An
eDiary of
Some of the
Key
Things in
Don's
Life
I regularly updated my eDiary websites until the creation of FaceBook's
2011
"eHistory" feature, whereupon I stopped…
Sadly, my account then crashed out while I was updating my profile in 2019 & I had to drill some of the "lost years" to get them back!
So, my eDiary is organized into six decade pages, each decade being sorted year-by-year with months from Jan to Dec; click on a section to visit that decade?
Main page |
2010's |
2000's |
80's-90's (this page) |
70's |
50's-60's…
You might also consider visiting my
profile
page that shares a little more info about me vs. this eDiary, or see a list of the
Global Places
I've visited?
For an "historical" view, you can start at the very
end
of my eDiary & scroll up to read backwards in time?
Also, embedded textual content reflects the time of the events vs. current time—view the pages full-screen?
Have fun, regardless ;)
The 80's & Early 90's…
As a very, very large number of events occurred in my life with Ms. T over a dozen+ years after the end of the
70's,
some selected memories are tabulated here…
For more, visit my
Bio
summary, my personal
profile
page created a few years ago, my family
tree
or visit me on
FaceBook
where you can scroll down to view my events year-by-year?
Enjoy, as you choose!
| Month | Events are Listed by Month, Sorted by Year, Oldest- to Newer |
|---|---|
| January |
In 1980 I advised my Burroughs London bosses (Eric Burnett & Dennis McDivett) that I needed to be transferred within Burroughs to the United States branch,
without sharing the actual reason (which was the pending birth of my son, Stu); I also shared that if they can't do that, "I'll quit & find my own way" In 1987 I was hired full-time at GE Medical in Waukesha, Wisconsin on the 8th, after some considerable negotiations following the tax law changes; also brought my family to Wisconsin shortly after this In 1990 I discovered (via several letters from Mum & Dad) that Dad's very long-standing question about whether or not his close friend, Mike Wilson (Mike “Peters”) had managed to impregnate Mum with me while Dad was away working as a Merchant Navy ship's cook in 1954… While I was (& today am) mentally certain that he did not (see my birth info?), it remains such a stunning thought! In 1996 my RamCharger truck was totaled by a drunk guy who crossed the center line at 2am… my then ex-wife-to-be gleefully withheld the insurance payment; I replaced the wreck with a '91 GMC Jimmy (full-size) |
| February | In 1994 we (Stu, Alex & Ms. T) had a family cruise out to the Bahamas & I also went skiing in Denver for the first time with Byron Dill… |
| March |
In 1982, my 2nd son Alex was born;
he sadly passed away at age 19 in
2002…
In 1985, I left Fairchild Industries for a short stint at Case Rixon, after which I went on to form my business, Creative Logic Software, LLC I also purchased an IBM Desktop PC as part of my business operations—I closed CLS several years ago with my retirement In 1994 we were out on Coronado Island in San Diego, and I was snapped (with hair!!) 
|
| April |
In 1980, Ms. T came to England for 2 weeks, and we become engaged (although I was not yet free of Jane)
In 1996 (a year before our marriage) some good luck allowed me to finalize the divorce from Ms. T, now my ex-wife |
| May |
Many of my houses are grouped here—not all were in May!
For more information on these, see some of my
history
and
my Bio?
Starting with my US arrival in July of 1980 (my places prior to this were my childhood years, in Soltau and in & around London), we rented (shortly after arrival) our 1st US apartment on the 4th floor at 14111 Castle Boulevard, Silver Spring, Maryland—behind the mature trees, see closer views of the front & the rear On Friday, May 15th, 1981 I received my permanent Green Card to reside in the US at the Citizenship & Immigrations Office, 31 Hopkins Plaza, Baltimore, Maryland We moved from there in Nov'81 to a rental house .jpg "Sterling Park house")
in Sterling Park, Virginia
.jpg "Germantown house")
in Germantown, Maryland, quite close to my work at
Fairchild Industries
in early 1987 we moved our family from Maryland to our rented 1/2 duplex on Jill Court in Waukesha We then found & brought an older .jpg "Oconomowoc house")
house
in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin & moved in May, 1988
my then-soon-to-be wife & a few months later we found and brought a big house near Sussex, Wisconsin & moved in… After several years there, we built our "Palace in Nirvana" house 
& happily arrived there in Nov,
2004!
|
| June |
I learned around this time in 1980 that my transfer to Burroughs in the US had been approved & started planning for the move…
I also sold my 1st car (the Husky)
at this time and purchased a Moped; worked fine to-and-from work, but it took me 5+ hours to get to my Mum & Dad's in Bournemouth at 25+ mph!  .  en route
A snap of Alex with his lobster badge 
and one of Stu with his lobster 
Stu at Thunder Hole 
On our route home after a week at the cabin, we drove via the town of North Pole, NY  \
where we also met  Santa-Moose!
|
| July |
Many, many birthdays were here with dozens of gifts… just a couple to share:
The 1980 “birthday gift” for my 25th was the US arrival with a 1-year residential visa in my passport & 2 suitcases "with my whole life"; we then find an apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland (described above) In 1986 my birthday gift was to start a 3-month contract with at GE Med on the 4th (5th actually!!) which changed my life In 1991 I was snapped "sleeping" at a party at a friend's house In 1993 my birthday gifts were a trip to PA, a cabin weekend, starting the Tilt-C program as a stretch assignment and I saw my future wife-to-be for the first time bouncing around Marketing! |
| August |
On the 10th of August in 1980, my divorce papers from Jane arrive from England & I then married Ms. T on the 21st
My 1st son, Stu was born on the 30th, 10 days late (due on the 20th) In 1995, my achievements with the success of the GE Tilting C-Arm, I organized a HUGE celebration at the Milwaukee Museum with 60+ team members |
| September | At the 1981 Job fair in downtown DC, I meet with Ted Stathis; he brought me to join up with Fairchild Industries in November (below)
In 1985, I took my family to Europe for our fabulous 1st UK family & friends visit!! My genealogy research began in 1988; view my development page? |
| October |
In 1980, Ms. T & Stuart came down from staying at her mother's house in Paoli, PA to our apartment on Castle Boulevard, in Maryland (see above)
In 1993, I started a business rental of an apartment in Denver for my TC team |
| November |
In 1981 I move on from 5 years at Burroughs and started work at Fairchild Industries;
moved to a rented
house
in Sterling Park, Virginia (a 35+ mile commute!)
