So the focus of this past weekend was the party for my father-in-law, Ernie Templin. It was the big 8-0 for him and that meant relatives from far & wide coming together for a celebration at the church hall in the afternoon and then a family-only dinner afterwards.

Ernie celebrates his 80th

I put up assorted “Ernie Facts” around the place: trivia from his life.  My favorite was the result of my asking him if he ever had any famous students.  Ernie was a school teacher for Seattle back when the lessons were written on the walls of caves.  He remembers teaching 6th grade at Lake City Elementary and one student by the name of Dave Horsey.  Dave, of course, grew up to be a Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist.  Ernie remembers one time when the 6th grade version of Dave drew a cartoon and posted it in the classroom, but the principal of the school made him take it down because it showed “too much cleavage”.

Awesome.

Happy birthday, Ernie!

Tim Hunter