A boy named Charlie, who loved horses, grew up on a ranch in New

Mexico.

His basketball team won state the year he graduated from high

school.

Meanwhile, a girl named

Bette had been

growing up in

California.

She attended junior college and pledged a sorority.

Our country had entered WW2, and both Bette and Charlie

enlisted in the US Navy.

They were stationed on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where they met,

dated,fell in love, and got married in 1945.

After the war, they settled in

Las Cruces, New

Mexico, to raise their

family.

While Charlie worked at White Sands Missile Range, Bette stayed home, kept house,and

took care of their

two daughters,

Carol and

Connie.

Years went by, and Connie

graduated from high school

in 1971, just as Bette had done

in the ’40s.

That summer,

Connie left New Mexico

to attend Hardin-

Simmons University,

where a boy named Ken had been attending

school for two years.

They met, dated, fell in love, and

married in 1974.

Ken and Connie

had two sons,

Matt &

Keith.

They made their home

in Brownwood,

Texas.

The years flew

by . . .

. . . and the boys grew up.

Both sons graduated from

high school.

May 1999

May 2005

The summer

after graduating from high

school, Matt left home to attend Texas A&M,

while a girl named

Rachel was also

leaving home

to attend A&M.

They met,

dated, fell in love, and

married in 2003.

And the cycle continues as we await the birth of

Matt & Rachel’s daughter this summer.

Other things may change us,

but we start and end with family.

-- Anthony Brandt