Shirlie Witte:  

After high school I worked for a year... I married my boyfriend from my last year at WCHS just after he join the army finishing basic training. So we started married life living in Mass. near Ft. Devens. Then,on to Chitose, Hokkaido, Japan for 3 1/2 yr. I really liked living in Japan. Some people weren't friendly... still remembering the war. Others were great. I took cooking, flower arranging classes, doll making and Japanese painting with ink. For the grand price of $1.!0 I had a maid one day a week. Let's see that was about a dollar and some change. Gifts to her were small to preserve her husband's honor (she couldn't bring home more than he made). We like to say my oldest son Jeff was made in Japan. After that, we returned to the Chicago area. All of our families were here. It was easier to get established. My husband Steve and I went on to have 3 more children. Jeff born in 1967, Dennis born in 1970, Kristenin 1975 and finally Sarah born in 1976. After nearly 20 years of marriage I filed for divorce. At age 40 I went to college and became an RN after being a stay at home mom. I worked full time and took about 12 credit hours each semester. I spent a...Expand for more