John A. Middleton

Neil Tyler and Drama Class/Club created many good memories and created a space into which I felt I fit.

Mr Smyth's humor makes me laugh still. Beethoven playing loudly during an exam, a knife stabbed into a biscuit brought to him by girls from Home-Ec, and many more such antics kept my adolescent self engaged and interested.

The teacher who most influenced me was George Gazdick. The first day of Biology I feared him. Within a week I admired him, and ended up majoring in Biology because of his teaching, example, and encouragement.

After college (BS Biology, FSU) I worked for the Florida Park Service, then in the restaurant industry where ultimately I managed Leadership Development & Training for the Eastern US. At mid life I went to seminary and was awarded an MDiv by FCTS and ordained into ministry of MCC. I served as Senior Pastor at Joy MCC in Orlando, FL until my (early) retirement.

My energy now is used, via nature/wildlife photography, in pursuit of my personal interpretive mission; "To foster gratitude for the awe inspiring beauty which surrounds us on every side, in the great and the small, the common and the rare."

I live in an isolated rural setting in Lafayette County, FL with two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, a small flock of chickens, a small collection of orchids, and immeasurable natural beauty.