He's done a lot of hard work in cold weather.
This is -- glancing at the gnarled hands, the buckskin sheen of his face, the folds of flesh around his eyes -- my first impression of John Loper.
Which happens to be exactly the case: born in Racine, Wisconsin, the son of a waitress and a welder, Loper worked road construction in Wisconsin until he joined the army 25 years ago. ...