Joe Vitovec came to this country from Czechoslovakia in 1950 after escaping from the communist regime in 1948 and spending more than two years in various refugee camps in Germany, France, and Italy. He joined the United States Air Force one year after his arrival and spent the next 40 years as an art director, and developer of training programs and aircraft simulators for the Air Force. He is degreed in history and art from the Texas Christian University, urban studies from the University of Texas, and was and instructor in government and political science at the Tarrant Community College in Fort Worth, Texas. He resides with wife Ruth in Anacortes, Washington.