I was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Both of my parents are still living. Dad still rears and sells many Saturniidae; Mom helps him with several aspects, and she still rears some monarch larvae that she brings in from the milkweed plants growing near the backyard patio. She is a real nurturer and loves the many birds that visit her feeders.
Most of my pre-teen years were spent in Roselle, New Jersey. Dad was always interested in nature, and tells me that he caught a female luna at some lights when I was about five years old. Dad started rearing at that time and developed additional interests in butterflies. He is a great one to share his interests and many kids in the neighbourhood soon had butterfly nets. I frequently got chased from Mr. Deacon's garden and was completely in awe of the variety of species nectaring at another neighbour's butterfly bush.
I still remember a visit to Dr. Mel Osbourne's property in either Cranford or Rahway. He had a large walk-in, cloth-covered enclosure, housing monarchs in all stages of development.
When I was twelve, the family, including two younger sisters, moved to "the country", Pottersville.
With frog ponds and trout streams and interesting wildlife, there was always something to do. Wild duck eggs were hatched in a chickubator; a baby screech owl about to be destroyed by crows and blue jays was rescued by my mother and nursed back to health; captured box turtles laid eggs; frog eggs were hatched in indoor aquaria; snakes and newts and salamanders were in great supply; deer, foxes, raccoons, skunks, possums, weasles, rabbits, snapping turtles, etc., all provided us with lots of entertainment. and, of course, there were butterflies and moths. Mom also blessed me with two more younger sisters.
I did more with the butterflies; Dad did more with the moths. I reared, in jars, painted ladies, monarchs, various swallowtails, mourning cloaks, etc., and still have a collection of Sphingidae that I mounted and framed when I was about fifteen. I also got to meet, through Dad's contacts, people like Gardiner Gregory and Joseph Meuller. Collecting trips were always interesting.
In high school (North Hunterdon Regional) and throughout university (Lehigh University) my interests turned more towards sports. I especially enjoyed football and track and field , and at Lehigh had great success in their intramural wrestling program and also played on University football and track and field teams. Lehigh was a national wrestling powerhouse in the late 60's.
During the summer of 1970, after graduating from Lehigh with a B.A. in psychology, I visited Prince Edward Island, Canada with some neighbours. I fell in love with the beauty and peace of the Island and have been here ever since.
I met my wife, Beverley, in Charlottetown and we married in March of 1971 and have four wonderful children, none of whom are terribly fond of moths or caterpillars. Bev is very tolerant and I try to make sure nothing gets loose in the house. She still closes her eyes whenever we have a "picture" taken together.
I obtained an education degree from the University of Prince Edward Island and continue to enjoy a teaching/coaching career of 30 years.
I used my experience at Lehigh to organize P.E.I.'s first Amateur Wrestling Association and am pleased to say that wrestlers from the immediate area have gone on to win medals at national competitions and have represented Canada as coaches and/or athletes in international competitions.
My oldest son, works as a software designer in Ottawa. He helped me immensely with my early undertakings with webpage design and continues to help when I have computer questions.
My oldest daughter, works for Parks Canada and is currently (May, 2001) on holidays in Europe. She has gone collecting cecropia cocoons with me and sometimes asks for moth info for her Parks Canada presentations.
My youngest daughter used to sit on the roof with me and watch the moths fly to the big mercury vapour light I rig up there during the summer. Now she's into dance and telephone and friends and driving when she's not playing ringette or soccer.
My youngest son keeps asking me how much money he can make if he rears 100 caterpillars to cocoon stage. He wants to buy a set of drums, a go-cart, another guitar, and he keeps himself very busy with hockey and soccer.
Beverley works part time for Canada Post and thinks cecropia larvae are "pretty". I am very fortunate. Right now there are four cocoon cages in the corner of the living room floor. There will soon be plastic tubs of Saturniidae eggs all over the kitchen, and from July-September there will be buckets of Spingidae larvae all over the living room. I am very fortunate.
I really didn't do much with butterflies or moths when I moved to P.E.I.. I was too busy coaching or continuing my education (Masters in Education, St. Mary's University).
About five years ago my father advised me of a major pheromone research project going on at Max Planck Institute in Germany under direction of Dr. Karl Ernst Kaissling. With children at university, any extra cash that I could bring in would be most useful. I contacted Dr. Kaissling and became a major supplier for his project (now completed). During one short season (1999) I managed to rear over three thousand polyphemus larvae to cocoon stage. These were shipped to Germany for research.
I also began rearing the other Saturniidae indigenous to P.E.I.: Actias luna, Anisota virginiensis, Dryocampa rubicunda, Hyalophora cecropia and Hyalophora columbia, as well as Sphingidae which I collected at lights while looking for Saturniidae females.
From the knowledge I picked up from my father, and the patience I inherited from my mother, I had good success. As an educator/administrator I was also being educated in computer usage and potential.
Website postings put me in contact with many other hobbyists and the websites and new membership site took off from there. I look forward to retirement from teaching in two years, so that I can devote more time to documenting life histories of many of the Island's butterflies and Catocalas, a genus that caught my attention as a youngster. I also have an interest in writing and hope to earn some money (two more children to put through university) with published children's stories.
Responding to email keeps me busy. I'm amazed at how many people are interested in the Arctiidae; I guess many come across the larvae in the fall. I am also getting many requests now to help with caterpillar ids. Lots of people are using the internet as an educational tool. It would really be nice to work together with all of the members to put together a comprehensive butterfly guide showing life histories of all of the world's butterflies, Sphingidae, etc..
I am indeed very grateful to the many people who have shared images and information with me to help the membership site come together.
I love to see the larvae and moths depicted in natural settings. I do not maintain a collection, and I do not condemn others who do. However, I certainly would discourage indiscriminate killing of large numbers of wild moths or butterflies, and I certainly respect the work of scientists who keep records of sightings. Non-indigenous species should never be released into the environment.
I will post some pictures soon.
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