Why Vote for Obama for President in 2012?

MITT ROMNEY was born with a silver spoon in his mouth to rich parents, and all he knows is rich people.  If you think he is interested in you, a middle-class citizen, think again.  He wants to make sure the wealthy keep getting tax breaks, and hiding his own tax breaks by not revealing his income tax returns.  All he talks about is the economy, because he believes that is Obama's weak point, but he has no positive solutions to offer to better the economy.  What does he know about any other issue such as foreign affairs, global climate change, energy, and improving America's infrastructure.  He is not pro job creation -- ask the auto workers in his home state of Michigan, who have jobs today because of Obama's bailout of the auto industry, most of which has been repaid to the treasury.  Romney is not pro education and does not want to help out college students by finding a way to deal with the excessive college loans.

Romney wants to repeal Obamacare, so that we can return to the days when the insurance industry took our money without providing benefits, and to help big pharma continue high pharmaceutical prices.  You have already been paying Medicare taxes for years for those over 65 years of age.  Why not pay a little more, and include coverage for yourself and your family, so that everyone is covered from birth to death?

Romney has no plan to reduce the deficit that Bush created with his wars on China's credit card, because he will not allow taxes to return to the levels under the Clinton administration.  Trickle down theory has already been proven to not work.   Put everyone back to work especially the middle class, paying fair taxes and the economy will improve.  Obama wants to create jobs improving the infrastructure -- bridges, roads, schools -- which will not only create work, but keep us safe as well.

Finally, Romney only has tolerance for wealthy white men, such as himself.  He has no tolerance for women's rights, Hispanics, blacks, or gays.  Be careful in what you wish for: smaller government and lower taxes.  A smaller government which does not provide for education, healthcare, social security and Medicare for the elderly.  Lower taxes for the wealthy -- yes a lower rate than you pay as a middle-class citizen.

THINK!   VOTE  OBAMA-BIDEN  FOR YOUR OWN BENEFIT!

Lady Slipper Cove

Always referred to as “The Farm” or “The Country” when I was growing up, I decided in recent years to call it “Lady Slipper Cove” because several years ago, I found lady slippers growing and blooming here. The picture of a pink lady slipper in the sidebar was taken on my farm in May, 2005. Because this is a favorite part of my world, I decided to name this website after it, in case you have been wondering where the name came from. This farm has been in my family since before the Civil War and has been divided many times among Moore descendants, and my portion today is 70 acres. My great-great grandfather settled here, and he was the grandson of Stephen Moore of Mt. Tirzah. See the Stephen Moore blog post. My mother, Sara, and her siblings (Alma, Jenny, Lula, and Bill) grew up in a log cabin on a site just to the east of the current frame house. The log cabin in this picture was built by my Uncle Bill and he alternately lived between the “big” house and this four room cabin. In 1925, the family’s log cabin burned to the ground. Lore has it that my grandmother (Rosa) carried her new Singer sewing machine out the door on her back. That machine must have outweighed her 125 pound frame. The family members split up among nearby relatives until the new house could be built. My grandmother loved to tell stories and she gives this account of why my grandfather died in August that year. She was very superstitious and believed his death occurred because he started a project (cutting lumber for the new house) on a Friday! Her superstition said that “if you could not finish whatever you start on a Friday, you would not live to see its completion!” She has had me so convinced that even today I will not start reading a book on a Friday. It is said that it was such a cold day in August (1925) when they buried my grandfather, that they had to light a fire in the stove to keep warm. The house was built and the family was reunited. It consisted of four rooms and a hall. At this time, there was no kitchen, for fear of fire – so the kitchen was a separate building behind the house. A few years later, Uncle Bill, who was a carpenter, added a kitchen, pantry, and back porch. The cabinets you see here were built by Uncle Bill also. Later still around 1950, Aunt Alma had two more bedrooms finished upstairs. 1948 was a big year because electricity reached the farm, and the house was wired. Until then, there had been no indoor plumbing, bathroom, etc. The back porch was enclosed and a bathroom was built. This occurred when I was five years old and I still remember when the overhead lamp in the big room burned kerosene. Aunt Alma would light a fire in the refrigerator; I still have a hard time explaining how a fire in that contraption could produce ice. Originally there were two bedrooms downstairs – Grandma slept in one of them and Aunt Alma slept in the other. Bill, the only other family member living at home, either slept in the big room – today the dining room, or later upstairs in the west bedroom. My sons, Greg and Brian, have both told me separately of “footfalls” they have heard when sleeping upstairs and they have been the only ones in the house. Does Bill still roam around? I have not heard him. Since I took over the house in 1985, I have added some modern conveniences, but I have tried to keep all the original character of the home, including not painting the front two rooms and hall.
The lawns are large and beautiful. Recently, a wild grape vine was gradually overtaking an old pear tree in the backyard. Greg and his friend, Larry, who lives over on the next farm, pulled that vine from the tree and filled the bed of the truck. An abundance of wildlife lives there including deer, foxes, raccoons, and wild turkeys. Here you can strain your eyes and see the turkeys in the field beside the house, a picture that I took from the dining room window.
You leave the house and lawn, which are on the northeastern corner of the property and proceed past old original structures such as the chicken houses, corn crib, pack house, and Bill’s log cabin to the road to the fields. This road has tobacco curing barns to the side and cuts through the woodlot. This woodlot had the large timber cut about 20 years ago and planted with pines for wood production. When you arrive at the fields on the highest point on the property, you may see soybeans or tobacco growing. A neighbor farmer now tills the fields and takes care of the land. Some years, you may see corn or wheat growing as he rotates the crops, but this is still primarily a working tobacco farm.
Most of the pictures you have seen thus far have been taken in the summer time. Winter does come to the farm and a warm fire in the fireplace insert in the living room seen above help to make those days cozy. Snows occur during some winters, up to about 5 inches rarely, and ice storms are seen in other winters as seen here.
Whether it is a weekend here or a week there any time of year, Lady Slipper Cove is the place I retreat to. In the summer, I may be seen rocking on the front porch and reading a book. In the winter, I’ll be near the fire. But this always feels like home. I grew up in nearby Durham, 25 miles to the south, and almost every weekend and every summer was spent at this farm. My grandmother, Aunt Alma, and Uncle Bill gave me an appreciation for the country life. Today, I live three hours to the south in Wilmington, NC on the coast, but every chance I get, I retreat to the cove.

