All Pikes Peak Library District locations will close at 4 p.m. on Tue., Dec. 31 and be closed on Wed., Jan. 1 in observance of New Year's Day. In 1956 we took a long journey from Washington, Pennsylvania to Colorado, to visit my brother at Lowry Air Base in Denver. We visited Colorado Springs and I fell in love with the area and Colorado. By 1969 I was teaching in Denver, and by 1981 a resident of Woodland Park, and in 1991 moved down to Colorado Springs. During some of those journey's I was a writer in Portland, Oregon, a volunteer fireman and EMT in Idledale, Colorado, and in the 1980s had my own film and video production company, Omega Films, here in the Pikes Peak region. In 1991, after moving down from Woodland Park to Colorado Springs, I ended my career as a filmmaker, wrote my novel, and started Aamstar Bookshop.
In 1997 I married Mary Francis, and moved my bookstore into her shop at Hooked on Books. Together we have five children and five grandchildren and continue our love for family, books, and art. I love all things Italian, including, gardening, cooking and wine making. I give numerous poetry readings and performances, and volunteer teach creative writing in Colorado prisons.