Bernie and Dorothy on their 25th anniversary.
A few weeks after Dorothy and Bernie celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, the grandchildren began to arrive. Bernie and Dorothy couldn't have been happier to have little boys to love for a change! Pat's boys,
Mike and Kevin, spent a lot of time with G-Daddy (as he was affectionately named by Mike) playing, watching and discussing sports. Next, Bernie's first granddaughter, Nancy's baby Kirsten, was born. Pat's family moved north to Portland and Nancy was just
one bridge away across the bay in Palo Alto, close to where Bernie worked at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital.
In 1975, Margaret married Bob Caloroso. The following year, Jan headed north to college
at Chico State. The house on Brayton street must have had an empty silence about that time. It was the first time in 32 years that Dorothy and Bernie had lived alone together! Suddenly there were no kids using all of the hot water, talking incessantly on the
telephone, or borrowing the car. (Clarification for the younger readers: there was one phone number for the whole house, and the telephones were grounded to the wall by a cord; there was one television set without
a remote control that received between 5 and 10 channels- depending upon reception from the antenna; there was one car that could be borrowed on occassion; you waited days or weeks for a response to a letter you sent by regular mail; you had to go to
the bank to get cash or deposit a check on weekdays before 5:00. Really, the only thing that was instantly available was coffee - and there was no Starbucks for that either!)
Bernie and Dorothy
quickly adapted to the changes and made the most of their time together. They spent afternoons watching the horse races and went wine tasting in Napa. Of course, they visited their daughters and grandchildren as often as possible.