College, Career & Marriage
Jim where? when? occasion?
1. Jim and his mother once visited Oregon while Bob (Jim’s older brother by 11 years) was teaching at Concordia College in Portland. Jim liked the campus so he applied and attended for two years from 1957-1959. (The campus later became Concordia University, but was permanently closed in April 2020.)
2. Concordia College in Portland was only a two-year college. This is Jim’s photo upon departing Portland (1957-1959) for Illinois.
3. Jim transferred to Concordia Teachers College, 7400 Augusta Street, River Forest, Illinois 60305 for the 1959-1961 school years. This was Jim’s 1961 graduation photo.
4. Jim possibly visiting his parent’s home at 13932 (formerly 1224) Dittmar Drive in Whittier sometime during his college years.
5. As Jim neared his June 1961 graduation from Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, Illinois, he hoped to land a job somewhere west of the Mississippi River—his parents now living in Whittier, CA. Instead, he was offered and accepted a position at First Lutheran School in Towson, Maryland. While the school was being built, classes were held inside this house, which was located two parcels adjacent to the church. Jim is decorating the downstairs classroom. He lived upstairs.
6. Jim’s first position was teaching twelve 5th and 6th graders at First Lutheran School in Towson, MD during the 1961-62 school year. The classroom was the combined former living room and dining room in the downstairs floor of the house. The remnants of the wall that formerly divided the two rooms is obvious in the photos.
7. Explain more here…
8. During his second year (1962-63), Jim again taught 5th and 6th graders in the downstairs portion of the house. The house no longer exists.
9. It was during Jim’s second year of teaching (1962–63) and living in the upstairs portion of the “school,” that he met Ruth. On Wednesday nights, Jim would do his laundry at a laundromat in Towson, where a woman named Mildred worked. She took a liking to Jim and saw an opportunity. Her daughter, Ruth, was attending Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) at the time, and one evening, Mildred arranged for Ruth to pick her up from work. She introduced them—and the rest, as they say, is history. Here are Ruth and Jim, probably in Spring 1963, in the backyard and Pat and Mildred’s house at 12122 Jerusalem Road, Kingsville, MD. Ruth and Jim’s mom share a January 19 birthday.
10. Ruth graduated from XX College in June 1963 and spent most of that summer traveling across the United States with her brother Pat and his family. Throughout the trip, she and Jim kept in touch by writing letters—a correspondence that seemed to deepen their bond.
11. Ruth believes this photo and the previous one were taken when Jim visited her at her parents' house after she returned from her travels. She recalls not being particularly impressed by his car—a 1960 or 1961 Rambler Classic four-door sedan by American Motors Corporation (AMC)—remarking that it looked too much like a station wagon.
12. Now dating Ruth, Jim not only taught 5th and 6th grade during the 1963-1964 school year (his third year of teaching), but he also began performing the duties of principal. He would remain in this teacher/principal role for an additional five school years. That summer, he and Ruth were married. Shortly before the wedding, Jim was sent to complete classes back at Concordia River Forest to help him with the many new obligations as a newly-assigned 23-year-old principal.
13. Jim and Ruth were engaged and began planning their wedding for the summer 1964. Based on this announcement, apparently Adolph and Mildred had moved from Dittmer Dr in Whittier to 15125 La Forge St., Whittier. Jim had no recollection of this particular address. As was Adolph’s penchant, he and Mildred later moved to Escondido, Placentia, and the Whittier Towers.
14. Parents Pat and Mildred kiss their daughter Ruth inside the Kingsville house on August 1, 1964—Jim and Ruth’s wedding day.
15. Ruth on her wedding day.
16. Ruth on her wedding day.
17. Jim and his best man Bill Roemer. Bill and his wife NAME? lived a few blocks from First Lutheran School and she was the school secretary. Bill mentored Jim.
took in as a newly married couple. As a son. problem with kids. First Lutheran School
18. The wedding at Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church, 4601 Belair Road, Baltimore, MD. Why not First Lutheran Church? Grandma & Grandpa’s church?
19. The newly married couple.
20. On the steps outside Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church.
21. Outside Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church.
22. Jim and Ruth with the Verdone family:: Pat (brother), Paul (brother), Jim, Pat (father), Mildred (mother), Donald (Pat’s son), Ruth, Lynne (Paul’s wife), Joyce, David, and Mary (Donald, Joyce, and David were Pat and Mary’s kids).
