Rick Tardif
As a nephew of Uncle Fern and Aunt Norma, as well as the cousin to Michelle, Gail, Gary, Cathy, Karen & Mark, I did not have many opportunities to visit with all of you over the past 60 plus years. This was mostly due to all of us living in different parts of the country. However, some of my most vivid memories are seeing your family arriving in Maine for a summer visit with all the relatives. I can still see Uncle Fern pulling into our driveway at our summer cottage in a Ford station wagon, baggage strapped to the roof, and all 8 of you piling out of the car stuffed with more stuff. It was during those visits that we got to know each other.
I also am grateful to Uncle Fern and Aunt Norma helping me out when I was in the service. I was in still in Basic training and had gone to visit my soon-to-be fiancé in Canada during a short break in training and had visited Uncle Ferna and Aunt Norma at Dallas airport on my way out. On my return, my flight got delayed so that I was not able to make the planned bus connection. As a result I was going to return to base after I was supposed to and was fearful of serious repercussions. Uncle Fern and Aunt Norma offered to drive me all the way to Ft. Polk, Louisiana (300 miles one way) so I could make curfew, which I made with 30 minutes to spare. That was an incredibly nice thing for them to have done.
