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Val was born and raised in southern Idaho and lived in Idaho his whole life except for a brief stint in Utah. He started working as a railway clerk for the Union Pacific Railroad right out of high school. He worked for the U.P. for 23 years straight except for a two year vacation with the U.S. Army. A year of that was spent in the semi-tropical locale of Vietnam. Val has pretty much been using computers since the punch card days while working for the Union Pacific Railroad so he has a lot of experience as an end user. He loved punching those cards back in the day.Val’s wife Kathy and he decided to move to the Wood River Valley in 1989, when the railroad moved their jobs to Omaha (since there were no mountains in Nebraska). They felt right at home in the Wood River Valley because of the friendly people and endless mountains. He worked for a packing and shipping business before starting his own picture framing business. After seven years of framing pictures he decided to switch professions and started studying for a career in computers. After completing online courses and passing the Comptia A+ exams, he started a rewarding career with Duke Computer Solutions. Outside of work you can find Val on some of the seemingly endless trails around the valley. Whether it’s hiking, biking or skiing, he loves the outdoors. As for entertainment, he likes it funny or fast! Val enjoys funny movies or a good NASCAR race, especially if he’s driving for the win. He participates in online simracing races in the Men’s Senior Racing League with a bunch of other racers from around the country. | 