My parents were married for 64 years before my father passed away in 2013. My mom followed him a little over 3 years later in 2016. I miss them both every day. I'm so happy that I made a number of recordings of them before they died, and they are all available to listen to by clicking on the links below. There are two hours of recordings of my parents, and also recordings of each of their memorial services for another 84 minutes. To mom and dad - I miss you both... -Hal
Life in the Great Depression - This is stories from each of my parents about life in the Great Depression in the 1930's, which were the formative years for both of them. This was the last recording made of my parents before my dad died. I had intended to get one more about what life was like life during WWII, but I never got that one completed. (This was recorded in their Midland condo in March 2013.)
Great Depression Stories (25 min)
Red Lake Falls' Stories - This is a discussion that I had with my mom and her sister (Cherie Lane Davidson) at Cherie's house in Olympia Washington about their life growing up in Red Lake Falls MN. Of note, a Washington Post writer famously proclaimed Red Lake County to be the most boring place in the entire United States, and after some backlash, he moved there. (And so far as I know still lives there.) I visited there every summer with my mother and various family members and had a great time every year with my brothers and sister, my cousins, and friends we made there. (This was recorded in August 2011.)
Red Lake Falls' Stories (33 min)
How Ellen and Richard Met - This is the story of how my parents met in Cleveland in circa 1947 when Ellen worked for Western Reserve and Richard was going to school at Case. (This was recorded at my house in Ypsilanti in December of 2011.)
How they met (36 min)
Dad's Cars - This is Dad describing all of the various (generally used!) cars that he owned in his life. Of note, his father (Williard Wolfe) owned well over 100 cars. He would buy them and break them in (which was necessary in the early days) and then sell them. My dad had a love of cars that he inherited from his father. (This was recorded at my brother Chris's Mount Rainier cabin in August 2011.)
Dad's Cars (23 min)
Beirut Trip Story - This was the story of the time in 1974 that mom and dad and Chris (my oldest brother) were held hostage for 24 hours by the PLO in Lebanon where Chris was going to college at AUB. (This was recorded in August of 2011 at Chris's beach house in Washington State.)
Beirut Part 1 (7 minutes).
Beirut Part 2 (30 min)
Richard Wolfe Memorial Potluck - This was a recording of the service that was held for my father at the Chippewa Nature Center on November 14 of 2013. (He didn't have a traditional funeral and he donated his body to science.)
Richard Wolfe Memorial (27 min)
Here are links to the flyer I created for dad's memorial:
Richard Wolfe's Life page 1
Richard Wolfe's Life page 2
Ellen Wolfe Memorial - This is a recording of the memorial service that was conducted for my mother after shed died. It was held on October 23, 2016, at the First United Methodist Church of Midland, where my parents were active for decades, and that we all attended as kids.
Ellen Wolfe Memorial (56 min)
Here is a link to mom's obituary with a number of pictures that I added: Mom's Obituary
Here's a link to the list of vacations we took over the years (mostly in a station wagon!): Wolfe Vacation Summary