Minnesota Gothic

With apologies to Grant Wood, here's a picture of the missus and me. Leatha's a great teacher, but she's got a ways to go before becoming a great horseperson. For example, she thinks that the way to stop a trotting horse is to yell, "Boooooooooob!" Since she started helping out at the Forget-Me-Not Foundation therapeutic riding program, however, she's learned how to groom a pony and lead it around. Ya, sure ting you betcha!

At a year and a half old, Madeleine Lemen tries her grandpa's hat on for size.

The daughter of Dave and Jen, Madeleine called yours truly "Cowboy Bob," "Grandpa Lemen," "Cowboy Lemen," "Grandpa Bob," and my favorite, "Grandpa Cowboy."

Our first son, Matthew, had Cystic fibrosis and died in 1985, a little over a month before his 20th birthday. You can read a bit more about him on my newspaper column page.

This photo of my Mom and Dad -- Betty and Bob -- me, my brother Bruce and sister Mary Kay was taken at my folk's place during the last week of '98. My mom passed away on January 12, 2005. I wrote a little about her funeral in a column for the Grand Rapids Herald-Review. You'll find it here.

Dad joined Mom -- his soul-mate of 63 years -- on February 21, 2010, one day after the silver anniversary of Matthew's departure for Heaven. I'm sure they've had a wonderful reunion! Back in 1999 I wrote a little newspaper column about the special bond between Dad and Matthew.

Dad was the subject of an excellent feature story in the February 3, 2003 edition of the Los Angeles Times. The writer, Jenny Hontz, has kindly given me permission to reprint it. To read it, just CLICK HERE.