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 1961

   Me and my Triumph.  Merced, 1962

     Laveta and I going out on a date 1963
 

 

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!

 old_together_s.jpg (6042 bytes)           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>.

 

 

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.

  old_ontario_s.jpg (5947 bytes)

Back 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 ~ 1966

 old_LavetaRiding_s.jpg (8821 bytes)   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

               Laveta in black & white-  1967

     old_Tillicum_s.jpg (5422 bytes)  
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)

      old_playground_s.jpg (5102 bytes)         In a playful mood- Wright Park,  Tacoma, 1967

      old_waterfall_s.jpg (6850 bytes)          Laveta, Mt. Rainier National Park, WA,  1967

           Living in Indianapolis with our Desoto Coronet.
 

 old_laveta_s.jpg (6087 bytes)           

     old_sidebyside_s.jpg (7582 bytes) 
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

     old_tapistry_s.jpg (6476 bytes)          Laveta at home- government quarters.  Augsburg 1968
old_mosaic_s.jpg (7889 bytes)               
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

               Event Calendar, Augsburg, June 1968

old_germany_s.jpg (5214 bytes)    Jim, Carol, Laveta, Me at  Jim & Carol's quarters,  Zundorf,  Germany 1968

             Laveta and Carol at Nuremberg Castle

    Leftover's from WW-II,  Nuremberg   

old_lunch_s.jpg (6979 bytes)     Lunch stop near Wiesbaden,  Germany

old_tourestInfo_s.jpg (7409 bytes)    At the Dutch border. 1968

old_nordwick_s.jpg (6848 bytes)     Sleepless in Nordwijk aan Zee, on the North Sea coast. Netherlands

      old_wooden_shoes_s.jpg (8514 bytes)             Trying on wooden shoes, near Rotterdam.

                Carol and Laveta on the English Channel ferry

old_dover_station_s.jpg (5380 bytes)    Conductor with Carol & Laveta,  Dover station - on the way to London.

       old_paris_morning_s.jpg (3987 bytes)              April in Paris (early morning kiss) Laveta & Me.

                    Eiffel Tower ...decided not to jump.

old_paris_break_s.jpg (9451 bytes)     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

old_swing_s.jpg (5753 bytes)      Laveta, with Sharon inprocess.    Manhattan, KS, 1969

                 
Laveta-  sailplane preflight instructions & aloft behind tow-plane, near Fort Riley Kansas, 1969


    old_Rock-pick_s.jpg (3780 bytes)           Hunting  fossils (Paleozoic Echinoderms) near Manhattan Kansas. 1969

        Liberty Pass, Fort Riley, 1968

               At ny desk, Finance Office, Fort Riley 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

           Sharon and Mike on an outing ~1974

        Carol & Laveta,  Snow-shoeing in Mt Ranier National Park. 1974

        Laveta, Jim and Carol in Victoria, BC.  About 1975

       Laveta and Sharon- Tacoma

                 Sharon Playtime  & at Preschool with Me.  ~1972 & 1973

       Laveta,  with a Van de Graaff  generator  (200 KV) around 1975

     old_Family_s.jpg (6083 bytes)           Me,  Laveta,  Mike,  Sharon  1976

                  Laveta:  watching one of Sharon's dance performances, 1978

            Running the Sound to Narrows (12k) race. 1979

                      Mike, Sharon Laveta:  Disneyland 1983

            Mike 1984

            Sharon 1984 &1985

    Jim at a devastated area, Mt. St. Helens, 1988

      Dry falls Washington. Laveta, Jim, Carol, Jason and Sharon.

   Me on our rented Harley, Big Island, Hawaii, 1989

 

Click  (here)  for 1970's  mountain climbing pict's.
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