Carol Richardson (Hicks):  

esting" and said they thought they were seeing Autism, which I had never heard of and wanted to put her in the hospital to rule some things out. This finally occurred when she was almost 2 years old, so it took a long time (I think). After a 3 day stay at Children's in South Mpls. Many interesting things occurred during her stay; she actually would now drink a bottle with "some" baby food mixed in which I had tried over the course of a year and she would refuse no matter how little I put in. Just goes to show you how true that saying about kids of "when you want them to they won't but when you say they won't they do". It was a pretty rough time for me, Dad was home with the other three and our communication was by phone. Her diagnoses was Infantile Autism. So we spent the next two to three years learning as much as we could about this "Autism" and there wasn't much available. It was also identified that she was hearing impaired, so an auditory amplifier was put around her neck, which she used until she would tolerate hearing aids at about 8 years of age. It was extremely frustrating to not have much information about Autism and I read everything I could get my hands on. Today thank god there are so many more resources available. Kris continued to remain in our home until she was 19 and a half. She presented so many challenges to the whole family but also brought many joys and a better understanding of how precious life really is. Her siblings were great with her and put up with many "destroyed" toys, etc. Overall our family experienced many different issues over the years as I'm sure most of you have as well. Adolescence presented many more problems than those that existed when we were going up. Two children suffered teenage depression. Family therapy and hospitalization helped and they've grown to become healthy adults. In 1976 Buck's company (EM) went on strike which lasted 11 weeks, a long time to not have any income, so I searched and found a part time job working nights at Northwestern Natl. Bank in downtown Mpls. Over the next 25 years I held jobs that I never would have guessed that I would. My beginning position was Lock-box processing Clerk making 1.55 an hour working about 24 hours a week. Sunday, Monday and Wednesday nights (11pm - 6 am), then home to get the kids off to school, try to get some sleep during the day. Buck was now working days after 10 years of working third & second shift. He was a Machinist working on a 42" Boring Mill working with close tolerances for over 35 years. For me during the next 25 years at Northwestern (Weather Ball) Bank which became Norwest Bank, which became Wells Fargo I worked 10 years on nights(second and third) in clerical positions, group leader, Supervisor and Shift Manager. Working in bank operations and becoming a VP during those years was very rewarding. During the last 2 1/2 years at Wells Fargo, I worked as a project manager and traveled extensively across the country working on Bank acquisitions. I retired in 2001 as Buck became permanently disabled in 1999 (two disc fusions in his neck) after many years of pulling on his machine at work. He is physically able to do most things but has lifting/pulling restrictions. We do enjoy our lives, grandchildren and family. Our retirement years haven't been as busy as we'd like with traveling but hope to find the means and time to get away more soon. Over the years we've been to Hawaii, Alaska, Canada fishing trips, many cruises(my favorite) but have not been to Europe yet. Buck and I will be married 50 years on June 16th 2012. Looking forward to the School 50th Reunion and seeing many classmates. Update: Short and sweet, built new home on Mille Lacs Lake, trying to move stuff in but after 45 years in the same home, way too much stuff, it has to go somewhere else, LOL. Loved seeing everyone at the Class Reunion.