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Update-Stokstad
October 2018
Berkeley, CA
We’re still chugging along, pretty much as we were four years ago at the time of our last update. The reunion in Pearl River this month was a recent high point, to be sure. We’ve had a few new things come our way. Julie has taken on a new activity that has become a major focus for her. She is a docent at the University of California Botanical Garden. That involves giving tours to groups of all ages (pre-kindergarten to, well, people our age), propagating new plants from cuttings, and constantly learning new things about plants, and people. Also since the last reunion in 2013 she started a blog - The Holey Doughnut - which, if you ever wanted to know more of what’s happened to us, to our friends, and to the world from the perspective of an ex-biology-teacher and ex-minister, is being written just for you. For example, here’s her post on our 60th Reunion.
My metal working has kind of taken over as birding and motorcycle photography have languished. There’s something about heating a chunk of metal to a bright orange color, setting it on an anvil and bashing it with a hammer that satisfies an undefined need in me. It’s especially satisfying if I manage to hit it in just the right way to make something both useful and pleasing to the eye. If you are curious what comes out of this hammering and welding, you are welcome to have a look at my on-line scrapbook.
Our family - adult children and grand children - are all doing well, thankfully, and we manage to get out to Michigan three times a year to be with our East Lansing family. The most recent project there was to build a chicken coop for Sonja, our nine year old granddaughter, who’d gotten it in her head that she wanted to keep chickens. Now she collects about five eggs a day from six hens.
Finally, we did fit in a major trip, this time to Iceland and Greenland. Iceland is fire and ice, Greenland is just ice, but even more spectacular and interesting than Iceland, I think. Here are some photos from that trip.
Hoping all who read this (and even those who don’t) are well and happy.
Cheers,
Bob and Julie
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October, 2014
Berkeley, CA
It's been six years since we wrote something about ourselves for the class website, so here's an update:
Three more grandchildren have come along. Erika, whom we wrote about in 2008, got a sister, Sonja, in 2009. They live in Michigan. Our youngest son, Arne, and his wife, Karna, brought Elsa (2010) and a little boy, Liam (2012) into the world. They live much closer, in Palo Alto, California, about an hour's drive from Berkeley.
Julie has retired from active ministry. She still does occasional weddings and leads women's retreats. But delivering a sermon every Sunday is now a thing of the past.
We enjoyed being at the PRHS combined class reunion in September of last year, and meeting alumni from the other classes in addition to our own class. Julie helped out with the memorial service held in the Pearl River Library. Of course, you can find out a lot about that event (in case you couldn't make it) on other pages of this website.
Like many of you, we enjoyed travel – bird watching in Australia (2010) and in Chile (2013), drove across the USA in February of 2013, and rafting down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in 2013 and again in 2014 – and indulged our hobbies. Julie spins wool into yarn, and weaves fabric both beautiful and useable. Bob does photography (birds, travel, motorcycles) and welding. He makes things, useable if not necessarily beautiful, out of old horseshoes.
Best of all we share the joy of our children (Erik, Paul, and Arne), their spouses and our grandchildren.
We've been in our present house in Berkeley since 1980. We love it here, but we're living on three different levels (four if you count where the car is parked) and that can't go on indefinitely. So we're thinking about what's next (or inevitable) and what we should do about it and when.
We'll keep you posted.
All the best,
Bob and Julie
150 Hill Road
Berkeley, CA 94708
510 548 2429 land
510 710 7855 cell
photos (click for larger image)
On the Colorado River, August 2014
Family Reunion at Mackinaw Island, July 2014
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May 9, 2008
Dear Classmates,
The five years since our 45th reunion have been eventful for Julie and me. Best of all, during this period we became grandparents. Erika Rane Stokstad was born to Paula Winke and Paul Stokstad in Michigan, in June 2006. I think that some members of the class of '58 are great grandparents - so we've got some catch-up to do. Other big changes were job related: in early 2005, Julie, a minister in the United Church of Christ - you know, the denomination of Senator Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright - moved from San Jose to a congregation in San Rafael. And I retired in July of 2006. I eased gradually into the blissful state of collecting a pension. I still go in to work about half time. Well, maybe quarter time.
photo taken in January, 2008 in Ushuaia, Argentina
Paul (37) and Paula are momentarily in Budapest, Hungary, where Paula is visiting on a Fulbright fellowship. We'll go visit them for a week this June. Our two other sons, Erik (39) and Arne (34) are single and live in Washington, D.C. and Oakland, CA, respectively.
What else is new? Well, Julie and I went on our first cruise - to the Antarctic Peninsula, in January of this year. This was a big deal, both in distance, time, and cost. But it was worth it. I've seen enough penguins and icebergs to last a lifetime. My hobby, photography, has developed to the point where I can call myself a professional. That means that I can make enough money at it to buy more cameras and lenses than I could otherwise justify. There's a kind of motorcycle racing called "Supermoto" where the track is short, has lots of turns and a dirt section to boot. I go to these races, take photos and write a story, which then appears in a national, weekly motorcycle magazine. Going to the races and getting up close to the screaming bikes to take photos is pretty exciting stuff for this geezer.
When the house next door to Paul and Paula's place in East Lansing, Michigan came up for sale in 2007, Julie and I bought it so we could have a regular place to stay when visiting them and our granddaughter. Julie did a lot of work bringing that little mid-western bungalow into a livable condition.
The next big question is, when will Julie retire? and what will she do? We'd both like to spend more time grandparenting. Other than that, though, life - the unknown amount remaining for us - is full of mystery.
We're looking forward to seeing you all again this September.
Bob and Julie Stokstad
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links of interest: homepage, Antarctic Peninsula, Photography, 45th-Reunion
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