23. The bridal party: Who, who, who, girl, Mariam, Ruth, Jim, Bill Roemer (best man), Chris Dunker (a friend from church who played baseball with Jim and his youngest brother was also in Jim’s school), Pat, Paul.
Pictures taken in Oakcrest?? near where grandma lived??
24. Cutting the wedding cake at the reception inside the basement Sunday Hall at Evangelical Lutheran Church??
25. Ruth feeding Jim a piece of wedding cake.
26. Ruth and Jim in the back seat of a Buick Skylark owned by Jim’s best man Bill Remer. A teacher from Ruth’s school needed a car delivered to her brother’s house in San Francisco. For their honeymoon, Jim and Ruth drove that car across the United States, eventually visiting Jim’s parents, who could not afford the trip to Maryland to attend the wedding. They also visited Disneyland, where Jim got Ruth a large stuffed animal she had to carry with her onto the plane for their flight back to Maryland. At the time, Jim and Ruth could have scarcely known that six years later they would live only ten miles from Disneyland.
27. After returning from their cross-country honeymoon , Jim and Ruth moved into an apartment at 222 Donnybrook Lane, Towson, MD. Their apartment was on the bottom right. The apartments had been recently redone for students attending nearby Towson State University. They lived here for approximately two years, from roughly 1964-1966. When did you buy the Plymouth??
28. From the apartment on Donneybrook Lane, Jim and Ruth moved into a row house at 1603 Thetford Road, Towson, MD. Steve and Amanda visited with their boys while attending Mildred’s funeral in YEAR?? Jim continued as teacher and principal at First Lutheran School in Towson for another five years (1964-1969).
29. During the summer of 1969, Jim and Ruth decided to once again drive across the country. This trip took them up into Canada and to Niagara Falls, where the river has been blocked and the falls were not flowing. This photos was likely in front of Jim’s parents’ house, who probably lived in Escondido at the time.. It was probably taken after Jim’s parents opened the door and Jim blurted out “Ruth is pregnant”—not at all as they had planned. They took a more direct route home because Ruth was beginning to experience morning sickness.
30. Unfortunately, leading into the 1969-70 school year, the pastor of First Lutheran Church had an affair and left his family. The ensuing controversy effectively spelled the end for First Lutheran School. So, for his ninth year of teaching, Jim taught at Baltimore Lutheran High School (now known as Concordia Preparatory School, 1145 Concordia Dr., Towson, MD 21286). Jim already served on the school’s board and Bill Roemer worked there, so Jim was well known. Jim also complete his Master of Education degree from Towson State University that year.
31. In March 1970, Jim and Ruth welcomed their first child Steve. Shown here is a congratulations notice on the bulletin board at Baltimore Lutheran High School.
32. Jim and Steve (approximately 3 months) in June outside the Thetford Road house. with Jim in his master’s gown.
Half of Paul (Ruth’s brother), Danny, Lynne (Paul’s wife), Jim, Steve, Ruth, and Pat (Ruth’s father) outside the California State Capitol in June or July 1970.
33. When Jim was hired at Baltimore High School in 1969, Bill Roemer left for a position at Lutheran High School in Orange California. Once in California, Bill recommended Jim to Red Hill Lutheran School. With a summer trip already planned to visit Paul and Lynne in Sacramento, Pastor Showalter of Red Hill Lutheran Church invited Jim and Ruth to visit the school. Jim was later formally offered the position of principal.
31. In August 1970, Jim and Ruth loaded Steve (5 months) and their Beagle Holly into their pale yellow 1966 Plymouth Fury III convertible and made the nearly 3,000 mile drive from Towson, MD to Tustin, CA.
32. Red Hill Lutheran Church and School, 13200 Red Hill Avenue (right). The church also owned several residences that backed onto the church property. Included was the grey house at 13232 Red Hill Avenue (left). When Jim, Ruth, Steve, and Holly arrived in August 1970, they initially moved into the upstairs portion of the house.
33. A few months after moving into the small apartment beside the church, Jim and Ruth bought this home 1.6 miles away at 14426 Silverbrook Drive, Tustin, CA.
34. This would be the family’s home for 16 memorable years.
35. Christmas 1971 inside the Tustin home, Jim opening his Master of Education diploma from Towson State College mounted on a plaque suitable for hanging in the principal’s office at Red Hill Lutheran School.
