Growing closer together in a year of changes

Safe to say 2023 was not the year we expected. A lot of changes. A lot of challenges. Some sadness. But we also grew closer together and greet this approaching year optimistically.

Most of us have new and better jobs. That’s exciting. 

Caroline has a new role at Michigan State University. She was promoted to be the community director for Case Hall, overseeing a team of grad students, resident assistants, administrative staff serving hundreds of students. 

The highlight came in the fall when Caroline offered several presentations at the Great Lakes Association of College and University Housing Officers conference. There were about 60 presentations during the conference, and organizers at the end selected the 10 best for awards. Two of Caroline’s presentations were in the top 10! She’s good at what she does!

Caroline's biggest challenge came in February when the MSU campus suffered a tremendous tragedy. We are proud of the way Caroline potentially put herself in harm’s way and worked to keep her students safe. We are upset that she had to.

Andrew is still a social worker, but now helps people through the work of Northwest Michigan Supportive Housing. The agency works to place people in safe housing while addressing mental wellness challenges. This a little less stressful than his prior role with less time on the road. We’re proud of him. 

Andrew met Brutus at a Ferris State football game. 

Aubrey is still a speech pathologist, but now she works remotely, assisting students from across the state. We are proud of her, too.

Andrew and Aubrey enjoy living in Traverse City, a beautiful community in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, and are making upgrades to their home and spending time with friends.

Dave and Caroline had an epic trip in June, heading to see the Mets play the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Then we spent two days in Philadelphia visiting inspiring historical sites and going to see the Phillies. Added bonus - there was a post-game concert with AJR, Caroline's favorite band!

Dave departed Grand Rapids Community College in July and became associate vice president for Marketing and Public Relations at Ferris State University. There are many familiar faces at Ferris State, which has worked closely with GRCC for decades. Ferris even has offices at GRCC!

Dave's new duties included joining the football team on the road for a big game against University of Montana in Missoula. This was hazardous. We learned Grizz fans hurl Twinkies on the field, and visitors in red standing along the sidelines make an inviting target.

Ferris has a proud history, one of the first colleges in Michigan with a mission of making a quality education accessible to everyone, and has many career-focused programs. It’s a fun role, overseeing a team of 13 and finding new approaches to telling the university’s stories. Ferris State’s main campus is in Big Rapids, about 45 minutes north of Rockford, with a growing presence in Grand Rapids. Dave has an office in a historic building where President Ford worked as a congressman.

Dave's arrival even made the front page of the Big Rapids Pioneer - though, as Caroline quickly pointed out, it was below the fold and under a story about the Pee-wee Riders at the Mecosta County Fair. That kept us humble.

It's a very interesting job, and there is big news to come!

Julie is still at GRCC, but finds herself doing some different things as the college works through some transitions. 

Dave was able to accept Julie's Gold Paragon Award and three other honors for GRCC at the NCMPR national convention in Orlando with Kailee, a colleague. He also wandered into a giant comic con across the street from the hotel. He thought he was being stealth. But guys in suits stand out as interlopers and are quickly discovered, as you can tell from the disapproving Mandalorians. He bought some fun things for Andrew and Aubrey then scrambled to safety.

Disney Springs was much more comforting! Jenny, Miss Diana and Miss Ellie drove all the way to Orlando to retrieve Dave for a couple days with the family!

The GRCC Foundation’s annual report is one of Julie’s biggest projects, and it again earned the top prize in its category in the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations’ national awards.

But mostly, Julie serves as the main focus of attention for Cookie, an energetic black kitten who joined the family just before the new year. Cookie keeps herself – and us – very busy zooming around the house, playing with toys and monitoring the neighborhood atop her massive cat tree.

  
The promotions and new jobs kept us all occupied. That was good, because this was a very difficult year. We lost Julie’s mom, Bertie Nelson, in April after a period of declining health. 

We celebrated Mom with a beautiful service in Champaign. It was nice to spend time with Uncle Jeff Nelson and share with Aubrey some of the some of the things we enjoyed at the Univeristy of Illinois and the area, such as deep, deep dish pizza.

Mom had been with us here in Rockford since 2016, and we treasured being with her and caring for her. She was the last of her generation on both sides of the family and very strong in her faith. A coworker told me, “She has a lot of people waiting for her.” That seemed nice. We loved Mom very much and miss her dearly.

We are also appreciative of the outpouring of support and kindness from friends, co-workers, and family during this time.

If this new year turns out to be a little calmer, that’s OK. We look forward to being settled in our new careers, doing some traveling, and spending time with people we love.

We've kept busy. Aunt Kris joined Julie for high tea. Dave joined nephew Zack and Uncle Jeff Horve running in the Turkey Trot through the streets of Grand Rapids, then went to Zack's favorite hipster coffee shop - both activities becoming a tradition! Julie has close friends who meet each week at a local cafe for knitting and fellowship. They were a wonderful source of comfort for her during a difficult year.

We hope this holiday season find you happy and healthy. We appreciate our times together and what we get to do. We take stock of our blessings – and if you are reading this, you are among those who are very special to us. 

Lots of fun holiday celebrations in Michigan. Caroline and her friend Matt attend Lansing's Silver Bells in the City, and we enjoyed the new Christmas Market in Grand Rapids. 

We’d love to hear from you! Everyone is on Facebook, and you can drop us a line at dmurray08@comcast.net.

