I attended BGS from 1952 to 1956, leaving with a modest number of O-levels and hardly as a notable student. My main claim to fame is that I was born in Dorking, Surrey, the very same hour Hitler invaded Poland and started WWII. With my father away in the army in North Africa, we moved to Instow in North Devon, and that’s where I grew up. I attended Instow Primary School and then BGS for four years. During my time at the school, I learned to love English (thanks to Mr. Tregenza) and hate rugby. I admired our headmaster, Mr Stephenson, and we became good friends later on my return visits to Devon.
As luck would have it, I was able to come to the United States under the kind sponsorship of a U.S. Marine colonel who was assigned to the Royal Marines in Fremington at the time. For two years I worked as a bookkeeper in a large bank in Washington D.C. Then I moved to Tucson, Arizona, and worked as a teller in a bank for a year. One thing led to another, and I was able to become a student at the University of Arizona, graduating a few years later with a BA in English and French.
Obtaining an Assistantship at Arizona State University, near Phoenix, I spent three years teaching and studying for an MA in English linguistics. This included nine months of teaching on the Navajo reservation in remote northern Arizona, and writing my thesis on aspects of Diné Bizaad, the Navajo language. There followed three years as an instructor at the University of Colorado and three years at the University of New Mexico, where I got my PhD in English.
By then I was married to Ruth Ustby, a dairy farmer’s daughter from Wisconsin and an elementary school teacher. For a honeymoon we went to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for three years, where I taught at the Haile Selassie I University, while Ruth taught at the American School. Our daughter Natasha was born in Addis. Then, after a short Fulbright professorship to Benin, West Africa, we ended up in Austin, Texas, where we have been ever since. In Austin I attended the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest while also teaching at the University of Texas. Then, after ordination, I continued university teaching for the rest of my career, while also serving as a bi-vocational ‘supply’ clergyman at some thirty-five churches in the central Texas area.
So, it’s been a great life and now Ruth and I enjoy retirement, walking our dog, and visiting our daughter and family. I read a lot too, particularly in my field of interest, which is the Great War – World War One.
