My first experience with Sun City was in October 1971. I was 22, a recent college graduate when I entered the U.S. Army Intelligence School, based in Sierra Vista, AZ. Just before my deployment to Europe, my parents flew down from Illinois to explore Sun City as they were getting a head start for their upcoming retirement years. 

My mom was only 53, not a single gray hair on her head, bewildered I asked, "Mom, what are you going to DO here? These people look like they're ready to fall over."

She didn't speak to me for a few days. But seven years later she and my father bought a brand-new Annapolis. That was in 1978 and they never looked back.

My mother became one of the original Sun City Poms. And my father? He spent his retirement golfing with his WWII buddies and, as far as I could tell, never had a single bad day.

My wife Carol and I would visit my folks on a regular basis, so naturally, we ended up here too — in Sun City Grand, now known as "THE GRAND." Carol and I bought our first home here in December 1996. Yes, the day after Christmas, because apparently that's how I do things.

I engineered my own transfer to Arizona, and we moved into our new home in September '97. We got our real estate licenses in 1998 and have been representing buyers and sellers ever since.

I am very proud to have lived in and served this community for 28 years. And like my parents, I have never looked back. It is a wonderful place to be.