The embryonic John Watkins began in the “Great Spring Snow” of 1956. Nine months later he was born and began his journey toward being on the faculty of Geography, the Graduate Center for Gerontology, and the Department of Health Behavior.  Along the way he completed the requisite degrees in geography (BS, MA, and Ph.D., with the last two from University of Colorado-Boulder) and joined the University of Kentucky when in his upper-twenties.  Trained first in climatology and remote sensing, later in as a mathematical demographer, but now armed with ethnographic skills associated with life history narratives, he applies his craft in studies of the demographic processes of population aging and the aged, population growth and redistributional impacts, and life course influences on later life health behaviors and notions of home.  John is past president of the Population Specialty Group and Aging Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers, has served on the senior advisory panel of the National Science Foundation, is a Fellow of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, and has received numerous departmental, college, university, and national awards for his attempts at teaching and advising.