Hi gang. After graduation, my father had a bad accident so there went my college savings. I joined the Marine Corps. A year later Diane and I were married and started a family; boy did we! Seven wonderful children, one after another. That was good and bad. I was busy supporting us all and being a great mom Diane was busy with the kids.

Just out of the Marine Corps with our first child, I went to work for Boeing. Soon five years went by. I was up against a two-year college requirement in order to progress economically; but with five children and working two jobs already, that was not possible so we went into the service station business. Big difference in a gas station and a service station and we flourished fast. Soon bought out two more stations closeby in the Federal Way area, which was growing fast. Things were great at this point. Then the devil took after us. Three armed roberies. Two cars caught fire. Suddenly Exxon decided they wanted us to close up our backroom to service and just pump gas and sell bread and milk in the office(7-11). I protested. Exxon sued for $350,000 and locked us out. Somewhere in this mess Diane and I lost each other. Really a hard time over the next few years. I lost everything dear to my heart and everything I'd worked for all my life.

My sister called from Montana, abandoned with three kids in backwoods, no money, nothing. I got her out to Olympia with me in a little cabin. Quite crude but shared what little I had at the time. I'll tell you it was slim pickens then. I had started working as a construction Laborer for a client from the service station who was building Panorama City Retirement Home. I tried hard to patch things up between Diane and me but it just wasn't to be and one night the drunk who abandoned my sister almost two years earlier came to our door wanting my sister. I left to give them some privacy and just from the grace of God came this beautiful creature into my life. I was not looking or economically ready for a relationship but after just one dance we never wanted to be apart again. A year later we married 1972; got two of the boys and raised them, maintaining a relationship with all the others. Four children live here close to us in Olympia now.

I suffered an industrial accident in 1996 on the Key Arena and haven't been able to work since. Then in 2000 State rehab stressed me into a stroke. It really took a lot out of me and there
are still some effects.

Started a craft business just to offset the boredum and had a lot of fun with it but not much money. We quit that business.

We had a lot of time shares already and have just completed a year and a half going from one condo to another all over U.S.A. We just returned yesterday from a seven-week stay in beautiful Mazatlan Mexico. Just home for Christmas then off to Vegas for the fifth time this year. Then to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, then Carlsbad, CA, then to Sedona AZ (where we spent three months in 2005), then off to Lake Tahoe, and then an inside passage cruise to Alaska. Things are looking up. Hope to see you at the reunion.