User:Aihrke/My bio for my reunion

This is my bio for my class reunion in 2007

I am married to Sharon (Husk) and we have 4 biological children: Terry (47), Debbie (46), Cindy (44), Barry (37) and 1 adopted son, Adriano (18). We are blessed with 9 grandchildren: ages 3 years to 25.

Two of our children, Terry and Debbie live in Virginia Beach, VA and each have one child living with them in Va. Beach. Cindy, Barry, and Adriano live in MN (Adriano lives with us). We have one grandson who just graduated college in WA State and is still living there. The rest of the grandchildren live in MN so between VA, MN, and WA we must travel to see our extended family. We enjoy being with our grandchildren, especially when we get together for family holidays and family vacations. Two of our grandchildren are married and are not in a hurry to make us great grandparents so we will have to wait awhile for that.

Sharon and I have also been foster parents to 41 children. We have several stories that could be shared with others but that would have to be written in a book. We had intended to not take anymore children into our home 7 years ago and then Social Services called us about a boy from Brazil who had been adopted BUT just could not adjust to the adopted family or to 2 other homes which they had placed him in. With our experience in working with troubled children, they were hoping we would take this boy until he could be placed with another adoptive couple. The boy ended up loving our home (even with the other foster children in our home) and asked us to adopt him. Consequently, we decided to adopt Adriano even though we were in our 60’s. That certainly was NOT in our plans but it is such a privilege to be helping others who do not have the same opportunities that many of us have. Adriano has been a challenge but is turning out to be quite a young man (now 18). He is behind in his education due to language barrier and lack of social skills so he is still in high school; therefore, we are still involved in high school curriculums, etc. which we thoroughly enjoy.

After 2 years of college, I started working for a transportation company in the twin cities area. I then was transferred to Waterloo, IA and later moved to Joplin, MO to attend another college and continued working for a trucking company while attending college. Totally, I worked in that field of business for approximately 11 years in various management positions.

We then moved back to the twin cities area and I started working for a brokerage firm (Dain Bosworth) and stayed there for 21 years until I was contacted by Banker’s Systems, a company in the St. Cloud area to start up a fixed income department within their company. They eventually sold the brokerage department of their company to another company and we all moved with them. I have worked the last 16 years for my present company, Prime Vest (ING is the parent company)) as a Municipal Bond Trader. . . I trade bonds in 48 states. I have thoroughly loved this business but do look forward to retiring either this year or next year.

We presently have our year around lake-home listed “for sale” in this SLOW market and when it sells, we will be moving to Va. Beach, VA.

Sharon and I have always been so active and, therefore, we are not ready to sit in a rocking chair and fall asleep so we are now starting a furniture store in Va. Beach, VA – Your-Style Furniture Enterprise, Inc. Our plans are to open this store in September or October, 2007. The furniture store will be a family business with our son, Terry and our daughter, Debbie managing our business. Sharon and I plan on spending some hours at the store but when we want to travel or do other things, we will have the option to do so. All of us are looking forward to this new adventure.

We have thoroughly enjoyed taking vacations throughout our 47 years of marriage. Our first few years of vacations consisted of going camping (using tents or a pick-up camper) with our family and or friends. We often went to northern Minnesota to spend time fishing, boating, relaxing, etc. We then invested in a motor home and took various trips in the U.S. We would take our foster children and grandchildren with us on many of our trips. We then started purchasing several time-shares throughout the world and we so enjoy sharing them with our friends and family. My favorite places to visit are near the ocean and or mountains in the U.S., Mexico and various other countries. We love cruises too so we are planning on various cruises in the near future (they leave from Norfolk, VA which is very close to Va. Beach).

Most of you know that I was raised in a Christian home and I continue to live my life on the teachings of the “Holy Bible”. Therefore, both Sharon and I have been active in our churches (we have moved several times). We have worked with various youth groups, taught Sunday school classes, went on several mission trips and held various positions in the church.

What I like best about being over 65: I will have more than 8 weeks to take vacations so we can travel and be with friends and family more often and or help others in different areas of mission work. There are so many people in need and as long as God provides us good health, we desire to give to others in need.

What I like least about being over 65: I just don’t have the energy to stay up late at night when we are with the children and or grandchildren. We are also noticing that many of our friends are getting older along with us but they don’t want to do things as often as we do.

This is a link back to my Homepage.

There is a PBWiki website set up for details about our class reunion activities at Madelia Reunion.

To read the bios of your other classmates, click on one of the links in the table below: