I would have to say it was my 75th birthday party. It was a complete surprise to me and it was a very special day. The weather was perfect and best of all everyone I knew was there to celebrate with me, friends and family many of whom traveled a great distance to join the celebration.

My mother Ann. She was a gutsy woman. My father died before my second birthday and my mother had to find her way through the great depression with only a sixth grade education. We were living in Grand Forks, ND at the time and there was no work there. She went to Gary, Indiana to find work and an affordable place to live and then came back and got me. Her first job was at a department store. Later she became one of the first female life insurance agents for John Hancock Life. These were hard times for a woman in that world. Some of the men would try to sabotage her work because they thought those jobs were rightfully for men. She persevered and put me through college at Purdue University and made many sacrifices for me.

Make the choices in your life that lead to your happiness.

The joy of folk dancing with my loving wife.

Don’t linger to long on tough decisions, sometimes the right ones aren’t the most popular.