Last time, we took my parents from childhood through to roughly high school. This time, they meet in college, get married, and go to Europe a couple times.
My third parent: Albion College
My parents both went to Albion College, a small liberal arts school in Albion, Michigan. My dad was a year ahead of my mom:
There’s a lot of foreshadowing there (alternate sentence: “Classic Bill before Classic Bill”):
- Reading
- Loafers with white socks
- Bookshelves bordering on unruly
He was also the editor of the Pleiad, the school’s newspaper, and once ran this gem of a headline:
Men's Dorm Set For Erection
My mom is standing in front of Wesley Hall, the freshman dorm that would also house her sister Susie (Albion Homecoming Court), my brother Doug (All-American in Track, Athletic Hall of Fame), my wife Rachel (she’s hot), and this author (asked to leave after one awesome year). Albion played quite a role in my life for many years.
Like many an Albion student, I attended some good parties in the basement of the Delta Tau Delta house – my dad was a Delt during his days on campus, where basement parties looked like this:
[Ed: Jim Dunn corrected me on where this picture took place: “1960 Party in baement, not Delt house. Basement of Jack Hill, Lathrup Village, pictured with Dick McPhail.“]
It looked slightly different in the Delt parties I attended before and during my brief stint as a Briton, but thankfully there are no pictures of that time. On a related note, I did not see activities like this occurring when I was at Albion, but they apparently happened in 1960:
Anyway, somewhere along the way, they met, decided that each other were “neat” and became a thing.
Then they got married
On June 27, 1964, they tied the knot.
Yes, I’m lazy and could ask my parents who those two faces I can’t make out are, but it’s more fun this way.
On their honeymoon, they went to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. There are many interesting pictures which I’m skipping, but this one caught my eye since I’ve got many similar pictures of the same thing in a different location:
Doug hates it’s a small world at DisneyWorld, so I tend to call him whenever we’re there so he can enjoy the music on the ride. I guess this qualifies as my parents trolling him six years before he was born. Nice work parents, trolling before trolling was cool!
Among George Matilo’s slides, there is a set of Matilo family portraits dated July 1964. Putting this in the post here, this feels kind of like an odd musical montage in a poorly-edited movie, but they are good pictures, so here goes:
My parents’ first house was in Lathrup Village, Michigan:
Here are some 1966 pictures:
Those two there would become my aunt and uncle, Mary Lou and Dick Baker. You’ll be seeing lots of more them in upcoming posts. They would welcome the first Matilo grandchild in 1968, my cousin Dickey (he’s Rick now, for obvious reasons):
Thus far, this post has featured pictures that, while happy, are somewhat serious in nature.
That’s about to change
Like young people of any era, there was plenty of fun going on as well, and thankfully I have pictures of that. Here’s one from a 1969 visit to college (and now lifelong) friends Joan and Bill Reichenbach:
I’d love to tell you there was a legitimate reason behind this next fun picture, but as you’d expect, it was tomfoolery, according to my dad:
It was in the heyday of Bill’s desire to
collect insulators, wherever he was, for whatever reason. We are on an abandoned railroad track behind their cottage on Lake St Clair,
found an old rickety ladder, and off we went
The Reichenbach clan will also be appearing in many future 35mm posts.
You know you like Europe
..when you go twice in two years. My parents took trips to Europe in both 1969 and 1970.
That’s my dad’s sister Susie, who married Merle Eastin since we last saw her. They lived in Germany for a spell, and had the first Goudie grandchild, my cousin Jamie (now Jim). My parents connected with them while in Europe.
The Dunns are another family that you’ll be seeing much more of throughout my childhood, as we frequently vacationed together.
This next section may be mis-representing military life
In this time, my dad was a clerk in the Army Reserves, which he has credited for his ability to type quickly. I’m sure there were serious moments in his Army days as well, but thankfully I have these pictures instead:
Does that last picture look similar to the Albion picture above?
I believe the statute of limitations has passed.
I hope the statute of limitations has passed.
Next up: The cousins that came before me
My Life in 35mm is a series of posts with the story of my life as recorded on the slides of my dad and other family members. This series is updated weekly (mostly). To get email updates of new posts, subscribe at the bottom of this page.
You can also view all posts in the My Life in 35mm series.
