Charlie LaFrenz

So! My life in a nut house--oops!--shell. After high school, 3 years Burlington Junior College, which was supposed to take 2 years. Then, Northeast Mo. State Teachers College for a period, but didn't graduate. Eventually, 1966, enlisted in the Army Security Agency, spent 6 months at the Defense Language Inst. in Monteray Calif. the 11 months in crypto and traffic analysis, Ft Devens, Mass., and finally the remainder of my enlistment in glorious Bangkok Thailand working as a French linguist.

After the army, eventually returned to Kirksville and completed my BA in French with minors is Spanish and History. The only career options for me in FM with a degree in French was, of course, bar tending. The next few years are kind of a blurr, can you guess why?

One day, as I was approaching 40, and having a lucid moment, it occured to me that I might want to retire someday, so I rid myself of the Stingers and Rusty Nails, enrolled at Macomb and got my teaching certificate. Soon was hired to teach Language Arts at Central Lee Middle School.

One dark and stormy night, Rachel Stewart called and said, "Charlie, I need a fourth for bridge." I told Rachel I'd rather have root canel, but she insisted. Janet was my bridge partner and the rest is history. We were married 14 years ago in front of the fireplace in our great old house in Keokuk. We are both retired from teaching and are doing the happily ever after thing. We go dancing often and travel frequently. We still have to see Russia, Greece and Egypt and hope to accomplish this before I have another hip replacement.

Best regards

Charlie