Following graduation, I attended Eastern Michigan University, where I received a degree in accounting. I worked in public accounting for ten years in Royal Oak, and since 1980 in Battle Creek. I am a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Specialist in Estate Planning. I married in 1980, and have two daughters and a two-year-old grandson. We live on two acres, south of Marshall, surrounded by farms, where we enjoy eating and preserving food from our large garden. In 1972 I joined the Seventh-day Adventist religion, and keep very busy with leadership roles in my local church.