1981 - 1982
Yesterday a cloud of sorrow
fell across the way;
It may rain again tomorrow -- but say,
Ain't it fine today?
Douglas Malloch

In January we became Wellspring (widowed persons) dropouts.

For my birthday Ted gave me opal earrings and later cooked a steak dinner for me at his mobile home -- tablecloth, candles, etc. I was amused that he set up the event with such flair -- for a male. I learned that he does cook!

My birthday was made into a long-drawn-out celebration. Three of my old friends from the papermill days took me to lunch at Duff’s. And Ted’s daughter, Doris, had a lovely dinner at her house in honor of Carol’s and my birthdays.

Then as it happened, we had dinner with Gwen and Don at the Moose Lodge. I mentioned that I was sort of thinking of selling my house on Empire and buying a duplex. Gwen got right on this as we were to discover she was a real Real Estate Agent, and was ever ready to make a deal. A flaky lady . . . but she was a friend of Don McCandless whom Ted met through the Hospice meetings.

The Duplex

We were shown a duplex out on Indian Trail Road. I was now sure I wanted to move away from my house and a duplex would be a good, secure place for me to live. This particular duplex was in Northwest Spokane, an area called Sundance Hills. I fell for the wooded area, the duplex with beautiful corner fireplaces made by a German bricklayer, and with its 2-1/2 car garages.

Ted and I decided we were going to get married. So, in closing the deal on the duplex buying it together, we weren’t sure how it would be handled because we were two single people. The agent assured us, "Of course it can be done. You could even call yourselves Sunshine Enterprises if you wanted to."

In February Gary was cleaning out equipment from Bob's shop so I could put my house on the market. He told me he had been having nostalgic feelings about his boyhood in This Old House. He said, "I was walking around in the pasture, kicking at rocks, and remembering things I used to do as a boy." I had real misgivings about selling the old homestead. Ted told me, "You don't have to sell -- just tell Gwen you've changed your mind!" So I decided to keep the house and rent it out. With the rent from Empire and the other side of the duplex, we were able to make what we considered very high mortgage payments.

Gwen was showing my house to a young lady who liked it (but said it wasn't big enough for her furniture). This lady when entering my living room stopped dead still and just stood there. She must have thought she needed to explain her attitude, and said, "I feel 'love' in this house!" More than ever, I was glad that I was not going to sell "this old house."

I moved into the duplex in March with much help from my family and Ted's. Our tenants were John and Julie Mulvey. They had two cute boys. The boys began to think of us as "Grandpa and Grandma." Julie worked at our favorite restaurant the "First Choice."

February 14 Ted had chest pains and went to the hospital for tests. He was all right, it was not his heart.

On April 17 Barry went with us to apply for a marriage license. Later that day we had an interview with The Reverend Pierce -- to be married by him in the Northwood Presbyterian Church. Ted insisted on being married in a church. We both had previous affiliations with Presbyterian.

May 3, Ted's birthday, and I conned him into working MSC's aid station on Bloomsday. Shawn stayed overnight with us the night before and helped us hand out water to the runners.

Pat Hall invited us for dinner at her house and we met her friend, Hal Christy. He was quite infatuated with Pat. When we left to go home, Hal also said his "Goodbyes." Ted said, "I never would have gone home then!"

Dorothy and Jim invited us to dinner; they wanted to meet Ted. Later they said to me, "He's just right for you." Tom, Nikki and Barry took Ted and me out to dinner at the Stockyard Inn North to celebrate.

My coworkers were a surprise to me. The small Marketing Department had gotten together and collected money for a black nightie for me, and a large gift certificate for dinner at the First Choice.

Ted and Leta

May 15 at 10 a.m. we were married. Except for Ted’s son, Kenny, all of our children and grandchildren (except Amanda) were there. We took everyone out to brunch afterwards.

While we were in the restaurant, Ted's car was being decorated. Little Mark was very distressed -- "They put tooth paste on your car, Grandpa Ted. Someone put tooth paste on your car." It had been sprayed with shaving cream. Mark was rightfully upset.

The Car

We left Spokane by plane for Seattle and stayed at the Vance Hotel which was really an old relic, but our dinner of scallops was, we both agreed, excellent.

The next morning we had planned on taking a boat to Victoria, British Columbia. But, the boat was fully booked on account of the Victoria Days celebration. I said Ted paniced for a second, then, without hesitation, he made a phonecall, and got us on a plane to that gorgeous Victoria, B. C.

Our hotel in Victoria, Chateau Victoria, was a dream. On the 12th floor, our room happened to be number 1207. Unusual in that 1207 on Division was the street address of the company I worked for. We checked in and headed for the lounge for cocktails and lunch. Dinner was atop the roof, the Parrot House. We had room service. Ted told me I had to learn these things, so I ordered room service -- double everything. Our Manhattans and our lunches were twice the amount I thought I was ordering.

We took the tour of the city on double-decker bus and visited the Undersea Gardens; took in the Buchart Gardens, Wax Museum, and Sealand . . . Sealand where those black and white killer whales literally drenched us!

