Remembering the people and places, caprices, vagaries and notable mileposts of an unforeseen, though extraordinarily long and privileged life. James Neal Cavener was born into a working-class family in the small, lemon-growing southern California community of Upland. He credits the mentoring of neighbors and the rich cultural environment of the area with starting him on the road to degrees from The University of Redlands and, finally, degrees in the history of American higher education from Yale. His early career included a stint in Aberdeen, Scotland working for a youth program sponsored by the West Kirk of St. Nicholas and area universities, and as the director of a social action program at Iowa State University in Ames. He directed the Commission on Voluntary Service and Action in New York City and worked on International Development with the United Nations system, the U.S. Department of State and various inter-governmental agencies. He found a calling in working for the Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning American Friends Service Committee to live in Paris and work in eastern and western Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. His latest career was a 33-year stint as a daily print journalist, writing for the Asheville Citizen-Times, its predecessors, and regional and independent papers in Southern California. He lives in Asheville, NC in an historic home surrounded by large, indoor potted lemon and avocado trees.