High School

Jamaica High School, New York City Graduated Jan. 1942

Mineola High School, Hempstead, Long Island New York, Graduated Jan. 1942

World War II

Sergeant Williams
"C" Company,  544^th Engineers, U S Army
Served from   Sept 42 to Jan 46
 2 years-Pacific Theatre of Operations
New Guinea Campaign
Philippine Campaign
First Troops ashore, Wakayama Japan

Gladys Meyer, Corpsman 1^ST, U S Navy

Served June 1944 to Aug 1945

Chelsea Naval Hospital, Boston Mass.

The Wedding

We met at Hofstra College, Hempstead, Long Island, New York. We were married between semesters on January 22, 1949. We started our married life at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The bride

Gladys Meyer

University of Michigan

We graduated Michigan June 1950.

Leonard received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and Gladys received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics.  She later received a Masters degree in Mathematics at the University of Washington in Seattle.

From Michigan, we proceeded to Seattle Washington where I went to work for the Boeing Airplane Company and Gladys continued her education at the University of Washington. She later joined me at Boeing.

We could only afford one cap and gown so we took turns wearing it and having our picture taken.

First girl, Susan Elizabeth

Dad and Susan, (2 weeks old) Susan was born May 28, 1955.

This picture was taken on the beach just below where we live.

Second girl, JoAnn Clair

Joann was born February 1, 1957. This picture was taken at her one year old birthday party

Gladys and Joann down on the beach

Third girl, Mary Margaret

Christmas 1958

Mary was born May 20, 1958

Gladys and Mary, 1 year old birthday party

BLANK PAGE

CONTINUE ON

We spent a lot of time in the outdoors, skiing in the winter and climbing, camping, and backpacking in the summer.

JoAnn up at Camp Muir (10,000 ft.) on Mt. Rainier. She was only 5 years old.

Mary and JoAnn on Unicorn mountain at Mt. Rainier National Park

We climbed all through the Cascade mountain range but Mt Rainier was our favorite.

Mary and JoAnn, just below Gibraltar Rock on Mt. Rainier

Susan and Dad on top of Rainier, (14,411 feet) summer of 1976.

Most of our skiing was at the Mountaineers Ski Lodge up at Snoqualmie Pass.  We also skied Sun Valley in Idaho but I couldn't find those pictures

1966 Family skiing at the Mountaineers Ski Lodge

1967   Family skiing at the Mountaineers Ski Lodge

1971 - Family skiing at Snoqualmie Whenever the sun came out, we took a picture

The girls loved the beach, Here's some pictures taken down on the California coast

We bury our sister.

Actually this one was taken over on the Olympic Peninsula here in Washington.

We had a VW camper, put a lot of miles on it. Back to New York a couple of times and down to California and Mexico many times

1970 - JoAnn was the surfer. They still have the surfboard at their home in Arizona. Their girls use it in the swimming pool.

1970 - Mary and the skim board.

Junior, Senior Prom

1973 - Susan and Davis leaving for the Senior Prom

1974 Mary and Nelson leaving for the Junior Prom.

1974 - JoAnn & Mary ready for the Senior Prom. 

Here's some pictures of the girls growing up

1967 - A lady in Wales knit these sweaters for the girls from photos that I sent.

1968 - Easter egg hunt in the rain with Larry and Keith from next door.

1977 - Mary< JoAnn, Susan, and Gladys

1988 - JoAnn is off to San Diego to attend the University of California.

The next two pages show the family growing up. We add husbands and children.

1978 - JoAnn, Mary, Susan, Mom and Dad

1980 - Mary, JoAnn, Susan, Dad and Mom

Ken, Mom, Susan, Mary, Rick, Dad, Kaiwyn and Eliza in front

1983 - Ken marries Susan

1985 - Mary and Rick, Susan and Mom

1985 - Richard marries Mary. He has two girls (Kaiwyn and Eliza) from a previous relationship. The family grew up in Ketchikan, Alaska.

1988  - Mary, Mom, Joann, Dad, Susan, Ken.  Looks like we had beer and Pizza that night. Don't know who the little girl is.

1992 - JoAnn and Dad in the back.  Eliza, Mom, Kaiwyn, Mary & Rick, Jim trying to get Hannah in the picture

1999 - Mary and Jim in the back.  Then Prudence and Adam (more about them later) Susan & Dave, Joann and Mom, Adam, Hannah, and Celeste in the front.

Christmas was always a fun time to be together

1972 - Mom, JoAnn, Susan, Mary

1978 - JoAnn, Jeff, Dad, Mom, Mary

1983 - Susan and JoAnn, Mom and I. Mary was back on the East coast, N.Y.C.

1986 - Rick, Mom and Dad, Mary, JoAnn, Susan, Ken, Eliza and Kaiwyn in front.

Mom and Dad are getting older too.

1973 - Gladys and I skiing at Sun Valley, Idaho

1974 - We spent one vacation in Hawaii. This was another bad hair day.

1986 - Dad and Mom at home.

1993 - Three cousins, Hannah, Eliza, Kaiwyn.

Hannah born February 1992

1994 - JoAnn and Jim and the two girls Celeste and Hannah

 Celeste born January 1994

1994 - Hannah, Jim, and JoAnn - I should mention, JoAnn has a Doctorate in Biology-Chemistry and Jim has a Doctorate in Physics, both from the University of California in San Diego, which is where they met.

1994 – Celeste take a turn in the swing

I made this tire swing for Susan, JoAnn and Mary and now the grandchildren are still using it.  I got a lot of mileage on that tire.

1995 - Celeste

1996 - Hannah

1997 The girls come up to the Northwest to enjoy a little snow which they don’t see too much of in Arizona.

1998 - Hannah's birthday party she’s six years old

It's hard to believe but the girls went to work programming for Microsoft. They made their first million and then retired in Arizona. Here they are enjoying retirement

1996 - Susan and Mom shopping for "The little stranger "

Aug 1996 - Susan has a little boy. Here he is with Grandma, Aunt JoAnn and cousins' Hannah and Celeste.  Since he was the first boy in the family, he was named Adam.

But the happy time was short lived and he was soon given up for adoption

Prudence becomes Adam's adopted Mother

John becomes Adam's adopted Father

1997 - Susan marries Dave. 

1997 - Dave and Susan enjoy a visit with Adam

Adam grows up

1997 – “When do my good ol’ days begin?”

Susan is an Airline pilot, Both Adam's adopted parents are airline pilots so it was only natural that Adam would head for the airplane in the park

The cousins grow up

1999 - Adam is growing up to be a big boy

1999 - Hannah's growing up to be a pretty girl.

1998 - And Celeste is a charmer.

And all three are smarter than average

1999 - The three cousins

This is the house in Seattle where it all happened

Grandpa

Grandma

2000 - Old age doesn't get much better than this

That’s all folks, come back next year for an update.