FAMILY

My father and mother grew up in Grand Rapids Michigan, where they went to church and school, where they were married and where I was born. I was third of four siblings, the only boy, and now the only one who lives outside a five mile radius of the birthplace. My three sisters are each masters in education, semi-retiring now from teaching, ministry and library science. Their extended families are located in Western Michigan, all gratefully proud of the upbringing they had appreciated more as they have matured. I had a full time at home Mom who took most of her personal satisfaction through her four children, and my father retired from the classic guild furniture business for which Grand Rapids was then renowned. Some part of my habit of sending back reports or post cards from far corners of the world came from my interest in keeping my parents informed about what I was up to, as well as disabusing my friends that I was a CIA operative involved in cover cloak and daggering in the world's trouble spots!

I have been a bachelor father for more than two decades before the home nest emptied. I am proud of my two sons, Donald William Geelhoed, a Floridian, and Michael Alan Geelhoed, currently a Texan. Donald is a graduate 'Gator who lives near the University of Florida in Gainesville where he is in law enforcement, and duly proud of the Number One Team in 1997 college football. Father and son proudly watched the 1998 Number One Team in college football win the Rose Bowl, undefeated university of Michigan being the site of my graduation and Donald's birthplace.

He is married to Kathy, a Central Florida University graduate and a Gainesville native. Donald and Kathy have now become three, with the arrival of (An)Drew William Geelhoed in early summer of 1997. You see the three Geelhoed men doing penguin impersonations while celebrating Michael's 1993 wedding at Evans Farm Inn near home, at which Donald was best man, and then later at Donald's Gainesville wedding at which Michael was the best man. You may see further a proud grandfather holding Number One Grandson, Andrew William Geelhoed.


Michael Alan Geelhoed now lives in San Antonio, Texas as a finishing physical therapy graduate student with his bride Judy, who is Dean of Students residence life at St. Mary's University there. Michael and Judy were 1991 classmate graduates of James Madison University, where Judy went on for a Master's degree in counseling as Michael was policy analyst for David Kessler's Food and Drug Administration, having worked earlier as an aid to the House Ways and Means Committee. You see here both of the Mr. and Mrs. Geelhoeds.


Before the two guys were married and became busier than I am in their own fixed bases of operations, we had always wandered quite a bit of the world and wilderness together. You see us at ease in Derwood, but we have explored a few more distant places, from the Galapagos to Alaska, from Thailand and Hong Kong to the Loire Valley in France, from fishing in the Amazonas basin to the Kenyan highlands. Now I look for excuses for frequent visits with them in their new homes, and for holiday rendezvous in the wilds, whether in Derwood or world-wide.