For some of you who doesn't know me, I will start at the very beginning.  I was the second of four children born to Victor and Frances West. I was born on December 29, 1945.  Unlike most kids born in a hospital, I was born in a house at 415 Maple Avenue in Lexington, Kentucky.  When I was about a year old, the family up and moved to Eminence, Kentucky.  I don't remember much there except we had a well out back with an old pump handle for bring up the water.  I remember that me and my sister Ann used to go out back and stand on the concrete covering about three or four o'clock in the evening.  There was a train track just to the other side of the well, and when the train would pass, they would see us standing there and would blow their whistle.  We got a kick out of that.  When I was about four or five, the family pulled up stakes and moved to Jennings County, Indiana.  Dad bought a farm a few miles south of Butlerville, Indiana.

Let me explain a little about the farm and how we ended up there.  Dad, his brothers and sisters, his mom and dad had a big tobacco and truck farm in Sandersville, which is right outside of Lexington.  Dad and his brothers would pick fruits and vegetables and  put them on a truck and take them into Lexington to sell at a local Farmer's Market.  So, when dad had a chance to buy this 180 acre farm in southern Indiana, he jumped at the chance.  About 100 acres of this was tillable so we raised various crops, tobacco, corn, wheat, soy beans, tomatoes, strawberrys, raspberrys, plus we had about 1/2 acre for the garden plot. We also ended up with about 40 milk cows. It was a very busy time on the farm. In my spare time, I did homework from school, but no time for any outside activities.  When we did find some extra time in the evenings, my brother and I would be at one of two of the ponds we had on the farm fishing.  Sometimes if we had most of the day, we would go to our neighbors farm which had Graham Creek running through it close to out fence line.

Before I  graduated from Vernon High School in 1964, I could see the handwriting on the wall. All the big farmers were getting bigger and the smaller farmers betting smaller.  We fell into the smaller category.  So, I decided I was not going to be a farmer and took only one of few options open to me at that time. With Vietnam and the draft looming in the background, I raised my right hand and joined the United States Army. That story is for tomorrow.  It's a new dawn, it's a new day, its a new life. . . God speed til tomorrow.