Wordless (nearly) Wednesday - Near time of High School Graduation?

Wordless (nearly) Wednesday

Near  time of High School Graduation?

Found this old Poloroid photo - Annette, and I believe Allison is behind her, probably Spring of 1977. Found among paper that suggest it my be High School Graduation time.

There are two cars in the driveway of the house in Urbandale. Any memories or thoughts as you see this?

Don't have a lot of Poloroid photos - always interesting to see them when they show up. Perhaps I should collect them all in one space. Any suggestions? How do you handle Poloroid photos? Hardly ever have anything written on them...  ;-(

Families are Forever! ;-)

Wordless (nearly) Wednesday - Wrens - 40 years ago

Wordless (nearly) Wednesday - Wrens - 41 years ago

I was girl's softball coach in the summer league in Urbandale, Iowa, for several years

This was about three years in... Annette, on right, was pitcher and catcher.

Another year or two, we added teams at younger ages, and Allison, left, played for years.

Arrion, ball girl, here, also played for several years, until we moved to Tucson.

Very fond memories!

Thanks to Nancy, wife and mother, for strong support, by the way!  ;-)

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - 7116 Townsend, Urbandale, Iowa

Those Places Thursday - 7116 Townsend, Urbandale, Iowa

We moved into this house in the Fall of 1970, as the first occupants. This photo was taken just a few years ago. We added the deck on the front - a new concept, at the time - by the time we left, in Summer 1983, there were 'front decks' all over town! The trees were not there when we lived there.

This is a copy of the photo Allison took this year, 2012, on her 4th of July, 30th Urbandale High School Class Reunion trip. Thanks, Allison! Both the house and the neighborhood seem to be showing some deterioration, sadly.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - 4404-71st Street, Urbandale, Iowa

Those Places Thursday - 4404-71st Street, Urbandale, Iowa

[This photo was taken a number of years after we lived there]

In the backyard, Arrion was growing up...

And, again...

And, here is the family inside the house, with my youngest brother, Paul

Oct 1969-Fall 1970

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Sharing Memories on Sunday - Urbandale Early Days

Sharing Memories on Sunday - Urbandale Early Days

In the last entry in this series, on May 13, we had just arrived in Urbandale from West Branch, on Halloween, 1969. Annette was 9, Allison was 5 and a half, Arrion was barely five weeks old. Nancy and I had just turned 30. My new job was with the new Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. Management Consulting firm.

Here is my work description that I included on my resume in later years: "Consulting engagements for various clients included design of complete accounting system for large-scale commercial egg-laying operation, operational review for wholesaler, personnel study including salary survey and 100 job description write-ups for major hospital." Great experiences. The down-side was that between these great consulting assignments, they would send me out on audits - I did not sign up to be an auditor/accountant for the CPA firm. I signed up to be a management consultant, but their marketing was inadequate to keep us in consulting jobs. When it came time for my six months review, I was expecting to be patted on the back for 'jobs well done' and given a raise. Instead, I was told: "We don't think you like working here anymore…" and was released with notice. Shocker. [Note: Within a year or two, they shut down the Des Moines consulting business and reverted back to doing that work out of the Chicago office, like they had done, before.]

Within a week or so, I had a new position (again, according to a later resume), just down the street from my consulting position: Special Project Assistant to the Vice-President (Operations Manager) Cowles Communications, Inc., LOOK Magazine Subscription Division, Cowles Marketing and Data Center, Des Moines, Iowa (Starting in June 1970). Job description: Revised internal accounting system to provide departmental responsibility cost reporting; reviewed monthly statements with responsible operating managers; assisted in budgeting and forecasting; reviewed operational procedures. [My blunt assessment when I arrived in this operation, based on my experiences as a GE Auditor and with Peat Marwick - this operation was fat, dumb and happy - totally unsustainable personnel and accounting practices. Every manager had two secretaries; no cost control whatsoever. They had been making money hand-over-fist for so long, they didn't seem to notice. But, times were changing. The operations manager, my boss, knew this, and asked me for help. I did what I could, as noted above.]

