I was born, and spent most of my younger years in Oakland, California. I attended Crocker Highlands grammar school, McChesney Junior High, Oakland High, Menlo-Atherton High School, and the University of California at Berkeley.

I was drafted and served on active duty in the U. S. Army from 1962 to 1964 at Fort Ord, California. In October 1964, I married a young lady who lived in Monterey, a city near the military base. She convinced me that we should stay on the Monterey Peninsula. So, after being released from active duty, I went to work for Security National Bank of Monterey County as Operations Officer. After a short banking career, I was appointed City Clerk and Treasurer of the City of Pacific Grove, and I worked for the City in various capacities until I retired as Administrative Services Director in 1994.

In addition to my work with the City, I started William S. Pitt and Associates, a firm that did computer consulting and custom programming. In 1978 I opened Affordable Computers which offered computer sales and services. I later incorporated as Mariposa Computers and opened a second store in Aptos, California (near Santa Cruz). I sold the corporation prior to my retirement from the City.

My wife and I remained in Pacific Grove for 30 years and raised our two girls there. When I retired, we moved to Lake Tahoe, and I started a small business developing and hosting Web sites. It was supposed to be more of a hobby than a business, but it grew larger than I expected, and soon it became almost full time. In early 2005, we moved from Lake Tahoe to Rescue, California, a rural community in the foothills east of Sacramento, to be closer to our family. I started to downsize the business so that I could spend more time with my wife, children, and grandchildren. Our two daughters and their husbands have given us six wonderful grandchildren.