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Siblings Slideshow - The Broad Street Years - Pt 2 - 1970-77

(click here for Slideshow 3 or here for Siblings Main Page )

This slideshow is composed of photos of the "Christopher Five" from about 1970 to 1977. There are fewer photos in this time period. I've included Dayle's wedding in this set of photos. Also, you should check out the 1010 Broad Street Slideshow under houses because it has slides that are not included here but are during this time frame.

The photos below start with Uncle Pete's wedding on August 1st, 1970. Mom bought us boys all new jackets and Dayle bought her own dress. Mom bought many clothes for us boys from a woman (Mrs. Briney?) she knew who had boys a few years older than us and she would give Mom first shot at them before a rummage sale. They were nice clothes. The next several photos are from our trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for Christmas at Aunt Lynn and Uncle Ed's. Notice all boys have their new vests on. Also, check out the pants - definitely 1970s, polyester stripes and bell bottoms. The next two photos are of Bernie and his best friend Jerry Craner. The photo with Robin was when Bernie and Jerry pulled the gag on Robin by telling him one of the great football players of the time was "Bill Scum." Of course, being five years younger he bought it and went around saying he was Bill Scum. Note: I write that with love Robin, we all had nicknames but yours is the only one with a photo and story corresponding to the nickname.

The next photos are of us with Grandma on trips. Grandpa and Grandma used to make trips to Saugatuck to sell antiques. Dayle was with them in this photo, but Jimmy and Larry went with them also when they would stay with Grandpa and Grandma. Dayle said they ate at Holly's which was Grandma's favorite restaurant until she discovered Bill Knapp's. We had many dinners with Grandma Ackerman at Bill Knapp's on her birthday over the years because they not only gave a free birthday cake (yum!) but also the percent off the birthday person's mean equal to the person's age. No photos there. The photo with Robin and I sitting on the bench was when Grandpa and Grandma was taken at the House of David in Benton Harbor in 1970. They had a miniature train, and if you look closely you can see the tracks to the left in the photo.

Sports were a big part of the Christopher household. Bernie, Robin and Larry all played junior high football. There is a photo of Robin in his practice unifrom in the slideshow. Bernie played baseball, his sophomore year, and varsity basketball, his senior year. It was quite something on Sundays at the Christophers with Dad rooting for the Bears, Bernie for the Packers, Larry for the Cowboys and Robin for the Vikings. We often would go out on Wayne Street and throw the football around after games. Jimmy would join us and it was Bernie and Robin against Jimmy and Larry. It wasn't tackle football but rather taking turns passing to each other while the others tried to defend.

Dayle played basketball at St. Joseph High School before it was an "official" sport. She was on the SJHS girls' basketball club. Girls' sports, other than cheerleading, weren't equally funded, or even offered, by most schools until 12 years after Title IX was signed into law (1972). In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled that girls sports had to be offered and funded the same as boys. Back in 1972, Dayle's team had to make her own uniforms and they weren't given gym priviliges often having to either practice at Jefferson Elementary School or outside. Mom, along with other mothers, would drive the girls to their games. Dayle's team was undefeated, she played center, her junior year. Mom became obsessed with basketball and would listen to the Bulls on the radio. When Norm Van Leer was traded to Milwaukee, she would listen to the Milwaukee radio station when she could receive it.

Dayle met Jim, we called him "Big Jim" because of Jimmy who was beginning to be called Jim, in 1972 at Jim's sister Virginia's house on Wayne Street. They were wed on January 6, 1973, at the Saran Lutheran Church. Chris Nelson was her maid of honor and Charlie Chronister, Jim's brother, was the best man (click here or go to Dayle's page to see a photo of them). Big Jim immediately became like a brother to us. He moved in with us for a few months. Their son Chris spent a lot of time with us from his birth in 1973 through his first couple of years. There are a few photos of Chris at our place including, Dad holding him at Christmas, and one of Bernie feeding Chris in 1973.

Larry graduated high school in 1976 and there are photos of him and his friends Freddie Pries and Mickey Beckman with Jimmy and Larry. Jimmy remained friends with them for many years. Fred had boat just like ours, 16' aluminum with a 25 hp motor. We would take both boats out and fish and have fun on the St. Joe River and the Lake. Mom had to sell the boat in 1976 to help us survive.

When Dad left, on and off over the course of a few years from 1973 through 1975, it was rough on us financially. Mom was ill with reoccurring thrombosis and was hospitalized on three occasions during the 1970s. She had to quit her job in May 1975 (click here to see the nice letter the St. Joseph Public Schools Business Manager wrote to Mom). We lost the Chevy Impala and lived on food stamps and AFDC - Aid to Dependent Families. We always stuck together as a family. Dayle and Jim continued to help the family out for many years after their marriage. In 1975-76, we had no coal for heat, and for a couple weeks our electricity was shut off, so we had to go live with Dayle and Jim in a very small farmhand's house in Benton Township. There was no indoor plumbing, but they made room for all of us. Many of our reunions were held at Dayle and Jim's over the years beginning with the trailer in the Ravines off of Empire that they lived in for years in the late 70's through early 80s. See page Siblings slideshow five for photos from the two gatherings there in 1980.

We (Mom, Larry, Jimmy and Robin) moved to 189 Madeline Avenue into subsidized townhouses in Benton Township, near the Lake, in the Fall of 1977. Mom and Bernie had graduated from Lake Michigan College (LMC) in the summer of 1977 (click here to see the newspaper article and photo about them graduating together as mother and son). Jimmy and Robin began working as meat cutters at Family Foods in Fairplain working their way up to managers. I went to Lake Michigan College, then onto Western Michigan University in 1978. Bernie was already living in Kalamazoo when we moved to Madeline. He came home for the summer in 1978 to his job at Michigan Fruit Canners. Bernie got Larry into Michigan Fruit Canners for that summer. In the Fall of 1979, Robin and Jimmy moved out and Larry went back to Western. Mom moved in with Grandma Ackerman and what was left of the Christopher Five official disbanded as housemates.