Violet Meet Dean Morrow, a man of many talents who once came close to being targeted for big trouble over a princess. However, that was long after he was birthed into the world in 1954, growing up in both Oregon and on a ranch in Nevada.
As a youngster, he worked on the ranch and in the family grocery store as well as in floral shops. He started wresting in the third grade.
Morrow met Chuck Norris shortly after he was out of high school. He took the martial art taekwondo and was taught by one of Norris' instructors.
Norris even showed Morrow some moves. Morrow had hopes of going to the Olympics as a wrestler, but a motorcycle accident that broke his back sent him in a different direction.
As a result, he went on to the jewelry business before getting married for the first time and relocating to Nevada in 1977.
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In 1975, Morrow's brother-in-law was an assistant ambassador with the United Nations in Nepal. He recalled attending a ball at the king's palace.
Morrow said he asked a girl to dance, not realizing that she was a princess of India and engaged to the king's son. He ticked off the king that evening and was warned by the U.N. head of station to be careful.
"I didn't touch her,” he said, “if I had actually touched her, they probably would have killed me.”
In the 1980s, Morrow was a full-time deputy sheriff in Fallon, Nev., for a year, then worked an additional three years as a reserve deputy. During that time, he came close to being murdered by a serial killer he was questioning for hitchhiking.
"I was checking him out, and it turned out that he had killed a bunch of people in California. Luckily, I was faster getting the gun out than he was,” Morrow said.
“He told me afterward that he should have killed me when I got out of the car. It was one of my near-death experiences.”
He walked away from law enforcement because he could no longer deal with accidents – especially those involving children.
"One of the worst ones we had was a drunk who rolled a pickup with five kids in the back. We lost two of them,” Morrow said.
“I had to deal with him sitting and whining about his broken arm, when he had just killed two children and mangled three others. I wanted to shoot him I was so angry.”
He went on to work for a power company as a field clerk for 10 years, doing cutoffs, collections and security.
Among his earlier accomplishments, Morrow earned a diving instructor’s license in 1972, when he was one of the early scuba divers. He opened a dive shop, where he remained for five years, as well as operating a diving school.
Along the way, Morrow met Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of world-renowned sea researcher Jacques Cousteau, at a diving convention were she was a speaker. Morrow and a friend, Pierce Hoover, would later go on to help create the Philippe Cousteau Foundation.
Morrow's mission was to educated people on the ocean and environmental issues. He visited many different areas to help others, including Tobago, Russia and he met a king from Africa in Palm Beach, Fla., who Morrow assisted with reforestation.
He helped save a major turtle beach from having a hotel placed on top of it and recorded a video called, "Journey through the Everglades" that went out to a million high-school students in Florida along with an educational package.
Today, and for the past 13 years, Morrow has been a Southern Regional semi-truck driver, hauling glass and windows. Long hours on the road alone has him hoping to retire in the near future, as he is married
with children and has eight dogs, sharing his time between Thailand and Violet.
He plans on restarting his oceanic restoration endeavors in Thailand, where his wife owns 19 rentals and a restaurant. His hobbies include diving, flying, reading, restoring vehicles, hiking, dancing and traveling.
Morrow writes poetry on a wide variety of subjects, with about 50 poems under his belt. He's also working on a book titled, "Poems and Thoughts of a Wandering Man,” which shares experiences through his life.
Details: Visit facebook.com/DeanPapaBearMorrow.