Stephen Moore 1734 - 1799

Stephen Moore is certainly one of the favorite sons of Person County, North Carolina. He was awarded original land grants in the area, now known as Mount Tirzah, a name of Stephen Moore’s own choosing. He came to this high promontory and built his home in 1778, just prior to the Revolutionary War campaigns in the southern theater of the war and became involved in the war himself, the only member of the large Moore family not to remain loyal to the crown. Stephen Moore was very patriotic to the cause of the American independence and led a group of North Carolina militia to fight in the Battle of Camden (South Carolina) on August 16, 1780. It was a devastating defeat for Horatio Gates and the militia at the hands of Charles Cornwallis. Stephen Moore and 130 other men were taken prisoner to Charles Town. On May 18, 1781, from the prison ship Torbay in Charles Town Harbour, Stephen Moore wrote a letter to Major General Nathaniel Greene in which he said, “We just beg leave to observe that should it fall to the lot of all, or any of us to be made victims, agreeable to the menances therein contain’d, we have only to regret that our blood cannot be disposed of more to the advancement of the Glorious Cause to which we have adher’d.”

In 1783, Stephen Moore petitioned the new government to buy his property at West Point in New York which Gen. George Washington had used during the Revolutionary War as his headquarters. There was already speculation that the government needed this land because of its strategic location on the Hudson River. In a letter in which Stephen Moore was trying to collect money from the now bankrupt U. S. he said, “Had my conduct during the struggles of my Country, proved me an active adversary, I must have silently bewailed the evils, both of banishment & confiscation, and tho I claim no merit for my feeble exertions in the hours of danger, neither can I be persuaded I deserve my present chastisement.” In October 1783, Moore’s land at West Point was surveyed showing a total of 1617 acres. On a map from the National Archives can be seen the Red House (also known as Moore’s Folly) north of the bend in the river opposite Martler’s Rock. It was the Red House that was used both by the loyalist Moore Family to escape the trials of war in New York City and as headquarters of General Washington about the time of the treason of John Andre and Benedict Arnold. Finally on July 12, 1790, Henry Knox representing the U. S. government and Stephen Moore signed an agreement selling the West Point property to the government. Stephen Moore had inherited the West Point property from his father, Col. John Moore. Known as Moore’s Folly, it had probably been named Moore’s Fawley, after the ancestral estate of South Fawley Manor in Berkshire County, England built in 1600 by Sir Francis Moore. [Note: There is now some doubt that Honorable John Moore was descended from Francis Moore at Fawley, but more likely from a Moore family in London. See footnote.]

Stephen was the 17th child of the union of Col. John Moore (August 11, 1686 – October 29, 1749 and Frances Lambert (who died on March 21, 1782 in her ninetieth year) who were married in 1714. Stephen Moore was born in New York City on October 30, 1734. In 1754 he was apprenticed to the Hon. John Watts, contractor for army supplies and a N.Y. merchant and member of his Majesty’s Council. Also in 1754, Stephen was commissioned in the N.Y. Regiment under Col. Oliver DeLancey. He volunteered for the French and Indian War in 1756, and the following year received a lieutenant’s commission in DeLancey’s Provincial Regiment. Then he was appointed provision contractor for the British Army. After the war he was rewarded the post of Deputy Paymaster General of Canada. Stephen continued to live in Canada where he was a sea merchant (like his father before him) in Quebec. He was a member of “Burgess and Guild,” a sea merchant’s fraternal order in Glasgow, Scotland. As a sea merchant, he operated the Bonnie Lass and Bonnie Dundee which were routed between Glasgow, Scotland and Quebec with stops in Jamaica and Barbados. He entered the lumber trade with partner Hugh Finlay (the Postmaster of Quebec). On Christmas Day, 1768, Stephen married Grizey Phillips (Feb. 18, 1748 – Jan. 15, 1822) and on Nov. 12, 1769, son John was born in Quebec. The infant John died the following year on Sept. 7, 1770. Stephen went bankrupt and left Canada in 1770 returning to N. Y.  Robert was born Nov. 5, 1762, before Stephen's marriage to Grizey and therefore, is the stepson of Grizey.
From 1765 to 1775, Stephen Moore’s official residence was listed on town reports of Cornwall, N. Y. (near West Point). Their son Phillips (born July 12, 1771) and daughter Frances (Dickens) (born Nov. 5, 1773) were born in New York. In 1775, Stephen moved his family to Tally-Ho in Granville County, N.C. where daughter Ann was born (Jan. 12, 1777). A fire in lower Manhattan, a consequence of the war, burned Trinity Church and the Moore home to the ground.


