Janet's Blog

It was quite a week, that week leading up to our wedding on the 21st day of December in 1974. Bill had insisted on having our wedding right after he graduated from Milford Technical School (now Southeast Community College), so he had just completed finals and his family had driven the nearly 400 miles from Gering to attend his graduation the previous weekend. His dad wasn't too pleased about having to ask for time off work twice in a week's time during the sugar factory campaign, where he worked rotating shifts at the height of the sugar processing season. And the thought of making that long trip four times in 10 days must have been more than a little irritating for the whole family. Mom and I were both attending Concordia College (now Concordia University) in Seward, so we both had finals that week, and Mom technically graduated, although she didn't have a graduation ceremony just then. Mom had to drive back and forth to Seward for each of her finals, while I was still liv...

When a Facebook friend posted a link to an article about a Lutheran pastor who was murdered this week in Fort Dodge, Iowa, outside his church, I clicked on the link to see what had happened. I didn't expect to know that particular pastor, so I was surprised to recognize his name, and see that he was the same age as I am. When the article further stated that he had attended Concordia College in Seward, I remembered that I had once known Al pretty well. We went to college together but, more than that, when we were freshmen, we sang together on the same folk worship team of eight or ten students. Our team, "Joyful Noise," was extremely active, traveling all over Nebraska, and even into Iowa, to sing and minister at worship services, youth group meetings, and retreats. As a group, we spent a lot of time together, practicing, and riding in a school van from one engagement to another. At least half of us played guitars, because more was always better in those days before easy...