Mom (Peg) was from Detroit, Michigan. Her family came from western Germany by way of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The second of three children, Mom decided that college was in her future (in a day when not many women went to college). She excelled, met Homer (Dad) there at Michigan State College and they married just as he left to serve in the military.

Soon I was "in the oven" and had a wild ride from Big Spring, Texas (where Dad was in training) by train to Detroit to be born two days later (9/2/1943). Later Mom went to join Dad in Boise, Idaho, where he trained bombardier pilots. My brother Thomas (Tom) was born there in 1945.

After the war, Dad and Mom returned to college, where Mom majored in Art & Interior Design (BA) and Dad completed his BA and MA requirements in Public Administration (Political Science) in 1950. Dad went to work for the State of Michigan in the Civil Defense Program and Mom became a stay-at-home mother. In 1952, my sister Marjory Jo (Marge) was born. I became her official baby sitter.

In 1955, Dad accepted a position with Michigan State University to train public administrators in Saigon, South Vietnam. The assignment lasted two years and upon completion, Dad was offered the position of Assistant Dean of International Programs at Michigan State University, a role he continued in until his retirement in 1984. For many of those years he was President of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors. He published a number of articles and books on the subject of foreign students in the US educational system. Dad passed on in 1987.

When Mom neared the completion of full-time parenting, she took a part time position as a student counselor at Michigan State University. She continued that job until 1984. She held a number of volunteer positions in the local community and at the University. Mom passed on in 2013.

Brother Tom married Jane Ellen Hile in 1967. They had three daughters. My wife, Judi, and I stood up for Tom & Jane at their wedding and they returned the favor 26 years later at our wedding in 1993. Jane Ellen passed in 2013.

Sister Marge married Dewey Weldon in 1979. They adopted two girls and one boy over a number of years.