Occupation: Currently I’m employed by the Department of Correction in the Parole and Community Service Division in Waterbury. I’ve been in that department 17 years. I started in Bridgeport as a Corrections Officer in 1974, though. I also am a baseball umpire for Fairfield County and I am a voice-over artist. I do commercials, characters, and books on tape. I don’t have anything in the library here, yet, but I hope to someday.

Family: My wife, Barbara. We’ve been married three years. We’re still newlyweds, I guess. I have two children with my late wife. Erik is in Fairfield and Danielle lives in West Haven. And I have one grandchild, C.J. He is 5 years old.

Pets: We have a wonderful American Eskimo dog named Tasha. Tasha is 6 months old. She is just a joy. It’s like having a baby. She sleeps through the night now, which is great in this weather.

How long have you lived in Newtown? It will be seven years in June. We lived in Granby before that.

What do you like to do in your free time? Work out, work out, work out. I go to the Gym at Newtown. I do a little personal training, but I don’t really have the time to do a lot. My wife and I are baseball fanatics, so we go to a different baseball park every summer. My wife is a Red Sox fan and I’m a Yankee fan, so we have a lot of fun. And I listen to music.

What is in your CD player right now? Truthfully, Shania Twain. That’s what I was listening to. I get razzed for liking country, but that’s okay. The first song on that album I had in the player is “Man, I Feel Like a Woman.” It’s a great song.

So you have a favorite travel destination? There are a couple of places I really enjoy. Western Canada is one place, Manitoba, Calgary, British Columbia. And Wyoming is the other place. It’s so liberating, that openness out west. There’s this vastness that is mind-boggling.

What is the best thing about Newtown? The best thing about Newtown is — and I say this grudgingly — there is an effort to maintain its integrity. There are a lot of people working to maintain its small town feeling. Please, let’s not overdevelop. I don’t want to see a house on every lot.

Do you have a memorable experience? I’ve met so many amazing people and so many things have happened in my life. Once I got stuck in an elevator with Richard Nixon. I was in the military in Virginia. That was in July of 1970. He asked me where I was from. I’ll never forget that. It was just for about five minutes, but it was so strange.

Who is your hero? Right now my wife is my hero. She has no idea what she has done for me.

Do you have a personal philosophy? Several. The first one, To thine own self be true. The second, Always lead with kindness and love… but never take any guff. The last thing is to tell the people that are close to you that you love them every day. Life is so short.

What is the most important lesson you have learned? To be honest with myself. If I’m not, I could go down a path I don’t want to go down.