MURPHY'S EMERALD IDYLL
FAMILY
Family--The Kimball Connection
I married Bette J. (nee Hammond) Kimball on May 12,
1984. She lost her life to cancer on December 18, 1998. Those years were the very best of my life. I
have often said that if I could live my life over, I would want it to start on
May 12, 1982. That was the time of our first date. Two years later,
when it came time
to pick the actual date of marriage, it was the date we agreed upon.
Bette did not have an easy time of it. Well before we
met, she lost her first husband to cancer. Then, early in our
relationship, she was struck with it the first time. She was miserably sick from
the chemotherapy, but recovered and she knew about nine years of freedom.
We were able to do something we both enjoyed--travel. We visited Ireland,
Cape Cod, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, the Bahamas, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Pennsylvania,
Washington, D.C., Virginia,
Arizona, Las Vegas, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico, Louisiana and Florida. Our
homes in both Maine and Florida both show signs of her talents, taste and
caring.
In the final several years of her life, she encouraged me
occupy myself with a computer and to start collecting jokes. Collecting
jokes was a fun way of sharing. She needed cheering up far more than I
did. I would read the daily batch of jokes as it arrived and we would laugh
together at the "keepers," and she would give me a thumbs down on the
corny ones.
She was a wonderful mother and grandmother. She and her
husband, David, raised two of the finest young men imaginable. Glenn and
Brian are both intelligent, hard working, responsible, sensitive and
caring. Glenn and his wife, Lisa, have produced a bright, perpetual motion
machine known as Zachary. He turned nine in November, 2003. Keeping
up with him is a breathtaking experience. They all have brought much joy
into my life. I will share pictures of them all on these pages.