Dear Friends:
Last year we began our Christmas letter with the statement: “What a year this has been! For the world and for us, personally. So many changes, so much puzzlement about the future which looks so good, yet has so many potential surprises in it.”
It appears that the same feelings exist once more as we await Christmas 1990. The future now, however, does not look quite as “good” as last December with the shift in attention from Berlin to Baghdad. The level of “potential surprises” is even higher.
On the positive side for our family, we had neither floods nor hurricanes to occupy us … there are blessings! In fact the weather has been so mild this year that we were able to landscape our entire yard this past November. The roses are still in bloom!
In August of 1989, we celebrated the marriage of Ken and Tracey. One day less than one year later, in August 1990, Kip (who now goes by the name of Chris!) married Kelly Siegel. This way the boys (and we) will always be sure of remembering their mutual wedding days. We are looking forward to August 1991 to see what is in store for us … there is bound to be something!
Although there was a possibility that Ken and Tracey would be moving to Washington, D.C., upon completion of his training with Universal Computer Management, this did not transpire. The one-year newly-weds live near by. Ken has continued with UCM and Tracey with her part-time employment as an office manager for an architectural firm.
Chris and Kelly are living in The Woodlands, Texas, a planned community several miles north of Houston. They are both teaching at Oak Ridge High School. Chris handles biology and Kelly is the mathematics expert in the family. Between them they cover the scientific waterfront.
Deb has completed her work for her master of Library Science degree at North Texas State University in Denton and officially graduates this December. She has, however, been working as a full-time librarian in Irving, a suburb of Dallas … that northern Texas town. Both she and Joe Gunter work for an enlightened system in that the city council practically doubled their salaries; who said literacy doesn’t pay!
Karen and Pat traded off the foliage of New England this autumn for the majestic Rocky Mountains. Karen had wanted to see west Texas. That she did! We drove from Houston to El Paso and north through New Mexico to Estes Park Colorado. It was truly breath-taking. Then there was the drive back from Denver through eastern Colorado and northern Texas. If you want to see forever, that is the place to do it!
As we bring to a close both this summary letter and this year, we join all of you who long for peace. We wish you peace in your personal lives and hope that all of us can achieve what was promised by angels on high: “Peace on Earth to all of Good Will.”
P.S.: Although we have not moved, our mailing address is now a post office box: P.O. Box 90278, Houston, Texas, 77290-0278. Thanks!
N.B. The year began “well” with the Soviet Union on the verge of dis-union. On the other hand, summer saw the beginning of the re-unification of Germany. However, in August, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and by the end of the year, the world was wondering what the US and Russia would do about Saddam Hussein in 1991.