He graduated with a degree in accounting but not before developing an astronomical theory, writing a paper about it, and having it published in the Journal of the Astronomical League. I went from being a rank amateur to doing this. He receives hundreds of e-mails containing data to be analyzed, and several times, the data, coupled with his own observations, have helped alert professional astronomers about breakthroughs. In one instance, an alert issued by John about the movement of a spot prompted Glenn Orton of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to call on the Galileo spacecraft, the Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the famous Hale Telescope, for further study. They can't take out the Hubble every time they think they see something.
Amateurs have all the time and no budget.
John has published or co-published six scientific papers about his observations and has contributed as an expert source in many magazine articles. It was on that stage in 1962, as Miss Tennessee, that she was crowned second-runner up during the Miss USA pageant. There she is, Miss Tennessee 1962, now president of her Kiwanis club. Little did I know in 1962 that I'd be back again representing Tennessee in front of people from all over the world. Though she says her second trip to the convention hall was more meaningful, she admits the first certainly was exciting.