We went to a jewelers to get my rings soldered together. We were told that the person who did it was not in, but gave us an address, to go upstairs, and ask the man to fix them. "Pop upstairs and tell him you are on holiday. He will do it for you right on." We did, and he did.

One evening we had dinner at Milo's, a Greek Restaurant built in the shape of a huge windmill. It was in the same block as our hotel, and lucky for us, because neither one of us quite remembered getting back to our rooms afterwards. Dinner was ordered with everything we could see on the menu -- from appetizers of feta cheese and wine; entrees of something with squid, and a dessert. All in all, our waiter presented us with a check of $70. That was twenty or thirty dollars more than we had anticipated.

Oh, yes, we watched the Victoria Days parade alternately from our room on TV, then down on the streets. It was attended by a lot of highschool bands from the US.

We went home on Thursday, May 18. Carol had been taking care of Misty for us, and she met us at the airport with the dog in her car. Misty was ecstatic to see us. When I moved into the duplex I had Misty with me because Ted wanted me to have her there for my protection. She and I got along fine.

On May 30, Carol asked us to come babysit at her house while they went out. That day we were in the process of moving Ted' s belongings from his mobile home to our duplex. We quit working in order to sit with Mikie. We were surprised to be in the midst of a reception honoring us, and needless to say, we didn't feel we were presentable in our old clothes.

Shawn

After our reception we were driving down the street and were met by Grandsons. Kevin who began, "Nine Mile -- Nine Mile," because he was wanting us to go to the Nine Mile Resort where Ted had his Terry trailer. We told him we would open it up soon. Shawn was also stopping us further down the street. He was with friends, and he told them, "This is my Granddad and Grandma." I was thrilled to be so soon called his Grandma.

But Carol told Ted before she even met me (I could have been anyone) "I'm so glad you found someone, because for one thing, I don't have to worry about you anymore, and too, my baby will have a Grandmother!"

We opened Ted's Terry trailer and all of our two families enjoyed a nice get-together on Father's Day. Swimming, boating, skiing . . .

Gary finished the beautiful oak end tables. These were very much like the ones I showed him at the Sears store. I ordered a brass plate engraved for the oak desk he made for Bob, and also a brass plate for the small writing table that Bob made when he was in high school. I wanted Jay to have it as an heirloom.

Dean was now a problem. He had become abusive and threatened Nikki's life -- also talked a lot about suicide. We took him home with us for the night as Nikki was distraught and didn't know how to handle him. He was put in a crisis home for 10 days' evaluation. Later he was permanently in a group home, the Nebeker House. He did settle down, for which we were immensely grateful.

Barry's company sent him to North Dakota for architectural work on a project that was being taken on there.

At our duplex, we installed a little prefab lily pond in the corner of our back yard. Kevin and Shawn helped Ted with the digging. We also had the two yards fenced with separate chain link fence, and put in lots of shrubs, roses and a bark ground cover.

Gary, our expert and award-winning carpenter, built us a second bathroom in the basement of our part of the duplex. He did the plumbing; when he was finishing the walls, he drove a nail into the copper plumbing! He remarked, "I guess I'm a better plumber than I am a carpenter!"

We had Kenny Kohel install heat pumps on both sides of the duplex. We felt it was important to keep our good tenants happy. The original paint on the outside was faded. Ted and I undertook the enormous task of painting it. We had to cover over an orange color with light ivory. It took 35 gallons of paint. Since it was such a hard job, we decided to hire someone else to paint the house on Empire.

August 15 we went to a local KOA Campground to meet Ted's friends from Maryland -- Don and Rita Weeks, and their son, Steven. I was interested in meeting friends from his past.

Labor Day weekend, we were tired out from the busy summer in which we had to get acquainted with each of our families. We wanted to get away alone. We spent two nights at the North Shore Hotel on Lake Coeur d' Alene. From our view room (Ted insisted on a room with a view) we were able to see a wedding party getting ready to depart on the Mishinock, the boat that took people on tours of the lake and up the St. Joe River.

Bob's brother, Paul Elmo Nance, passed away on September 19. His memorial service was on the 22nd at the Zion Lutheran Church in the Spokane Valley. Ted went with me to the service.

We sold the Terry trailer and bought an RV; I liked the idea of traveling. I hoped that we could handle the driving.

We had Torneys to dinner for an evening and Ted did the cooking.

Katy needed my services in making some angel wings for her Halloween costume.

I took a couple of days off from work and Nikki came to help me wallpaper the kitchen. We much enjoyed our get-together-time. The next day we had a Block Watch party at our house. It was a farewell party for Kathy Reger (the director). She was going to Montana to learn auctioneering. Sadi Lamb from my work made the cake. It was a "jeans" cake, and had a holster belt with a small toy gun in it. It was apropos for an auctioneer!

November 20 we had dinner at the First Choice in honor of our one-year-since-we-met anniversary. In their lounge, the piano bar, we celebrated. A man we met said I looked like a cheer leader. Because I was wearing a pleated skirt and V-necked sweater?

My friend, Lonnie White, finally moved to a new, beautiful brick home. She and her husband, Fred, had to make a fast move as their house was being torn down on the same day they moved. There had to be room for a shopping center, Ted remarked, "The wrecking ball was swinging on them as they were in the bathroom getting ready for work!"

