ALTON BRYANT was born December 11, 1966, in Baltimore, Maryland, and lived his childhood moving around in the BaltimoreWashington Metro area. In the 10th grade, his family moved back to NW Baltimore City, where he attended Frederick Douglass High School. Alton graduated Douglass as valedictorian in 1984. Despite having a fouryear tuition scholarship to Penn State, he opted to join the United States Marine Corps and left for bootcamp 2 weeks after graduation. Alton spent 4 years with a couple MATCS (Mobile Air Traffi c Control Squadron) units, then later took those talents to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) as an Air Traffi c Control Specialist. It was his dream job. He describes it as going to work to play video games all day. One Labor Day evening Alton was struck by lightning through his headset while working position. Due to the nature of his injuries and condition, Alton was no longer medically qualifi ed to work and was forced to take an early retirement after nearly 20 years in the FAA. Though he still suffers with those symptoms, he has learned how to keep himself very busy. Writing books is only one way he spends his time these days. He is also a Directional Leader (elder) among other things at Dulles Community Church, a director at the Washington West Film Festival (1 of only 2 people who helped start the festival and is still active), an Ambassador in the fi ght against human traffi cking with Reset180, a chair of the Stone Ridge HOA's Activity Committee, and a Loudoun County foster parent. Alton is also a full time student studying for his Masters Degree in Psychology and plans to join or open his own counseling service in the near future. Alton's family consists of his wife, Esther, 6 adult children (Isaiah, Davonna, Destin, Delano, Deshea and Alia), a Shih Tsu Poodle named Coconut, and two sibling American Shorthair cats, Crumb and Caramel