Stephen obtained Mount Tirzah land in Jan. 1777 and built his home in 1778 (the date exists on a stone in the basement stairs), a beautiful structure on the Mount Tirzah hilltop. The home is believed to be the second oldest in Person County, with the original part of the Lea home being older. Stephen continued acquiring land until he had a plantation of approximately 3000 acres. His brother, Charles and his brother-in-law, Thomas Phillips, also moved to Mount Tirzah. Stephen petitioned the federal government for a post office at Mount Tirzah and was successful in having his brother, Charles, named postmaster. Approximately a quarter mile to the south of his home, Stephen returned to merchandizing by building a store, which became an important place of trade, as he was the only merchant within a ten to twelve mile radius, prior to 1800. This country store was probably the local gathering spot for the latest news of the region and more distant places. In addition to buying and selling with the local farmers, Stephen dealt with more distant merchants such as Richard Bennehan at Stagville, N.C., and with merchants of the major trading and distribution point of the times in Petersburg, Virginia. There was a road from Mount Tirzah to Raleigh which passed through the plantation of Richard Bennehan (later the immense and famous Cameron Plantation). At Stagville, Richard Bennehan’s home, this road bisected the old Indian Trading Path, which was the major north-south route of commerce of the times. The Indian Trading Path extended from Petersburg in the north to Salisbury on the Yadkin River in the southwest. Evidence from the Stephen Moore papers suggests that his brother-in-law, Thomas Phillips, and his son, Phillips Moore, participated in the day to day running of the store and keeping the day books and ledgers. Most of the ledger books were in the hands of Phillips Moore, and there is one entry that suggests that his uncle, Thomas, was not an able bookkeeper, which states as follows: “There are so many wrong entrys in the Ledger made by my Uncle Thos. Phillips, that the day book must be again posted or the accts. cannot be properly adjusted. 13th Jan. 1816. Phillips Moore (signed).” The Mount Tirzah store made many daily transactions with the local farmers and with the merchants in Petersburg, and there are entries in the day books which keep a running account of amounts drawn and credited. In Petersburg on 8 February, 1797, Phillips Moore “Bought of Eleazer F. Backus” various sundry items such as pepper, allspice, needles, nutmegs, a fine comb, cloth, hammer, nails, awls, a lock, paper, calico material, scissors, coffee, chocolates, salt, sugar, a hat, a trunk, a wagon screw, and other items for which he paid £17.8.8. Another transaction with Mr. Backus produced cotton, tea, sugar, paper, scissors, cloth, a blanket, 20 bushes of salt and linen for which he traded corn and pork. This last transaction took place on 23 December 1796, which makes one wonder if he made it home in time for Christmas as Petersburg was more than a hundred miles away on the old Indian Trading Path. The Mount Tirzah store also rented for hire the employment of the Moore family slaves to the neighboring farmers to help with various farm work. There was considerable business done in potatoes, wheat, and corn. However, the Mount Tirzah store also dealt with a refined product of the grains, that of liquor as many references to brandy and rum would indicate. Among his other business ventures was a mill which was formerly named Gibbon’s and pre-dates 1769. He also owned a brick kiln. So we see Stephen Moore as a diversified owner of several business interests of which he probably left the day-to-day management to various members of his family. This left him time for an active interest in the Revolutionary War and Politics. Stephen’ son Marcus was born on Nov. 27, 1780 while he was being held prisoner in Charles Town. Stephen was finally released on June 22, 1781. He was appointed Commissioner for Specific Taxes in 1781 and superintendent Commissioner of Hillsborough District in 1782. On October 15, 1782 another son, Portius, was born. From 1783 to 1792, Stephen was Deputy Quartermaster General of Army (under Col. Robert Burton, Quartermaster General of N.C.) which is where the title of “General” Stephen Moore comes from. Actually his highest rank was Lt. Col. In 1786 and 1787, he was nominated as representative to Congress, but was not elected. Two more sons were born: Cadmus on June 30, 1787 and Samuel on June 15, 1789. Even though Stephen successfully petitioned the bankrupt U.S. government to buy his West Point property in 1790, there is question as to whether he ever collected the 11,085 dollars. On December 15, 1794, Sidney was born.

At the end of the century, on December 29, 1799, he died at Stagville at the home of Richard Bennehan. It is interesting to speculate why he was there when he died. Had he gone there during the festive season between Christmas and New Year’s and fallen suddenly ill? Was he there on business? Or perhaps Stephen was already ill and had gone to Stagville in search of a doctor since Stagville was a larger plantation than his own and may have had a doctor in residence. Stephen Moore left quite an impact on Person County, through his activities politically, in the war, economically, and with the many descendants, some of which still live and own land in Person County.

Sources: This article was written by the great-great-great-great-grandson of Stephen Moore for the Person County History, vol. II. Sources include Duke University Archives; Southern Historical Collection, U.N.C.; N.C. State Archives; West Point Library; Miami Public Library (Genealogy Room); Person County Records; Mount Tirzah home and graveyard; and a bibliography of books and articles too numerous to mention. -- ©David E. Jeffreys, Jr. - written for the Person County Heritage, vol. II, 1983. Updated May 2010.
_____________________________________________ Footnote: See "A Corrected Lineage of Hon. Moore of South Carolina and Pennsylvania" by Terri Bradshaw O'Neill (Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, Vol. 44 (2005) pp. 101-121).

