August 18, 2007 would have been Mary Jo and my 51st wedding anniversary, but it was not to be as you can see in the next paragraph. Life is slowly getting better with the tremendous support of my sons and all of my other family and friends. My son Bryan and I made a trip to Russia (St Petersburg) in July, 2006. Had a great time! And we went on a cruise out of New York to the Caribbean in October, 2006. Then I went with a friend to Spain for 4 weeks and to England for a week in April-May, 2007. In Spain we visited many places that Mary Jo and I had visited in 1968. In December I will be making my annual trek to Mazatlan for some sun and relaxing.
There was a jibe in my beloved wife's life in the fall of 2003. Mary Jo passed away on September 9, 2003 on the 10th day of her stay at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle. The lovely, vibrant picture of her above surely didn't reveal the disease she fought for forty years, systemic lupus erythematosus. The picture was taken just a year and a half before she died.
Our previous interests had been in motorhoming in our Winnebago Chieftain, but we also had missed our sailing on Puget Sound and the Georgia Strait in our Beneteau Oceanis 350 sloop that we sold a few years ago. Dale retired in March, 1996 and Mary Jo retired in May, 1997 from Central Washington University. We had six good years of retirement before Mary Jo passed away.
In May, 2002, we went on an exciting cruise to Alaska on the Ocean Princess. We followed up with a week long car trip up through Denali Nat'l Park to Fairbanks, then down along the oil pipeline to Valdez, and back to Anchorage for the flight back to Seattle.
In December, 2002. we traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico to spend a week with a friend in his timeshare condo. As a result we bought a Master Suite timeshare condo at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay in New Mazatlan about 10 minutes north of Mazatlan proper. A few weeks after returning Mary Jo's health began to deteriorate seriously, although we had known of some decline in kidney function earlier.
The picture at the top reflects the view from our home overlooking the Central Washington University campus and Mt. Stuart northwest of our valley.
Central Washington University Dale's Web Page at Central Washington University Central Washington University Retirement Association St. Petersburg Times (Russia) Columbia Basin Cruisers Men's Scholarship Luncheon Group Ellensburg (Ykm)_Weather E*Trade
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This page is irregularly reconstructed so there is not much here yet, but come back again soon to see it grow. Last modified 9/26/07.
If you have comments, email me at comstd@yahoo.com
