Bio Page

I was born in Middletown, Ohio in November of 1961. Middletown is a medium sized factory town near Dayton and Cincinnati in southwestern Ohio. I am the third and youngest son of Richard and Doris Reck. I had two older brothers, Dale and David. Now only my mom and I are among the living and we both are living in the South Bend, Indiana area.

I attended Lincoln Elementary school (now a dental office complex), and Roosevelt Junior High School (now an elementary school) and Middletown High School. I have always enjoyed playing sports, reading and playing guitar, and hanging out with many good friends - so that's pretty much how I spent my childhood/adolescence.. I graduated from Middletown High School (still a high school!) in June of 1980.

I grew up in the seventies, so pardon the haircut!

I went into the Army as a Russian Linguist three days after high school graduation and attended the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. I still cherish the friendships made while serving and am thankful that I was stationed in Germany. This gave me the opportunity to travel to many countries in Europe and meet a lot of fascinating people. These experiences broadened my perspectives and made me understand that the universe is a very large place, surely not revolving solely "around me".

After my military hitch was up, I worked and went on to college at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. I got a B.S. in Secondary Education and Russian (although I didn't have the stoicism and patience for teaching). While in school, I played guitar for a number of local bands and wrote computer programs and databases for spare change. I kicked around a bit after college, playing guitar in nightclubs and and then decided to go on to graduate business school. After attending for two years, I took my first real computer job at the Workshops of David Smith. It was there that I met Colleen and after a few years, this happened...

We both lived and worked in Cincinnati for 10 years and raised our first two "kids" (Tabby and Meisha) ... I worked a series of progressively more challenging jobs and discovered horse racing. Colleen finished her degree from Xavier and we started getting involved with the local community in Anderson Township.

until this happened on November 14, 1999...

(click on Ben for more pictures)

Benjamin Dale Reck is the primary reason we moved up to South Bend, Indiana and the University of Notre Dame in December of '99. My first priority in my life is to be as good of a parent as I can be. Notre Dame gave me the promise of a family centered work environment and South Bend as a good place to raise children. Notre Dame and South Bend have fulfilled that promise. I enjoy working for Notre Dame and South Bend/Granger has proven to be an excellent place to raise children.

And just when we were getting used to life with the cats and Ben, On April 24 of 2002, this happened...

Our daughter, Elise Ann was born..

(click on either photo above for Elise's Page)

I will be continuing to update this bio with new pictures and any new significant developments as time permits. In the meantime, here's a few family shots...

The whole crew in the summer of '03...

Colleen and the kids summer of '05

I'll be posting more photos as I get them ready... Thanks for stopping in.