For much more information of the Stephen Moore Family, see http://stephenmoore-mounttirzah.blogspot.com/.

A Visit to Fawley Manor - June, 1979

Editors note: Family genealogy has been my passion since the mid-1970s. One wonders when a passion might be somewhat dangerous, knowledge that I found out after the fact! as you will find out at the end of this article. Further research now suggests that our Moore family was NOT EVEN descended from the Moores of Fawley, suggesting that it was an unnecessary excursion, but I must admit that I enjoyed it immensely. All of the pictures were taken by me during my visit in June, 1979 and underlining a word is referencing a picture near it.  All images as well as the letters at the end of this post can be clicked on to enlarge them for better viewing.

A Visit to Fawley Manor
June, 1979
David E. Jeffreys, Jr.

I knew what to look for as I had seen pictures of Fawley, but when I first spotted the big manor house resting against the crest of the hill, it seemed bigger than reality. Its Victorian appearance loomed before me, especially that embattled tower that contains the staircase. Also on that first impression, I was disappointed that it did not just stand there by itself, but all kinds of agricultural buildings crowded around, some within a few feet of the house itself.

A few moments after knocking on the door, Richard Dawson came to the door and welcomed me, as he had been expecting my arrival. Immediately he apologized for his mother, Mary Dawson, that she was almost blind and could not be a good hostess. I imagined a little old white-haired lady who was blind and feeble. Richard is probably in his mid-twenties. He invited me into the kitchen for a cup of tea, and asked me if it would be all right if we went into the town of Wantage for dinner as meal preparation was difficult for his mother. I assured him that would be fine. Soon feeling uncomfortable that I was imposing on this family since I had invited myself because Richard's personality affect is rather dull, I heard rapid footsteps on the staircase, and Richard informed me his mother was on the way in. She appeared and was I surprised to see a very vivacious lady approximately in her late forties. A very sincere gracious person who seemed genuinely glad to see me with story after story to tell. Now I felt comfortable. Driving the five miles into Wantage for dinner, Mary pointed out the Ridgeway as we crossed it and explained its significance as an historical road. Mary insisted that we walk around Wantage so that I could see the town where Alfred the Great had been born. Following this we went into a pub named The Bear at 7:00 P.M. where I had lager beer, potato soup, fish and chips and tea. We finally returned to Fawley at 10:00 P.M. just as it was getting dark, since England is so far north in latitude.

Before going into Wantage, Richard had given me the grand tour of the house itself, showing me most of its 34 rooms. The staircase was the most interesting feature, but many of the rooms were also interesting, especially the chapel on the top floor.

Since it was almost 11:00 P.M. and bedtime, Mary warmed some milk for us and we sat around talking about Fawley and its occupants. She thinks it is probably haunted as one visitor related his bed being levitated several years before as he slept in the chapel. Luckily my bedroom was a flight down the stairs from that; I conceded however I would welcome Sir Francis Moore's ghost if he would consent to answer some questions. Well with Mary's hot water bottle, I locked my bedroom door, went to bed, but Sir Francis never appeared. The bedroom that I was assigned was the one in which the three Moore girls’ names were etched, which pleased me greatly as I had heard about them.

I was up at 7:00 A.M. the next morning (Tuesday, June 12) and was I suddenly disappointed that I had not started taking pictures on the perfectly clear afternoon and evening before. The fog had rolled in and was thick enough to cut with a knife. After breakfast of a boiled egg, toast and tea with the Dawsons, I did take a number of pictures, inside and out.

At 10:00 A.M., Richard and I left for a day of exploring. First we went one-half mile to the north to the village of Fawley. There with an old knowledgeable man who is retired and lives in the old vicarage, we explored the old graveyard looking for Moore graves, but without success since it was so overgrown. From his own house, he showed me a painting of what the old church had looked like. We then explored the rest of the village of Fawley and it was then that I learned that it was the setting "Marygreen" in Thomas Hardy's novel, Jude the Obscure. The old man pointed out the thatched roof cottage that was the bakery, and the schoolhouse. We also saw the "new" church, which is now over 100 years old, a beautiful example of Gothic architecture. The inside was magnificent and to think it was only a country church. Then the old man took us over to his house to show us the beautiful formal garden he had constructed in his retirement. Returning to the interior of the church, I did a brass rubbing from an old brass memorial that must have been in the old church while the Moores were in residence in the area.

Richard and I drove on into Wantage where I wanted to stop and browse in a bookstore (Miller's); I purchased a copy of Jude the Obscure, a book about the Ridgeway and some books about Wantage.

At 12:40 P.M. we arrived in Oxford. The first object was to get a parking disc in order to park there--a funny cardboard clock on which one set one's arrival time. We stayed in Oxford for two hours walking around the colleges and stores. I found Blackwell's, a rare book store, where I bought a small 200 year old medical book written in Latin. Lunch was upstairs over a shop in a small restaurant named the Nosebag that Richard was familiar with. My lunch consisted of Shepherd's Pie, garlic bread and strong cider. We then walked along The High (main street) peering in shops, bought stamps at the post office and walked down to Christ College to take pictures.

