Insight of Caring, my primary website

​

My mother and I lived for several years with her parents after my father died as an Army Air Force pilot just months after WWII ended. I was 13 months old. When my Grandfather was young, he delivered mail for the Hudson Bay Company in northern Canada. He moved to Detroit to start a family and had his own radio drama that featured his wilderness experiences. He also wrote several books that were never published.  Like a lot of dads, I loved to read books to my two children. As a parent educator and speaker, I believed the best teachers were also great storytellers. 

 

The drama of storytelling was an important part of my professional life as a speaker and workshop leader. Carolyn Foat and I wrote Once Upon a Mind that focused on about 80 picture books for children. Several years after it became out-of-print, I wrote From Wonder to Wisdom that was published by New American Library/Penguin.

 

Stories and storytelling have always been an important part of my life. For two years I had a children's TV show on our Topeka NBC affiliate called Butterberry Hill that featured puppets interacting with an audience of young children and their grandparents. I conducted storytelling concerts for public school children in groups of 15 to 600. I also wrote and conducted a one-man play called My Grandfather, My Son in several midwestern states.

 

I am now a retired Professor Emeritus in the School of Family Studies and Human Services at Kansas State University where I was a state specialist for 35 years focusing on parents and children. I was essentially a blue-collar academic with a focus on creating and introducing educational programs for children, parents, and teachers. I loved traveling throughout Kansas to conduct these programs. I also enjoyed presenting workshops and conducting conference keynotes throughout the country.