After enlisting in the Navy and training as a Boatswains Mate I was sent to Viet Nam where I was pressed into the business of unloading cargo ships in Danang. This is where I acquired a love of rigging, which led me to my specialty as a stevedore. During the remainder of my 25 years at sea I needed something to keep me occupied while transiting from one country to the next. It was only natural that I construct ship model kits as they didn’t take up too much room and I had access to all of the technical data that I needed to be accurate in my models. While visiting ports throughout the world I was also exposed to many types of marine craft, which only helped to enhance my curiosity of ships in general.

For many years I constructed models that I either, kept and later gave away to family members, or destroyed because I was not happy with the quality of the model. I knew that there was a small market for ship models but felt that if I tried to sell my models I would lose the feeling of this being a hobby.

After finding that there was a model ship club in the Denver area, Rocky Mountain Shipwrights, I was encouraged in the comments that I received from members that my work was of a high quality. This is when, several years later, a member recommended me to the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver to help in the restoration of a large collection of ship models. These models were probably constructed early in the 20th century and which the Ship Tavern was built around. I bid on one ship model of this collection to show the hotel the quality of my work and ended up getting the contract to restore the entire collection. Since then I have worked on this collection and four private collections.

It is still a hobby, albeit I get paid for my work. I have found that it is a challenge to take old models that have deteriorated over the years and restore to the original condition that the model builder intended for his project. I work to exacting standards to match the proper scale, materials and color while preserving the value of the models. I also research each model, which I provide to the owner for their reference.

Hopefully, I am helping to preserve marine history, which has always been and will continue to be a large part of the world we live in.