Look what we got!

Of course, we would visit Cape Cod in the summer. There was no exception in 1977. We went to have another vacation on the Cape. As usual, we went swimming every day while we were there. Cousins Doug and Laura, and our neighbor, Joe and Peggy Duarte’s daughter, were with our kids. Besides swimming, look what we caught that summer! It was not every year that we were able to catch a shark. All the children were happy to get to hold it and our dog Coco very was curious about this catch too! I do not remember how we got it and how we disposed of it!

July 4th, 1977

There are always a couple of important events associated with the July Fourth National Day celebration.  One is the parade and another is usually associated with a picnic of some kind to celebrate the coming of the summer. In 1977, we did both, to remember the occasion. We went to see the parade in the morning. There was the usual stuff included in the parade. One of the following pictures shows a float with historical figures – a pilgrim, perhaps Davy Crocket, and others.  Since Shari had brought her two children to visit us for the holidays, we had a picnic together at the Watauga Lake picnic ground after the parade.  It was a very nice visit, we had a good time together.

I am a Big Boy now!

At his sixth birthday party at home, Steven definitely was showing that he was a big boy. He was confident of himself, and he already knew what he liked and what he hated. He conducted himself very maturely. Both Janice and I were very lucky to have two children who were learning all the ropes easily and who accepted our value system readily. There were no occasions for us to worry that they were going astray. All of the pictures below were taken on his birthday. As you can see, Steven got a set of walkie-talkies for his birthday gift that year!

Alice and Roger’s Wedding

Alice and Roger were married at our Church by Pastor Mould. He and organist Harold Markstrom did all the regular ceremonies.  There were quite a number of guests who came for their wedding. Janice and some other church members did some preparation for the reception. It was very nice! Sherman’s whole family and Roger’s father and brother were there also. Certainly almost all the Chinese students on campus attended. I took quite a number of pictures and I have chosen a few to show you below. They will give you a glimpse of the wedding.

Alice and Roger’s Rehearsal Dinner

Alice Ai and Roger Ma were students from Taiwan who decided to get married in Johnson City. Alice was at ETSU and Roger was in North Carolina. We offered to have the rehearsal dinner at our home. Janice cooked a very big meal for this dinner. Not only was the church pastor invited, his wife, the church organist and the organist’s wife were also in attendance. Sherman Tang’s whole family was there for the occasion, including his parents and two sons. Alice’s parents had worked with Sherman’s parents in a bank in Taiwan. Alice’s host family, Dave and Sharon Benner, were there with the entire wedding party, for a total of 16 adults plus a separate table for children. Roger’s father and brother were there too.  This was the biggest dinner Janice had ever cooked. With many dishes to prepare, she had worked very hard for this wedding rehearsal dinner. Janice appreciated that Alice had often baby-sat for our two kids who loved her and she went out of her way to have a great celebration for this special day.

A Second Grader

Margaret was a second grader in 1977. She was already a very good reader and had started to correct my English whenever she noticed my pronunciation varied from what she was taught at her school. She was very active, and always talked to us when she got home, telling us everything that had happened at school in great detail. She remembered everything in clear sequence and never forgot anything or missed any implications. Janice always listened patiently and let her finish every story! I was amazed about this activity between mother and daughter and it impressed me at the time and now. The pictures represent some of Margaret’s activities in second grade. I still do not know what they were doing!

Henry Bauer

Henry was a colleague of mine at the University of Kentucky in the Chemistry Department. He was doing electrochemistry research there with several research grants from the National Science Foundation. I was involved with a small theoretical aspect of the research before I left Kentucky. Henry came to ETSU in the spring of 1977 to give a seminar in the Department and was interviewed by a local TV reporter, as shown in the pictures below.Later, Henry became the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Virginia Tech. He was very interested in and knowledgeable about several controversial issues, including the Loch Ness Monster, homosexuality, affirmative action, and the AIDs virus. You can easily Google his name to get more information on these topics.

Steven at Child Study Center

During the academic year 1976-1977, Steven was again at the Child Study Center in the College of Education at ETSU. He started there in the Fall of 1975. During his first year he went to the Thayers’ home at Washington College Academy with his good friend David Thayer after school.  Since Janice was teaching there, she would bring him home at the end of the day. During the second year there was a new arrangement for him, as David chose to go to the county school for kindergarten. I took him to the Study Center before I taught my classes. And, since both Janice and I could not pick him up at the end of the day, we were lucky that our friend Jane LaPella, whose son Alex was also at the Study Center, offered to pick them both up at the same time. Then Janice would pick Steven up at the LaPella’s home after the end of her work day. Steven enjoyed the Child Study Center very much. He made a lot of good friends there and developed good relationships with both his teachers and others at the Center. We appreciated the Center very much. The following pictures were taken there in the spring of 1977!