At 3:00 P.M., we left Oxford and drove to nearby Abingdon where I wanted to investigate some medical equipment. After a search we found Oxford Medical Systems on Nuffield Way, right across from the MG factory. Dr. Paul Brankin took me on a grand tour showing me the factory where our 24 hour EEG monitoring equipment was made. He took me into research and development to show me the spike-wave detector which is coming off the drawing boards into a working model. Meanwhile during my tour of Oxford Medical, Richard sat in the car refusing to come inside since the place was of a "medical" nature.

We left Abingdon at 6:00 P.M. returning through Wantage to Fawley. Richard, Mary, and I then returned at 7:00 P.M. to The Bear in Wantage for dinner where this time I had Gammon (ham steak) with a fried egg and chips, a pint of lager beer, lentil soup, rolls and butter, and tea--not necessarily in that order. We talked for a couple of hours with Mrs. Root, an old widow who had been a world traveler living in the Himalayas and Far East. Back to Fawley for a cup of warm milk before turning in after a very long eventful day.

It's Wednesday morning now (my wedding anniversary--June 13 with Sara back in the states) and I go out and take a few more pictures of Fawley, but it is still not clear! Mary fixed me a big breakfast of cornflakes, two boiled eggs, toast and tea, and then I told her farewell. Richard refused to come down for breakfast or to tell me goodbye, despite his mother's pleading with him to do so.

ADDENDUM: Upon returning to the states I received a postcard from Richard posted two days after my departure with White Horse on it, a monument carved into the chalk many centuries earlier--a monument that Richard had wanted to show me very badly, but there had not been time. Also, Richard had suggested while I was at Fawley, that I should look up his cousin, Rev. Jim and Polly Jones of the Episcopal Church in Coral Gables, Florida, where I resided on my return. I called Rev. Jones and he wanted to know how Richard was. He explained to me that he had visited Fawley earlier, found Richard (as an adult) playing with his teddy bear on his father's (who had committed suicide) grave. Rev. Jones had sought medical help for Richard, who had been hospitalized and diagnosed as schizophrenic. He had been discharged on medication to return home. This explained why Richard was so reluctant to go inside Oxford Medical Instruments with me.

A number of years later I learned from Mrs. Ruth Lumley-Smith who lives in the old schoolhouse at Fawley, that Richard murdered his mother by stabbing her with a knife in the kitchen of Fawley Manor house in June, 1981 – just two years after my visit. Perhaps that was why I locked my bedroom door each night, rather than the fear of any ghosts!

History of Fawley Manor and the Dawson family

by Mrs. Ruth Lumley-Smith written in 1991

Neurodiagnostics & Sleep Disorders Medicine

Neurodiagnostics has been the focus of my professional life. It all started with an interest in EEG while I was working in Dr. Blaine Nashold’s neurosurgical research laboratory at the VA Hospital in Durham, North Carolina when I was in high school. Dr. Nashold’s interest in those days was finding a treatment or cure for Parkinson’s disease and he had a particular interest in stereotaxic surgery. Before using these methods on humans, we used stereotaxic surgery to implant various substances such as alcohol and carbon as well as ablative surgery (cutting out small sections) deep in the brain around the globus pallidus, the thalamus, and the putamen. This was just before the discovery of dopamine and how it can be used to treat Parkinson’s disease. After the surgeries, the animals were sacrificed and we looked at their brains under the microscope to see the various changes. Dr. Nashold had trained with Wilder Penfield at the Montreal Neurological Institute and became my first mentor.

In order to see if the surgeries were working in humans, it was necessary to develop objective methods of measuring muscle rigidity and together with the physical therapy department at Duke, he developed a machine to stretch and measure the resistance of the biceps muscle which he called the myograph. After leaving Duke and Durham, my first job was at the Parkinson Institute in Miami, Florida in 1963 where I used the myograph in the treatment of Parkinson patients.

Following my 2 year tenure at the Parkinson Institute, I branched out in the EEG (Electroencephalography) full time. This eventually led to EMG (Electromyography) and evoked potentials which I specialized in until 1985 in Florida.

Next, after over 20 years in the Miami area which progressed from Paradise Found to Paradise Lost, I decided to return home and my farm (Lady Slipper Cove). Then I used my neurodiagnostic background in the Sleep Diagnostics field as I set up the first Sleep Disorders Lab at UNC-Hospitals in Chapel Hill, NC. Under my leadership from 1986 to 1992, this lab grew from a basic research one-bed lab to a two-bed clinical lab.

In 1992, I relocated to Wilmington, NC to be Director of Neurodiagnostics at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, where we provided EEG, EMG, EP, LTM (epilepsy monitoring), intra-operative monitoring, and sleep diagnostics.

Then in 1996, I branched out on my own as a Neurodiagnostic Consultant which eventually led to full-time employment as an Applications Specialist for Nicolet Biomedical (now VIASYS NeuroCare) based in Madison, Wisconsin, though I continued to live in Wilmington.

More about my professional life following its chronology during my exciting life in service to my fellow man.

Parkinson’s Institute, Miami, Florida

In 1963, I left Duke and Durham, NC and moved to Miami, Florida to start a new job at the Parkinson's Institute. While working with Dr. Nashold, I was on the team that developed the "myograph," an instrument designed to measure the rigidity of the arm muscles of the Parkinson's Disease patient in order to quantify the rigidity. One of these instruments was built at Duke for the Parkinson Institute and I went there to clinically monitor the progress (worsening) of the rigidity. At the Institute the patients had regular out-patient physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy in an effort to slow the course of the disease. It was also about the time L-Dopa was discovered.