During this first year in Des Moines, I also resumed work on my Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA) at night school. I had taken 12 hours in Louisville, but only 6 were allowed to transfer to Drake University. In addition to the Master's level course requirements, I also took all of the undergraduate accounting course required to be eligible to sit for the Iowa CPA Exam. [I seemed to be the first to do this at Drake; now days, this is routinely done at many schools and called something like: MBA with an Accounting Concentration/Emphasis]. In addition, we became active in the Aldersgate United Methodist Church, where I served on the Committee on Finance for two years. I became active in the Urbandale Lions Club. The first summer I became involved with the organization of the Urbandale Girls Softball League (Annette was eligible to play as a nine year old) and I served as a member of the Board of Directors, Secretary of the Board and Manager of a team (the first of 13 consecutive years). [In prior years, one guy had tried to run the summer program himself - he did a fine job, but as the program had grown, he knew he was over his head, and recommended the reorganization, about the time I arrived. I was pleased to become one of a half-dozen or so Dads to become totally immersed in the operation for a few years - I had three daughters, after all!]

To be continued…

Sharing Memories on Sunday - Stuelke Enterprises, West Branch

Sharing Memories on Sunday - Stuelke Enterprises, West Branch


We arrived in West Branch in October 1968. As I mentioned on Thursday, we immediately set about building a house with the idea that we would be in West Branch for a long time. Well, such optimism is great, but it doesn't always come true.

With the 'green-eye-shade' firmly in place, metaphorically, I did get the company books in good shape over the coming months. The results of these efforts plus changes in the regulatory environment led to very unexpected changes in the near future.

Many facets of the company finances looked very good. Management was good, based on what was known going into this entrepreneurial set of activities. However, as Medicare and Medicaid regulations came into focus, it became obvious certain of Dr. Stuelke's business plan assumptions had turned out to be incorrect, and were not sustainable. The best example, as I recall a couple of details, was Physical Therapy. With two nursing homes, he had hired an outstanding physical therapist who also added excellent management skills to his team… full-time, 40 hours a week of billable time. The new regulations, however, turned out to only allow 8 hours reimbursement per week per nursing home (again, as I recall it now). That meant he was paying for three days of high-level medical care costs weekly that would not have an applicable revenue stream. The were other, similar situations, as well.

The meaning of this, and other related revelations, was that he either would need to add more nursing homes - or, sell out to a bigger operation that was capable of spreading their costs over a wider base. He was not in a position to buy even one more nursing home.

In the meantime, of course, our second chance at a third daughter had arrived. Arrion was born in September 1969 in the hospital near Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. We have lots of photos of her arrival home, including visits by grandparents, aunts and uncles. This is the one, a few months later, that I was able to put my hands on, today.

 [Arrion, Annette, and Allison - aren't they sweet!]

Dr. Stuekle was able to find a buyer for his nursing homes. Of course, they had their own business manager and accounting department. Our time in West Branch came to an end in about a year.

Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., the CPA firm from GE, and here in West Branch, was opening a new Management Consulting firm 'alongside' their accounting services in the Des Moines office. I accepted a position as one of their first four consultants there. It seemed a perfect match (heard that before?!). [Richard Nixon had seemed a 'perfect match' for the Presidency recently, as well.]

We moved to Des Moines, actually suburban Urbandale, on Halloween. The older girls were a bit upset, we missed Halloween in West Branch, and, we missed it in Urbandale. Off to great start. On the flip side… we did stay in Urbandale from October 1969 until July 1983!  ;-)


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Treasure Chest Thursday - 4 generations photo at church

4 generations photo at church

I just came across this photo, again, and to me it is a true treasure. We don't have/get many 4 generation photos in our family.

My grandmother, Dorothy Sorensen Kinnick is on the left, next to my wife, Nancy. My mother, Eileen Kinnick Smith, is second from the right, along with my three daughters. Annette is on the right; Allison, the taller in the center; and Arrion, the youngest. I believe it is 1971 and Annette is joining the church, if I recall correctly; Aldersgate United Methodist Church, Urbandale, Iowa.

Families are Forever!   ;-)