First of all, thank you to everyone for your thoughts and condolences. Our family certainly appreciates them.

The past few days my cousins have been in touch....why is it you need someone to pass away for relatives to keep in touch....but my cousins Barry and Bobby Weldon both brought up the time my Mom held up the Suburban Conference Championships, so she could finish cooking a batch of hot dogs in the concession stand.

My Mom and Dad worked the concession stand as part of the Track Parents Booster Club. Never missed a meet in my 6 years of high school. We (Whitefish Bay HS) had the three best hurdlers in the conference. Tom Dakin, Gary Gerlach, and myself. Not in that order BTW. I was always a split nose behind Dakin, and Gerlach was just a butts length behind me.

So, it's the finals of the 120 yard high hurdles (I'm aging myself here...when's the last time track meets in the USA were not metric?) and all 3 of us are in. Mom comes running up to the starter, who was our Athletic Director at the time, and asks him...well, sort of demands him to hold up for 3 minutes until the hot dogs are done cooking on the grill. She wants to see the race and it better not start before the hot dogs are ready.

The other 7 guys in the finals are all looking at me. WHAT???!!! I don't know that lady..never saw her before in my life. Only problem is we all know each other too well and each others parents, and even the guy from Waukesha is laughing and asking if my Mom is going to run out on the track and knock him down.

The starter politely asks us to regroup and acts like he's giving us more instructions, all the while we are all splitting up. It's a miracle we even got the race in. Mom wins another one for Whitefish Bay!

Order of finish...1. Dakin; 2. MontanaBob; 3. Gerlach...and the rest were left in the dust.

---

LOL!
That's just another of your great stories Bob!
It's neat that you have those kinds of things to hold onto at a time like this.

---