Next in 1965, I wanted to expand my horizons by moving into EEG (Electroencephalographic) Technology clinically. I had already done some of that on a research basis at Duke (and the Durham VAH). So I started working with Michael Goodson, MD in Miami providing clinical EEG services at a number of hospitals by carrying around a portable EEG machine. These hospitals included Cedars of Lebanon, North Shore, North Miami General, Parkway General, St. Francis, Mt. Sinai, and the Miami Heart Institute. At that time, I believe that only the large Jackson Memorial Hospital had their own EEG laboratory. After a couple of years on Biscayne Blvd., we moved the office to Lincoln Road on Miami Beach.

EEG

The best part of this job was our extra-curricular activity on Thursday afternoons, when Dr. Goodson closed the office to go sailing on Biscayne Bay. The craft was a little too large for him to maneuver it in and out of the marina at Dinner Key, so he needed another crew member and that was me. First thing, every Thursday morning, I checked the weather report to find out how choppy the waters would be. One trip was out to Fowey Rocks and on the way back, the wind died and we were becalmed. The water was like glass. Dr. Goodson started up the tiny outboard on the back, which we usually used to only maneuver in and out of the marina slip, and we proceeded back into Dinner Key. Hours later we arrived, but Dr. Goodson was too late for the Medical Board meeting at the hospital that night. On another trip, we were out in the middle of shallow Biscayne Bay at low tide when our keel ran aground. We sat there a couple of hours waiting for the tide to lift us off the sandbar. Probably the most memorable trip out on Biscayne Bay was watching this large catamaran approaching us rather fast. As it went by, Richard Nixon and Bebe Rebozo waved to us.

Have EEG, will travel! Dr. Goodson and I flew to Nassau, Bahamas, where a preacher had murdered his wife. The preacher's attorney was hoping that the neurological exam and the EEG would provide some fodder for his defence, but alas he turned out to be normal. So that our trip would not be a total loss, he asked if we could do an EEG on a high school girl who for no reason would suddenly start shouting obscenities in class. Well during her EEG, abnormal rhythms started coming from her temporal lobes, she sat up, and started shouting those obscenities. I went to her side of the narrow exam table fearing that she might fall off; she grabbed me and pulled me down on top of her, shouting f**k me, f**k me, f**k me! Indeed, she did have a seizure disorder.

Another patient who was having headaches was Jackie Gleason, and I performed an EEG on him.

About this time, my wife, Sara, and my son, Brian (born 27 Oct 1965), and I moved into a home we bought in Coral Gables, where we would live until 1985, with a move back to North Carolina. My son, Greg, would be born later on 20 June 1970.

EMG & EP

Though it was difficult to give up those Thursday afternoon sailing outings, again I needed to expand my horizons to encompass some additional neurodiagnostics, so I went to work for Wayne Tobin, MD in 1968. Now I had the opportunity to add new procedures to my arsenal in addition to EEG. Dr. Tobin now became my second mentor as he had studied EMG with Fritz Buchthal in Copenhagen, and then set up the EMG lab at NIH. He had returned to his Miami hometown to set up a private practice. His teaching approach was "See one, Do one, Teach one!" Dr. Tobin led me into the EMG exam room and told me to lie down on the exam table. He then performed a median nerve conduction velocity and shocked the hell out of me! Next, he told me to get up from the table, and he proceeded to lie down on it with his arm outstretched and told me to do the same nerve conduction velocity test on him. So here I was shocking my new boss. He told me to turn the voltage higher, as it was not enough, so that it would be supramaximal. With trepidation, I did so and learned how to perform a median nerve conduction velocity. So as he left the room, he told me to clean it, and in a moment returned with a patient, whom he asked to lie down on the exam table. Looking at me with a twinkle in his eye, he told me to perform a median nerve conduction velocity on her and walked out the door closing the door behind him. From that experience, I learned that I had to be observant and learn all that I had seen. Some years later, he was bragging on me to some of his colleagues telling them that of all the students he had ever had including his medical students, that I was the fastest learner than he had ever had. I looked at him and asked, "What choice did I have?" His training helped me to pass the first ever technologists registration exam given by Jasper Daube, MD of the Mayo Clinic, in EMG/NCV in Philadelphia in 1980 with the registration number of R.NCS.T#6, and helping him to train others in neuromuscular disorders over the next 15 years. Dr. Tobin loved to express his little truisms. One of them was "The Hammer [ed. reflex] Never Lies". Another one I remember was "When One Diagnosis Won't Do, Try Two!" Once while doing an EMG with him, I said, "Oops" in front of a patient about something that had just happened. After the patient left, he was quick to reprimand me to NEVER say "Oops" when with a patient. Dr. Tobin also held the philosophy that "bigger was better" especially when it came to growing the practice, and when something went just right, he would utter "Just like downtown!"

