. I became a radar operator and was stationed at Kanehoe Bay Marine Corps Air Station in Hawaii.

In September of 1961, President John Kennedy decided that he was going to have the Marines make an amphibious assault on the beaches of South Vietnam!. We put all of our radar gear on board ship, crossed the Pacific ocean and made ready about 3 miles off the beaches of South Vietnam. We stood offshore for three days and then we went north to the island of Okinawa.

From that moment forward we began to practice warfare 24/7. It was was while "standing down" from a military maneuver on the island off Lanai in the Hawaiian Islands that I dove into shallow water and broke my neck.

I eventually ended up at Crile V A Hospital near Cleveland, Ohio. I left there in December of 1962 with a paraplegic and we drove to Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. We rented a house and we immediately fell in love with the Mexican people. There was a large community of expatriates in wheelchairs in the city of Quadalajara about three hours north of us. We never went there for some reason.

In May of 1963 I married a Mexican girl and we moved to Michigan. We began college and after two years we transferred to Cal State University in Long Beach, California. We both became schoolteachers and we taught school for 25 years.

In 2005 we were traveling in our motorhome through the Mexican state of Campeche and we happened upon a rather dilapidated RV park/hotel that had 316 feet of beach! We immediately fell in love with the place! We spent the night and the next morning I asked the old man who owned the place if he wanted to sell. He said yes and 15 minutes later we were the owners.

It took us two years to renovate Freedom Shores and when we were finished, it was 100% wheelchair accessible. The hotel has nine large rooms that can easily accommodate a minimum of four people per room. All the bathrooms have roll in showers and roll over commodes. We have a four-star restaurant with two chefs who serve delectable cuisine. We have a wheelchair accessible palapa on the beach that is 32 feet wide by 75 feet long and it is an excellent place to sit and watch the dolphins, the pelicans and the seagulls frolic offshore. We have a 22 foot deck boat that has a 125 hp Mercury outboard and can carry comfortably four people in wheelchairs and their temporarily able-bodied friends. It is a wonderful vehicle to go fishing, photograph the birds at Bird Island, collect gorgeous seashells on Seashell Island and to explore the varied life in the mangroves.

The very best time for the disabled to come to Freedom Shores is from October 15th through April 15th. That is when the climate is the most temperate. It does get into the 80's sometimes, but there is always a nice breeze coming in off of the Gulf of Mexico.

How has the disability change your life?

I instantaneously went from a 6' 4", 215 pounds of gorilla meat, who could pick up the front end of a Volkswagen, to a vegetable on a Stryker Frame!

I can honestly say that I don't remember ever crying but I do remember being very confused about my condition. No one around me was willing to talk to me about my future.

I think, in rebellion, that was the reason I left the VA hospital and went to Mexico. I wanted to find myself. I wanted to test my limits. If they wouldn't tell me about my condition, I would find out the answers myself!

I went through a very short period, along with two other SCI buddies, of excessive drinking and carousing. I was lucky enough to meet my wife, get married, return to the United States, enter college and get my act together.

I became a high school teacher and a real estate investor. While working as a teacher full-time, I would buy distressed houses and fix them up on the weekends. I would then rent the houses until I had enough money to pay off the mortgages. I then sold the houses on land contracts. I made much more money in real estate than I ever did in teaching. I really love teaching and the money I received working as a teacher allowed me to buy my houses.

I think my disability, when all is said and done, has made me a better person. I dread to think what might've happened to me if I had not been injured that day on that beautiful beach in Hawaii.

I can say that if I had my life to do over again I wouldn't change a thing!

Disability is a strange bedfellow. It makes some people weak and sadly they fall by the wayside. It makes other strong and I am amazed by what the disabled have accomplished! I am proud to be a soldier in the Army of the disabled! What we have accomplished in my lifetime is astonishing. What we are yet to accomplish, I can hardly fathom!

Persistence!

I never let anyone tell me that I couldn't do something! If they did, that gave me the incentive to do it just to prove them wrong and to prove to myself that I could do it!

I have found, when encountering barriers in my life, that you can go around them, under them or over them!

Obstacles shouldn't stop you, they should make you stronger!
Just keep going! Never stop! Never let anyone stand in your way!

I hope to develop Freedom Shores into an inclusive world-class tourist/sports destination.

I hope to live to see the day when Mexico is wheelchair accessible!

I hope to live to see the day when those of us in wheelchairs have "wheelchairs only" designated parking.

I hope to live to see the day when the police actually enforce the "blue zones!"

I hope live to see the day when there is a cure for SCI.

I hope to live to see the day when there is a cure for MS & MD.

Business Profile

Farm Equipment Operator -- Michigan

General Farm Operation -- Michigan

Fruit Farming -- Michigan

Radar Operator -- United States Marine Corps

High School Spanish Teacher -- California

Real Estate Developer -- California

Financial Planning -- California

Hotel Beach Resort Operator -- Mexico