The Beginning: I was born and
raised in Cincinnati, Ohio by Louis & Marie Westerkamp. I was
the seventh of eight children -- Mary, Dave, Connie, Dan, Lois,
Cathy, Me and Jan. Needless to say, with 22 years between Mary
and Jan, there was always something going on
at the Westerkamp household. My father owned his business which
provided work for the boys. It also allowed
him to take the family on extended travel vacations every year. By
the time I finished high school, we had visited most US states.
The New Beginning:
In 2002 I met a strange lady, with two strange
children, with a strange view of life, and a very strange taste in
men. In 2005 Lisa and I were married and Lisa, Allie,
Jake and I became a very strange family. In 2007 we were
blessed with our son, Noah -- an extremely happy and well behaved baby.
The Seed: Without a doubt, the person that I owe most of my
success to is my
father, Louis Edward Westerkamp (1912 to 2004). Dad witnessed the greatest period of
technical advance in the history of the world -- automobiles,
airplanes, telephones, television, space travel, computers, cell
phones, ... Looking back, it must have felt like a
dream. He also lived through two world wars, the great
depression, the civil rights movement, the cold war, space race, the
end of the cold war, ...
Through God-given talents or
necessity, Dad became a fantastic problem solver and an adventurer. By
taking me under his wing on projects like building a boat, re-building a player piano,
building an RV, adding solar heat to our house, rebuilding engines, adding an addition to my brother's house, and many
other hands-on projects, he taught me how to problem solve by his
example. These problem solving
abilities are core to all my successes.
