Born & raised on the High Plains of Northeastern Colorado near the Nebraska Panhandle, Dwane grew up on a wheat farm & cattle ranch.  Early on he developed a fascination for the past from his maternal grandmother, Ila Hannah, who was a one-room schoolteacher during the 1920s & 1930s as well as from his mother, Mildred Starlin, co-founder of the Washington County Pioneer Museum.

He graduated from the University of Colorado with a BA in International Affairs & from the University of Denver with a JD.

Through the years he has been a rancher/farmer, dry goods salesman, hotelier, advertising displayer, real broker, barkeeper, petroleum landman, stockbroker & art auctioneer before settling down in DC as a professional musician-actor along as a Licensed DC tour guide.  He thinks of himself as an “Edutainer.”

He hones his history chops as Chairman of the History Committee of the Arts Club of Washington, D.C. while serving as a docent-guide for the Dumbarton House, DC History Center and Cultural Tourism DC.