Before I Became Pop

None of us become who we are alone.
As I look back over nearly seventy years, I realize my life has been shaped by an incredible cast of people. Grandparents who taught me the value of hard work. Parents who loved me, even through difficult times. Teachers, Scout leaders, coaches, pastors, employers, friends, and business partners who believed in me when I didn't always believe in myself.
Some of them taught me through kindness. Others taught me through hardship. A few never realized they were teaching me at all.
This book began while I was recovering from a tractor accident that forced me to slow down for the first time in my life. What started as a way to pass the time quickly became something much more important—a chance to preserve the stories that made me who I am before they were forgotten.
Along the way, you'll meet remarkable people. Some were family. Some were lifelong friends. Others crossed my path for only a brief moment but left a lasting mark. You'll share in moments of laughter, heartbreak, unexpected success, failure, faith, and second chances. You'll see how a kid from a New England mill town found a career he never planned, built businesses he never imagined, traveled roads he never expected, and discovered that life's greatest achievements aren't measured by titles or trophies.
In the end, this isn't really my story.
It's the story of the people who invested in me, challenged me, encouraged me, forgave me, loved me, and ultimately helped shape the husband, father, grandfather, and friend I became.
If these pages inspire my family to remember where they came from, encourage someone to appreciate the people who have shaped their own life, or simply remind a reader that kindness has a way of living on through generations, then this book has accomplished exactly what I hoped it would.