Grand Haven Mens Golf Assoc.

We moved to Grand Haven in the summer of 2021.  My wife and I spent a few weeks in March in a rental in St. Augustine and didn’t want to go home.  We found a realtor who lived in Palm Coast and she encouraged us to look here.  We were fortunate to find a home on Front Street and were able to do a door to door move.  We are extra fortunate to have John and Kathy Rybacki living right across the street!

 

Growing up my father worked as an engineer for American Airlines, and our family moved every few years.  We lived in Tennessee, Oklahoma, New York, Great Britain, Connecticut, California and back to Oklahoma.

 

I was able to get a nomination and appointment to West Point and was commissioned as an Armor Officer.  After Ranger and Airborne school, I was assigned to Ft Carson CO.  I met my wife in my senior year at West Point, and we were married in Colorado Springs in the summer of 1978.  On active duty, we lived at Ft Carson, CO; then Ft Benning, GA; and finally, Ft Lewis, WA.  At Ft Lewis, I was a Cavalry Troop commander and Tank Company commander with an 8-month excursion in between, to train members of the Lebanese Army in Beirut, Lebanon.  By a stroke of providence, I wasn’t in the Embassy when it was bombed, but just down the street.  Our team left Lebanon intact shortly before the Marine Barracks bombing a few months later.    

 

Deciding that I had more than my fair share of fun in the Army and hoping to settle down with my family and not subject them to so many moves, I left active duty and moved to Evanston, IL where I began my career with New York Life in 1986.  The intent was to stay there forever, however, I was offered an opportunity to move to Heidelberg, West Germany to lead our European business.  Unfortunately, once we got settled, I was recalled to active duty for the Persian Gulf War and most of our potential market was either in the desert with me or reassigned back to the States as the Berlin Wall had just come down.  From Germany, New York Life moved us to Worchester, Massachusetts; then to Newtown, Connecticut; then Seoul, South Korea; Bethesda, Maryland and finally back to Connecticut.  I retired from New York Life management in 2013 and returned to private practice as a financial adviser.

 

I still work as an Adviser and I have clients located all over the States, many of them Army Officers.  My wife Barrett enjoys golf and tennis.  We have three adult children and 5 grandchildren. Our oldest daughter is married, lives in Jacksonville and works for New York Life.  My son graduated from West Point in 2002 as did his wife.  He is a regional director for an international renewable energy company in Houston, a Lieutenant Colonel in the DC National Guard and they have three children.  My youngest daughter is an attorney and just had her second child.  Her husband graduated West Point as well in 2009 and now works in Silicon Valley, CA.   

 

Despite the preponderance of evidence to the contrary, I am trying to improve my game, but progress is slow as I am only able to regularly play once a week with the MGA.  I very much appreciate the camaraderie of the group and the friendships that have developed.  I appreciate the leaders of the group past and present who have created and maintain such a great group!