Richard Davis:  

I retired from the Florida Department of Transportation June, 2009, after working for 36 years in State Personnel as an analyst and manager. My wife and I are celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary this month (July, 2009). We were college sweethearts at the University of Florida after meeting in our Freshman year. We have two sons and 2 grandsons. I served in the Army in Alaska from 1968 to 1970. We love to travel to New England and the Northeast especially in fall when the brilliant colors are their best. We love the history, architecture, climate, atmosphere, scenery and seafood. I come by my love for New England naturally. I was born in Marblehead and lived in Topsfield, Massachusetts until I was 12 when my parents moved to Miami. Talk about culture shock! I loved my childhood home and still think Topsfield was a great place to grow up. It is the quintesential New England small town and only about 30 minutes north of Boston (at the age of 6 -12 years old, a world away), and seemed ideal for me. What I find curious is how much my wife has come to love the Northeast too. She is a native Floridian from Orlando (pre-Disney)and has no connection to the area other than through our trips there. If it hadn't been for college we wouldn't have crossed paths. Strange how little things change or make your future. Our first year and a half of marriage was in Anchorage, Alaska compliments of the US Army; which was a great place to be in 1969-70 rather than the alternative available in a very warm climate with hostile neighbors in Southeast Asia. Back to college for me after the chilly north to finish my business management degree. Another seemingly minor decision led me to work for the University of Florida in their personnel office. Little did I know then that would lead to a career in personnel administration and human resource management for the State of Florida. My wife is a retired secondary education teacher of English/language arts and social studies. We have lived in Tallahassee since 1977, hopefully growing old gracefully. I look back at my time at Palmetto H.S. and Cutler Ridge Jr High with a mixture of nostalgia and wonder. We were on top of the world then (at least we thought we were), yet so much was to happen to everyone (including us) during the 1960's. It was a time of social upheaval, changing of the guard, loss of innocence and world changing events. What a time to be a teenager/young adult and to come of age then. I can hear a piece of music from the sixties and remember what was going on then. Most of the time, it brings happy thoughts and memories. But once in a while, it brings on a case of the "mully gru...Expand for more