Chapter 4

There were a lot of changes and surprises in 1972, lots and lots of ‘em. While telling this story I skimmed over most of two decades, only telling you the major stuff that mattered, so I could get to the most important parts quicker. 1972 was the most important year of my life, by far.

My wife Elaine’s son Stanley and his wife Louise had another girl, their fourth child. We decided that it made sense for them to swap houses with us, since their two-bedroom trailer was getting far too small for them. Stanley and his brother Thomas agreed to help me clear the trees from a small hill after the first frost, then remove the stumps and build a small new house for Elaine and I the next year. We would stay in the trailer in the meantime.

As simple and relatively easy improvements, we added a second bathroom, porch, and a large living room to the 140-year-old house. They decided to turn the small living room that sat at the top of the basement steps into a laundry room and pantry. Stanley bought a clothes washer and a big freezer, and I helped him move them in.

Most of the family was at church on the day my first wife Elaine died, Easter 1972. She said she was sick and stayed home from church. I stayed too, in case she needed anything. After breakfast I called my pal Joshua and invited him to go fishing. He said he needed to do a few things first, but would be happy to in couple of hours. I’d make some sandwiches for lunch and he’d pick up beer on the way to the lake. I decided to hook up the pipes and hoses for the new washing machine while I waited for him. I was laying on the floor and reaching behind the washer, so I could screw in the last water pipe.