Memory Lane

It's been fun so far, writing about the simple pleasures of my life - music, books, baseball, "up north", and the rest.  But there was another reason I started this blog.  That was to fulfill my obligation to document the family history.  True, a lot of my posts so far have included memories of a specific nature.  What I'm referring to now is a more orderly narration of life in the Burk family over the last 30 years plus.  And perhaps even a little further back into earlier Burk and LeRoy family history. 

In recent years Nancy has actually taken the lead on this quest with her own blog and her growing interest in digital photography.  But for many years, what I call the 35mm era, it was mainly my job to take pictures of family vacations, cottage visits, birthdays, and other special occasions.  As a result, I have a little over 7000 slides and several boxes of prints to review, remember, share and write about.  I am in possession of much of the photographic history of previous generations as well.  So this may take a while. But as I have often said, we have all the time there is.  I plan to take it in small chunks, mixing in the formal trip down Memory Lane with other posts on topics of interest on the order of what you have seen so far.  Wish me luck.

As an initial offering, I'd like to start at the beginning of the Burk/LeRoy branch of the family - the wedding of Charles Edward and Nancy Louise in June of 1980.  It was a grand affair, held with all the pomp and regalia that the judge's chambers of the Grosse Pointe Woods City Hall could offer.  Okay, so the pomp came later.  It was a small ceremony with only immediate family in attendance.  Small, but graceful, and memorable.  Here are a couple of shots of the moment of truth.  The handsome dude standing next to the other handsome dude is my best man, Bob, an old army buddy.  The matron of honor is Barbara, the Bride's sister-in-law.  The gent in the robes is the judge.  More about him later.  And the pensive observers in the first shot are Rae and Marge, the parents of the Bride.

This is a shot of the happy mothers greeting their new "children" immediately upon completion of the vows, with appropriate levels of enthusiasm.

And here is the first picture taken of the new couple.  Odd how the Bride looks timeless in her pretty dress, but the groom is, well, caught in the penumbra of the late 70s and early 80s, some would say to this day.  Nice hair.

And the wedding party later that day at the post-ceremony gathering at our first home on Huntington in Harper Woods.

 



A little later we held a dinner at a local restaurant attended by all the principals of the newly-formed Burk/LeRoy clan.  Here are a couple of shots of this august group, before dinner but after at least one glass of wine each.  This first one is of several from the Burk side, from left to right my baby sister Cindy, my parents Wendell and Dolores, my sister-in-law Sue and my brother Jeff.

Here we have my sister Wendy with Rae and Marge (who is gleefully contemplating having me as her son-in-law - for life).

Missing from the montage is Nancy's brother David who was behind the camera that day.  David will make his inaugural appearance in this blog a little further down the road.

Also you may have noticed that my best man had sort of a glow this day.  He claimed it was because of an especially sunny outing to Point Pelee the day before.  But I have another theory.  Just before the ceremony Bob gave me a bottle of Johnny Walker Red as a wedding present which I paid little attention to at the time as we were heading out the door.  The next day as I was putting the wedding presents away, I noticed that the Johnny Walker was only half full. Check it out.  He seems just a little too happy, don't you think?

And to wrap up this first step on the road to what is now 32 years plus, a final shot of me and my Bride, blissfully processing just what has happened on this day and feeling very good about the future. 

And now back to the judge. Apparently he was a chronic gambler whose addiction was slowly creeping into his personal and professional lives. About a year after our wedding the poor fellow committed suicide in his chambers. For years after that at family gatherings Rae would take me aside and mention that he was pretty sure there was a local ordinance that nullified all official acts performed by a city official who subsequently took his own life on city property. Being only freshly admitted to membership in the Pointes, I was initially concerned that there might be something to this. After all, to a Bay City boy Grosse Pointe can at times be a little weird (no socks, gated parks, special permits for operating a motor vehicle without an interior trim package, stuff like that). Over time, as I adjusted to Rae's dry sense of humor, my concern eventually faded. But I have to admit, I've never actually looked it up.

And for those of you who liked the Lunch Poetry post, here are a couple more invitations from the archives.

This one from April of 1997 is set to the tune of the song America.  I call it  My Taco, Tis of Thee.

We come each week, and see

Meals handled service free,

Our fears we bring.

Oh, God, the food we've tried,

Great globs of beans refried,

We co-ome de-ee-spite our pride,

We-ee need the fling.

 

And this selection from the same month is a rewrite of three popular nursery rhymes.  The first one features my partner in lunch-poetry management and delivery - Ms. Laura.  And in case you're a little rusty in this area, the second one is set to Rock-a-bye Baby.  I call the collection Father Goose.

 

Quite Contrary

Mistress Laura, see your aura,

How do you keep your glow?

With taco shells and "What the Hell"s

And lotsa friends in tow.

 

Rock-a-bye Paradigm

Rock the boat, maybe, you'll move to the top.

When the change grows, resistance will stop.

When the change takes, old thinkers will fall,

And down will come paradigms harmful to all.

Flocking Habits

Birds of a feather, flock together,

Especially men (what swine!)

But with steady voice, I make my choice.

You all and the Bell suit me fine.

 

Until next time.