Occupation: I retired in 2000 from teaching, mostly social studies. I was 25 years at the Morris Street School in Danbury and spent the last eight years at Broadview Middle School. I built my own home here in Newtown over 40 years ago and now I flip houses.

Family: My wife, Evelyn, and I have three children. Lynn and her husband, Paul, live in Texas with their two children, Brooklyn, 10, and Andrew, 8 years old. Laura is in Danbury. She and her husband, Pat, have three children. Brady and Belle are four-year-old twins, and Valyn is 10 years old. Our son Tom and his wife, Angela, are expecting their first child in October. They live in Amelia Island, Fla.

Pets: We had dogs and cats for 40 years. Our last dog was a Bichon named Rambo. We had him 17½ years. But we do a lot of traveling now, so we haven’t had a pet since.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We have been here for 41 years. We moved to Scudder Road at the corner of Scudder and Birch Hill. Both roads were gravel then. We bought a two-room cabin. Since then we’ve added seven rooms and two additions.

What do you like to do in your free time? Since I retired, I’m finding I have less and less free time. I enjoy building and my wife keeps me busy finding homes to renovate. I’m also president of the Newtown Lions Club, so I go to as many as four meetings a week. We have 75 members. The Lions contribute to practically every organization in Newtown. I enjoy golfing and try to get out once a week, and I do quite a bit of reading. I do a lot of odd jobs for friends, too.

Do you have a favorite author? Stephen Coonts. I like him because he has a character that is repeated in his books. He writes books that have to do with a military mission/mystery theme. I also like Dan Brown and Steve Barry. Steve Barry has a new book out now called The Venetian Prophecy that I want to read.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? We travel a lot. Lynn works for Continental Airlines, so we can fly for very little. We go to Texas two or three times a year and Florida two to three times a year. We’ve traveled extensively throughout the United States, and have gone to Las Vegas several times. We’ve gone to Europe about once a year since 1990. We’ve visited Turkey, Israel, Morocco, Canada, and Mexico. My favorite place is probably Germany, and we’ve gone four or five times.

What is the best thing about Newtown? I’ve been a part of two organizations, The Newtown Jaycees and the Lions. We have met a lot of very nice people through these organizations and have stayed close to them. I’d have to say the people are probably the best part of Newtown. We are also a small community but we have the large cities with the arts close by.

What changes have you seen in Newtown? Some things have not really changed: the middle of the town has pretty much remained the same and we haven’t put in a lot of large industries. Newtown is growing. Most people move into Newtown with families so we do a lot more building of schools than other places are today who are losing students.

Do you have a hero? I liked John Kennedy. He was very important to me, and he’s the only person I’ve ever done some campaigning for. And Pope John XXIII, also from that era.

Do you have a personal philosophy? I was in education for 33 years, so my educational philosophy was that I wanted every child I taught to become the best citizen he or she could be.

Do you have a guilty pleasure? I like chocolates, milk chocolates especially, and my wife says I like way too much salt.