About

What is our story?

Well let me give you a quick overview of our 41+ years together, then we will post more detail in the days to come.

We began dating in the early 70’s when we were in high school.   Lon was a senior and BMOC while I was a freshman.   Lon claims we danced at one of the high school dances after a basketball game.  Our first encounter with one another!   After an “on-and-off again” relationship for 5 years, and a near-missed, God-inspired reunion, we decided to get married.   The blessed event took place on August 12, 2014.

We were both trying to get through undergraduate school, when Cory Michael was born (June 8, 1975), followed by the birth of Kelli Rebecca (April 10, 1977) 22 months later.  No, we were not through with undergraduate school.

I graduated in 1977 and Lon in 1978.  Lon landed a teaching position at Minerva High School, Minerva, Ohio.   I was a stay-at-home mom until Kelli was 3 years old, then I taught at GlenOak High School in Canton, Ohio.   We taught for 20 some years.  We built a lovely home on Lake Mohawk (a private lake in Malvern, Ohio), the kids got married and gave us 4 wonderful grandkids; Kellen, Sehrena, Christian, and Layne.    We were living the “American dream”!     I entered the menopausal season of my life and upset the status quo big time!

Fast forward…we unloaded our beautiful home so I could attend graduate school fulltime from 2000-2009. I earned a MS in Biology and a PhD in Environment and Natural Resources.   I, then completed a postdoctoral project in 2011.  In the meantime, Lon quit teaching so we could live together during my graduate work, holding several different jobs in telecommunications, truck driving, and finally landed the job of his dreams in 2006 as field researcher surveying the biology in rivers and streams.   I was unable to secure an academic position after the postdoc experience so I created my own work by entrepreneurially developing two small businesses; an online boutique and an urban farm.   The businesses were/are fledgling but had/have potential.

It was Lon’s turn to upset the status quo.  He asked if I would like to travel with him through the 2014 field season.   I couldn’t think of a reason not to, so here we are traveling through various eastern states conducting river and stream survey research.   An Itinerates Perspective is our effort to share this “adventure” with family, friends, and friends-yet-unmet!