Jim Grubbs

As Dr. Jim Grubbs puts it in the opening chapter of Growing Up In The Military, Born Dependent, "They tell me I was born in Oklahoma City... at least that's what my birth certificate says. You couldn't prove it by me. They tell me there are oil rigs within view of where I was born. Guess I just wasn't destined to be J.R. Ewing." That was in September of 1949.

During childhood, Jim lived both on and off military bases from Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, D.C. to Okinawa, Honolulu, Hawaii and Tokyo, Japan. He first came to southern Illinois just before his tenth birthday, remaining in the area except for the family tour of Japan. He graduated with honors in 1967 from Chofu Dependents High School. The school, then located about twenty miles west of Tokyo, has since been demolished. It was here in Japan that Jim's sister, the youngest member of the family, was born.

Jim describes his career as a "patch-work" all relating to communications. He was first heard both on AM radio in Japan and around the world on short-wave via the Far East Network, a branch of the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. After several years at college, he entered commercial broadcasting stateside where he was honored by Billboard Magazine as one of the best small-market radio personalities of 1971. Later he was instrumental in successfully placing a new commercial FM broadcast station - WNNS - on the air in Springfield, Illinois.

Jim has a long-time interest in computers that dates back to 1963, the same year his brother was born. Jim's implementation of a digital computer took the first place award for his division in the Saint Louis Science Fair. Twenty years later he found himself writing for several national computer magazines. He has published more than 200 manuscripts internationally.

In recent years, Jim returned to college to complete both a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Illinois at Springfield. His Ph.D. is from Indiana University. Jim teaches a variety of courses in communication while continuing to share his experiences through his writing.

Dr. Grubbs currently resides in central Illinois, the home of the "Horseshoe Sandwich" (his favorite food), "Captain Rat and the Blind Rivets" (his favorite oldies band), "The Dana-Thomas House" (his favorite Frank Lloyd Wright home). He enjoys swing dancing with the love of his life, Donna.