Share this pageJune and Stan's 61st Anniversry of a 56 Year Marriage - 2013
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 14 August 2013 20:02
- Written by Stanton O. Berg
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A "Divine" Appointment
It was a Tuesday morning in May 1951 that Stan first met June in a smll Cafe in Barron, Wisconsin while home on a leave from the U.S. Army intelligence service…for Stan it was a “Divine Appointment”. When Stan again returned home on leave in November of 1951, June accepted Stan’s proposal of marriage. June and Stan were married on 16 August 1952 following Stan’s discharge from the U.S. Army…Their marriage crowned them Queen and King…June then became Queen of Stan’s heart and Stan became King of June’s heart.
June made their marriage an adventure…June gave Stan a lifetime of unconditional love…for Stan, the many blessings of his marriage to June will always remain as an unending debt to both June and to God.
Years of Marriage and Adventure
When Stan later started his own “Forensic” consulting business, June traveled with Stan throughout the US, Canada and Europe as Stan’s administrative assistant…in 1969 they attended the first ever, Soviet-American Symposium in Forensic Science with visits at Moscow, Leningrad and Budapest...in 1973 they attended the 9th Congress of the International Academy of Legal Medicine in Rome including an audience with Pope Paul VI....in 1984 they were a part of the meetings of the International Association of Forensic Sciences at Oxford University where they were resident guests at the historic Christ Church and Queen's Colleges...June's favorite city became London following frequent forensic visitations...1993 found June and Stan at the University of Dusseldorf Germany for conferences of the International Association of Forensic Sciences...It was in 1997 during their 45th year of marriage that storm clouds appeared on the horizon…June’s concern for some “short term memory” problems were later diagnosed in January 1998 as "early stage Alzheimer’s."
June and Stan's "Bucket List"
June and Stan were determined to make the most of what ever time they had left together before Alzheimer’s took control of June’s mind. Stan made a “bucket list” of all the things they had wanted to do together but had put aside in previous years…for the next six years June and Stan did them all including celebrating their 50th anniversary...a few highlights of those years would be:
...off to London in 1999 for the Sherlock Holmes Festival and a goodby visit to their English friends the Bruce's at nearby Bexley. Kent...a January week at Maui, Hawaii in 2000 with a helicopter ride around the island...an impromptu weekend in San Francisco to celebrate June's 73rd birthday in November 2000...the Branson, Missouri Christmas Special in December 2000...
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport became June and Stan's launching pad for new adventures...During the years 1998-2003, June and Stan traveled to over 40 other destinations such as Little Rock, Tampa, Toronto, Orlando, Williamsburg, Houston, Milwaukee, Reno, St. Louis, Tucson, Seattle, Newport Beach, Atlanta, San Antonio, Harrisburg and Philadephia...In addition June was able to visit her daughter Susan and grandson Daniel in Raleigh/Cary, North Carolina every year for five years...in the year 2003, June and Stan's travel rapidly diminished as changes in June's health began to appear.
Alzheimer's Takes Control
It was in the eighth year year of 2004, that Alzheimer’s started to take control of June’s mind and personality…June started her long journey into the shadows of the disease. In the 9th year 2005, June required the care of an Alzheimer's facility...Thereafter Stan slowly lost June, “tear drop by tear drop” as she slowly disappeared into a world that she could not be reached. Holding hands became their way of communication.
Before June’s Alzheimer's diagnosis, their world and June’s character and personality were represented by a vast sea of bright and beautiful lights. After June’s Alzheimer's diagnosis, these bright lights all begin to slowly dim. As June slowly slipped deeper into the shadows of Alzheimer's, the lights gradually flickered out one by one. Eventually the time came during the last two years of June’s life, when the brightness that marked their world and June’s life was replaced by one of darkness.
