Ellen and I moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina during the summer of 1995. It really seems hard to believe we have been here for more than six years now and more unbelievable that I’ve been retired since 1993. Retirement has treated us extremely well with the exception of Ellen being diagnosed with breast cancer about four years ago. This coming February will mark her fourth year of being cancer free. My big milestone is that I will turn 65 in December. We built a new house on the side of a mountain. We have an exceptional view of the Blue Ridge Mountain Range which is just south of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Hendersonville is one of the top spots in the county for people to retire. We have people here from Maine to North Dakota to California and Florida. This county has grown faster than any other county in North Carolina over the past 10 years. We are just Southwest of Asheville. We would welcome visitors but it would be a good idea to call first to make sure we are going to be home. Our address is 128 Eagle Rock Trail, Hendersonville, NC 28739. Phone 1-(828) 697-1566. Our house is way to big for us and we are considering downsizing now to a two bedroom condo which will still be big enough for visitors. We just recently purchased a small condo in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii where we will be spending a minimum of four months and a maximum of six months following Christmas each year. The weather is usually mild up to late December. I would live in Hawaii year around but Ellen has an elderly mother living on Cape Cod, Massachusetts that she wants to be closer to at least part of the year. Visitors would also be welcome in Hawaii however getting there is on your own. We both tried a couple different types of paying jobs since retiring but right now neither of us work at income producing jobs. Working and having to ask for time off was getting in the way of the traveling we both enjoy doing. We have done a lot of traveling (both domestic and international) since we retired. We have been to China, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Tahiti, Fiji, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Mexico, the Caribbean and Canada in addition to traveling in various parts of the United States including Alaska and Hawaii We both do a lot of volunteer work with our church. Ellen has reorganized the Sunday School Programs and the Child Care Program operated by the church. I serve on the Administrative Committee and am a Deacon. I am very proud to say that after having put the church aside as part of my life following the death of my first wife Betty I have been Blessed by God and am a willing and happy Disciple of Christ. Ellen does free-lance writing for a children’s magazine in Winston-Salem, NC and does educational seminars on early childhood development and parenting for needy families. She wrote one story for the American Girl (Middleton, Wi) Doll Collection Books. She is also big in crafting. I volunteer as a construction worker one or two days each week for Habitat for Humanity. I previously served on the Board of Directors writing grant requests. Right now I am heavily involved in organizing an effort by five Presbyterian Churches to fund and actually build a Habitat house in 2002. I play a golf once in awhile but have only played once since last June when I was thrown from a horse and separated my left shoulder. I took up fly-fishing and look forward to the solitude of getting to a secluded stream and enjoying nature. I tried painting but had about as much success with that as I would with singing. We both do a lot of reading and I’m considering taking a two year course studying the Bible at Montreat College near Black Mountain, NC. I’m on the computer a lot more than Ellen would like me to be but it is a way to keep in touch with old friends around the country and the world. My kids are still dealing with the winters of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Debbie works for the McFarland school system, Jeff left CUNA Mutual after 10 years and has been running the Agent Help Line Computer Support program for American Family Insurance, Wade lives just north of Portage and raises and sells dogs, and Phil lives in Minneapolis and is one of the Stage Managers at the Minneapolis Children’s Theater. My four grandchildren are growing very fast. The three boys (Debbie’s Josh and Jeff’s Mike and Tommy) are in high school, middle and grade school respectively. Josh does hockey, Mike does basketball and running and Tommy just got his Black Belt in Karate. Heather (Debbie’s daughter) has joined the Air Force after two years of college. She decided she wanted to be a linguist and is currently learning Mandarin Chinese at the Armed Forces Language School in Monterey, California. Plans for the future? Enjoy life and traveling some more. Help other people as much as we can. Entertain visitors if they would like to visit and most of all enjoy each other as long as we can.
Memorable experience: Taking all the kids and grandkids on a cruise for
Christmas in 1999. Here is a photo aboard the Carnival Cruise Lines Ship
"Imagination". |
Left to right: Ellen (wife), Josh, the old guy, Wade,
Jeff, Susie (Jeff’s wife), Phil, Debbie, Heather and Jeff J (Debbie’s
husband). Standing at the far end of the table are Mike and Tommy.