S. Bradley Stoner

I was born... in St. Louis, Missouri because my parents lived in southern Illinois at the time and St. Louis Maternity was the closest hospital. It wasn’t my choice and I didn’t spend much time there since we all moved to Colorado when I wasn’t yet two. All my childhood memories are of Colorful Colorado. What a place to grow up!

 

I was raised... in Denver, Colorado and attended George Washington H.S. and graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Even though I worked full time while attending college, the memories made there are some of the best I have. I spent weekends (when I had them) climbing with a partner in Eldorado and Boulder Canyons, hiking, fishing, and hunting in the Colorado Rockies. In 1973 I left Colorado for Montana and spent 17 wonderful years in the Bitterroot Valley before moving to Helena. After Helena... well see the “I married” section.

 

I married... the love of my life, Cherei. We met in Helena and eloped to Nevada three months later. Since we got married, we have lived in Helena, Manhattan, KS, Bel Air, MD, and now San Antonio, TX following the trail of my work. Although I am semi-retired now, that may not be the end of it. To all those who thought it wouldn’t last, all I have to say is, “More than a quarter century and counting...” What an adventure it has been and there are still roads we haven’t traveled.

 

We have two boys... eight years apart. We call them our “first onlies.” It worked out well. They had enough time to bond without getting into teenage altercations that usually happen with male siblings close in age. As for the parents, well it wasn’t always smooth sailing, but in the main we had fair winds and following seas. Did I mention I also liked to sail?

 

We need a bigger back yard... One of the drawbacks to living in a big city like San Antonio is that space is limited, especially with the way housing developments, even nice ones like ours, are built these days. I had a bigger yard when I was a kid in Denver... or at least it seemed that way. Of course, when you build things like a stone patio with an arbor, a potting shed, a fountain (that would be the Mayan pyramid in the picture), and put in flower gardens, it does tend to shrink the yard a bit. On the other hand, I’m getting less fond of mowing the grass, so maybe less is more.