The reason the Feature of the Week forum was created was
to honor people who have a positive influence on this
community.
To qualify the person has to be an active member
and one who contributes to the positive atmosphere here
AdlandPro. Here are the criteria for nominating a member
for the Feature of the Week
(also referred to as the Person of the Week, POTW).
This criterion can be seen at the site below:
Criterion
How Do I Get Selected as Person of the Week?
To be chosen as Person of the week you:
• Are highly visible on the community
• Are always seen as respectful, professional, and helpful.
• Must be nominated for the program by another member
of the Community and voted on by other members.
• Must have a real photo of themselves on their profile.
This week we're honoring a distinguishing gentleman from
the state of West Virginia, his name is Larry Blethen.
Larry in the recent months has stepped up to the plate and
has gotten really involved in the community. He has made a
lot of friends and is a favorite poster to many of us in
the community; a warm personality is always a welcomed
addition to a forum.
Congratulations Larry on your POTW win! 
Larry Blethen lives in Madison, West Virginia USA on the east coast of USA. West Virginia has some of the biggest scenic mountains in the eastern states.
West Virginia has many lakes, rivers, parks, that have around the year activities like fishing, boating, skiing, walking trails, ATV trails, horse trails, white water rafting, rock climbing, and caverns. There are also lots of civil war history. The home of the New River Gorge Bridge that has an annual Bridge Jump Day that attracts people from all over the world. This is a parachute jump from the bridge.
West Virginia is one of the small states and it best known for the mountains and coal mining. The town of Madison has a population of 4000 on a busy weekend. My dad worked in the coal mines for 50 years. It was a hard way to make a living and very labor intense. I have four other brothers (no sisters) which I am the second oldest. We all live in different states now.. one in Arizona, one in Alabama, one in New Jersey, one in West Virginia close to me.
I was born in West Virginia and attended schools here. I went to college two years and decided to drop out of college and go to work. It was poor timing to say the least. The Vietnam War had started and I was drafted in 1966 into the Army and went to the Vietnam War for 12 months. It was a real eye opener for me. I am thankful that I returned in one piece and safe. The memory of the Vietnam War still surfaces from time to time.
I did go back to college with the help of the GI Bill in 1968 I decided dropping out of college was not the smartest thing that I had ever done.. I ended up getting a BS Business Management from West Virginia University.
I was married in 1969 to Karen from West Virginia who was a Registered Nurse and we had two daughters. We were married in West Virginia then moved to Louisiana 2 years, Texas 5 years, Minnesota 10 years and then back to West Virginia for the last 25 years. The big decision to return to West Virginia in 1982 was several including a good place to raise our daughters and so that my daughters could know grandmothers and grandfathers which lived here in West Virginia
We used to travel to a different state park each weekend just to see what they looked like up close and personal so to say. Some parks have fishing and boating, some have family type things like picnic tables and outdoor grilling type grounds, some have hiking grounds. It was a good adventure for the family. My daughters still talk about these trips even today. I do feel good that they remember. I was always wanted to give my family memories and I suppose it worked.
In 1988, I decided that I needed to go back to college to get a degree in computers.
I earned a BS Degree in Computer Management from West Virginia University in 2000. At that time, I was working full time, going to college two days per week, and teaching computer classes three nights per week at a local college. My background for the last 30 years has been in computer networking and computer programming.
I build computers and teach computer classes at a local College for 17 years. I learned to build computers and sell them as a way to make money. I also taught computers classes such as Window 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP, MS Word, MS Excel, and Basic Programming.
At present, I live in Madison, West Virginia USA with my two daughters, 32 and 27 and one grandson 3years. I lost my wife of 35 years in Aug 2004 after seven years of illness. It was a big lose for me. I have to thank my daughters for taking care of me because I know that I was a basket case after losing my wife in August 2004 and September 2004 my grandson was born It did not give me much time to mourn with the grandson being born the next month in September 2004
 1978 to 1988
I owned an international import and export company. I traveled all over Europe, Australia, Singapore, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Mexico training service people to do service work on some of the equipment that was exported to them. Some the equipment we exported was water purification equipment, package film testing equipment, ice cream packing equipment and some medical devices.
1988 to 2003
I worked for the State of West Virginia as a Computer Technical Support Manager with a staff of 20 with 25 offices around the state with 1500 users on local area networks and wide area networks including high speed document scanners for 15 years. These offices included Job Service and Workers Compensation.
I designed networks, wrote the specifications and installed the systems. When I went to work for the State of West Virginia they were using dumb terminals, and when I left they were using the best high speed Wide Area Network to each office.
In 2003
I retired from the State of West Virginia and started an internet business and now work at home. The internet business has been tough and I learned alot for someone that should known alot about computers and the internet. It has been a real learning experience for me. I have lost money on the internet then I like to think to about. I understand why people are afraid to do business on the internet. So many scams and people just wanting money and running with it.
larry.blethen@bluelight-marketing.com
It is time to congratulate Larry on his POTW win. Please invite
Larry to join your list of friends if he isn't already on it.
Larry,
Peter, Ana Maria and I are glad to be honoring
you in this week's POTW forum.
You've have a been a great asset to our wonderful
community.
Enjoy your week as our POTW and King of AdlandPro!
Thank you Adland Friends for supporting
the POTW Forum |