About the Author The son of a plumber, the grandson of a farmer and a merchant, humor was always a part of Ed's family as they gathered together for meals. When it came to busting each other's chops, he was rarely able to best either his younger brother (Mark) or his eldest son (Tony) but everyone else came easy. Sunday evenings were spent at Grandpa and Grandma VanDeMark's home where the women and little kids kept busy, and the men and boys played cut- throat Pinochle. Puberty hit with the force of a meteor, and dating was a painful process for the next fifteen years. Apart from being confused by the female mindset, he had good times in high school and really good times in college. Ed's high school friends crossed many lines, from rough neck farmers to academic geeks, pranks to fast cars, sports to academic. Aside from the pranks and sports interests, he had little in common with his friends other than liking to hang out with them. He chose to major in Art Education at Buffalo State while his friends became farmers and electrical engineers. Ed liked being a student but soon discovered teaching was a mismatch. He quit a draft deferred job and joined the Navy in the midst of the Viet Nam War. He served both as an enlisted man and later as a commissioned officer. The Navy kept him in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Following the Navy, as a former Eagle Scout, he became a professional Boy Scout Executive where he met his lovely wife, Linda. While the job didn't fit, Linda did, and together they reared their three children (Tony, Lisa, and Dan). They now have nine perfect grandchildren. Working alone for Tioga County for 35 years, Ed ran numerous programs that didn't fit anyone else's job description. In 1999 as an active churchman he discovered the Montrose Christian Writers Conference and renewed his love of both writing and writers. Now retired, it's from this background that Ed writes his life's up and down stories of fun and pain. He hopes you enjoy them.