My life story begins in 1946 when I was born into a ordinary middle-class family in Michigan. I have one sister who is five years older than I. It is interesting to know that my mother and her sister married my father and his brother in a double wedding ceremony. They then proceeded to live side by side for nearly 25 years while raising almost identical families.
Our family was very involved in church and much of our social life centered there. At a very early age, I became involved in music and often performed at church or related functions. I also enjoyed school and was a good student. 20 years later, I wrote a paper for a Sociology class and I was able to remember my school experiences year by year. It was easy to see how my interest in teaching evolved. Teachers made a big impression on me throughout the years, both good and bad.
After graduating from high school, I followed the normal “small town” pattern of marrying early and starting a family. I was just 20 years old when our first child, Terri, was born. Luckily, she was a tough little gal who grew up nicely in spite of some serious errors on her young mother’s part. My son, Bradley, was born two years later (after I had learned a “thing or two” about babies!) Our house was on a quiet street that was perfect for raising kids - the neighborhood was safe, friendly and filled with children who all walked to school. At that time we lived in Satellite Beach, Florida, where my husband was employed by Pan American Airlines at Cape Kennedy.
We were a traditional 1960′s family, with my husband being the bread winner while I was a stay-at-home mom. We lived in a nice home just a few blocks from the beach, were very involved at church, socially, and at my children’s school. Compliments of Pan Am, we were also able to take at least one major international trip a year – my love of travel was born! One of my most enjoyable activites was singing in a “Sweet Adeline Barbershop Quartet.” My three pals, (I’m still in touch with Pat and her family), and I performed for groups, churches and just for fun. We spent NUMEROUS hours around my piano while our kids were all at school! We also had a unique aviary built on the side of our screened porch so that we could raise parakeets. Typically, we had about 150 birds whose babies we sold to local pet shops. Our neighbor, who traveled for business internationally, always said he could tell he was back home by the pretty parakeet songs outside his bedroom window! We lived this peaceful, interesting, wonderful life for about 10 years.
In 1977, we made a major decision to move back to our hometown in Michigan. My father-in-law was ill and wanted to relieve himself of the family business. So quite suddenly, we became the owners of an ice cream store and a 15 room Victorian house that was over 100 years old and in disrepair. Our lives changed drastically since this was a 14 hours a day, 7 day a week business for about nine months of the year. The rest of the time, we were busy remodeling the house and shoveling snow!
