My Family

Families are very important and I have been blessed with a really great one. For 11 years it was just my mother, my dad, my brother, my sister, and me. In 1987 my mother passed away suddenly and my father was left to raise three of the most troublesome kids:). After doing a super-human job for a year, my father got a little help when was remarried to Gail, who he had actually dated in high school. She had recently lost her husband to cancer. She and her two children Mark and Karin made a great sacrifice and moved from Oregon to Durham. After a bumpy start we started to come together as family and now get along very well.

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My family growing up My expanded family with step siblings at my wedding
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My new family Our Kids
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Our Cats Heather's parents
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My brother David, his wife Emily and their son Warren My sister Katie and her husband John
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My step-brother Mark, his wife Jenny, and their daughter Claire My step-sister Karin, her husband John, and their kids Graham and Penolope

Jim (Dad): My father grew up in Lansing Illinios in a hard working Dutch family. His parents were some of the nicest people I've ever meet. He went to Cornell for undergrad on a baseball scholarship and then went to Northwestern for graduate school in Economics. He meet my mother in a snow storm in Chicago and after they were married they moved to Durham to work at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He still works at Duke after more than 25 years and also owns his own consulting company Financial Strategy Associates which consults for utility companies on rate of return.

Ann (my mother): The memories I have are very fond. She grew up all over the word since her father was an Army officer. She went to Duke and worked awhile at a bank and off and on as a language teacher. She also helped my father with his company. She passed away suddenly in August 28, 1987 from a possible brain aneurysm.

Gail: My step-mother also grew up in Lansing Illinios. She also went to Cornell. After college she went to Tailand to work. She worked for the government translating for awhile and then worked at the University of Oregon. Her husband and my mother passed away in the same year. My father contacted her to help her through her grief since he had just been through a similar situation, and they came to realize how much they still had in common and soon got married. Now she helps my father with his company working feverishly to help him get his testimonies out.

David: My older brother was born in 1974. He went to Duke for undergraduate and now works as an actuary in Washington D.C. He married Emily in in October of 2004. In 2009 they had their son Warren. David now works in Raleigh with the state pension program. We had our fights as kids but now we get along very well.

Katie: My younger sister was born in 1979 at our house. She finished college in New Jersey and is now working in Raleigh, NC. She really likes writing and rock climbing.

Karin: My step-sister went to Medical School, spent 4 years as an Air Force Doctor and now is a pediatrician in western North Carolina. She and John got married the summer of 2002 and twins in the summer of 2005. They have a full and happy family.

Mark: My step-brother finished his Phd in economics and is now working as a consultant for an economics firm. He and his wife Jenny Angel have a daughter named claire who enjoys being the oldest cousin. The three are living happily outside of Boston.

My wife Heather: In 2006 Heather and I got married. We met while in the military both stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. She is also a Civil Engineer. She grew up in Wheeling WV and went to West Virginia University.

My daughter Sophia: Sophia was born 2011 Sophia was born here in Charlottesville Virginia. She loves princesses, fairies, fancy girl parties, and of course following her dad everywhere he goes.

My son James: James was born in the fall of 2014 here in Charlottesville. He loves drooling, waking up his parents, and smiling all the time.