We left Colorado Springs and the Air Force Academy after Peter A's graduation and flew to California to visit Peter W's parents, Ralph and Ellen Garretson. Leif was the tallest member of our entire family, from the time he was only 13 and shot up to 6 feet 1 inch. Here he towers over his grandmother and is taller than his grandfather.
Leif didn't get to see as much of his Garretson grandparents as he did of Jerri's mother. They lived in California and Ellen only came to visit us a couple of times during Leif's childhood, once when he was born, and then when he was in about third grade. Ralph wasn't with her. However, once we moved back to the USA from Japan, we went to visit them at least once a year in California and Leif flew along with us until he was on his own.
Ralph took Leif golfing on this trip and they enjoyed each other's company. His "bequest" to Leif was a thick envelope of uncirculated foreign stamps about Mars. Ralph said that if life was discovered on Mars, they would be worth a lot of money. I don't know if that will be true, but I still have that envelope and who should it belong to now?
Ralph died in September 2001 and Ellen died in September 2002. Ralph served as an infantry sergeant in World War II, the Korean War, and had two tours in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. He met Ellen in Germany and brought her to the USA in 1952.
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