Winter
'94
Dear Friends
Time again for the annual Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, Chinese
New Year, President’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Spring letter from the Corys. This has a been a year of change for us.
Many significant things have happened, both good and bad. You might wonder why this is so late this year. Well this has been a
very moving year, both physically and emotionally. Vibeke moved out on her own, Earl moved to Oakland and several other places,
Chris moved across Lake Merritt and the earth moved in Los Angeles.
The sad new is that Chris’s father, uncle, and dog, Bear, passed away and all are
missed deeply. Chris’s father, Louie, passed away in January of a heart attack and her mother's brother, Uncle Bill, of cancer in March. Our old dog, Bear, died in December. To top it off, her brother,
Louie, had heart by-pass surgery during Thanksgiving.
Earl’s full time job at Health Net in Woodland Hills was too far from Chris, so he
decided to quit and look for another closer to Oakland. As fate would have it, in January ‘93, some friends, Jeff and Cheryl Jalbert,
asked him to help on a project in at Victoria’s Secret in Columbus, Ohio. One thing lead to another and he ended up there until
Thanksgiving, he used up all his, Chris', and DECUS’s free tickets going back-and-forth.
He is very grateful and thankful to the Jalberts for sharing their home in Granville, Chris flew out for the long Fourth-of-July
weekend. They visited the Amish country and one afternoon, went to Indiana to visit their niece, Sue Ellen, and her husband, Michael.
Needless to say, it amazed the Ohio folks that anyone would drive a couple of hundred miles in a day. Earl made one other side
trip “back home” to Watertown, NY, to visit his parents, who were there attending to the death of Earl’s father’s sister (his
aunt Vi).
While Chris was in Granville, she talked to the Jalbert’s son-in-law, Al Landeck,
who was looking for a job. She turned his name into Ingres and low-and-behold, he was hired. So while
Earl was living with the Jalberts in Ohio, the Landecks lived a short time with Chris in Oakland while they were looking for an
apartment and Chris enjoyed the finders fee.
Earl’s, along with many others, activities in DECUS where abruptly terminated in
December at the fall symposium, when the Board of Directors dissolved the Symposia and several other committees.
Last summer we went back to Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii, for a week with Chris’ company.
We wandered around, looking at all the damage from Hurricane Iniki. Next summer, we have been invited to visit Josef and Feltina
Mayer in Germany We are now planning to see them, go to a friend’s wedding in England, and tour Eastern Europe (now that Earl
is able to.)
Vibeke turned twenty-two last fall. The three of us rendezvoused in Los Angeles and
went to the theater to see the play Three Guys Named Mo. She took time off from college this year so that she could “look after”
the house for Mom and Dad, PARTY TIME. She is planning to return to school in the Spring to study sewing and design. (What
will her next major be!) She has had several jobs this year, the most notable was working in a “new age” store where she sold
incense, oil, and magic stuff. She may have found a trade, making necklaces, she does a very good job.
In June, Dad helped her find and move into an apartment in Hollywood. In September, she moved from there to Venice Beach. In February,
Dad moved her from L.A. to Oakland (where next?)
Last winter, Chris joined the Ingres race team and went skiing at Tahoe several weekends,
where she raced, destroyed one pair of skis, and came in second once. She is now using Vibeke’s skis and boots (good thing Vibeke
was busy “taking care” of the house.) She continued with tennis, until June. Then it happened. One weekend, while Earl was visiting
her, they decided to go see Sleepless In Seattle at a local theater. While waiting and Chris seldom does that, she is more apt
to be running, jumping, or skipping, she slipped off an uneven curb and broke her fifth metatarsal. This put her out of commission
for a few hours. The doctor wrapped it and told her to use crunches and stay off it. You guessed it, two weeks later, they put
it in a cast, and told her to use crunches and stay off it. Before going to Hawaii in July, she had the cast cut and attached
with Velcro so she could take it off to go swimming and use the water slide. Months later, she is still recovering from a six-week
injury.
As you know, we put our house on the market. After a year, we hired another realtor,
one that Vibeke recommended, and received four offers. But things just keep happening, for instance our first open house was during
the LA Riots, the second major open house was after the Landers 7.2 earthquake, and one buyer had a heart attack two weeks before
closing. It was supposed to close the day after the LA earthquake. In October, one of the times it was sold, Earl hired a moving
company and moved to a storage unit in Alameda. Then on the first of November, with help from Earl’s parents and some friends,
we moved from Chris’ one bedroom apartment to a two bedroom across Lake Merritt in a stately building with a doorman.
On Thanksgiving many of us, the Corys from Monterey, Chris’ mother, and Vibeke from
Los Angeles all meet at the new apartment. For Christmas, we drove to Los Angeles to see everyone there, then drove back though
Monterey. In between, Earl received three job opportunities, one at Apple, one at Ingres, and one as a consultant. He opted for
the insecurity and uncertainty of consulting, taking the job offered by Chris’ ex-boss’ husband as consultant for Ingres at Intel
near Albuquerque, New Mexico. He started a four-month contract on Chris’ birthday (at least it wasn’t DECUS this time.) Over the
New Year’s weekend, we loaded up the Ranger and drove through “Indian Country” to an apartment in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. From
there he can come home for the weekends to fix things.
Earl, even though he was busy working in Ohio, found time to work on his book,
The Giles and Thomas Cor(e)y Family. It now has over 1000 Corys, going back to 1640. He even found one in Granville, Ohio!
It is in good enough shape to send a copy to those who have helped him gather information (as soon as he gets it printed.)
Well that is our life in 1993+. We are always happy to hear from you and what you
and your family have been doing. We accept letters, phone calls, visits, etc. at our apartment. If you are ever out our way, let
us know and maybe we can get together and relive old times. Our Oakland phones are: (510) 444-0732 and 444-0827. There is a recorder
on both lines.
Needless to say, both Earl and Chris have used their AT&T 700 numbers a lot this
year. Using them, you can call either of us no matter where we have moved.
Earl — 0-700-ESC-CORY (that is, 0-700-372-2679)
Chris—Q-700-CCC-CORY (and 0-700-222-2679)
Hope to hear from you soon,
Earl, Chris & Vibeke Cory
200 Lakeside Drive, #504
Oakland, CA 94612
