I’m retired! Jerry rigged up a surprise luncheon for me last Wednesday attended by people going back to the very beginning of the Ranch, people who were there for our dedication ceremony in the fall of 1991, as well as friends from more recent times. And what were we dedicating, that intrepid puddle of people standing in…
Santa comes of age
Years ago, when we’d just moved to the Ranch and Kelly was nine or so, we became friends with a family with a son with Down syndrome in his last year of high school. The son, whom I’ll call Scott, was a charmer–handsome, polite, and funny. Scott loved the idea of living on a Ranch and…
Stabat Mater
I woke up many times last night, thinking of our oldest daughter, keeping death watch in a hospital in Lawrence, Kansas, for her mother-in-law Nellie. This same daughter became a grandmother eight weeks ago, and when people asked me was I really ready to become a great-grandmother I quipped, “Absolutely, yes, but I am a little dubious about being…
In Memoriam
We have just learned of the death of Ed Nowland, long-time friend of Down Home Ranch, father of Dr. Dan Nowland, and grandfather of many, including Dan and Sally’s Kelly, born with Down syndrome 20 years and some months ago. After Kelly was born, Dan and Sally asked to meet with us as parents of…