Celebrating Dean Spiker's 80th Birthday

We need your help with an upcoming project for the Spiker Family Gathering Place that will highlight the military service of brothers Brad, Lynn and Bob Spiker.  Photos of them in uniform, copies of letters they may have sent and received, and transcriptions of military documents, etc. are desired.  Please let me know in which branch of the military they served, their ranks and years of service, if known. 

Don’t forget that digital photos can be taken of items too large to be scanned (for example, the plaque received by Uncle Brad honoring his service in WWI that hung on the wall of his home.)  Every piece of info that you can provide to help document their service is greatly appreciated. 

Information may be e-mailed to me.

When we were children, Mother would take us to task when she suspected we were being “story-tellers” (that’s what Mom labeled it because she thought the word “liars” was too ugly to come out of someone’s mouth.)  She was not often fooled by our attempts to manipulate the truth.  So as adults, we found it somewhat difficult to fabricate plausible “stories” that would allow us to carry out our plan for an 80th birthday surprise.  But we succeeded in becoming pretty good liars over the last couple months.  And we succeeded in surprising her with her first-ever birthday party.

According to the Guest Book, 80 people attended Dean Spiker’s 80th Birthday Celebration at her home in Good Hope on August 2.  With the exception of granddaughter Haley and sister Wilma, all of Dean’s siblings, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were present.

We want to thank everyone that worked with us to make this such a special day. 

Mother said she had a GREAT time and was truly surprised and truly blessed.  Looking out the window from her bedroom chair days later, she relived every detail in her mind.  She told me that she enjoyed the memory of it nearly as much as she enjoyed the party itself. 

Click here to view some photos of the happy surprise.   (EDIT - photos no longer available after merge.)

Announcements

• Submitted by Jeannie Spiker – Dean Spiker loved Gay Spiker’s Boston Cream Pie but cannot recall how it was made.  She remembers only that it was delicious.  Does anyone have the recipe?