Happy 50th to Ken & Connie!

We had the wonderful privilege of celebrating Ken & Connie's 50th Anniversary with them this past month! Matt's parents were married August 11, 1972, making August 11, 2022 their Golden 50!

We were originally going to fly to Oregon to attend their 50th Anniversary dinner, but due to kid commitments and ultimately, wanting more one on one time together, Ken & Connie suggested flying to Moline to spend time here with the family. 

After a few dates were discussed, tickets were purchased and plans were made. 

An idea took form - head to the Chicago area for a few days and see where Ken & Connie were married as well as their first house (and subsequent houses). We came up with a list of places to visit and made plans for a hotel and rental for the weekend.

Thursday night, Matt, Kaitee & Maddie headed to the airport to meet Ken & Connie. It was a sweet reunion! 

Unfortunately, their flight arrived too late in the evening so, no visit to Whitey's Ice Cream. 

We stayed up late, getting caught up on life happenings. 

Friday started early for the majority of us - the twins had school while Kaitee, Alex & I headed to work for the morning/day. For lunch, we headed to Rudy's, a local Mexican restaurant. 

Matt & Connie were able to go through some old pictures and memorabilia. Lots of memories were shared.

We picked up the twins after school and then got ready for some family pictures. 

Here are a few of the pictures from our photo shoot (the ones that included Ken & Connie). They turned out wonderfully! So thankful to have these family pictures. (the other pictures from this shoot can be found here).

After our photo shoot, we headed to Culver's for a late dinner. The twins loved the opportunity to have their co-workers meet their grandparents.

We finished our evening at Whitey's. If you know Ken, you know that Whitey's is a "non-negotiable" when he comes to the Quad Cities! 

Saturday morning - Matt & I headed to the airport to pick up the van that we rented for the weekend. We rented a larger vehicle for the weekend - with our van only able to carry 7, we needed something to fit all 8 of us. While the van had a few faults (mainly, it was hard to hear anyone from the back row), it was a huge blessing with lots of room for us!

We packed up the van and hit the road towards Chicago (approx. 3 hours of driving). It was a nice drive with lots of conversation. Our first stop was lunch at Lou Malnati's in Schaumburg. We were shocked to learn that Ken & Connie had never eaten Chicago deep dish pizza before! Matt had told us that they never had it while growing up, but I figured that at some point in Ken's many business lunches, etc that they would've had it. Needless to say, the Chicago style pizza was a hit!

After a quick stop at IKEA (returns made and a handful of items purchased in quick fashion), we headed north to Deerfield/Lincolnshire. We located the home where Covell & Phyllis Hart (Ken's Dad & Stepmom) lived in 1972. This is the house where Ken & Connie were married!  Covell, a Presbyterian Pastor, officiated their wedding. It was a small affair with family and friends. 

We had a brilliant idea - maybe Ken & Connie could re-create their picture in front of the house...50 years later (we aren't sure if the original picture was their wedding day, but we did notice that Ken has his wedding ring on).

Ken went to the door and was greeted by a sweet lady. He explained the situation and asked permission to take a picture, which she obliged to without issue. Maddie made a collage to compare the two. Pretty neat!

Grayslake was our next stop - while the building itself has been enlarged and updated since; this was the platform Ken stood on for nearly a decade (circa 1974-1983) to catch the train to take to his office, which was downtown Chicago.

Peppermint Stick - Matt's Preschool

Augusta Street House ("1-6-6" as it is referred to in Matt's family) -  Ken & Connie's first house. Their street ended at Grays Lake. Beautiful Property!

Something we learned was that this home was owned by Ken's mom, "Grandma Ruth," and Ken and Connie bought it from her. Ken built the garage at the end of the driveway -- he was so proud of it, that the first night it was finished he slept in the garage.

We got out at Jones Island Park - walking out to Grays Lake and playing on the playground. Matt remembers walking from Peppermint Stick Pre-School (a mile each way!) to the beach at this park. Lots of good memories (esp of the large snapping turtles that Matt was warned about...oh the imaginations of little kids)!

The skies were starting to look like rain, so we continued on to our next few stops, all outdoors.

