Who is Lowell Farmer?

Who is Lowell Farmer? I am a country boy who grew up on a farm in rural Virginia. In fact we lived four miles from the nearest tiny town. That town is Gretna, Virginia. When I was in grade school, the Chamber of Commerce put a sign on the edge of town that said, "Ain't No Big Thing, But We're growing." That same sign is still there today, sixty years later. The people who lived there were the salt of the earth, honest, with family values and humble. It was a great place to grow up!

My Dad was a tobacco farmer who loved animals. He had horses, mules, donkeys, ponies, hogs, sheep, goats, geese and even a pet black snake in the corn house! My brother and I had plenty of chores to do every morning and also in the evening! We learned how to be honest and how to work hard. We also went to church every Sunday. I accepted Jesus as my savior when I was twelve years old. I appreciate my Mother and Dad and how they raised us.

When I graduated from Gretna High School (Our Senior class consisted of 56!) I went to Va. Tech to study Electrical Engineering. After a rough start (I almost flunked out my first quarter), I ended up applying old fashioned hard study to graduate with honors.

Then I took my first job at IBM in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. as a design engineer. After five years of doing design engineering and earning twelve patents on my work, I yearned to leave the "cube farm" and do something totally different. I loved creating new computer systems and electronic circuits, but I hated having a boss and working in such a structured environment.

Tune in later for "the rest of the story".