Do you have any nicknames? I had one as a kid, and my nephews and cousins still call me that: Hockey.

Family: My wife Shirley; and three kids — a daughter, Tiffany, we had a son Harris, who was named after me, who has since passed away from PTSD, and my younger girl is Autumn. We also have four grandchildren: my daughter’s girls, Kendra Vech and Kelly Vech; and my son’s two girls, Madison Towne and Emilia Towne.

How did you meet your wife? We were both in college and went on a blind date. She worked at Macy’s and I worked in a parking lot, parking cars, and the guy I worked with was going out with a woman who worked at Macy’s, with Shirley, and they introduced us. It was old school — no texts or e-mails or anything like that. You had to actually talk to people.

How long have you lived in Newtown? 44 years.

Work: I’m retired.

What do you like to do with your time? Volunteer work. I’m very involved in working with the vets. I volunteer to take them fishing, through Take A Vet Fishing; and there’s a wonderful program the government has that gives veterans free rides to the veteran hospitals. We have about a dozen vans in the state that drive vets to West Haven VA and Newington VA. A lot of the veterans will drive themselves there as they need services, but when they get older they can’t do it. Sometimes they have their wives take them but then the wives get too old. It’s a wonderful service, so they don’t miss their appointments.

I do that, and there’s also another program that goes to Walter Reed Hospital for the most seriously injured veterans. I do volunteer driving for them too. I’m a grunt (laughs). I’ve done that drive a couple of times. When we go down there we leave at 4 o’clock in the morning, spend the day there, get a room and stay overnight, and then get home 9 or 10 the next night. It’s an exhausting trip, but it helps them.

What is the most recent book you’ve read? I’m in the process of reading The Annals of America. It’s a 22-book series by Encyclopædia Britannica and I just finished the 21st. When we bought the set for our kids, they didn’t have the 22nd edition out, so now I’m struggling to find that 22nd edition. I would love to find that final edition and finish reading it.

Favorite TV show? I like science and animal shows. I’ll flip through the channels to find something.

Do you have a favorite movie? Planes, Trains and Automobiles. When I first got out of college I was a high school chemistry teacher and chairman of a science department. As we started our family it was hard to support everybody on that, so I got a job with Union Carbide Corporation as a chemical buyer, and eventually became headquarters purchasing manager when they were in Danbury. After that accident in Bhopal, it changed a lot of people’s lives, including mine.

I got into sales, and instead of retiring when I was 57 or 58, I wound up working until I was 70 — not that I’m complaining. That’s the type of effect it had on a lot of people. I covered all of Canada, United States, and Mexico, different sections of those areas at different times. I traveled a lot, and everything that happened in Planes, Trains and Automobiles has happened to me, although thank God not rolled in one trip. When they drop him off to get his car, and they have numbers on the spaces for the rental car and there’s nothing there, that happened to me. It’s crazy how those things happened, but you survive.

What is something you cannot live without? Coffee.

Favorite food? Sushi.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? My friend and I go sailing on the Hudson River every year. We usually take five or six days. The Mid Hudson Valley is probably one of the most beautiful places in the States — Bear Mountain Bridge and everything in that area. It’s just gorgeous. We’ve sailed from Albany down to Liberty Park, where the Statue of Liberty is, and it’s just a beautiful area.

What is your favorite thing about Newtown? The overall feeling of the town. It’s a very safe community. I love the people here, and our neighbors are wonderful. I can’t think of any other town I’d rather be in.

Favorite color? Red.

Do you have a personal credo? Don’t stress. If you start to stress, things don’t work out well.