Family Secrets Revealed!

Happy family? No doubt, but our investigation has uncovered several potentially embarrassing secrets which shed new light on this family's strange past...

Family Pictures Uncover Hideous Facial Hair Mistake!

Most people will confess to having a bad photographic experience with their driver's license, but few would purposely sabotage their looks and then go so far as to include the obvious error in judgment in one of their family portraits. Apparently, the Burkes feel no such restrictions. Check out their Family portraits from the last fifteen years and see (among other things) the hideous mustache of 1995!

Genealogy No Longer in Question as Photo Reveals the Painful Truth!

The faint hope that Dave could somehow explain himself by claiming he was the result of some sort of weird alien encounter was dashed recently when photos revealed irrefutable evidence of his direct connection to the Burke family line. Our photo clearly shows the progression of the unavoidable, if impressive, Burke Schnoz through the generations. Scroll to the picture below to see the evidence, but be warned: the photo may frighten small children and animals!

There is a glimmer of hope for the Burke line, however; the schnoz appears to be getting better with each generation. So, there may yet be hope for the boys. For more information about the Burke family connections, visit our Genealogy Page which includes several ways to explore our relationships to the families: Burke (and Burk), Tucker, Dvorak, Roberts, Rosenbaum, Robbins, Radschlag, Martin and many more.

He peeked at me!

4-year old Tucker meets newborn brother Philip
and forms an immediate bond.

Hello from Saudi Arabia

Dave was deployed back to Saudi Arabia in January of 1992, leaving Karen and our two boys in Hanau, Germany for the duration. One day she set up the VCR to record shows for the boys when her friend called, yelling histerically that I had been on TV and asking if she'd seen it. She hadn't, but by some miracle she had started the recording about 30 seconds before my "hello from Saudi Arabia" spot aired.

What did you do?

Like most folks, we were pretty excited about Tucker's first experience with "real food" and we wanted to capture the moment for posterity. So, Dave got set with the video camera as Karen began the process and big brother Gerrit chatted and looked on. It was a lovely family moment...until something got ahold of Gerrit and, out of the blue, he turned and bopped Tucker over the head with a rattle. Everyone was stunned, except Tucker who seemed oblivious to the assault and just wanted more of that new food!

The interchange between Gerrit and Karen was hilarious.
Karen: What were you doing?
Gerrit: What was I doing?
Karen: What were you doing?
Gerrit: You tell me.
Karen: You tell me. What did you just do?
Gerrit: What did I just do?
Karen: You just bashed your brother on the head. Now you tell him you're sorry.
Gerrit: Sorry.

But the ultimate punishment came when Gerrit tried to give Tuck a hug and got baby food slobber on his hand. Eww. Bravely he accepted it as part of his punishment, then retreated to his room to contemplate the error of his ways.

Ah, sweet family memories :-)

Gulf War homecoming

When Dave deployed to the Gulf War he was attached back to his former unit, 4/7 ADA, so he had to travel back to Dexheim and fly out with them. Once the war was over though, he was allowed to fly directly back to Bitburg Airbase where we were stationed with 5/7 ADA. It made for a much nicer homecoming, since the guys flew right to their home station and the families were allowed right out onto the tarmac.

The sight of little Gerrit running out to meet Dave still brings a tear to our eyes.