revised 12/15/2006
Linda is the force that keeps me going. Without her, I'd be a whole lot older than I am. In the photo above, she is getting out of the National Scientific Balloon Facility chase plane at the airport in Ottumwa, Iowa, during our high-altitude balloon experiment done there in 1999. She loved to accompany me on all of my little junkets, at least the ones that were practical. She's a trooper who knows how to make the most out of every opportunity and she keeps me jumping to try to keep up.
NicholasThese two guys live in Enid, OK, with their mommy, Liz. She doesn't let them come down to Texas to deal with their daddy's side of the family very often. Grandma Runette manages to get them for a week once a summer and she has always made sure we were invited to come up to Dallas and visit. In the summer of '01, Liz finally relented and let the kids come to Houston for a visit. Jim Jr., his wife, Lisa, her son, Wesley, Runette, Susan, Bram, Alexandria, and Nicholas all descended on Chez Benbrook for a four day visit with lots of swimming, pool playing, and horse back riding. We all enjoyed it so much that we did it again for two more summers. Now the kids are too old to be separated from their friends and they aren't interested in coming down to Houston for a visit.
Susie and Jerry came up with this wonderful little guy - nobody knows how they did it; everyone thought that he was too sweet to be related to either of them, but that was before he started to grow up.
