Season's Greetings to All! Our 19th Christmas newsletter!
Just like last year, our 2022 started out in Bonita Springs staying at Mona's place. We were visited by Steve & Bonnie this time. Later in January, we finally made the leap to Medicare health insurance...guess we are officially old now.
February saw an RV trip down to the Gulf Coast ending up in New Orleans (on Katie's bucket list). We caught a Major League Rugby match there with Duane & Nancy. Watching the Super Bowl at Pat O'Briens on Bourbon Street was interesting!
Left: Katie with her gal-pals celbrating her birthday in downtown Zionsville.
March led us to our normal timeshare in Orlando…this time with Erika & Mick (and Mona and her sisters, of course). With Medicare's Silver Sneakers, Katie & I started taking up Pickleball. That lasted until summer.
April was special in that Erika got engaged...wedding planned in late 2023. Shortly after that, Katie flew to Denver to "help" Erika with her wedding plans. Evan took that opportunity to head to Portland for a visit to Steve & Bonnie's new abode.
Then the fun started...in August, Erika brought Mick to Indiana to visit Zionsville and her alma mater (IU). This just happened to coincide with Evan's trip to Bloomington for the 60th anniversary of IU Rugby and reunion with his friends from eras gone by.
The same weekend as Evan's reunion, EJ threw himself a large 30th birthday party.... with Rachel being 38 weeks pregnant. Luckily, their baby was nice enough to wait until Sunday night to put Rachel into labor. Calihan Douglas Williams was born Monday, August 29th, with a birth that could not have gone any better. I guess Cal just wanted to join the party!
Katie & Evan are now grandparents! Interestingly, our almost lifelong friend Mona beat us to that distinction by 9 days with Gracelyn!
Left: Erika & Mick in the grasslands of Colorado being protected by Ranger
September brought sorrow with the passing of Evan's oldest brother Cliff's wife, Linda. Later in September, Katie & Evan went on another RV trip - this time to the Thumb after catching Evan's 50th college reunion in Michigan.
In October, Katie headed back "home" to Michigan for her 50th high school class reunion. I'm pretty sure there's been far too many 50th & 60th year references in this newsletter! How can we be that old?? Well, at least when we celebrated our wedding anniversary this fall, it was "only" 38 years.
Later in October, Katie squeezed in a golf weekend down in Nashville, Indiana with her gal-pals. Meanwhile, Evan headed back to Bloomington to catch an IU Rugby game in the football stadium that he basically organized. Unfortunately, soon after that, one of Evan's longtime rugby pals, Mike Chase, lost his battle with cancer.
Later in November, we took a trip to Golden, Colorado to help finalize Erika's wedding plans there. Interesting to run into another of Evan's ol' rugby buddies, Billy, in downtown Golden.
December brought our now seemingly annual trip to the Island...this time St. Kitts...with Steve & Bonnie again. Sun & Sand. Next up, probably our last trip to Detroit for Christmas with Katie's family & relatives. Then, right back to Mona's bungalow in Bonita Springs for sun and New Years. The cycle is complete once again!
Evan is in his 19th year as IT Manager for VS Engineering. He was also on the Board of our sailing club. Katie has been taking up golf much more often with her gal-pals. She's also in her 6th year as a virtual assistant for Vida Aventura.
Left: Evan & Katie in St. Kitts
Erika is still living in Denver and working remotely for Stoic Lane out of Chicago. She and Mick are both quite active taking in Colorado's best hiking, skiing, and enjoying Ranger who still thinks he's a puppy. Mick finished his residency and is now a hospitalist in the Denver area (Lafayette).
EJ & Rachel are now a year into owning the family company that runs 17 Jiffy Lubes across Indiana. In his "spare time," EJ goes to Purdue once a week to teach an Electric Vehicle class and help run Purdue's EV Grand Prix (www.evgrandprix.org). The higher ups at Purdue wanted him to have a Masters Degree for this, so he is now a Grad Student, as well, pursuing a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. It's fun watching him also squeeze in time to coach Purdue's sailing club.
Rachel took a leave from nursing to help with the Jiffy Lube empire - strike that - to dedicate to the upbringing of newborn Calihan. EJ & Rachel seem to have not missed a beat with their travel & busy lives. They just bring the little guy along for the ride! As for Cal, he's doing his job perfectly of being a bundle of joy to love. We hope he can continue that through his teens!
