I graduated from Haywood Community College in Clyde, North Carolina, with an associate degree in wildlife management in 1972. I applied with SCDNR at a time when there were two to three years of no openings, so I worked in construction for a while. In 1975, I got my first job as a wildlife technician. For personal reasons, I only worked at that job for five and a half years.

I spent one year in construction, but then in 1981, I returned to natural resource management, and I've been here ever since. I started here working as a minimum-wage laborer. The Department of Natural Resources placed me with an area manager who was getting ready to retire. He only had a third grade education. He couldn't do mileage reports, and things were getting more technical, requiring a good understanding of math and English. When he retired, I took his job as an area manager. Today, my title is Natural Resources Technician Three.