Gordon Allen Christensen

I've had a long and interesting life and here are some of the highlights:

I attended Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa Florida, where I was president of my graduating class.

At age 18 I was stationed in Japan, with the 11th Airborne Division, where I made 8 parachute jumps.

At 20 old years I worked for the US Bureau of Mines carrying rocks on my back down from the mountains in Alaska, north of Lake Iliamna. They were sampling for copper.

I have lived in the Philippine islands where, as a 21 year old student of Asian history, I lived, ate, and partied with Philippine students.

I also volunteered to work with those doing community development in remote poverty stricken areas. This involved two weeks of hiking in the rain forest of eastern coastal areas of Luzon. One week was during a Typhoon. Were it not for the know-how of the indigenous people the trip could have been a disaster.

I earned a graduate degree from University of Chicago in History of Ideas and other related fields. I also have a joint master’s degree in Broadcasting and Drama from three colleges - Union, Peabody and Columbia University - all in New York City.

At the University of South Florida, in Tampa, I taught the history of Japanese Buddhism.

While running team centers on Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn I went to civil rights rallies in various churches; resulting in marching and carrying a sign at the iconic "March on Washington".

During the Korean War, I was a helmsman of a civilian tanker contracted to ship jet fuel from Bahrain to South Korea, and then helped navigate the ship across the Pacific Ocean.

I was a part-time counselor, using Dr. Karl Rodgers, U of Chicago, techniques at the Hillsborough County Jail run by Sheriff Malcolm Beard.

Years later as Director of Training for a large insurance agency in Tampa, I sought to racially integrate the operation. On the owner’s Yacht, surrounded by others, I was told to cease such activities. I then formed my own integrated insurance agency in Brandon/Tampa, Florida.

My dance partner, Dr. Judith Bohren, and I were "USA DANCE" senior champions of International style Latin dancing, an honor won at University of Baltimore in 1999.

I am widowed with four wonderful children and ten outstanding grandchildren.