Meet My Dad

A Very Young Dad

Graduation

Dad in the Coast Guard

My Dad holding me

My Dad spent 32 years serving Cameron County as "Fish Warden" and "Waterways/Conservation Officer" keeping the streams clean and stocked with fish and also keeping those on the streams abiding the laws.

My Dad is the only certified rattlesnake handler. He's been handling snakes for years. He's been bitten three times. I remember one when he was approached by a Game Warden with a rather large snake. Dad wasn't familiar with the snake but he was doing a show for Boy Scouts. He had a long see through tube that he displayed the snakes in. He didn't have a cap so he used his leather wallet to hold the snake in the tube that day. The snake got angry and put his fangs into the leather wallet and a lot of the venom went, then he tried to get the fangs out of the leather, the snake pulled back and he took the wallet off only to have the snake come forward and bite him in the finger. Live - on scene showing the scouts how to handle the situation. Put the tourniquete on, use the snake bite kit and finished the show, cleaned up the stuff and then allowed his supervisor to put the red light on his vehicle and drive him to the hospital where he had antivenom and medications. One of his favorite memories is getting a request from then Governor Tom Ridge to do a private rattlesnake show. These are pictures of it.