Rod always wanted to share.  If he was having ice cream, I really should be eating it, too.  Same with french fries, Oreo cookies, and potato chips.  Is it any wonder that I started gaining weight as soon as we were married?! 

Once he started racing, he wanted to share his thrill of speed, too. And as much as I resisted and refused, he often talked me into taking a 'slow' ride with him around a track just to see what it was like. 

This photo was taken at Putnam Park Raceway in Mount Meridian, Indiana.  It was the scariest slow ride I've ever had.  Do I look like I was enjoying myself?

Another time we went with the Viper Club to the Chrysler Proving Ground in Chelsea, Michigan.  When I heard they were letting everyone drive on the oval track, I asked Rod to let me out of the car. Although he said he would, he never stopped and we were soon on the  lowest oval, following the other cars at a reasonable speed.  Then we somehow ended up on the high banked oval, going so fast the windows were starting to bow out.  I think I wanted to scream but no sound would come.

I was saved when someone on a lower part of the track blew a tire and the session was called to a halt.  Later, Rod admitted to me that we had been driving 185 MPH and he loved it!!!  That was probably the last time I ever rode in 'racing mode' with him.

Upon graduation from MSU, Rod accepted a job with Raytheon Missile Systems and lived in Lincoln, Massachusetts. When we were married, we moved into a ‘two flat’ in Woburn. It looked like an ordinary large house but inside the front door was a large foyer serving as the entry for two apartments. Ours was on the first floor, a large space with very little in it. We gradually began buying furniture and I really wanted a Boston Rocker. Several weeks before Christmas we started visiting all the furniture stores in the area - there were no rocking chairs of any kind.

December 23 I was home baking when I heard a loud knock on our door. I went to see what was happening and expected to find a rude delivery person. Instead, there was my Boston Rocker with a big red bow! Rod would never tell me how or where he found it since he liked his surprises to be secrets. After more than 53 years of hard use, my rocking chair is still sturdy, strong and I will always treasure it. It’s a reminder of our early days together and how special they were.

Everyone seems to know Rod liked fast cars. But he loved driving them fast and on a race track! One such event was an IMSA race at Lime Rock and he entered his orange Corvette #42.

I was with our pit crew watching for Rod to complete each lap. About halfway through the race, he failed to come by when expected and he missed the next two or three laps before I got worried. I started looking for him but sadly what I found was his mangled car.  


Another car had blown an engine. A corner worker neglected to wave his red and yellow striped flag, a warning of oil on the track. Rod hit the patch of oil at full speed, spun out, rolled over a number of times. Thanks to the effectiveness of the car’s roll cage (built by a friend) Rod was uninjured.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is credited with saying ‘you win some, you lose some, you wreck some’. Sure, Rod’s #42 was wrecked that day. But it was rebuilt later in the season and raced as white #41 at his favorite track, Bryar. That day he placed 3rd overall and first in his class in his white #41. 

At the start of MSU’s fall 1966 semester, mutual friends wanted to arrange a blind date for us.  They thought we would make a perfect couple. Rod said ‘no, I’m not going out with her until I see what she looks like!’ So they took me to a party knowing he would be there. After we were introduced, he hardly left my side all evening and asked to take me back to my dorm. When we got to his car, I still remember how proud he was of his 1964.5 Mustang. It was the beginning of a great love story - me, Rod and his cars.