"I painted with my father until 1987 and I decided I was going to travel around the world. I went to Brazil, Alaska - where I got a job on a commercial fishing boat and worked there three years - to Peru and then to Ecuador. I was looking for God and the perfect woman, and not necessarily in that order."

"I rode my motorcycle to Alaska from Norwood, and it got me my first job. When you first get there, some people think because you're from Boston that you're able to fish. I don't know why. When you get there you just mill around and do odds job on the boats that come into port."

"This job has everything I've been looking for. It has adventures and real stability, which I've always been hoping to find."

"I was a late bloomer. I came on (the fire department) when I was 37."

THE SKINNY

RANK: Lieutenant

AGE: 48

HIRED IN WEYMOUTH: 1997

BIO: White was born in Norfolk, Va. When he was 7, his family moved to Norwood, where he graduated from high school. He went on to major in natural resources at UMass-Amherst. He worked for a short time with his father, a schoolteacher in Randolph who painted houses in the summer. He worked on a fishing boat in Alaska and visited countries on three continents before landing back in Norwood. He also works part time as an environmental engineer. He lives in Hanson with his wife and three children.

What did you want to be when you were a kid? "A teacher like my dad."

What would you have been if not a police officer? Full-time environmental consultant.

Best advice you ever got: "I remember calling (my friend) and telling him I was going to go to school and become an architect. He said to me, 'What are you doing now?' I said, 'I'm a painter.' He said, 'Why don't you be a better one?' That changed the way I looked at everything I did."

Person who gave it to you: Friend

What do you do in your spare time?Work on a master's degree, take sons to football practice and jujitsu lessons, take daughter to horseback riding.