Later the practice expanded as Howard Zwibel, MD and Michael Aptman, MD joined the practice. Dr. Zwibel collected historic antique medical instruments and displayed them in a curio cabinet in his office, which was quite impressive. Dr. Zwibel never ate lunch, but could be seen reaching into his lab coat pocket for M&Ms. We were afraid that patients might get the wrong idea and think he was popping pills. He also had a habit of having his patients walk down our long hallway to evaluate their gait. I might be at the other end of the hall, and as the patient walked away from him toward me, he would mimic their gait comically. Then he would put on his straight face, and tell them to turn around and come back toward him. It was not easy for me to look professional and keep my composure. Dr. Aptman flattered me after joining the practice by calling me "Professor!" The practice grew and grew adding more physicians, technologists, and support staff, and it all started with just Dr. Tobin, myself, and Reva, the secretary who became the business manager.

One of my more memorable experiences was with Dr. Zwibel, when again I had EMG machine, will travel. This time we went to Haiti to perform an EMG and NCVs on Jean Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier. From the airport we were transported to the home of the embassy official where we spent the night. The next day we were taken to a theater in Port-au-Prince where we transferred into three black Buicks (we weren't allowed to ride together) escorted by the Tonton Macoute on a high speed trip on narrow back country roads to the villa that Duvalier had some distance from the capital. We sped by the locals cooking their meals alongside the road, and I feared that the cars would hit some of them, but I was just as sure that if it happened, it would be a hit and run. Arriving at the villa, Baby Doc and his wife Michelle, were watching videos of which Baby Doc had a large collection. The doctors interviewed the patient who only spoke creole french, but Michelle interpreted with her fluent English. Her primary concern was that some medications that a local doctor had prescribed might cause impotence. His medical history revealed that after spraining an ankle, the local doctor had put a cast on it for months, and when the cast came off, he had severe weakness in the leg, which had prompted our visit from the states by the State Department. The testing proved that no great harm had been done, and that his weakness was just from long disuse atrophy resulting from the cast. To show his appreciation, Baby Doc gave each of us a collector's set of gold and silver coins that had been cast in his honor.

While at the Tobin, Zwibel, Aptman, PA medical practice, I would go on to learn evoked potentials, biofeedback, and thermography. Just as in Dr. Goodson's practice, I would travel around to hospitals in the Miami area (primarily Cedars of Lebanon, Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables, South Miami Hospital, and Baptist Hospital in Kendall) providing EEG and EMG/NCV services along with other technologists that joined us.

Though I enjoyed my association with Tobin, Zwibel, Aptman, PA medical practice, I was becoming less enthusiastic about the Miami area. When I had arrived in 1963, Miami was "Paradise Found" and by 1985, Miami was "Paradise Lost." We had recently seen the Coral Gables police in front of our home having discovered a Columbian body from a supposed drug deal gone wrong. In addition, the Cocaine Cowboys had just had a shootout at a drugstore in Dadeland Mall across from our office in the Dadeland Medical Building. One evening, at 10 PM, Miami Vice had portrayed a cocaine lab explosion, and following that in the 11 PM news, the reality of the same story which had occurred just that day was reported. Thus, I had come to the conclusion it was time to relocate my family to North Carolina.

So I pulled up stakes and returned to my family farm in Person County, North Carolina which I now call Lady Slipper Cove.

Unfortunately later in 1995, tragedy struck Dr. Aptman's family.

See: http://www.melissainstitute.org/documents/CR_02_Final.pdf

Sleep Disorders ~ UNC-Hospitals, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

In 1986, Brian Boehlecke, MD of the Pulmonary Medicine department at UNC-Chapel Hill, already was director of the Pulmonary Function Laboratory and he wanted to add a sleep disorders program as well. What the pulmonary department lacked for this endeavor was the neurodiagnostic expertise needed for recording EEG and scoring sleep; thus, I was hired to become Technical Director of this new venture. It started out rather slowly, partly because Dr. Boehlecke wanted me to spend time in the Pulmonary Function lab to learn more about respiratory function, as it would be critical in studying many sleep problems, especially sleep apnea. So, I learned to do PFTs: spirometry, lung volumes, drawing and analyzing arterial blood gases. The relationship between oxygen and carbon dioxide balance during sleep became of critical importance. At first, we did sleep studies in the evenings in one bed in the Pulmonary Function Laboratory. Most of these patients early in sleep disorders medicine were extremely obese patients, often with tracheostomies, and children with various kinds of respiratory distress, which became worse during sleep. Soon, we needed more equipment which we begged and borrowed from the medical school, and moved the lab to the eighth floor, where there had previously been an ICU. It continued to be a one-bed laboratory, but we began to see a wider assortment of patients, including neurodiagnostic cases such as narcolepsy and nocturnal seizure disorders. Soon, Brad Vaughn, MD, a neurologist became involved in the department. Sleep disorders medicine was growing not only at our hospital, but everywhere and we needed more space because the clinical demand was increasing over the research demand. Next we shared space with the peripheral vascular lab, where they used two of the exam rooms by day and we used them at night. We were also becoming more sophisticated with new equipment and the ability to monitor our patients using infrared closed-circuit TV with VCR recorders. This picture shows me at the 16 channel Grass polysomnographic machine watching and documenting the wave forms as they were printed on over 1,000 feet of paper each night for each patient.
I worked in this capacity for six years, which was demanding on my own sleep needs, because I worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night shifts from 8:00 PM - 6:00 AM and then a daytime shift from 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM on Friday. The Friday morning was for case conference, followed by the Sleep Clinic where I saw the patients along with Dr. Boehlecke, Dr. Vaughn, and other physicians. Friday afternoons were spent scoring, preparing reports, and administrative functions.