All in all, we've been fairly lucky with our health and adventures.
Below is a pictorial of many of the events throughout this last year.
We hope you and your family enjoy the Christmas season and most of all, be sure to enjoy New Year's Eve...Evan's favorite holiday!!
 Mick, Erika, Katie, and Evan at Nick's for the 60th IU Rugby reunion
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 Rachel at Put-In-Bay |  EJ & Rachel at polo in Zionsville
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 Evan lounging on the Gulf Coast somewhere |  Erika & Mick landing in Iceland
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 EJ & Cal "bonding" |  EJ multitasking with Cal
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 The New Year's crew at the Island House in Bonita Springs
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 Evan, Katie, Mick, and Erika at Disney Springs |  Katie, Evan, Erika, & Mick at Epcot
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 Cal under the Christmas Tree |  Katie with her favorite grandchild
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 Corbett, Tito, EJ, and Rachel hiking in Hawaii |  Jesse awarding EJ & Rachel the Party Trophy for our sailing club
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 Erika & Mick musing their future from Lookout Mountain over Golden, Colorado
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 Rachel amid their remodeling of their new house |  Katie trying to turn on the lights
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 Evan & Katie checking out Bonnie's old Ft. Myers haunt |  Katie & Bonnie taking in a sunset in Bonita Springs
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 At our sailing club Beach Bash |  With Angie and Alex in Naples
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 Evan with the IU 7s rugby team at Benecki's palace in Atlanta
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 Evan with the IU 7s rugby team at the Kennesaw State football stadium | |
 Katie trying to stay warm in the Thumb |  Rachel, Betty Jo, Cal, Jean, and Emily - 4 generations |
 EJ, Rachel, & Cal in Punta Gorda |  The crew enjoying the sailboat this summer |
 The crew at EJ's 30th birthday bash |  EJ's students testing battery-powered go karts |
 Joey, Kelsey, Conner, EJ, Rachel, Landon, Torrey, and Levi at Bailey's wedding at TPC Sawgrass | |
 Cal and gramps at 1 week old |  Cal and father at 1 hour old |
 Katie with her favorite grandchild newborn |  Cal with parents at 2 hours old |
 Introducing Cal to the World |  Cal's first tailgate - 6 weeks old |
 Mona, Val, Jack, Rich, and Katie at the Dead Lizard in Orlando
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 The summer before Cal arrives |  EJ with his Christmas Bash costume
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 Evan & Katie at some beach on the Gulf (That's not snow) |  Evan & Katie at the VS Christmas Bash
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 Katie at Red Rock - Erika's wedding venue |  Mick, Erika, Evan, & Katie sampling wedding plates
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 Erika's wedding venue - Red Rock amphitheater area near Golden
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 Katie & Bonnie at the Shipwreck in St. Kitts |  Katie in St. Kitts
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 Katie arriving in St. Kitts |  Evan & Katie liming at the Sunshine in Nevis
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 Evan & Katie at Glenn's place in Cape Coral |  Katie, Evan, & Mona - New Year's at the Island House
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 Evan and his frat brothers at his 50th college anniversary
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 Katie in St. Kitts |  Evan in Portland, Katie in Denver, EJ/Rachel in Indiana, and Erika/Mick in Iceland
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 Cal's first stroller ride at 4 days old |  Katie & Jean for Rachel's shower with a diaper cake
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 Evan & Steve in St. Kitts |  Evan, Katie, Bonnie, & Steve at the Reggae Beach Bar in St. Kitts
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 Katie & Erika in the Ladies Regatta at our sailing club
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 Scott Jr, Scott Sr, EJ, & Evan playing a round |  Katie, Jane, & Mona sunning on the lake
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 Rachel & Cal with Maggie & Gracelyn |  Cal's first bath
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 Mona, Berna, Cheryl, Katie, Jane, and Evan at Rick's Boatyard |  Looks like a Purdue Fest - Katie, Mona, Dell, & Donna
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 Katie, Erika, and Mick on Eagle Creek
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 Rachel- 2 days before delivery |  Cal at 6 days old |
 RVing in the Gulf somewhere |  Katie, Donna, Berna, and Mona admiring Evan's scooter
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 EJ, Katie, Jean, and Rachel at Rachel's shower |  Jean, Doug, Katie & Cal, and Evan at Thanksgiving
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 Raftup on Eagle Creek Reservoir - with the new owners of our old boat
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