My big brother, Arland, was 91/2 years old when I was born.  Duane was 6.  So here I come…JulieAnn, the only sweet little girl in the Waters family.  I’m not sure how they felt when I was born…but I have fond memories of the five of us doing many things together.  One of the kid’s chores was washing dishes…the boys were always fighting about something, snapping the wet dish towels at each other (and me when I got older). Arland washed dishes, Duane dried and I stood o the counter and put the dishes away.  I think we were usually singing and laughing. 

When I needed help decorating my bike for the “Recreation” Parade in Hampton, Arland came to my rescue with crepe paper in my wheels and streamers on the handlebars.  I had the best bike in the parade.

The “boys” did tease me a lot but we always had fun, lotza music and many many laughs.  However, several times, I ran into my room, slammed my door because I was so upset about “something” quite important.  But the  last time I did slammed the door after some teasing,  the ceramic fish that mom so carefully put above the tub…fell and broke.  Then, I was the one in trouble but it will always be Arland’s fault.  

And our camping trips with the “Hampton Gang” was always fun.  I think there were 4-5 families and all the kids who were close to our ages.  It was always filled with laughs, bonfires, swimming and skiing.  Arland and Dad taught me how to ski on the Greene River.  They did, however, forget to tell me to let loose of the ski rope if I fell.  I was not happy and the Greene River was not very tasty

Arland was the best older brother you could ever ask for.  First he would do anything for me growing up.  I even went to the movies with him and his girlfriend and we sat in the balcony.  And then, He and Carol would do nothing for me as I grew up and started a family. From offering me a place to live, to always inviting the kids and me for holidays…and of course many invites to Ham Lake.   All my friends wanted to be a part of Waters Olympics and a part of our family.  

Memories remain. ❤️

I look back at Dad's career as a Jostens sales representative and now ....so much appreciate how dedicated he was to his job.   Having to hop in the car and travel around North Dakota and Minnesota.....being gone many nights of the week , getting stuck in the many small towns he served to meet deadlines, driving thru blizzards.  Dad was so committed and a great role model for the three of us....teaching us to give it your all in anything you do.

Both he and mom had expectations of chores that we typically did on Saturday mornings.  One of the assignments was filing papers for each school in his file cabinets.  At the time....I was sure he was violating some form of child labor laws....but it taught me to appreciate hard work, delegation, that not all jobs are fun all the time. 

I spoke to someone two weeks ago who was on the junior high yearbook staff in a small town in North Dakota....and to this day....she will never forget the energy and kindness of Mud Waters!

My Dad probably went through 15 sets of clubs over his lifetime. But it was his quest to find the latest driver, chipping iron, or putter that was most prolific. I don't think I ever bought a set of clubs in my life given the never ending flow of "hand-me-downs" I could get from Dad. There was always a barrel full of used golf clubs in the garage, and a lot of them were in fine shape and very good clubs.

Putters seemed to rotate about twice a year. It is funny because he was a good golfer and a very good putter. But, he always thought he'd find that club that would give him the magic touch. The last putter I could remember him using looked something like the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars movies. 



He was also addicted to finding golf balls in the water or woods. We'd always have a gallon or two of used balls that we'd use for chipping practice, or launch into Ham Lake from the beach.