Week 13 - Home Sweet Home - Conner family

Back in 1974 when we married, we were lucky enough to be able to 'rent' my husband's mother's extra house that she had on Barnes Lake in Columbiaville, Michigan. Dan was working for North Central Airlines at the time in Flint and after having done a stint of nine months at Chicago O'Hare, he was pretty happy to be back on familiar turf.

Living next door to his grandmother Margaret (Smith) (Daly) Chapman, I learned to accept any help from her regarding laundry, cooking, recipes, cleaning, burning leaves in the driveway, folding fitted sheets. You get the picture. She was a wealth of knowledge for this fledging new bride. I loved our small three-bedroom, one bath house.  Even the pink ceramic tile in the bathroom - from the floor to half-way up the walls, tile.

In 1976, we spent a short time in Traverse City, Michigan on a summer bid. We rented a house trailer in Interlochen and Dan worked the 5pm - 1am shift. It was a simple home, but it was ours for the moment.

Then two months later, we transferred to Midland/Bay City/Saginaw airport (MBS International). Going back on home turf! We bought our own house trailer and settled in. Two years later, we welcomed our first child, and it was time to buy a house. So, we moved into 'town' into an awesome three-bedroom, one bath with a one car garage. It backed onto a city park, so it was a perfect home for our small family. 

In 1979, due to a job promotion, we sold our home and headed to the big city of Romulus, Michigan. Doesn't sound like much, but it was a suburb of Detroit and Dan went to work at Detroit Metro Airport. Republic Airlines - same airline, just a new name. Our second child was born in 1980, and after spending 10 months in a rental, we bought and settled into a small (900 square foot) three-bedroom, one bath home. No garage. But a great fenced in back yard. This was home for us until 1985.

In the summer of 1985, due to another promotion, we headed to Appleton, Wisconsin. We rented an old farmhouse there and then a nice duplex. At that point, Republic Airlines became Northwest Airlines. About the time we decided it was time to buy a house, there were rumors that we would be moving on.  In 1990, we headed West....

To Billings, Montana. Talk about a lifestyle change! But we bought a wonderful four-bedroom, two bath home in the Heights. Settled in, made more life-long friends and both daughters graduated High School there. In 1998 the decision to move back to Michigan was made due to another promotion, and away we went. Back home. Well almost. Back to Grand Rapids, Michigan. We bought and sold two great homes there. 

Dan worked in Grand Rapids until retirement in 2012 under Delta Airlines. 

We are in our current and hopefully final home in Auburn, Michigan. 

At every city we planted a tree in the yard. A way to show that we were putting down roots and to leave our mark. Every single house was and is Home Sweet Home when we are there together.

Barbie





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