Category: Family

When Ruth and I started our family we agreed that names were important.   We wanted each of our children to have  a strong name.   Names that would be remembered and impactful.  As teachers we were well aware that some names were designed to encourage nick names.  Some names encouraged rhyming.   We didn’t …

I met Anastasia Kabatkina on October 31, 1997  at the Metro Detroit Airport.  I was one of many friends and family who welcomed her to her new home in Michigan. The last time that I had been a part of such an airport crowd was 1958 at the Willow Run Airport just ten miles  west …

Many people – perhaps most around the world – never have the chance to share a meal at a table with their family.  I’ve been lucky to have four dinner tables in my life. My first table was with my mom and dad.  My sister Sharron joined us in 1950 and 1954 Jackie arrived.  The …

My mom and dad purchased the house at 500 N. Edgeworth in January of 1950 and made it our new home. 500 N. Edgeworth sounds cool.  It sounds better than 430 N. Edgeworth  and more distinguished than 500 S. Edgeworth.  It also sounds way cooler that 500 N. Minerva.  Who would want to live on …

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 that are stored deeply in our brains.) Ruth and I had a housing dilemma.  Both of us had recently …

On our way back to “The Tod” we stopped at a party store.  We bought a package of Twinkies and a bottle of champagne.  We made a toast to ourselves, ate our “wedding cake” and changed our clothes.  Then we called Ruth’s parents. Ruth’s mom answered the phone.  There was no small talk.  I was …

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

Ruth and I arrived a split second before Mike and were walking towards her apartment when his car pulled in.   That’s when I learned of their scheduled 6 o’clock date.  That was a surprise for me.  Of the two surprises Mike and I received within a minute of each other, I’ll go with mine. …

Our stop at the Hi-Lo was eventful.  We were more engrossed in the conversation than the drinking or the sparse afternoon crowd.  We continued our reminiscing that began at the school with the students, and Ruth reviewed the details of her sister’s wedding the month before.  I knew her sister, Kathy, and her new husband, …

I met my wife, Ruth, in the fall of 1969.  We were both first year teachers at Plainwell Junior High in Plainwell, Michigan.  I didn’t like her when we first met.  I thought that she was too brash for a first year teacher. There were five newbies at the junior high that year –  Ruth, …