I was born back in 1956 and for most of my young life the Cold War was going strong. Duck and cover drills when the sirens were being tested were just a part of school life. Family dynamics in that era of nuclear fears had a character all their own. Balanced somewhere between the old "work on the assembly line" mentality and the new anything is possible hopes that birthed everything from hippies to Star Wars, those times were not riding on an even keel. It made life very interesting for parents and their children.

I was the first of four kids. Mom and dad gave us all nice, solid christian names; John, Mark, Michael and Cathy. Our parents were Frank and Mary Carolyn. They were a typical couple playing out the then prevalent image of the great Ameri