I was born in Spokane, WA in 1950, and have spent most of my life in the town of my birth. I graduated from West Valley High School in 1969 and went into the Coast Guard that summer, primarily to evade the draft and avoid fighting in a war which I considered immoral. While still in the service I met and married my first (and so far only) wife. Together we have a daughter, born in 1973, almost two years after we were married, and a son, born in 1985, on Thanksgiving Day. In 1994, our daughter blessed us with our one and only grandchild, a girl. In the fall of 2001 we will celebrate a full 30 years together, and if we both live long enough, will most likely celebrate our golden anniversary together as well.
Currently I am employed as a manager in a home-grown convenience store chain. I am assigned to a store not three blocks from the high-school I graduated from. I am continuing to learn managerial responsibilities. Among those responsibilities is preparing my people for advancement. One thing I am continuing to learn is that by enabling my people to do a better job, I make my own job easier. I also get the satisfaction of seeing people I have trained grow into their own responsibilities and cite me as a reason for that growth.
While all this may give you a glimpse of who I am, I hope that it is my work which is most important to you. If I held seven master's degrees and five doctorates, yet was off the wall, all of my education would not matter to you. If you find what I have to offer here meaningful, I hope that my lack of post-graduate work will not hinder your acceptance of this work.
The name is a pseudonym. "Uthur" is the ancient Celtic version of my given name. "From the town by the sea" is a literal translation of the Scottish slur that eventually became my sir name. "Uthur, from the Town by the Sea" suits my purposes for my writing and is the name I shall use in that activity. I have no intention of legally changing my real name to this. In answer to the question, "where did he get that strange name?" I made it up. If that makes me strange, so be it.
I celebrate my faith in the United Church of Christ. (The UCC logo can be seen on the back of my logo as it spins on my clan's tartan to the left. Clicking on that graphic will take you to the UCC Web Site, in a new window.) I prefer this denomination for several reasons. First, the UCC is the most liberal denomination in the United States that still considers itself to be Christian. Next, the UCC is the only denomination that has adopted a policy which accepts gays, lesbians, and transsexuals or transgendered, not only into the church, but into all areas of the ministry as well. However, since they are congregational in governmental style, this policy has to be adopted by each church or regional judicatory (conference) before it applies to them. Then, the formation of this denomination says a lot about it. The UCC is made up of two very dissimilar denomination which, in 1957, joined fully aware of their difference determined that their commonality, their faith in Christ, was more important than all the differences put together, and that with Christ's help, those differences would be worked out...and the denomination continues to work for unity. While the UCC doesn't advocate that all denominations combine under one roof, it is continuing it's work for unity looking to see if it might join with the Christian Church (Disciples Of Christ) as well as the Alliance of Baptists. Finally, the UCC is the only Christian denomination that truly recognizes that real unity can only be experienced when there is a full spectrum of diversity. This attitude gives me the liberty (Galations 5:1) that I need to fully explore my faith and fit it to me.
My formal education consists of a high school diploma, an Associates of Arts degree, and a Bachelor's in Applied Psychology. Beyond this, I have completed training for the lay-ministry which was comissioned by the Washington-North Idaho and Central Pacific Conferences of the United Church of Christ.