My Portfolio

  As a Hospice Chaplain I have the honor of being able to listen to a lot of life stories. I am touched by all of them. There was a patient that I went to visit not long ago that agreed to let me record our conversation. We sat at her...

  On The Topic of Death…             It is natural for the living to seriously contemplate death from time to time.  Very few will challenge the fact that in this life, youth is the natural beginning and death is the natural end.  The only real "experts" on death… I suppose… are...

I met Mom working at the Harry Doehla Greeting Card Company [local company started in the 1920s: see article from 1962 http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2209&dat=19620630&id=xrUrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1v4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=5126,5946058] My first impression of her was that she was silly but not a wise guy and fun to be with; easy to please, but noisy; willing to do anything...

  The Gift of Life… It Ain't What It Used To Be… I work with a great guy, and he is the first one to volunteer to help around the community.  He has his reasons for not supporting some organizations, as he will tell you.  But get him launched on a...

  I was walking through Cabelas the other day and passed these wintergreen mints. It immediately triggered a memory of my Grampa Grant, who had a stash of these always on hand in a little dish by his lounge chair. We even referred to him as Candy Man! Grampa was always...

  It was April 1954 and Don had just arrived home from a 3-year stint in Europe as an Army PFC. He had been lucky--of the 1000 men in his group, 800 went to Korea and he spent the entire 2 years in Salzburg as acting sergeant in charge of the...

In 1980 I interviewed my dad, Donald Stuart Grant, and asked him about his mother, Ethel Frances Gilchrest Grant. This is what he said: "My mother was a very easy-going person, always finding the good side of people. I never heard her say anything bad about anybody. She would say, "if...

      Here is a photo of a photo of my grandmother, Ethel Frances Gilchrest Grant, at age 18. It was taken at her granduation from "Normal School."  As a homemaker, she would wear a house dress during the day to do her cleaning, cooking, etc. Then right before her husband...

March 19, 2013 Dear Grandpop, Today you would have been 95, if we still had you on this earth. But as it turns out, you were only with us 90 and 3/4 years. I miss you. Life goes on and time continues, but when I fully allow myself to dive into...

  On Getting The Right Attitude...           No one can make you happy, or unhappy.  You may become that way, but trust me, 95% of the time, you will shape your happiness with your attitude.  And it is only a matter of convenience just how offended you can be about some...

Some of my earliest memories, throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, are of sitting around the dinner table with my mom, dad, and sister. Dinner was at 5 o’clock prompt. Mom cooked every night. It was just something we did. Didn’t everyone? When I began working in NYC and not getting off...

  Moses DeVere Childs   Excerpt from Perfection Through Sorrow by Bessie W. Stevens           Another large picture hung in mother's bedroom it held a man with piercing eyes. My mother said that they were a deep blue and very kind: Moses DeVere Childs, her father.  ...

Joyce and Ted lived with Ted's parents for the first 3 months of their marriage in 1960, and when Joyce became pregnant they then moved to Joyce's parents home which was extended to accommodate them until they had saved enough money to buld their own home.  In February 1964 with two...

Joyce and Ted left their wedding reception at 8.00 pm and headed for the foreshore at Glenelg South Australia where they shared a serve of chips. They then headed for the Grosvenor Hotel on North Terrace, Adelaide, for the night where they were showered with confetti and upgraded to a suite....

The arrangements for Ruth and Murdoch's wedding were anything but smooth going.  Listen to Ruth's interesting story.  

Ruth's 21st birthday celebrations were held at the Royal Coach Motor Inn in Adelaide South Australia.  It was a small affair.  

Ruth and her husband often visited Mrs Barnes, widow of George Barnes of Port Broughton.  Mrs. Barnes' house was filled with wonderful furniture and brick-a-brack, which was much admired by Ruth's husband.  Ruth's amusing story leads us to the deceased estate auction after Mrs Barnes' death, where their expectations of acquiring...

Alice goes on to tell the tale about her wedding and her unusual honeymoon..

Margaret became engaged to Ted in December 1944 and they were married on 31st January 1945.  There was no ring and no money to spare, but their friends gave them an engagement party at the local Toch H club.  

One of the gloomy realities that came with my retirement was the economic necessity to give up my beloved little red airplane. Most people knew her (Like ships, all airplanes are of the feminine persuasion) as an AA1A Grumman Trainer - Not me. Once I got to know her and understood...