During this period in 1990, I sat for my RPSGT boards, passed and became RPSGT # 480. I was getting burned-out because of the schedule and because I was the only sleep technologist. In 1991, the physicians saw the need for help and hired another sleep tech to help me. My schedule did not change however, and not being a "spring chicken" any more, I decided I had paid my dues working nights, and started looking elsewhere.

New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Wilmington, North Carolina

Next in 1992, I was offered the position of Director, Neurology Lab at the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington. Unfortunately, this meant leaving Lady Slipper Cove, but some sacrifices have to be made sometimes on our journey in life. Wilmington became my new home town and I still love living here. So now I guess it was not a sacrifice at all, because I have the best of two worlds! Living on the coast means warmer winters and cooler summers, being near the beach, and many other amenities.

As the new Director of the Neurology Lab, I was given responsibility for neurodiagnostics and sleep disorders with the seventh largest regional medical center in North Carolina. When I arrived in 1992, there was not a computer anywhere in the department, just some old typewriters and analog equipment. Just before my arrival however, the hospital had purchased a new two-bed computerized sleep system from Nicolet Biomedical in Wisconsin. The highest priority on my agenda was to get this new computer acquiring data, so that we could catch up with the huge backlog of scoring that needed to be done. Next, I hired a secretary for the department and purchased a computer system for her to prepare reports and keep databases. As time went on, my boss, Dick Jones, one of the VPs of the hospital was very understanding in helping me to budget purchases to completely digitize the Neurology Lab, including EEG, EMG-NCV, long-term epilepsy monitoring, evoked potentials, and intraoperative monitoring. So during my tenure, we went from the dark ages of analog to the present age of digital technology. Patient advocacy and technologist education were also my focus during this period. I was a founder of the Carolina Sleep Society, served as its president, as well as the president of the Southeast-Southwest Association of Sleep Technologists. At the national ASET oganization level, I served as journal and newsletter chair. The Neurology Lab grew in staff and services being provided with outstanding quality. Technologists attended more educational seminars and became registered with REEGT, REPT, RPSGT credentials. At one time, we had more RPSGTs on staff than any other sleep center in North Carolina. My biggest failure however was to get the sleep center accredited, because I could not succeed in getting one of our sleep physicians board certified. Our sleep center hosted several regional sleep conventions and one of them was at the Blockade Runner hotel on Wrightsville Beach. Our keynote speaker was William Dement, MD, who is famously known as the "father of sleep medicine" because of his pioneering research. After picking him up at the airport, he wanted to freshen up before an appearance that afternoon on local TV, so I brought him to my home. We had a wonderful discussion over a cup of tea, and he autographed my copy of Principles and Practices of Sleep Medicine.

In 1995, I began to consult for Nicolet Biomedical as time allowed. Most of our equipment was the Nicolet brand, and I had become an expert user of the products, so the company wanted me to consult and teach new users how to perform various tests. I would take my vacation time and travel to labs around the country to consult with them. Then in 1995-1996, under the leadership of Jim Hobbs, the hospital embarked on a downsizing campaign, which in my opinion was being very detrimental to the hospital. Early retirement and severance were offered throughout the ranks of the hospital, but mostly I saw my management colleagues deciding to leave including some of my own employees, so though a painful decision as I had thought this would be my last job, I joined them. Unemployed, I hung out my shingle as a full-time neurodiagnostic consultant.

Nicolet Biomedical, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin

So in March, 1996 I started my own Neurodiagnostic consulting business. As a part of that, I approached several hospitals to start scoring their sleep studies that might have a backlog because of vacations, and lack of personnel. Soon I was scoring regularly for three hospitals, who overnighted their studies on disc and with quick turnaround time, I returned the scored studies scored on disc with hardcopy reports. This was an excellent way to keep busy while at home and not on the road traveling. But Nicolet Biomedical who had already used my services while I was employed at NHRMC, began to call me more often to help salesmen sell their products and also to teach lab personnel on site how to use the equipment after the sale.

Nicolet also started using me as their regular instructor for Madison-based classes for Ultrasom, and other neurodiagnostic products. So I was at the company headquarters in Madison six to eight times a year for a week at a time. In no time, my calendar was completely filled. Perhaps, the most surprising part of this was that hospitals and labs who used to view me as just another technologist, now viewed me as the expert! Most of all, I really enjoyed teaching; and every teaching experience led me to new discoveries as local technologists taught me their techniques and shortcuts, as well as having to research deeper into the software code of the products I was representing to find answers. Increasingly, I did become an expert and more valuable to Nicolet Biomedical. In 2000, the company was without a product manager for EEG and sleep, so the vice-president, Dave Stephenson, asked me to represent those products at the three annual regional "2000 and beyond" sales meetings in Acapulco, Athens, and Bangkok. What a great time I had traveling that year and previous to that in 1996, I have done the same in Seoul, Korea and Beijing, China. Now I was traveling to almost every state in the USA (except for Alaska and New Mexico), but to Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia!

Then in December, 2000, while I was teaching a course in Madison, Dave Stephenson asked me to join the company full-time as an Applicatons Specialist. Actually my duties did not change, but I was now working for the company with benefits, instead of working for myself. This rigorous pace continued until 2004 when my limb-girdle muscular dystrophy became so severe that I could no longer handle the travel requirements. From then until my retirement in 2006, I provided full-time customer phone support from my home in Wilmington.