The 1960's - Kids, Kids, Kids

After Ed and Marge were married, they returned to Cleveland and set up house in a small apartment. While Dad finished school at Fenn College (now Cleveland State), Mom worked in the Pediatric department at the Cleveland Clinic. After Dad graduated in June of 1960, he began working as a freelance programmer in the new world of computers (so much for civil engineering in South America). Mom continued to work at the Clinic until their first (and most wonderful) child, Chris Ann, was born on October 25th, 1960.

When our grandparents moved to Russell, Ohio in 1961 (in the house where Karen now lives), Mom and Dad moved into their old house on Adrian Road in South Euclid. A couple months later, their one and only son (thank God), Michael Edward, was born on October 30th, 1961. Dad had just gotten a new job with Remington Rand UNIVAC and was supposed to start on the day Mike was born. Needless to say, he never made it in to the office.

In the Spring of 1962, Mom and Dad started building their house in Chesterland. Mom still vividly remembers painting Michael's room green while being very pregnant with Lynn. They moved into the house on October 14th, 1962 (on Grandpa Thorp's birthday) and three weeks later, Lynn Marie was born on November 5th, 1962. Karen Diane followed a year later, on December 31, 1963. During this time, our Auntie Marge and Uncle Buddy were also married, and their three kids, Paul, Andy and Anne, were born between 1962 and 1964. All the cousins remain close to this day.

Not long after Karen was born, Dad got a job offer in New York and the whole family moved into an apartment while construction on a new house was started. After we got there, they had a big shake-up at the new company and the job they had created for Dad was eliminated - he went to work every day and had nothing to do but sit in his office and read magazines. After several weeks of this he'd had enough, called his former boss back in Cleveland and was fortunate enough to get his old job back. So we all moved back to Ohio. Luckily, the Ohio house hadn't sold yet and the builder in New York agreed to take back the unfinished house. Later in the 60s, Dad went to work for Tri-C (Cuyahoga Community College), where he spent the remainder of his working years.

Now having 4 kids in 4 years was no easy task and Mom credits surviving those years with a lot of help from Grandma Kosiewicz and Bunky and Grandpa Thorp. Dad also played a big part in helping her to maintain her sanity. Unlike a lot of men of that generation, Dad was a very "hands-on" parent - we fondly remember him laying on the family room floor and wrestling with all four of us when he got home from work.

Please share any memories that you have from the 60s by clicking on the comments link below.

Party Update

We are working on setting up hotel accommodations for the party. The two hotels we are looking at are: The Homewood Suites in Beechwood, and The Staybridge Suites in Mayfield Heights. Click on the links to see information on these locations.

If you are interested in group hotel accommodations, please email Lynn by June 1st at lmwalk@comcast.net with your hotel preference and the dates you will be staying.