Age: 63

Occupation and title: Physicist, Independent Development Evaluator for the Army Distributed Learning Program

Spouse’s name: Carolyn Keen

Children’s names and ages: Ryan Farmer (39), Amanda Farmer Twitchell (34)

Church affiliation: Methodist

What’s the best part of your day? When the sun is on the horizon.

If you could select another profession, what would you do? Write novels

Why do you choose to live in Franklin/Southampton/Isle of Wight County? The love of a wonderful, talented woman

If you had two weeks’ vacation and money were no object, how would you spend your time? Packsaddle across some part of the Rocky Mountains

Favorite food: Mesquite grilled steak at the Steak Out Restaurant in Sonoita AZ.

Favorite weekend destination: Home

Favorite college sports team: The University of Tennessee women’s basketball team.

Favorite pro sports team: Discovery Channel cycling team

Favorite color: Yellow

What’s the best life lesson you’ve learned, and who taught you? Being successful is 95 percent perspiration and perseverance, four percent inspiration and one percent luck.

Favorite Bible verse: Ecclesiastes 3:1. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven:”

What’s the best decision you’ve made in life?

Marry my wife

Which local charitable or non-profit organization do you wish more people would support?

Their churches

Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know. I taught adult Sunday School classes in Tennessee and New Mexico over a period of 25 years.

What’s your hobby? Writing; reading; road bicycling; shooting late 19th century guns; and playing guitar

If you could re-live one day of your life, which would it be and why?

The day my daughter married. I gave her hand to her husband and witnessed the beginning of a new generation.

What gives you the blues? Neglect of the elderly

What’s the most Southern thing you’ve ever done?

Plowed fields and cut hay with a mule.

What’s your best childhood memory?

Wading and exploring creeks for miles during the dog days of summer

Tell us one true thing. The gates of hell are locked from the inside

What frightens you most?

The waste of talent - our children’s and our own.

If you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be and why?

Southern New Mexico. The mountains and deserts are good for your soul.

Who’s your favorite ex-president?

Teddy Roosevelt

If you could pass or change one law, what would it be? A no-exceptions flat tax

What last brought tears to your eyes? A novel

If you could invite three guests - living or dead, from anytime in history - to dinner, who would they be? Jesus of Nazareth , Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Mann.

What three objects would you take with you to a desert island? Bible, a pen and paper.

What kind of music do you like, and who’s your favorite performer? All kinds of music, but especially folk music. I have more music by Emmy Lou Harris than anyone else.

Tell us about a good movie you’ve seen lately and why you liked it?

Four Faces West. Released in 1947. Starring Joel McCrea (some say it was his best movie), Frances Dee and Charles Bickford. It was based on the Eugene Manlove Rhodes novel, Paso Por Aqui (I Pass By Here). No blood-and-thunder western, it is a story of great courage and self-denial.

Who’s a famous athlete or entertainer you admire? Lance Armstrong, who overcame cancer to become arguably the greatest athlete in the world over a seven year span from 1999 – 2005

What’s the last book you read? Not counting my own, The Best Novels and Stories of Eugene Manlove Rhodes.

To whom are you grateful and why? I’m grateful to God for the great love he’s shown us all.