ABSTRACT
Bill is fifty-five, about to take an early retirement from his job as a drill-press operator in a machine shop. He met Helga when he was stationed in Germany after World War II. She was a local girl, the cook, and they were married after he was discharged. He was twenty-one when they married. Helga was thirty-one. "She was one of the strongest people I have ever known in my life. I was the more insecure person, because of my childhood background, and I drew from her strength. I probably still do. As a matter of fact, I probably draw from it more now than I did before." In the course of thirty years together, they adopted one son, who is now thirty-two, married, and living nearby.
