John Guthrie

We live with our 15-year old son, Alexi very near the LA city limit. Natasha enjoys and works hard at her residential real estate business. Alexi is a high school student, serious about his involvement with US Navy Sea Cadets, is determined at this point to join the Marine Corps. Luke, a recent Clemson Engineering graduate, married a Fairforst woman, Laura Lacey, a teacher whom some of you you may know, last summer. They reside and work in Kingsport, Tennessee. Daughter Elizabeth, a Speech Pathologist ("Communications Specialist"), works for the Iredell County NC schools and does private practice. She and her spouse have a three-year-old son, my first grand-child. My second grandson, 'Liam, arrived on 12 May. My son, Jason is career USAF, a Crew Chief with an F-10 fighter squadron stationed at the moment in Kandahar, Afghanistan, his fourth deployment there. Thought I'm "retired," I took a Master of Fine Arts, 2007, in Creative Writing, Antioch Univ. LA. I write, publish my fiction, poetry, essays, books reviews, for publications such as the California Literary Review, etc. & serve as editor/publisher of the Chickasaw Plum Online. I enjoy the diversity and color of SoCal as well as the variety of things I do.

On a spring day in 1960, that former Marine and then Vice Principal and Coach Allen Clark unexpectedly called me into his office and reviewed my consistently abysmal grades and some high SAT and other standardized test scores. "John," he concluded, "you're like an eight cylinder Cadillac operating on two cylnders." I took that comment to heart. Though it took me four years in the Marine Corps to do the growing up I needed so badly to do, I've never forgotten Mr. Clark's act of concern and kindness.
With whatever abundance of missteps I've made, my life has been mostly unmerited good fortune. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Allen Clark and others like him who touched my life.