We were able to reconnect with family and friends and celebrate milestones in 2022

 

Happy holidays to our friends and family! 

It was a busy year, and it seems we are slowly reclaiming things we missed. Ballgames, concerts and work conferences are back, and we get to be with coworkers in person again. Best of all, 2022 marked a time when we were able to reconnect with family from all over the country to celebrate milestones and just be together. We’ll never again take those opportunities for granted.

We are so proud of Caroline, Andrew and Aubrey, and are thrilled to watch them moving forward in careers helping people.

Caroline is in her second year at Michigan State University as a residence hall director. She helps several thousand freshmen students get acclimated to college life and a home away from home. She also teaches a class and attended several conferences – and received an honor for a top presentation at one of them.

She has a new friend in her Akers Hall apartment, with the university’s permission. Phoebe Cilantro is a calico cat who quickly became a residence hall celebrity. Students watch for her to appear in the window and visit when she joins them outside when the fire alarm sounds.

 

Phoebe is a campus celebrity.

Caroline teamed up with the MSU veterinary program for a “Cows on the Quad” activity where calves visited the residence hall to meet students and be fed. She ran in a Silver Bells in the City 5K through the streets of Lansing with her friend Matt, and explored Chicago and went camping with friends from Central Michigan University. 

"Cows on the Quad" was a big hit!

Andrew and Aubrey also did some exploring! He turned 30 this year, and his in-laws provided an amazing birthday gift. They all went on a cruise of the southern Caribbean with stops in ports including Aruba and Haiti. 

Andrew celebrated his milestone birthday on a cruise - and on a motorcycle in Aruba.

Andrew is in his second year with the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Michigan, located in Traverse City. He is a social worker, and makes sure older residents get the care they need while still living independently. He’s worked with the elderly in prior roles, and enjoys helping them.

His wife, Aubrey, is a speech pathologist with Northwest Education Services, the region’s intermediate school district, helping students in a number of schools.

 

Thanksgiving started with Zack, Uncle Jeff and Dave running in the Grand Rapids Turkey Trot. Then we all gathered for dinner.

Julie had a big year at work at Grand Rapids Community College, where she is a writer and editor for the GRCC Foundation.

The foundation’s annual report is one of her big projects, as she writes stories about students who have their lives changed by scholarships and the people who support them. The report has earned regional and district honors from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations for three years in a row. The project earned the organization’s top award – the Best in Show – at the national conference in March.

One of Julie's projects earned regional and national NCMPR awards - including Best in Show!

Julie is an active knitter and loves spending Wednesday evenings with her knitting friends. She is grateful Mom Nelson lives nearby and they get to spend time together.

Mom tagged along on an adventure to a local drive-through park, where you get to feed llamas, emus, bison and other exotic animals. A cow wandered over for a snack and stuck its entire head into the car and shared a fair amount of drool while dining on the food. We decided Dad Nelson, a bovine veterinarian, would have greatly enjoyed this and was smiling from above.

We are thrilled Mom Nelson lives nearby.

 

 

 

Some animals, like the noble llama, calmly enjoyed their treats. Bison were a little more demanding - and a cow was pretty much in the passenger seat.

Dave loves his job as the college’s communications director. He was able to do some traveling this year, heading to Denver for a work conference, exploring Milwaukee with Caroline, and catching up with Uncle Jeff, Aunt Kris and Zack in Chicago for a White Sox game. 

The GRCC Communications team earned 17 awards at the NCMPR District 3 conference in Chicago.

 

We were challenged to come up with a spirit photo for homecoming. The Communications team often takes our famed Large Letters all over campus.Then Ben suggested he take off his shoes like Paul McCartney. Next thing you know, we're the Beatles crossing Abbey Road. We won the spirit contest.

The big trip was a return home to Long Island to celebrate cousin Tim’s wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception, and he was thrilled to catch up with so many family members. Plus, he was able to break up the driving with some baseball, seeing a game in Pittsburgh before reuniting with his beloved Mets at Citi Field and seeing the new Tom Seaver statue!

It was a thrill to get back to Citi Field and see the Mets.

He was excited to make two trips to Florida this year, spending time with Mom and Dad, brothers and sisters, nieces and in-laws! We were excited to be there for niece Diana’s high school graduation. 

We were excited to attend our colleague Jenna's wedding.

We did have some very sad news this year. We lost our friend Tug, a member of the family for 19 years, which we know is an amazing run for a cat. He wasn’t the kind of cat that would run away and hide. He wanted to be in the center of the action. Julie was the center of Tug’s universe. Wherever she was, Tug was nearby, a wonderful companion. 

We miss Tug, our companion of 19 years.

Tug liked cardboard boxes, electric blankets – he had several around the house – napping in the sunshine beaming through windows or on the ottoman when it was placed in front of the fireplace. He was with us from our 30s through our 50s, and took the kids from elementary school through careers. He was there for job changes, graduations, a wedding, joyous celebrations and some painful losses.

He packed a lot into his 19 years. We miss him very much.

 

Florida fun! We were able to celebrate Diana's high school commencement, then visit again in October to celebrate Dad's 80th birthday!

We hope that this holiday season finds you happy and healthy.  We certainly appreciated the things we get to do and who we get to do them with. We are able to focus on what and who is important, and take stock of all our blessings. Here's to a peaceful 2023.

We would love to hear from you! Everyone is on Facebook, and you can drop us a line at dmurray08@comcast.net.