11/2010 from Nany Towle's fournal of the African trip
After Kodai Rolf lived with his folks while he finished his senior HS year. Then he went to Linfield College where his Dad was a professor, and lived on campus. Rolf joined the Coast Guard to become a pilot, flying out of Elizabeth City, NC. A man of many talents, Rolf has done a lot of different things, including being a fireman. He holds BS in Civil Engineering, BS in Electrical Engineering, BS in Computer Science, BS in Business Administration, BS in Advanced Math. And he is Culinary Institute trained. He also holds a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. At one point he owned and ran a restaurant. He was married for 19 years to his first wife. Rolf married again and had 24 years with his 2nd wife before she died of breast cancer. During her sickness, he substituted to cover his wife’s teaching position as she was going through cancer treatments. There were children from both marriages. There were two boys and 1 girl from the 1st marriage, and 1 girl from the 2nd. Rolfs’ 3rd wife already had 2 girls. She prefers home but has been graciously able to free Rolf to travel.
2001
I went to Kodai when my father was appointed by the American Baptists to teach English at a college in Andhra Pradesh. My folks were then dorm parents for our last year in Kodai.
After Kodai I moved to McMinnville,Or. where I went to Linfield College for a year before entering the Coast Guard. By the time I was out of the military I was married with one son. I moved back to Oregon where I went to school and worked many varied jobs over the following years. I have degrees in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, have graduated from the culinary institute, and have a teaching degree in advanced mathematics. Through all this time I "acquired" two more children. After 14 years I went through a divorce only to turn right around and get married again. In this marriage I had another child (now 2 boys and two girls). We spent as much time travelling as jobs and money would allow. We were married for 23 years before she passed away after a five year fight with breast cancer.
After three years I have put myself back in the dating scene. I am engaged to a delightful woman who lives in Salem, Or. where I have moved. For some unknown reason, all the women in my life have been teachers.
I now have six grandchildren. My oldest son is a Commander in the Navy stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif. My second son, after a stint at West Point and the Army, is employed by the State of Washington as a software specialist and lives in Olympia. Oldest daughter has a masters degree in linguistics and uses it in Army Intelligence. She now resides in Honduras. My youngest is a junior at Beloit College in Wisc. I have not figured out her major yet, but her grades are great. Something in the psychology field.
I still travel as much as I can. Working as a substitute teacher allows me to take off when the rates are right. This next week it is four days in Hong Kong. I work as much as I can with special needs students. There seems to be much more appreciation shown from them. I will quit teaching when it ceases to be fun. At that point I will consider "retirement". (Whatever that is)
My siblings- Kay has retired to a spread in Tucsan, Ariz. Dick spent many years as a professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Or. but now runs a non-profit cottage industry for a group of women in Zimbabwe, Africa. Ted has a school started for outcast children going in Madurai, India.
