Dave Kilbourne was raised up on historic Pawleys Island, which is only loosely
attached to the South Carolina Low Country, and then relocated upstate to
beautiful Aiken, South Carolina where he spent his formative years growing up
as a free-range child.
After graduating without distinction or honors from Aiken High the author
promptly spent nearly a week doing hard time in the Aiken City Jailhouse with
five other equally mischievous classmates who made up most of the first string
of the AHS football team. See the humorous story Go Directly To Jail. Do Not
Pass Go, Do Not Collect Two-Hundred Dollars for further details. Immediately following this mischief he served a brief stint in the United States
Marine Corps. It was either that or join the Peace Corps and learn to grade
fair-trade coffee in Ecuador or learn the intricacies of Nigerian banking
practices.
Following these adventures, Kilbourne was a U.S. Forest Service Lookout Tower
Operator, a Forest Ranger, a Timber Cruiser and a Rattlesnake Wrangler deep
down in the Savannah River swamps. He has also been a newspaper columnist, a
high school librarian, a writer and a publisher and a short-order cook at the
Dreamland Diner down there on Elm Street. Locals referred to the diner as
Nightmare on Elm Street. He also spent eight happy years during these various
and sundry activities as a college student and thoroughly enjoyed every course
and credit.
Additionally, Kilbourne was once a teacher and part-time School Psychologist.
There is nothing more dangerous than a part-time psychologist. Many of his
former student clients are still in intensive counseling as they attempt to
overcome his professional care. The only activity he was allowed to engage in
that might be considered more dangerous to students was when, as a high school
sophomore he was granted a school bus driver’s license at sixteen years of age! Sit down, buckle up and hang on!
After attending Clemson University he began a colorful career in Forestry, which
provided a rich source of information for his subsequent books. In his later
life as a downtown shopkeeper he owned and operated the infamous Pyromania
Tallow Works which was a highly flammable candle factory and art gallery
operating on the same basis as a Wild West rodeo show. Entire cities, such as
Chicago, have burned flat to the ground with less cause than this outlaw candle
making enterprise provided during those halcyon days. Google “Great Chicago Fire” for additional information.
