Dean was "Bean"

I guess Bruce picked Bean because it sounds like Dean-who knows. Being one of the oldest boys, Dean was his Dad's shadow. He couldn't wait to drive the tractors. He and Bruce had barn chores as soon as they could carry a pail or push a scraper down the walk. If he was missing, you could usually find him in the machine shed "fixing" something. Dean was the only one of our kids that made it to be on the MHS football team. He also was the only one to be in the high school band. The high light of that was when the band got to go to Green Bay to play at half time for a Packer game. I guess all the time practicing paid off as he sure was happy to get to do that. About this time in Dean's life, he and Bruce were really into naming everything. They named the trucks, tractors and cousins, friends, even the basement bedroom had a name. They called it ,"The Hole". The gang of buddies was the "Jags", and it goes on and on. Never a dull moment, but I wouldn't change a second of it. One time Gramma Emmerich brought a fruit salad to a party- I'm not sure which one of those two came up with the name of "Gamsie Salad". To this day, at every gathering, we have a huge bowl of Gamsie Salad to pass around. When Dean got out of high school, he wanted to join the Army like his Dad and Bruce. I couldn't stand the thought of two of our sons in service. After hearing me cry at night, Dad talked Dean into the National Guard instead--sorry Dean, it was me. It wasn't too much later that Dean met Sue and got married----to be continued---