"6-5-1" Matt's First House on Pierce Court. Ken & Connie only lived on Augusta Street for a couple of years before wanting to start a family. So they sold that home and moved into this home before Matt was born in 1976. Still in Grayslake, this was where Matt lived from birth until he was 7 years old -- moving out in 1983.

The window on the far left was a guest room, the window in the middle was Matt & his brother John's bedroom, and the window on the right was the living room. It was a split level house - it was also yellow back in the day. 

[a note from Matt] The only thing missing from this trip was my brother, John. He opted to stay back home in Oregon, where he lives with my parents, to take care of the dogs while Mom and Dad were here. His presence was definitely missed, especially when visiting our old stompin' grounds. Hopefully next year he'll be able to come back here and we can share time together. 

We drove a little ways down Highway 120 (into Libertyville) and stopped at Highland Memorial Park (Cemetery) - We paid our respects to Ruth Hart, Ken's Mom. 

Grandma Ruth was born in New Jersey and came to Chicago in the 1940's to attend Moody Bible Institute. That's where she met Covell Hart, who also attended MBI. They got married the day after they graduated from Moody on August 2, 1946.

Covell went on to attend Dubuque Theological Seminary where he got his Master of Divinity Degree. While in Dubuque, Ken was born. Covell went on to pastor the Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, Wisconsin (not far north from Dubuque) where (Matt's) Uncle Dave was born.

In 1952 Covell & Ruth felt the call to head into the mission field. They auctioned off all of their worldly possessions and moved the family to Beirut, Lebanon. (Matt's) Uncle Jim was born in Beirut. 

They ran an orphanage until Christmas Day 1954 when Grandma Ruth stood up out of bed and then fell. She had contracted the polio virus. From that day forward, she was paralyzed from the neck down.

There was only one iron lung in the whole country of Lebanon at the time and the guy that was in it before Grandma had passed away the day before. So she was able to get use of the iron lung until she was able to breath on her own.

They moved back to the states where Grandpa pastored a start up church that met in a barn. Wildwood Presbyterian Church holds a great deal of good memories from that time period for Ken. Grandma Ruth would teach Sunday School from her bed (they lived in a house on the same property as the barn). The church would build an actual church building right next to the barn...the barn and the church have since been combined into one big building, but they were still separate buildings when Matt attended.

Grandma Ruth never complained a day in her life. She gave honor and glory to God for everything, regardless of her paralysis. She was a true saint of a woman.

It was a nice time of sharing memories graveside. 

Next stop was at the Wildwood Presbyterian Church. WPC out grew this building a couple decades ago and built a new building just north on the other side of Gages Lake. The "old" WPC was sold to a Korean Congregation and is now Cornerstone Presbyterian Church. 

Covell pastored this church from 1955-1964. Many of Ken's childhood years were spent in/around this church. They lived in a manse on the property, where a portion of the parking lot is now. Ken was able to share a handful of stories that came to mind as he was walking around the parking lot - remembering. 

Upon leaving the church, we drove around a part of Gages Lake. Ken shared stories of time spent at the lake - with his siblings, youth group, church outings, VBS days, Easter Sunrise Services etc. With the lake literally next door to the church, it was used often!

Libertyville:

When Matt was 7, they moved from Grayslake to Libertyville.  

We drove through the downtown area, allowing Ken, Connie & Matt to remember and reminisce. We've all been back to Libertyville a few times since Ken & Connie moved from IL to OR (in 2000), but it is crazy how much has changed! We drove by the high school and grade school/junior high, their house on Buckley, their old church and numerous neighborhoods (remembering friends along the way).

The house on Buckley Rd is on a four lane highway and we couldn't stop to get a picture, here's a screenshot taken from the Google car "street view."

Aside from dinner, we had one final stop on the day. In December 2021, we took the kids to Independence Grove Forest Preserve and fell in love with the park. This park was previously a rock quarry and is located a half mile (on the same road!) from their Buckley Road house. We decided that this would be a nice place to show Ken & Connie and do a bit of walking. 

I'm not sure who snapped this picture of Will, but I'm glad that they did. He was such a huge blessing - helping us in and out of the van - there was a large step up, so he offered his arm every time we got in and out. Evidently he offered pieces of chocolate too (in his hand), ha!

