My parents divorced in 1949 and in 1950 my mother married Milo Halsey, a life-long friend they had met in North Dakota.   Bernice and Milo lived in California until his death in 1959.   Later my mother was married again, to Casey Jones, but they weren't married very long, as he stole money from Mother and also her credit card. She had the marriage annulled.   She worked as a chef in ski lodges in California and lived there until about 1970.   Then she lived with us in Appleton for seven years.   She lived in California again until about 1981 or so, when she moved to Evansville, Wisconsin where she took an apartment on West Main Street.   She died March 13, 1992, at the age of ninety.

My father married Gertrude Affholter Schmid in 1954.   She was a widow with two sons, Eugene and John.   They lived in Monticello, Wisconsin.   My father died in 1970.   Gertrude now lives in Albany, Wisconsin.

In 1970, our daughter Alice married Bernhard (Bernie) Radke.   In 1972 our granddaughter, Tara Renee was born.   In 1996, after Tara had moved to Milwaukee to attend the University of Wisconsin, Bernie and Alice were divorced.   In 1997, Alice married our next-door neighbor's son, Paul Ehricke.   They live in Appleton.   In 1988, our son Larry married Beth Ellen Weber Bryann.   They live in Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee.   Tara married Roy Geurts in 1997, but the marriage did not work out and they were divorced in 1998.

After reading all of this over, I know parts are boring and sometimes repetitious.   Maybe someone a hundred years from now will be interested in what we did with our lives.   I hope our children, Alice and Larry, will have good memories of their childhoods.   We didn't have much money, but we tried to raise them the best we knew how, with love and kindness.   They both have brought much joy to our lives and I hope they know how much we love them.   When our granddaughter Tara Renee was born, she brought us another round of joy and happiness.   We were fortunate that she lived near us most of her growing-up years and we are very proud of the fact that she has worked hard to earn her Master's Degree, which she received in June of 1999.