In 1980 I received a call from Mr. Jensen asking me to come into his office for an interview.  A short time before that I had applied to become a bus driver.  The position I interview for was for the accounts payable position.  He hired me a few days later and when he retired in 1998 I was still working for him.  I have always been thankful to him for the opportunity to work in the business office as I know I would never have made it as a bus driver.  When you work with someone for 18 years there are bound to be instances that you wish your boss would not have discovered.  I made the mistake of trying to get an invoice approved by someone called Del Wed when actually Del Wed stood for Delivery Wednesday.  Mr. Jensen had a field day with that one.  Mr. Del Wed became the new imaginary employee in our office for quit a while. Mr. Jensen's art work decorated our office, our desks and even our windows with the beautiful display of orgami.  Mr. Jensen was a great boss and I really enjoyed working with him and for him.  I guess that is why I still call him Mr. Jensen.

A year and a half ago Ray and I were leaving our oldest daughter's graduation. Bob walked up to me with a big smile on his face (as usual). Nikki had given one of the valedictorian speeches and Bob was as proud as could be. " I especially liked that speech because I had a little something to do with that graduate being here."  He was referring to the fact that he had hired both Ray and I. We met in Clinton, married here and raised our family here.  Bob definitely touched our lives. From the day we got our welcome to Clinton cartoons, to our trip to Japan with Bob's exchange program, to now.  He will be greatly missed. But what a wonderful life he lived!

It was early in 1983, and I had talked to Bob about taking maternity leave from CHS. He surprised me with a HUGE card in a red envelope, which I assumed was a gift from my Valentine pal--some kind of secret exchange thing the staff was doing as a fun diversion from teaching. Everyone encouraged me to open it over lunch in the staff lounge. It said "So you're expecting a stork.(There was a stork with a postal outfit.) On the inside it said "wouldn't you rather have a baby?" And that was the way the high school staff found out I was indeed expecting my first child. I didn't mind at all; it eliminated my need to make some kind of announcement! Craig still has the poster-sized card Bob sent when he became the Rock County administrator, 30 years ago. And Kyle has the origami "thing" Bob sent him in fourth grade(he can tell you the Japanese name) when he was experiencing some health issues. He was incredibly thoughful, and I enjoyed knowing him as his teacher, school board member, and friend.