P R O F I L E
by Woody Baldwin
Prime Timer Founder, Emeritus

I first saw the light of day and got my first spanking March 28, 1920 in Dumas, Texas. Does that make me a ding dong daddy? I don't think so! [For reference see: Click here to hear the song!] At the ripe old age of three, I talked my parents into giving up farming and moving to the city where we could have indoor plumbing. So Amarillo was my home until age 20. During that time I charmed my teachers into thinking I was smart enough to pass their courses. I was a depression kid, so at age 13 I started working in a drug store eight hours a day and did that and other jobs until I finished high school and community college, and then I left Amarillo to continue my education at the University of Oklahoma. It was 1942 when I graduated; so, you guessed it, I stepped right out of my cap and gown and into the Army uniform for three years. Yuck! After that it was off to UCLA to do graduate studies; and, as we say in Hollywood, I was "discovered" and taught at that institution for ten glorious years. From there, I went to a teaching / administrative position at a women's college in Boston (a nice safe environment) and stayed there until retirement in 1982. Along the way, on February 25, 1967 to be exact, I met the sweetest guy in the world and I have been fortunate to hold onto Sean O'Neill all these years.

After retirement and a short (planned that way) successful experience of running my own business; I stopped working (for money that is) in 1984. A series of fortunate experiences led up to my founding Prime Timers on August 15, 1987 and that has provided me with the best retirement a guy could have. I often think I work harder now than I did when I was being paid, but what a great experience Prime Timers has been. We moved to Austin Texas in 1989.

While I was teaching, the students once did an article for the school paper and they asked several professors to describe their life in one word and I said "lucky". And whatever luck is, I still believe that. I had a wonderful family life. We were poor; but, as Loretta Lynn would say, "there was love". Even though I worked eight hours a day all through high school, I have never resented it because I learned a lot about life that my affluent friends had no opportunity to learn. I consider my education to have been excellent; and, professionally, I seemed to always be in the right place at the right time with the result that I had an enviable career. And creating and working with Prime Timers has been one of the most satisfying experiences a person could have. This is not to say there have not been a few speed bumps in my life but they were minor ones.

Yes, I have been extremely lucky or else someone "up there" really likes me a lot. And that gives me the optimism I need to face the future.

Woody