Washington      

First visited in 1968; Home state 1974-1976

	My brother-in-law Don Zelen moved from Florence, Alabama, to Longview, Washington, in 1967. He was manager of a Reynolds Aluminum Plant. He was able to get jobs for my dad and for my brother-in-law Terry. My dad and mom moved to Longview in the Fall of 1968. I was already enrolled at Ball State University so I went on to college in Indiana. I spent some summers in Longview working at odd jobs and after graduating in 1972, I moved out to Longview. I stayed with my parents for 6 months until I went into the Peace Corps in November. Washington was now my home state.
This is me in front of Mt. Saint Helens Check out our attempts to attain the top of this mountain. When I returned from Korea in September of 1974, I brought with me a wonderful bride. Kim and I stayed at my parent's house for about a year.
Just after my new wife and I arrived in Longview, we were interviewed for the Longview Newspaper. I enjoyed the time with my family in Longview. But it was another story for Kim. I looked for teaching positions around the state of Washington, but found none. I ended up working at Weyerhauser. I did a variety of job from sweeping sawdust off floors, to sharpening saws with massive machines, to making presto-logs. When I got tired of Weyerhauser, I joined the army. This is visit to the Space needle (Just to prove that Z&P were there) We moved to our own apartment on 3rd street in Longview in August of 1975 and stayed there until I went off the army in May of 1976. ~ This was our apartment with Mt. Saint Helens in the background ~ See some pictures our of life in Longview.

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