"My dad inspired me to write this book. I started taking notes in April of 2007 of our experience in Tampa, Florida

auditioning for The American Inventor Show as a keepsake to record memories to refer to later when I read to my grand-

children and tell them about the life of their great granddad. At the time, I just wanted a record of our experience as a father

and his adult son taking a week out of their life to go on an adventure together. What an adventure it turned out to be. The

notes I took of that adventure started to evolve into a book after my dad retired. He retired at the early age of eighty which

for him was a mistake.

He should have cut back to a couple days a week. I started noticing a few years later that he was

starting to lose some of his drive and motivation because he wasn’t keeping busy pursuing another invention. That’s when I

made the decision to record the story of his creativity, perseverance and the adventures he experienced throughout the

years in his endeavor of inventing things. The goal then was to write a book in which he and I could take a trip down

memory lane together to revive his momentum. The good news is I was involved in most of his inventions and had

firsthand knowledge of the experiences. I was able to read him half of the manuscript before he passed away on May 1st

of this year.

The goal now is for his legacy that I talk about in the book to live on. I think we are losing a lot of the

common-sense values and work ethic that people in my dad’s generation possessed. Today, we need good role models

and examples like my dad to follow. Plus, I have always wanted to write motivational and self-help material. I got in the

habit in years past as a toastmaster to write out my speeches. I had written many speeches on my dad and his inventions

throughout my years as a toastmaster. I have kept all the speeches I have ever written. I was able to weave in a lot of

what I had written in the speeches into this book. I organized the book in time sequence order starting in 1956 with

his first invention and ending in 2013 with the final presentation of his last invention." - Randy

My Dad My Hero