Author Robert Diego Lopez came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1960 with his wife and daughter. He worked briefly as a busboy, then a salesman while studying English and business. Lopez retired in 1987 as vice president and treasurer of Systems Services Division, Planning Research Corporation, in McLean, VA. He died in 2002. His second wife, Virginia Croft Lopez, an editor/writer and retired director of the Research Center, Aerospace Industries Association, helped him create this memoir.