A Retrospective (click a picture for a full size version)
There are four of us in many of these pictures. I met Jim in ’57. Laveta and Carol knew each other even earlier. All four of us went to Merced High. Jim graduated in ’61, Carol and I in ’62, Laveta in ’63. Jim and I met the girls (our future wives) at the same time on the same night! We were "cruising the drag" on our motorcycles and happened by a carload of girls at a local "drive in" and that’s how it began…
With the exception of the first row, these photo’s begin in the early 1960’s through the early 80’s. I was in the army from 1966 to 1969, Jim from 1965 to 1968. We both were stationed for a time in Germany and brought the girls with us! For the last 40+ years we’ve lived within a few miles from each other- in Tacoma.
Laveta in Grade School 1957, Jim & I in Yosemite ’57, Carol (center) Sadie Hawkins Day, Merced High ’62 In 2012 the four of us returned for My (& Carol’s) 50th reunion <link>Me and my Zundapp. Merced California, June 1961Me and my Triumph. Merced, 1962Laveta and I going out on a date 1963One of my Boeing pay stubs. I was a Flight-line Mechanic doing "mod" (modification) work on B-52’s at Castle AFB, California. Note: 2.55/hr and no Medicare!Just Married: April 17th 1964. Merced CaliforniaOur first apartment in Merced (15 west 18th St.) Drying dishes! Playing cards with Jim and Carol.Jim, Carol, Laveta & Me- on moving day 1964. The day the four of us left California for new jobs at NASA’s Michoud Operations, New Orleans, where Jim and I worked for Boeing on the Apollo Program, (first stage of the Saturn-V). Laveta and I had only been married about a month. We were young- I was 21, Laveta 19… and it was quite an adventure.Laveta and Carol at the Grand Canyon, June 3, 1964Page from a typical Boeing Launch Systems weekly paper. Note the date Sept. 8, 1964.<see 2008 photo>In Slidell Louisiana, 1964 (Jim and I worked in New Orleans). The third photo is at the apartment where we stayed when we first arrived. We visited it again 44 years later. <see 2008 photo>.Slidell: Jim and Carol’s 10 -wide trailer where the four of us lived. That’s my green Ford out front (which still had California plates). Though we must have looked like "poor white trash," we had a fun time. In truth, we made very good (Boeing) wages- something very much resented by the locals of the time. Still- Slidell was a nice place to be from. We returned to California not long after Hurricane Hilda blew threw town.Laveta and Jim in our initial apartment:, Slidell Louisiana.link to 2012 photoBack in California: Laveta, at our apartment in Ontario CA, 1966 We revisited this spot, and I retook this picture 46 years later in 2012. <link to 2012 photo> The large roof (building in the background) was gone but our apartment was still there… and so were we.Laveta- Ontario California ~ 1966Laveta- riding our Yamaha. Merced California, 1966My Induction Orders into the Army, 1966I’m in the Army now. Fort Ord CA. I’m in the second row- 4th from right.The Army’s "comfort letters" to Laveta. (They’re humorous…. now.)"Temporary Corporal" Basic Training, Fort Ord California, Sept. 1966Laveta in black & white- 1967Laveta and Me- Tillicum Washington, 1967 (I’m stationed at Ft Lewis)1967: Laveta and the Ice Caves, Mt. Rainer National Park.Self portrait- Fort Lewis WashingtonGlass eyes- Laveta. Tillicum Washington, 1967(and in 2001)Olympia Washington 1967 (and in 2001)In a playful mood- Wright Park, Tacoma, 1967Laveta, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA, 1967Living in Indianapolis with our Desoto Coronet.Laveta (and me) at the house of a friend, while stationed at Ft. Benjamin Harrison Indianapolis – 1967Letter from Carol in Germany to Laveta in California 1968From Laveta in California to me- stationed at Sheridan Kaserne, Augsburg Germany 1968Laveta at home- government quarters. Augsburg 1968 Laveta. downtown Augsburg,Linderhauf and Neuschwanstein castles, Bavaria A visit to Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria, about 16km northwest of Munich (1) Memorial artwork (2) Carol, Jim & Laveta (3) Gas Chamber (4) Oven- one of many."On Post" movie schedule, Germany 1968Event Calendar, Augsburg, June 1968Jim, Carol, Laveta, Me at Jim & Carol’s quarters, Zundorf, Germany 1968Laveta and Carol at Nuremberg CastleLeftover’s from WW-II, NurembergLunch stop near Wiesbaden, GermanyAt the Dutch border. 1968Sleepless in Nordwijk aan Zee, on the North Sea coast. NetherlandsTrying on wooden shoes, near Rotterdam.Carol and Laveta on the English Channel ferryConductor with Carol & Laveta, Dover station – on the way to London.April in Paris (early morning kiss) Laveta & Me.Eiffel Tower …decided not to jump.The four of us taking a break- Paris, 1968The Travel Order that brought us back from GermanyLaveta (in pink) departing Munich Riem Airport for the USJim & Carol at Ft. Lewis WA 1968 (Rena in window)Countryside around Manhattan Kansas in winter 1968Laveta and cat. Our apartment- Manhattan, Kansas. 1968Laveta, with Sharon inprocess. Manhattan, KS, 1969Laveta- sailplane preflight instructions & aloft behind tow-plane, near Fort Riley Kansas, 1969Hunting fossils (Paleozoic Echinoderms) near Manhattan Kansas. 1969Liberty Pass, Fort Riley, 1968At ny desk, Finance Office, Fort Riley Kansas, 1969Army Commendation Medal – at the end of my three year term of service..I’m a civilian again!! Laveta, Sharon & Me – Everett, Washington. 1970Laveta with Mike – Tacoma, Washington. ~1971Laveta and Carol. Mt. Rainer National Park. About 1975Sharon and Mike on an outing ~1974Carol & Laveta, Snow-shoeing in Mt Ranier National Park. 1974Laveta, Jim and Carol in Victoria, BC. About 1975Laveta and Sharon- TacomaSharon Playtime & at Preschool with Me. ~1972 & 1973Laveta, with a Van de Graaff generator (200 KV) around 1975Me, Laveta, Mike, Sharon 1976Laveta: watching one of Sharon’s dance performances, 1978Running the Sound to Narrows (12k) race. 1979Mike, Sharon Laveta: Disneyland 1983Mike 1984Sharon 1984 &1985Jim at a devastated area, Mt. St. Helens, 1988Dry falls Washington. Laveta, Jim, Carol, Jason and Sharon.Me on our rented Harley, Big Island, Hawaii, 1989
