Reflections of The Dragonfly Den, June 2009–and Beyond: Friendship Communities (1)

Susan and I were very fortunate in our friendship communities over the years. Although there are many single people and couples in our lives that have made an impact, larger groups of friends seem to have dominated. In our years at the University of Washington (Fisheries) we developed a close group centered around other graduate students and their families. Over the years, this bunch of folks morphed into The Motley Crew. When we moved to Oregon, another group formed, centered around football officiating (of the husbands)...becoming known as The 10 Friends. When we retired, the Dragonfly Den Friday bakes created a third group of friends, The Densters. I thought, since so many of our stories featured these three groups, it would be appropriate to do a post with a little elaboration of the groups and then of the other special friends that have been instrumental in shaping our lives and memories over the past 48 years...and I suspect they will still be a strong part of who am I and who I will become over the next ...how ever many years I have left.

Close Friends and Loved Ones Matter Most, Hold Them Dear!

The Motley Crew

In the fall of 1971, Susan and I moved to Seattle. I was enrolled in the Fisheries program at the U of Washington and Susan was looking for work to support us. She first found a job as an assistant nutritionist/meals manager at a retirement community. We lived in a very small apartment building, three blocks from the Worlds Fair compound. We both loved to walk to the park and grounds around the Space Needle on weekends. Also enjoyed listening to the radio broadcasts of the Seattle Sonics basketball games. My mother and Joen (my grandmother– story to follow) could not imagine us living without a TV, so they bought us a tiny (10" screen) portable unit. We thought the radio broadcasters were so much better, that we normally watched basketball on the TV with the sound off and the radio on. TV was not much of influence on us.

I started looking at the graduate program in Fisheries and met Jim Malick who was starting his Ph.D. on the Cedar River. I hired on to help him with aquatic insect identification and eventually the insect population drifting in the river became my Master’s project. During this time, we met his wife Layne, son Jeff, and soon to be born daughter Jeana. In the Fisheries programs (actually F.R.I. - the Fisheries Research Institute), we met J Graybill and Sam Casne...separate thesis programs, but fun folks! Susan and I bonded pretty quickly with the other three couples and we often partied together during the school year.

After all of us left graduate school in 1975, we drifted apart for several years with occasional contact. Susan and I bought our first house and the eight of us gathered in Winston, Oregon to put our new abode and yard into shape...as well as celebrate a house warming in 1978. What a surprise and delight for us. It was only a couple of days, but it meant an incredible amount to us. For the right side picture, standing (L to R), Jim Malick, Martha Casne, Annie Graybill, Sam Casne, Mike Stansbury, Layne Malick, (seated...and obviously having fun), J Graybill, and Susan Stansbury.

J and Annie had adopted a daughter (Elisa - left picture) while we were in Seattle and we were delighted that many years after our house warming, the whole group would be together again to celebrate Elisa’s wedding...time really does fly during those early years. J and Annie had gotten divorced and J had remarried a lovely lady named Leslie (and changed his first name to Jay!) As we all gathered at the wedding reception, the subject came up that we got along too well together to be apart for such long periods. Leslie fit into the group extremely well and she seemed to be a perfect fit for our motley group. One more time...back row, L to R - Martha & Sam Casne, Jim & Layne Malick, front row (L to R) - Leslie & Jay Graybill, and Susan & Mike Stansbury

2008 (Elisa Graybill's wedding in Seattle)

So as a group, we decided to pick some destinations and start traveling together. Eventually, we decided as our first trip together we would be Egypt bound on a River Cruise and I decided that we needed to start referring to ourselves as The Motley Crew.

Egypt (2010) The Motley Crew

That trip, and journeys to the Black Sea, Hihium Lake (B.C. Canada), Sun Peaks (B.C.), Sorrento Italy, and the Galapagos/Machu Picchu would follow. Not all of The Motley Crew could participate in every trip, but we were always together in our hearts for each of these adventures.