My story begins in January 1980, as I tell our seven children, ages 30, 28, 26, 24, 21, 17 and 11, that my intention is for them to know more about their father. During the course of the year, I wrote about my childhood, service in the navy, how I met their mother, and my mis-adventures while trying to make a difference for the better. I had the pages that I had written copied and stapled, and I gave each of them what I had written as a Christmas present. I did the same in 1990 and again in 2000. Collectively, it is now a thirty-year account of family life in the twentieth century.