On Christmas we had open house for both of our families.

We bought a little Volkswagon diesel pickup from Fred White. Ted had a canopy installed on it which had a pass-through window to the cab so that Misty could ride in the back and keep warm.

For five months I suffered with diarrhea. Dr. Eastwood prescribed medication. Whenever I ran out of the medicine the problem was still apparent. A gastroenterologist put me through every test known and nothing turned out to be wrong. He finally remarked, "You have undergone a lot of changes in your life recently. You have had to make some stressful adjustments." I just couldn't believe it was mental because I was happy, and so far as I knew, I was handling my life really well. Being convinced the problem must not be physical I went to a hypnotherapist. One session with him was enough. By the following Friday, I was told to discontinue the medication and see if I would be all right. I did, and I was! ! ! That was such a relief. This had been a definite problem with my colostomy. And definitely proof to me that the mind can cause all sorts of weird medical problems for the body.

In February our Spokane River was the highest it had been since the year of Spokane's Expo '74.

We went to see Carol in a play at Ferris High School. Every year the parents put on the entire production. Carol was in the chorus line. The can-can dancers wore red and black ruffled taffeta dresses which they had to make. Barry also went to see it.

Ted had been trying very hard to quit smoking. Several methods included two different hyponists which did not work. In fact, he fell asleep during one of the hypnotic sessions.

We decided to get another dog, Ruffie. He was at the Humane Society and we found him huddled under a bench. Part Pomeranian, he looked very much like Foxy. The girl who showed him to us said, "He has fear in his eyes!" Not so. The employees were trying to direct our interest in a little black poodle. But in the poodle's description it mentioned he "barks at children." Not knowing just what this might mean, and having 13 grandchildren, we decided to take a chance on Ruffie. He immediately became best friends with Misty.

The Kids

On April 19 we drove to Usk, Washington, to take flowers up to the cave. It was Bob's birthday.

Bloomsday was here again. We got together several grandsons to work along with us at MSC's Doomsday Hill aid station. Our party consisted of Ted and me, Kevin, B J, Jay, and Shawn. Gary joined us with his ham radio walkie-talkie. Gerri and their two boys were entered in the race. Gerri was pushing the two little guys in her bicycle trailer and it was not easy to push. But she had some help from others. They attracted a lot of attention not the least of which was Spokane's Mayor Chase. The Mayor walked along with them for quite a distance.

B J	B J invited us to Grandparents' Day at Sacajawea Jr. High. Ted had to work, but I got off work to go. I saw my friend Roslyn there. She had also left work at the invitation of her granddaughter, Colleen.

May 15 was our first wedding anniversary. We celebrated by staying again at the North Shore in Coeur d'Alene for the weekend. Chris Driesbach was playing in the lounge. We bought a tape he had recorded. Our dinner in the Cloud 9 ended in a surprise when they gave us a nice little cake; and we were presented with champagne in the lounge later on in the evening.

Ted’s Block Watch group presented a program for seniors at Sears’ auditorium. It was educational and gave information about scams that could be perpetrated on older people. Ted was in three skits. We recorded it.

We worked as volunteers at Hillyard’s Jim Hill Days celebration. For one of the games I was asked to make a 4 x 8 plywood beanbag toss board for them. The burglar I painted on it had a big wideopen mouth through which the children were supposed to throw beanbags.

For the United Way, Ted made several speeches for Hospice. He was now on the Board of Directors and a member of its Speakers Bureau. One talk was at the Deaconess Medical Center and another at the County Comissioners’ meeting.

Ted always had to help sell fireworks for his Lions Club. Very active in the club, he served one year as president of the Shadle Park Lions Club.

We took our first vacation July 24 and traveled in our RV down the Oregon Coast. We went as far as the Sealion Caves. On the way back we bought seagulls. They were ornamentation for our yard. We stopped to see Mt. St. Helens, but it was too cloudy that day to really get to see much from the eruption May 18, 1980. Our dogs were almost overcome with the heat on our trip through Yakima. We stopped at a Dairy Queen and got them each a bowl of icecream. They were really cooled down, and slept the rest of the way.

Gary qualified for a computer job through his company (ISC). He and John Gardner were teaching Computer Basics. Together they worked up several complicated programs. I said, "Gary, your Dad would really have been proud of you!" And he answered, "Dad always had a lot of confidence in me."

Some friends of Ted's from Maryland were passing through our area and we drove to Moses Lake to meet them. They were the Guthries -- Wayne, Marge, Marylou and Bob. In the evening when we drove back to Spokane, rain was coming down in sheets, and the visibility was so very poor.

Finally I met Ted's son, Kenny, here from Vermont. We took him to see Coulee Dam, took him shopping, to Sandpoint, Idaho for lunch, and an evening at the Eagles Lodge.

Kenny

Barry got a free plane trip from the airline and went to Alexandria, Virginia, to visit Tom. He did a lot of sight-seeing while in the Washington DC area.

Dean	Dean was able to spend the entire summer doing a variety of activities. He spent some time on Mt. Rainier, and the rest of the summer he was on Orcus Island in Puget Sound.