Two Midwesterners Living
in the PNW
A Few Tidbits
About Us
(As Written
By Julie)
Willie’s an Air Force brat who moved seven times and went to four different high schools. I’m a small-town girl, who grew up surrounded by a huge extended family and attended K-12 in the same school. I’d only left WI three times before I met Willie.
Willie and I met in college at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. We’re UWEC Blugolds and the first in our respective families to graduate with college degrees.
Willie flew US Navy helicopters for 26 years. His final tour was as a Commodore. I was a Navy spouse, holding down the fort through five deployments and making lifelong military friends while doing so.
Together, we have moved 20 times, living in eight states and one foreign country over four decades.
Willie flew helicopters off USN frigates, destroyers and cruisers – plus, he flew in the movie Tears of the Sun with Bruce Willis. The kids and I were fortunate to fly as Space-A passengers on a KC-135 refueling tanker in the company of a group of brave WWII veterans who fought on Midway.
We’re blessed to have two amazing adult children who live nearby. They were the driving force for us all to move to the Pacific Northwest: we wanted to be together as a family in a place with four seasons, mountains and beaches.
After a family meeting, we chose the Columbia River Gorge. Nine years ago, we built our dream home in White Salmon, Washington as a home base for our family gatherings.
Willie is a diehard Green Bay Packer fan. His most prized possession is an authentic NFL Green Bay Packers helmet autographed by nine Packer NFL Hall of Fame legends, including Bart Starr, Paul Horning and Dave Robinson. I am the smart lifelong Packer fanatic who bought the helmet for Willie and takes it to the UPS store to mail it to the Packer players. Former Packer cornerback Leroy Butler was so impressed with the helmet that he told Willie that I’m “platinum” for doing that for him!
Willie’s favorite bourbon is Eagle Rare. Mine is First Call Break Maiden.
Willie’s favorite color is blue and he’s owned two ’65 blue Ford Mustangs. My favorite color is red and I’ve owned two red Ford Expeditions. Now we own two Ford pickups, neither blue nor red, much to my chagrin.
We have two infamous Labradoodles, better known as the Double Trouble Doodles. Shelby is a 15-year-old chocolate Doodle and Barley is a nine-year-old butterscotch Doodle. They’re inseparable and provide us with plenty of entertainment with their antics. See more of Shelby & Barley on their own social media pages.
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