Author: Robert

On Tuesday morning we returned to Kalamazoo.   We went to a jewelry store and purchased two gold wedding bands.  Mine cost $40.00 and I expect Ruth’s was about the same.  (Another example of memory moments stored deeply in our brains.) Ruth and I had a housing dilemma.  Both of us recently signed six month …

It was early evening when we landed and I called our building principal, Burton Cave, to tell him I would need a sub for my classroom the next day. “You need to get one for Ruth VanBruggen too. We eloped over the week-end.” “Sure you did. Is she going to drive truck with you too?” …

We spent the night in a hotel near the airport,  checked out in the morning, completed our drive, parked my car, and boarded our plane.  Boring but truthful. We landed in Las Vegas, rented a car, and drove down the Vegas strip.  The drive took us by big name casinos with what we expected to …

We drove to my apartment in Kalamazoo. During the drive Ruth remembered an old family friend. Perhaps Judge Westra could marry us or at least point us in the right direction. Ruth called him. While sympathetic to our cause, the Judge wasn’t much help. I had heard that you could get married in Indiana without …

, Ruth and I are in Las Vegas, Nevada. We made our first trip together on September 11, 1971. I wrote and posted the blog below in the fall of 2017. It’s a recounting of how we met and married. The next few blogs will be an edited version of the original six installments. We’ve …

  A couple of weeks after my time as Anson’s helper, he was robbed at gun point, pistol whipped, and ended up in the hospital.  The two rolls of nickels in his front right pocket, meant to ward off would be robbers, just angered the men who robbed him. The one thing that never made …

Working as a “helper” for Faygo was memorable. My biggest takeaway from the experience was learning how hard my dad, and those who held similar jobs, worked. It was mostly muscle, and thus, not my strong suit. My first day with Anson, I just hopped in the truck and waited for directions. His route took …

  My dad was a kind and gentle man.  He didn’t have a mean bone in his body.  I never heard him curse, and he was all over me if I stepped out of  line.  He treated everyone with respect.  He wouldn’t understand today’s rush to change our culture. He drove a Faygo truck for …

After World War II my dad held several jobs. He worked on a  production line, delivered horse meat to stores in Mt. Clemens and Detroit, made beverage deliveries for my Uncle Harry Mac’s father, and finally Faygo.  He worked as a teamster for Faygo Beverages for over thirty years. The company was originally the Feigenson …