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
Me and my
Zundapp. Merced California, June 1961
Laveta and I going out on a date 1963
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One 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 California
Our 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, 1964
Page from a typical
Boeing Launch Systems weekly paper. Note the date Sept. 8, 1964.
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>.
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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. |
Back in
California: Laveta, at our apartment in Ontario CA, 1966
Laveta- Ontario California ~ 1966
Laveta- riding our Yamaha. Merced
California, 1966
My Induction Orders into the Army, 1966
I'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. 1966
Lady in red - Laveta, 1967
Laveta 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 Washington
Glass eyes- Laveta.
Tillicum Washington, 1967
Olympia Washington 1967 (and
in 2001)
In a playful
mood- Wright Park, Tacoma, 1967
Laveta, Mt. Rainier National Park,
WA, 1967
Living in
Indianapolis with our Desoto Coronet.
Laveta (and
me) at the house of a friend, while stationed
at
Ft. Benjamin Harrison Indianapolis - 1967
Letter from Carol in Germany to Laveta in California 1968
From Laveta in California to me- stationed at
Sheridan Kaserne, Augsburg
Germany 1968
Laveta 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 1968
Jim, Carol, Laveta, Me. Zundorf
(Jim & Carol's quarters)
Germany 1968
Laveta and dark background, Nuremberg
Leftover's from WW-II, Nuremberg
Lunch stop near Wiesbaden,
Germany
At the Dutch border. 1968
Sleepless in Nordwijk aan Zee, on the
North Sea coast. Netherlands
Trying on wooden
shoes, near Rotterdam.
Carol and Laveta on the English Channel
ferry
Conductor 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, 1968
The Travel Order that brought us back from Germany
Laveta (in pink) departing Munich Riem Airport for
the US
Jim & Carol at Ft. Lewis WA 1968 (Rena in window)
Countryside around Manhattan Kansas in winter 1968
Laveta and cat. Our apartment- Manhattan, Kansas. 1968
Laveta, with Sharon inprocess.
Manhattan, KS, 1969
Laveta-
preflight instructions. Sailplane near Fort Riley Kansas, 1969
Hunting
fossils (Paleozoic Echinoderms) near
Manhattan Kansas. 1969
Army Commendation Medal - at the end of my three year
term of service..
I'm
a civilian again!! Laveta, Sharon & Me - Everett, Washington. 1970
Laveta with Mike - Tacoma, Washington. ~1971
Laveta and Carol. Mt. Rainer National
Park. About 1975
Carol & Laveta, Snow-shoeing in Mt Ranier National Park. 1974
Laveta, Jim and Carol in Victoria, BC. About 1975
Laveta and Sharon- Tacoma
Preschool- Sharon & Me, about 1973
Laveta, with a Van de Graaff
generator (200 KV) around 1975
Me,
Laveta, Mike, Sharon 1976
Laveta: watching one of Sharon's dance performances,
1978
Mike, Sharon Laveta: Disneyland 1983
Jim at a devastated area, Mt. St. Helens, 1988
Me on our rented Harley, Big Island, Hawaii, 1989