My little Poppa was a German Congregational minister after graduating from the University of Chicago Theological Seminary. He was ordained at a little church in glen Ullin, North Dakota.

He and my mother were also married at a little church in Java, South Dakota where pop was an assistant minister and where mom was teaching school. They went to Iowa where he was the minister of the German Congregational church of New Hampton. From there they went to Sherrill, Iowa where under his pressure they replaced the oldest German Congregational church in the U.S. with a new building which is still in service today. There are two large stained glass windows that say they were contributed by Reverend and Mrs. Hein. Stained glass windows had to be a lot less expensive in those days, but even though, I have no idea how in the world they ever paid for them then.

From Iowa they went to Walla Walla, Washington where I came on board. They weren't there very long after I was born. They then went to Windsor and Brush, Colorado. Again they weren't there very long as I was only two years and a few months old when we moved to Seattle.

Here, the moving came to a halt. Pop was the minister at the Seattle First German Congregational church for a little over 35 years. He and mom came home from a church conference in 1955 to find that he had been fired. It was just at the time that ministers had become eligible for Social Security. Mom offered to pay his salary for the six months as an associate pastor in order to qualify but the church was adamant, they had to leave almost immediately.

As it worked out, the minister who came in to take his place came from Missoula, Montana. He had been trying for years to build a new church building unsuccessfully. Pop took his place and at the age of 81 years built a new church within two years. Perhaps the whole thing was designed by someone up there who knew that pop was a builder.

In any case he was now eligible to receive Social Security.

At that point they moved into the first house I had built after the second world war. My wife and I and our two boys lived four doors away in my second and last home that I built. They both lived in that house up to the times of their deaths.