My Family

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I was the youngest of five;  I have four older brothers. I like to say that ours     was a military family . . .  family planning by war (a different kind of rhythm method).

My Dad was in the Navy, and my parents met at a USO dance. They got married in 1938. They had Jack in 1939, and Bill in 1941.  Then came WWII and dad spent most of his time at sea. WWII ended with a bang (or two). Dad's ship was being overhauled in Bremerton, WA, so I guess he had shore duty.

So then they had Jim in 1946, and Bob in 1948.  Then came the Korean War, and Dad was off to sea again.

After the war ended my Dad retired in 1954, and (surprise!), they had me in 1955. My Mom was peri- menopausal at 42, hence the surprise. But they got what they were waiting for ... a  girl.

So there was a sixteen year gap between Jack and me. I have only a few memories of growing up with him. I may write about them,  but probably not.  


Jack got married in 1966 to Marge, who is Chinese. They were married in the Marion Chapel of St. James Cathedral, which would have been Marge's parish had she been Catholic... I'm not sure how they pulled that one off. Fr. Hayatsu and Bill (a deacon) co-officiated the ceremony. Marge has always been my favorite sister-in-law.

Jack  and Marge had four children, three boys and a girl with names all starting with J:  John, Joe, James and Jade. The boys all went to the UW where they became engineers:  one computer Software, one computer Hardware, and one Mechanical. Jade went to Vassar College and got a liberal arts degree.

In 1955 my brother Bill, in ninth grade (?!), went into the seminary to become a Catholic priest. I think that is too young to make such a decision, but that's just my opinion FWIW. He was ordained in 1967. I barely got to know him until many years later. Bill left the priesthood in 1977, soon after he got married to Karolyn. He travelled to Japan to marry Bob to Keiko, just months before he quit.

Jim followed in my Dad's foot steps and joined the Navy in 1964. He was deployed to Vietnam where he served on a river patrol boat (think of the movie Apocalypse Now). He saw some horrific things over there that scarred his soul. Jim ended up marrying a dancer (think pole dance). She has taken him for so much money, over and over. He finally divorced her, then two years later married her again. I don't understand their arrangement. Well, it's his life. He is  always looking at the bright side of things; I guess I am more pragmatic.

Bob took a different tack and joined the Air Force where he was also deployed to a different part of Vietnam. His job was not in combat, though, luckily enough. I think his job consisted of loading and unloading the planes that were coming and going to and from stateside and to various parts in-country. Bob spent one tour stateside, and after the war ended he decided to stay in and make it his career. He and keiko had two children, Christina and Nicholas.

That left me at home being raised from sixth grade on essentially as an only child. I went  to Holy Names Academy for 9th ans 10th grades then transferred to Queen Anne HS to graduate. I had private piano  lessons from first grade through tenth; I was good, but no prodigy. I would have been better if i had a strong work ethic, but I was lazy. I practised the bare minimum, and I suffered from stage fright during recitals.  I gave it all up when i started college, and rarely looked back.

In 1981 i was diagnosed with MS, and six months later Jack died of colon cancer.  It was a very tough year for my parents,

Well, there's more to tell, but not today.


Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,