Gail
and Denvy
Almost 50 Years and Counting
Almost 50 Years and Counting
Year
Thirty-Seven - 2006
It was time to fly to Atlanta, Georgia.
Mark and Tina moved south after Tina completed her doctorate degree at
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her thesis was published as a cover
article in a biochemistry journal. But the reason for the trip was their
first child and the first grandson in the family. It was the baptism in
the fall after a September 19 birth. Becky and girls as well as Tina's
family were there to share the moment with Dominic.
During the spring of 2006 there were meetings at Western
about cohorts of international students entering the MS Ed-IT program. Denvy was appointed as their advisor and so in September he met the first group of about two dozen Chinese and Saudi students. Gail and Denvy followed their activities and invited them to the farm for another type of experience. At Thanksgiving about a dozen were invited for dinner. Some asked if they could bring a friend and ultimately 18 were there for their first American turkey dinner. A similar 
invitation went out at Christmas and 23 played games most of the night eager to meet Santa on Christmas morn. Life had changed and it would never be the same after that. There were more picnics, advice for buying cars and getting driver's licenses and also serving as parents in a wedding ceremony.
In the spring of 2005 a group of students from Western traveled to Colorado to help build homes during spring break. It was the first such trip, but in 2006 several more groups traveled to points in California, Montana and Nevada. Gail and Denvy served as advisors to the trip to San Francisco which worked in the food bank and several soup kitchens. This was just the start as Gail and Denvy traveled to Spokane and Boise the next two years. This supplemented the trips to build houses in Mississippi during winter break.