In the beginning

there was my Mother and Father

Being as this is a story about my life, I will start with who my parents were and how they may have affected me in life

Father: William Lee Head

Mother: Patricia Lee Head

My father was born in a small Texas town called Murchison, TX I believe. Near Tyler and Athens ,TX I was told dad was born on a cotton farm where his father picked cotton for a living. As I heard it from my mother on a trip in Texas, childhood poverty had a huge effect on my father as a teen and throughout his entire life. At best of times I heard their family of three boys, dad the oldest, lived in the back of a laundromat that was only seperated by a sheet/curtain. Our family went back to visit my fathers parents every two years and I recall the time my father pointed out the laundromat they lived in while he was growing up. Dad only made it to the first year of high School before dropping out and joining the military. The Head family had never graduated High School. I was the first Head to ever graduate. My father joined the military to see the world and was stationed straight out of boot camp at Yuma, AZ. Yuma Army Air Field. I heard he rode a motorcycle and he met my mother Patricia Lee Dehn who was working at the local skating rink. They married in 1954 and I was born in 1956. My father was 20 yrs old at the time. After us three children were born my parents moved us to the Phoenix, AZ area. They bought their first home in the Starlight Park area. A brand new 3-bedroom John F. Long home around 83rd Ave and Indian School Rd. They paid $19,900 for it.
I was a good child athlete and pitched for the local Starlight Park Miniture baseball League or maybe PeeWee League. I attended Starlight Park Elementary. We moved from there to Glendale/ 45th Ave and Maryland Ave when I was in the 5th Grade where I then attended Barcelona Grade School.

I was still a great athlete at Barcelona and remember I had a thing for protecting kids from bullies. I was suspended once in Grade School and once in High School for fighting a bully. My dad was actually proud of me.

In approx 7th grade my world changed. My best friends at the time were Joel Rubinstien and Russel Rinda. I was very naive and they nicknamed me Bama Boy after finding Bama Jelly in my fridge. They said I was homely but meant it different than the actual meaning. They were saying I was a hick basically. I was picked on a lot for being so naive and it was a huge problem for me. Then when i started puberty everything went way wrong. I was no longer a star athlete and I was afaid of everything. Well, afraid for looking stupid at everything. Terribly afraid I recall. I went from athlete track star to last picked for left feild. That all changed to some degree when I went to Joel Rubenstiens Bat Mitzvah six days before my 13th bday. Joel was six days older than I was. I remember the time well as it was the weekend Barbarella with Raquel Welsch debuted at the movies. They had an open bar in the Mitzpha and I drank alcohol for the firt time in my life. Rum and Cokes. After a drink or two I found my personality. I was brave and cool, or so I thought, I could talk to older girls. They seemed to like me. Everything changed a little that day. Not that I started drinking every day, rarely even, not till High School when I had a car, but the feeling I had that day was certainly a preamble to my future drinking in many ways. Even at a young age my anxiety had taken over my life. I had no idea what it was back than but I see now, it was the beginning my lifetime of anxiety.

In High School I left Joel and Russel behind and navigated my way to a couple guys who the girls loved for their looks. Mike Cox and Ray Tome. I was still acting a goof but I was quickly learning how to look good. How to look attractive. I was different than them in one way I recall as they were pretty abusive to women who didn't look all that attractive and who flirted with them. They were mean and it didn't sit well with me. This was the beginning part of my life when I started seeing men/boys as jerks. Yelling out the window at girls really made a bad impression on how dumb the male sex can be.

In my 3-4th Year of High School I met my future wife Cathy Berliner. She was in a grade behind me. We were married Jan 9th 1976 in a pentacostel church by Pastor Pyfrom. My dad said we could live in the bottom floor of our family tri-level Hallcraft home on 7516 W Rovey Ave if I just had a job first. Vietnam was over by a few years and a lot of people were joining up during peacetime. In fact I had to sign on delayed enlistment to get in. Which was great because it meant we would be married for four months before I left for boot camp. What a wonderful time that was. I signed on to be a Firefighting Specialist and went to boot camp on April 24 1976.

This is the end of the beginning.