In 1988, I was annoyingly diagnosed with type-2 Diabetes: my A1C was @ 8+ & my blood sugars >380… started taking meds |
| December | As there were far too many Christmas's to share in detail, I did get some awesome gifts like these, captured in '99! |
Return to the top or to my Home Page
Our '97 Year
Following on from my 15+year matrix of life with Ms. T (view above), many of the '97 events are unmentioned (& are unmentionable) do remain unshared…
will share however that Sandy & I had met in '94 & were very happily
married
in March, 1997 in San Diego!
Return to the top or to my Home Page
Our '98 Complexities
In early April I started feeling crappy (wonky ears, balance etc) but we took a 10-day Spring-break vacation to the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, etc.
There are a couple of snaps of
family
(me, my wife, Alex & his friend) and of
Ship Rock
(Alex is the tiny person, lower center), a place that would become significant for Alex in an as-yet-unknown way at that time…
Early May brought me the disastrous discovery of a brain tumor;
a view of the very scary (that were possibly fatal) event activities are
here…
My annual fishing trip in July with friends to Holinshead Lake, Canada was very nice. John did remember to get gas this year! The wind on the lake made it difficult to stay in one spot & relax, but the fishing was as good as ever! Lots to catch, lots to eat (!) & of course, we had plenty to drink both in the boat & in the evenings!! Our trips up & back were visually more amazing than any year before—we saw a moose-calf on the forest road on the way up & a black bear & a lynx on the way home!
Finally for this year, we had a simply wonderful trip to England in July; my journal of the trip is
here…
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Some of Our Good Times in '99…
Back in February'99, we spent a toasty warm week at the
Crown Paradise
resort in
Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico to get away from the FREEZING COLD Wisconsin weather!!
PV was a really wonderful vacation resort on the Pacific coast with many, many beautiful places. The hotel is right on the beach, with an amazing view.
Our room was way high on the top floor in the corner—you can almost see it on the web site picture of the hotel!
The view shown along the hotel to the sea is exactly the same as the one we had… we awoke each day to the sound of the sea & watched big sea-birds float past our window.
We spent a good deal of time during the day lounging around the delightful pool with endless cold drinks & all the snacks we wanted!
The social director organized great games like Tequila Volleyball in the pool & exercise sessions (which we declined!!)
We went out horseback riding one day in the mountains nearby with a group, & spent another exploring the town.
My wife shopped there for (& found) a gorgeous sundress.
We enjoyed
Huevos Rancheros
for breakfast pretty much every morning with excellent coffee/juice/etc, and a great variety of excellent foods at lunch & dinner.
"Montezuma's Revenge"
took a bite out of me on the 2nd or 3rd day but the wonder-drug Imodium helped limit this to just one day… whew!
Our favorite summer break was a long weekend in the
Wisconsin River Valley.
We stayed at the
Prairie Garden B&B,
a wonderfully reconditioned old farmhouse, & spent a day
wandering through
The House on the Rock,
a truly amazing museum filled with literally miles (!) of displays.
Another day we hiked in
Devil's Lake State Park,
just beautiful scenery with an energetic clamber up the bluffs—whew!
We also had a day out during the summer with our friends at the
Annual Kettle-Moraine Jazz Festival,
a 2-day concert with many incredibly good artists.
Daryl Stuermer
(an ex-Genesis guitarist) was clearly the hit for me, but all the music we heard
was really good & worth every penny!
We said goodbye to my aging kittycat, PaintPot, in June of '99. Some pictures & memories of him & of another
friend from the past, Betsy the pooch.
A great weekend away in the fall was when we went
up to the
UP of Michigan
to see the leaves, hike, bike, etc.
Our best day was at
Mackinac Island,
a short
high-powered ferry ride
away from
St. Ignace
& then a bike rental to get around the island (no vehicles!) with a delightful visit to the
Butterfly House
I was elected "Bull of the Woods"
(CampFryer's leader for a year)
at the
Black Hawk Park
spring trip—see a link to my
older album
for a couple of snapshots of the trip (near the end of the page)
I also went hunting up in the woods in the fall with my now sadly departed friend, Gerry, & bagged a small deer that helped my wife make some pretty Yummy Venison Chili!!
We had a simply wonderful closure to the year of 1999 (which was also the end of the "2nd Millennium" & the end of the century of the 1900's) with an evening spent with many of our friends at a REALLY GREAT
New Year's Eve Party…
come on in & see some of the fun!
Our Christmas fun with family was really good, too…
I created “My Wish List” to share some of my thoughts, retained just for fun!
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The End of the 80's/90's…
Well, that's about it for the 80's-90's section of my eDiary; see the different decades here?
You could also go to my
Bio summary page,
my family tree
profile,
or my
FaceBook
where you can scroll down to view events year-by-year.
As I expect that parts of my eDiary will improve and/or change as I tag more year-by-year info or clarify some of the threads… watch this space!
Please also visit my
privacy page
to be aware of some legal stuff?
As a final thought, view some snaps of me & my family in my
older album? Enjoy!! ;)