Larry Jordan was born in a farm house in Covington County, AL on November 1, 1947. Life has been a series of wonderful adventures for Larry ever since.
He is the oldest of four children and grew up in Alabama, Florida and North Carolina. He lived on farms or in small towns until he was 17 years old. He lived in Andalusia, Alabama for eight years before moving with his family to Hickory, NC in 1965. During his last two years in high school in Andalusia, he achieved academic success while lettering in both football and track. He was the state champion and set the high school and state records in the 880 yard run while a senior at Hickory High School. His Hickory High record set in the 880 yard run (now 800 meters) during the Spring of 1966 still stands today.
Larry attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. He was awarded both track and academic scholarships while attending the university. He graduated with honors in Engineering in May of 1970.
After graduation, Larry did engineering and project management work for Bechtel Corporation and Halliburton for 16 years. He was a design, construction and testing engineer for nuclear power plants throughout the USA. While working at Halliburton, Larry attended George Washington University in Washington, DC and received an MBA in Finance in 1980.
Between 1982 and 1987, Larry wrote many articles and three books about the IBM Personal Computer that were published worldwide. One of those books became a best seller in the technology arena, went through six revisions and sold over 150,000 copies worldwide. The articles and books helped lay the groundwork for what is now the Internet (move over Al Gore!).
In 1985, Larry moved into information technology and executive project management with IBM Corporation while still pursuing engineering part time. He retired from IBM in 2005 to resume full time engineering work.
Larry is now back to his true love...and runs his own engineering company in central Florida where he does structural engineering, design and analysis for clients to ensure their residential and commercial buildings survive hurricanes and meet the building codes.
Larry has served as an officer and a board member for the following clubs and organizations:
- Catawba Yacht Club, Lake Wylie, Charlotte, NC (Board member for five years and Commodore for 2003)
- Floral City Anglers, Floral City, FL (Original founding member and VP for three years)
- IBM Project Management Certification Board, Atlanta, GA (Board member for six years)
Larry participates in a variety of hobbies with friends and family, including fishing, golf, backpacking, snow shoeing, and sailing. He and his wife Betsy live in Inverness, FL. Their daughter Cara lives in NYC where she is finishing the dissertation for a PhD.
Larry E. Jordan Genealogy Biography:
Larry started doing research on his ancestors in the early 1980s. He spent many hours in libraries and genealogy centers throughout the southeast. With the help of relatives and friends as well as visitors to his web sites, Larry has accumulated information about all branches of his ancestors. He has built a database using Family Tree Maker that now contains over 10,000 people. Not all of the database entrants are proven relatives, but many have the potential to be connections.
Larry has written parts of history books for the following counties using information he has found:
- Covington County, Alabama
On July 18, 2002 Larry worked with Bob Jordan and Norman Jordan to kick off the Jordan Surname DNA Project with Family Tree in Houston, TX. Larry was the webmaster for the project results and information from 2002 to 2007. Many families have found connections with long lost branches of their families through the results of the project. Some of the DNA project information still resides on this site.
Several of the DNA genealogy research techniques developed by Larry and discussed on this site are viewed by members of other surname DNA project members. An average of 30 people per day access this information from all over the world.
Major Publications by Larry E. Jordan:
Jordan, Larry E., Wood Frame Shear Wall Design and Specification, 2014
Jordan, Larry E., Bird Photography and Creative Post Processing for Images of Distinction, Florida Artists Gallery, 2013
When AF adjustment set point is high but OK
Is it the lens or camera body that demands AF fine tuning?
Testing a newly acquired lens with FoCal ver. 1.8.1
AF fine tuning and micro adjustment with FoCal ver. 1.8.1
Who is not a good candidate to do AF fine tuning?
Tips for doing AF fine tuning with software
FoCal and FocusTune autofocus tuning software systems
Use live view to tell you if optical viewfinder autofocus is tuned properly
How do you know if you need to do autofocus fine tuning?
Who would want to do autofocus fine tuning (micro adjustment)?
Jordan, Larry E., High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography, Florida Artists Gallery, 2010
Jordan, Larry E., Footer Structural Model For Pre-Engineered Metal Building, Jordan Engineering, Inc., 2007
Jordan, Larry E., Monolithic Footer Structural Model For Concrete Masonry Unit Walls with Basement Option, Jordan Engineering, Inc., 2007
Jordan, Larry E., Monolithic Footer Structural Model For Frame Walls, Jordan Engineering, Inc., 2007
Jordan, Larry E., Coastal Structural Model, Elevated Structure: Wind and Flood Design Loading of Elevated Structure in A or Z Flood Zones, Jordan Engineering, Inc., 2006
Jordan, Larry, The Heritage of Covington County, Alabama, Vol. 20, 2003 (the following articles):
"The Paths of Our Ancestors"
"Southeastern Covington County"
"Cornelius “Neil” Jackson, Veteran of the Indian Wars of 1817 and Alabama Pioneer"
"The Covington County Connection to the Lost Colony"
Jordan, Larry, "Cornelius “Neil” Jackson, Veteran of the Indian Wars of 1817 " The Heritage of Robeson County, North Carolina, 2003
Jordan, Larry E., "Using DNA Results to Find Ancestors," Jordan Surname DNA Project Web Site, 2003
Jordan, Larry, "Power Plant Configuration Management Requirements and Solutions," IBM Corporation, 1992
Jordan, Larry, "Document Control and Image Management for Nuclear Power Plants," IBM Corporation, 1991
Jordan, Larry, System Integration with the IBM PS/2, 1st ed, Prentice Hall Press, 1991
Jordan, Larry, Communications with the IBM PCjr, 1st ed, Robert J. Brady Company, 1985
Jordan, Larry, Total Communications System TCOMM, Larry Jordan Associates, 1985
Jordan, Larry, "C Comm Libraries," C Programming Journal, 1 (1), 1985
Jordan, Larry, "Modems in the Fast Lane," PC World 2 (7), 1984
Jordan, Larry, "In Box Out Box," PC World 2 (6), 1984
Jordan, Larry, "Remote and Unattended," PC World 2 (2), 1984
Jordan, Larry, "A Host of Hosts," PC World 2 (2), 1984
Jordan, Larry, "What Makes Modems Run," PC World 2 (2), 1984
Jordan, Larry and Bruce Churchill, Communications and Networking for the IBM PC, 1st ed, Robert J. Brady Company, 1983
2nd ed, Robert J. Brady Company, 1985
3rd ed, Prentice Hall Press, 1987
4th ed, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1990
5th ed, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1991
6th ed, Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1994
Jordan, Larry E., Galaxy Trek (simulation game software), Capital PC Users Group Software Exchange, 1983
Jordan, Larry, "Smartmodem 450," PC World 1 (8), 1983
Jordan, Larry, "The Modem Market," PC World 1 (8), 1983
Jordan, Larry, "The Communicators," PC World 1 (5), 1983
Jordan, Larry, "PCMODEM: A Good Match for the Smartmodem," PC Magazine 1 (9), 1983
Jordan, Larry, "Almost Everything You Need to Know to Start a Brazilian Assignment," Rev 1, Halliburton/NUS Corporation, 1981
Jordan, Larry and Richard M. Bowers, "CYLDOSE: Nuclear Radiation Shielding Program for Cylindrical Sources," NUS Corporation, 1973
