Dave Thornton

An Oklahoma dry land farm boy hijacked to New Mexico at a young and impressionable age. Raised in a tiny village called "Loving" (and it pretty much was) 12 miles south of the larger and better known city of Carlsbad, where I graduated high school. A tour (in North Africa and Turkey) with the USAF before spending five (fairly "liquid") years at Eastern New Mexico University, where I worked full-time for the daily News-Tribune while pretending to attend college full-time. BA and (most of) a Masters in language arts, before certifying to teach; which I did waaayyy too long. Married, briefly. Taught high school speech arts in Antioch, Calif., my old high school in Carlsbad, in Cambridge and Schenectady, NY. Married long term to Jo and watched her skillfully raise two really top flight daughters. Wrote more than a million words of local history, organized and ran a community archive, played in (and later managed) an ancient parade band, called simply "The Cambridge Band", which my research dates to 1853. Spent more time with my head in a microfilm reader than I did teaching school. Played lots of tennis. Watched our girls "take off". Learned the utter necessity of partnering with a loving, caring, brilliant mate. Played a critical role in creating a permanent Veterans Honor Roll to the soldiers from the Old Cambridge District. Ran the local cemetery. Served as local historian. Retired and went south, where I play Dixie tuba and trombone, while plowing thru a ton of stuff I wrote while the juices flowed. (Gasp! I can't get tired of this life!) dt