I grew up in a small unincorporated part of Adams County, Colorado. My family went through an upheaval after my Dad suffered the first of many strokes when I was just 10 years old. My Mom went back into the workforce at that time to earn extra income for my family. Times were tough for my family but the challenges we faced as a family helped prepare me for the years ahead.
My wife, Silvia Martina (Martha), and I were married in 1987 and moved to California after we finished up our respective college degrees. We missed Colorado but soon fell in love with the San Francisco Bay Area.
I soon followed my dream to become a National Park Ranger, serving at Rocky Mountain, Mount Rainier, Everglades, and North Cascades National Parks, wrapping up the last 14 years of a 27-year career at Golden Gate National Recreation Area. During my career as a law enforcement ranger, I ended up saving many lives, gave comfort at the end to those who didn’t make it, survived two lightning strikes, fought off both a bear and an alligator attack, was hospitalized 15 times from line of duty injuries, worked to provide visitor safety during hurricanes in Florida, blizzards in Washington and flooding in California. Through it all, I was truly honored to work and live in some of the most beautiful National Parks in our country, as well as working with men and women who performed heroic acts every single day.
My wife and I were indeed blessed when our son, Sean, was born in 2002. Watching him grow up, attend the local public schools, develop his passion for music, and become the young man he is today have been the best years of my life.
When I approached mandatory retirement as a ranger, I needed to continue serving others. The choice was an easy one. Colma, the town I had lived in with my family the previous 13 years, had become more than a home for us. We were welcomed into the town when we first moved in and soon felt we were part of a family. I ran for and was elected as a Town of Colma councilmember in 2016.
This past year I’ve served Colma as its mayor. It’s been a turbulent year for the entire world due to COVID-19 but with the support of my council, City Manager, and Town staff we will continue to weather this storm and we will persevere. I have relied on my prior 3 decades of experience as a National Park Ranger to confront every obstacle our Town has faced.
Since COVID-19 struck, I have volunteered twice a week at a local high school distributing food, as well as distributing food for a neighboring city, have delivered food and medicine as a CAPE team member to our senior population in Colma, coordinated with a non-profit to have face masks made and delivered to our residents at Veteran’s Village, worked with our City Manager to ensure our residents receive constant and factual updates on the Town’s response to the pandemic as well as advising them of ever changing County and State restrictions, fought for our family run businesses, and worked with council to ensure our Town survives the effects of this pandemic.
