Gary is from Illinois, Kath is from Ohio, and we met in Austin, Texas. Gary was writing a book and Kath was assigned as the technical illustrator. We dated from 1200 miles for 15 months before marrying in 1994.
Here we are with Chloe and Derby, our first Afghan hounds, in our driveway (2002). This was at our nice new house in the Livermore vineyards.
Our house
View of Mt. Diablo from our front porch. Vineyards are just out of view to the left.
Gary’s favorite picture of Kath.
Gary with mom and dad and sister Jill.
...And a favorite picture of Jill (1982). Jill spent her carreer as a nurse practioner.
This is Megan, Jill's daughter, and her husband Chris on their wedding day. Megan is a very successful dance instructor. She and Jill own Danswest in Tucscon, AZ.
One is my wife, one is my sister. Twin daughters of different mothers?
Gary’s dad as a sailor in WWII.
Dad in 2001. He was a frogman in Underwater Demolition Team #4, serving in the pacific. Bronze star at Guam. This was the man I most admired all my life.
Mom, in her high school graduation photo. She did some modeling in her younger years. Mom and dad met when they both worked for the power company.
Mom’s parents, Esther and Oscar. He was a Svedish carpenter. Guess that’s where I got my interest in woodworking!
Gary attempts to play bass with Jeff Buenz, a really great Bay Area guitarist. When it comes to bass, I’m a huge enthusiast, but barely a player. That’s a Pedulla Buzz fretless that I’m abusing.
Katharine is an accomplished flute player, with way more musical talent and experience than I can begin to fathom. She has a couple of very nice instruments and plays for fun all the time. Sounds great in our big house.
My cousins still live in the midwest. We sure had a lot of fun growing up together.
In front is cousin Wendy and her husband, Tom, and also cousin Lynne in the back. Tom and Wendy’s kids are Kersten, Brian, and Peter.
In October, 2003, Katharine was hit by a big truck while riding her bike. It changed everything. Her story of survival is documented in a chapter of The Survivor’s Club by Ben Sherwood. There is also an article by one of her trauma surgeons at the Stanford School of Medicine: The patient who never should have survived. And here is the talk she gave at the Stanford trauma survivors reunion: Twenty-Two India.
Recovery took a full year, mostly due to orthopedic reconstruction of her right leg. It was a very long haul for us both.
Kaths' Crash
Kath with her #1 orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Townsend. They became good friends and here they are 20 years later.