Today would have been the birthday of Ken’s dad, Rolland. I didn’t have long to appreciate my in-laws. They were killed in a car crash October 19. 1962, while driving home from their office jobs in a Rockford factory. Ken and I had been married only three years. Our children have no memories of the pair as grandparents–Linda was only 2, Lisa, 1, and Kurt hadn’t been born.
Hazel and Rolland always made me feel welcome. I met Kenny’s family at the farewell party his parents hosted when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in July 1954. We were “going steady” so I was considered a serious girlfriend, although I still had another year of high school to complete.
They took me along to the Rockford railroad station on the early Monday morning when Kenny left for Naval Station Great Lakes near Chicago. As we were exiting the car, I overheard Hazel murmuring to her son, “Kiss Lolita last–she’s the most important.”
Kenny’s older sister, Lola Mae, was married to a farmer, Joe, and they had six kids. His younger brother, Tommy, was still living at home. I was learning to be part of a larger family besides just the three of us.
Our marriage was serendipity. My mother and Ken’s mother had been best friends when they were classmates attending Durand High School and graduating with the class of 1930. As often happens when women marry, the two had drifted apart. They were reunited when Ken and I began making wedding plans.
Rolland liked my coffee better than what they drank at home. On the farm, we used well water instead of city water containing chlorine, which made the difference in taste.
One thing I always admired about my mother-in-law was her neat house. Hazel told me, “I don’t like to clean but I like the way it looks when I’m done.”
I hated dusting, vacuuming and mopping. I tried to adopt her philosophy.
Rolland worried about his elderly father who lived in Davis with his second wife. Early in the fall, he remarked, “I don’t think Grandpa Ditzler will make another winter.” Grandpa made several more winters than Rolland did.
Have some members of your family been called home too soon?