Adopted by grandparents and lived with them until death of grandmother in 1984, then lived with birth mother.

The following is from the 22 Jul 1995 issue of The Yazoo Herald, Yazoo City, NS: (It lists information about his parents and dates and places of his birth and death. Then added:) "He served in Air Force for 25 years, after which he served as a civil service civil engineer for five years before becoming director of the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission. In addition to being a member of Conway UMC, he was a member of Jesse W. Grisham Post 2259, VFW: American Legion Post 1000 in Conway, the Masonic Lodge, Retired Officers Association and the Arkansas Retired Military Association. (It then lists the names and addresses of his survivors.)" The following was added by Jack W. Pepper, who was closely associated with him in these additional activities. His family referred to him as "Paul," but others knew him as "John." By any name, he was well above average in all his undertakings. "John" was active in the water resources management organizations at all levels of government. He represented his State in all water matters on the various interstate water projects. He was a past chairman of the Southern Water Resource Conference, an organization of water officials from the Southern States, and took an active part in all of the deliberations. He was a member of the Interstate Conference on Water Problems, an organization of the water officials of fifty states, and served on its Executive Committee at the time that much of the Federal water and pollution control legislation was being discussed. After his retirement, he and this wife, Pearl, operated a ceramics shop near their home on Conway Lake, and produced some high quality products.