Loss

      Randa and I lost one of our oldest friends to cancer a couple of months ago.  We met Bob Waller and his wife Betty when I went to work for General Cable Corporation after I left the Marine Corps in 1971.  We were in Lindsay, California.
       It was my first job as a young married civilian.  Lindsay is a small town in the San Joaquin Valley between Bakersfield and Fresno.  I remember the first time we drove down Main Street, I couldn't read the theater marque.  Then I realized it was in Spanish.  Not much Spanish was spoken or written in southern Minnesota in the 50's and 60's.  None, in fact.  Mexican food was tacos. 
   So moving to central California, working in a factory that made telephone cable, dealing with civilians instead of Marines, was a complete change of our lives. Pretty unnerving, scary even. A new job, new location far from family and friends.  Then I met Bob.  Plain ol'  Bob.  No frills.  Not much education.  Bob's family were migrant farm workers.  Traveling around the country, harvesting whatever was ripe.  Living where they worked.  It was during this time that he met another migrant worker, Betty,who became the love of his life.  They were married close to 53 years.
    I met Bob while working at General Cable.  We both were supervisors on the production floor.  We both worked swing shift.  (4- midnight) which meant weird "social " times.  The Wallers and the Webers became friends.  Good friends.  We would go out to eat together.  That meant the middle of the day.  Straw Hat Pizza was our favorite spot.   That was the beginning of a long and loving friendship. 

   Good bye, my friend.  Randa and I will miss you.