Well, I called Part 1 of my mother’s saga, And All Her Bearing Gracious, “a beginning,” and sadly, this looks like Part 2 will be the end. Why? For the simple reason that I believe I have gathered all the information I possibly can about my mother’s war years. I only had a couple of…

The way my grandmother told it, is that she was at home in Duluth one day when she got a call from San Francisco. The woman on the phone told her that her daughter, Mary Ellen, had a baby boy and asked her if she would be willing to come to San Francisco and pick…

Greetings! While I have been writing some about my passions, like philosophy, science and travel, I have been wanting to write about other things that are more personal, and sadly, I’ve been putting this off for years.  Indecision sucks! But now I say” “Enough is Enough!” I can’t put off writing any more. I’ve been…

“I have been working on my family history for over 30 years now. That’s a long time, and I’m forced to admit that at this point I’m somewhat tired of explaining to people how I came to have my mother’s maiden surname, Drake, instead of my father’s surname. I understand why folks want to know,…

I have a photo of me with my mother in the hospital where I was born. She looks happy. I’m feeding my face from a bottle. The photo looks so normal. Like a photo you would expect of a first-time mother. Not everything is always as it seems. Between the time this picture was taken…

For those who may be curious how I lost religion and gained common sense.

Please note: In 2010 I was invited to be a speaker at a wake in Indianapolis for one of the best friends I ever had, Jim Duff. I was honored to participate. Jim and I worked together for years while at Hewlett-Packard and then into retirement, leading teams of consultants in very large projects. I…

This is a beginning, I think. I imagine that I will be writing more about my mother, Mary Ellen Drake. There is just no way that I could ever tell you everything I know, remember, or heard about her in one sitting. She was the proverbial mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. Just…

This post is a copy of a paper I wrote as a freshman in college in 1972. Actually, it was typed on a typewriter. I’m pretty sure it was for Freshman English. In any event, it was fun to rediscover it and to see that it is just as relevant today as it was then.…

When all the world is young, lad, And all the trees are green; And every goose a swan, lad, And every lass a queen; Then hey for boot and horse, lad, And round the world away! Young blood must have its course, lad, And every dog his day. When all the world is old, lad,…