The Final Days
During the last year and a half, a physically incapacitated June rarely opened her eyes or even responded to a world that was then alien and strange to her. June had become so tired, exhausted and weary that in the last months of her life she lay like a wounded soldier on a battlefield. It was in June’s 12th year of Alzheimer’s that Aspiration pneumonia, a common Alzheimer’s complication ended her life.
After 56 years of marriage, God mercifully took June home on the 23rd of October 2008.
June's passing left Stan with an emptiness that could never be filled...
It was as if a most beautiful symphony that had played during their life together, had suddenly ceased to exist…
For Stan, that day in October, was the day in which all of the world’s toys suddenly broke...
"As I have said so many times in the past…I love you June and I will love you until the sands of time stop their endless trickle…there will never be another…I hope that some day as you walk the pathways of your heavenly home, that I will be permitted to join you…please watch for me…listen for me to once again call your name…"
June, should you by chance be looking on from your heavenly window up above…happy 61st anniversary of our 56 year marriage…
Stan
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Photo Notes: (Top to Bottom): (1.) June and Stan's wedding picture, August 1952. (2.) Audience with Pope Paul VI, Vatican, Rome, September 1973. (3.) Helicopter ride around Maui, Hawaii January 2000. (4.) June and Stan's hands October 2007. (5.) June and Stan in the Holy Spirit Chapel at the Benedictine Health Care Center, New Brighton. (6.) Photo below is June and Stan at 6025 Gardena Lane, May 2002.
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June and Stan - 2002- In June's 6th Year of Alzheimer's
and 50th Marriage Anniversary Year
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(Edited version Published in the Minneapolis Star - Tribune on Sunday August 18th, 2013)
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Reader's Comments
Andrea Ward - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - (17 August 2013): "This is wonderful. Thanks for sharing and God bless you!"
Terry Shepherd - Warsaw, Indiana - (17 August 2013): "I am so happy that all circumstances came together and you and June were able to fill the bucket list up. What beautiful memories you now carry within your heart. You are one lucky man and June was a lucky lady to have you."
Beth Ann Doucette - Lino Lakes, Minnesota - (17 August 2013): "Absolutely beautiful, Stan -Thank you for sharing."
Kathy Mundy-McGeehan - Pennsylvania - (17 August 2013): "Very loving memoirs! Thank you for sharing."
Jennifer Criner-Shade - (17 August 2013): "What neat story and wonderful memories to fill your heart! Thank you so much for sharing yours and June's story."
Anne Moghraby - Solihull, United Kingdom - (17 August 2013): "Wonderful memories thank you for sharing."
Minerva Ramos - Wells, Maine - (17 August 2013): "Sir, your entries often capture my heart before the eyes begin to absorb your life with your June. I enjoy my mom more because of your writings. After 9 years of a diagnosis; my mom is not bed ridden and still sings songs but now; it is in her language. I am thankful my parents walked the journey of marriage for 50 years before my dad passed at age 80. I saw the definition of love while my mom took care of my dad while he was ill. My father did not release his last breath until my sibling promised to take care of my mom. We take care of my mom with the promise always in our hearts. Thank you for opening your love story so that others, including me; can open up ourselves."
Seeoomarah Ruiz - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic- (18 August 2013): "Mr. Berg, thanks for sharing, is always wonderful to read your story shared thru this group...And your wonderful disposition, gives the rest of us hope."
Dawn Laursen Galati - Orlando, Florida - (18 August 2013):"Beautiful Stan..."
Linda Casey-Overholt - Coshocton, Ohio - (19 August 2013):"Beautiful tribute to your love that cannot be separated even by death,...!!! Ohio hugs and blessings!!!"
Ajay Chhetri Alzheimer's Nepal - Lalitpur, Nepal - (2 September 2013): "lBe happy and be together forever."
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June's Passing
June's funeral notice as published in the Minneapolis Star in October 2008 can be seen on this website under the "In Memoriam" label - or Click on:
"June K. (Rolstad) Berg - In Memoriam"