We headed to dinner, which was at Bill's Pub North (in Third Lake). We had eaten here with Ken when the kids were little. They still mention "the pizza place where we could throw the peanuts on the floor". It was a great way to end our day of traveling and sharing memories. 

Arriving at our hotel, we unloaded and got checked in, heading to our separate rooms and retiring for the night. 

Sunday morning, we were able to sleep in a bit then Matt & the kids met Ken & Connie for breakfast in the hotel breakfast room. 

An hour later, we left the hotel to head out for the day. We were surprised to find that the temperature had dropped overnight and it was pretty chilly. A few of us were going to be cold if the temp didn't increase! 

I gave Matt a slight reprimand for the shirt that he was wearing (Whataburger t-shirt). Today, we were celebrating Ken & Connie's 50th with a nice lunch. I had asked the kids to pick a nice shirt to wear...Matt didn't get my memo. 

When I got to the van, Matt was laughing...he didn't feel so bad about his shirt now. We all shared a good laugh over this. If you know Ken...you know that this is one of his all time favorite shirts. He especially loves wearing it for the grandkids! We *lovingly* call it the "butt shirt".

We had a little over an hour of time to drive around until our lunch reservation. Our first stop was at the Libertyville train station. It recently went through a full renovation, so it wasn't completely familiar to Ken, but as soon as he stepped outside, near the tracks, the memories came back. He would faithfully catch the train every weekday from October 1983 until he retired in 2000.

The interior of the station was beautiful!

We drove around the downtown area a bit before heading to Austin's for lunch. 

When making plans for this weekend, we asked Ken & Connie for some restaurant suggestions. Favorites from when they lived in the area. Austin's was one of the suggestions. We were thrilled that they were still open (a lot of their favorites had closed over the past 20 years!) and they took reservations. 

It was a delicious lunch - great food and conversation.

Our last stop for the trip - we drove to Great Lakes Naval Base. Ken is a retired Navy Vet, so he is granted access to the base. He did his Basic Training at Great Lakes. We were really hoping that he would remember the buildings and surroundings, but we ended up not being able to go on the basic training side of the base. Ken did share some stories with us in regards to his time in the navy - at Great Lakes, California, Japan, Guam, Vietnam and the Philippines. Ken enlisted on November 21, 1967 (10 days after his 19th birthday) and served until April 11, 1971.

We were granted access to the other portion of the base, so we drove around a bit. The base sits right on Lake Michigan, including a beach and nice playground. We got out and played for quite a while.

Matt found Ken's Basic Training "yearbook" - Mike Gunderson was Ken's Best Man at their wedding.

From the naval base, we headed north, into Wisconsin, and then started to head towards home. We were all pretty tired and some of us fell asleep for a good portion of the drive home. It was a wonderful weekend in the Chicago area. We learned and reminisced, laughed LOTS, ate some great food and made lots more memories! What a special way to celebrate Ken & Connie's 50th Anniversary!

Once we arrived home...we had enough time to run and grab Whitey's for an evening dessert!

Monday (Labor Day) - we dropped off Will at school to load the bus with the marching band and then headed to Rock Island to watch the RI Labor Day Parade. We were looking forward to seeing the band in the parade as well as Matt (he was walking with Celebrate Recovery).

The Whitey's truck is always a welcomed sight during a Quad City Parade! They hand out their yummy popsicles!

After the parade, we headed back to the school to pick up Will then grabbed lunch at Hungry Hobo. Next door to Hobo is a Whitey's...we may have stopped over there to get another treat! 

Once home, we exchanged pictures from the weekend and watched old home movies. It was really neat to see video footage from the different homes that we had just visited, as well as share stories from the old movies!

We introduced them to our favorite pizza joint in town, Spinners and then (shamelessly!) *may have* stopped at Whitey's one last time. Home again, we introduced Ken & Connie to the game Awkward Family Photos. It was a wonderful way to end our long weekend together. Sharing laughs together while eating Whitey's ice cream! Doesn't get much better than that.

Happy 50th Ken & Connie! We love you both so much and are so thankful for the life you have carved out for each other and your family. What a wonderful testimony to everyone you come in contact with! We pray that God blesses you with many more anniversaries!