He graduated from Ashland High School in 1966, and worked for Ashland IndustrIes. He then attended the Rice Lake Vocational School, studying drafting, blueprint reading and tool and machine design. He was also employed at Ward's at Colorado Springs, Colorado while attending El Paso College. He had been working on the construction of large dairies in Colorado Springs and Franklin, Texas, and at the time of his death was construction foreman of the western State Construction Company of Bernalillo, Texas. His body was found in the Sandia Mountains east of Placitas, New Mexico on December 7th, following his disappearance on October 1, 1973.