Family
Our wedding rings were purchased in Pittsford, New York (near Rochester).

Kim and I took our honeymoon with several events; a 3-day canoe trip down the Wisconsin river, a Cubs game where we sat in the left field bleachers and a day at Great America amusement park.

Life with Kim:
-Married on September 2, 1979, Three Lakes, Wisconsin
-Lived at Kim’s parents house in Evanston until October, 1979
-Moved to an apartment in Parchment, Michigan, near Kalamazoo in October, 1979
-Purchased house in Parchment, Michigan and moved in September, 1980
-Tom was relocated to Des Plaines, Illinois in July, 1981. Tom lived at his parents’ house in Evanston.
-Kim moved back to Evanston after fixing up the Parchment house and putting it up for sale in December, 1981.
-Tom and Kim lived at the Mt. Kisco, New York Holiday Inn for 5 months while starting up a new company office in Autumn and Winter, 1982-83.
-Moved to an apartment in Des Plaines in August, 1983.
-Bought current house and moved back to Evanston in 1986

We celebrated paying off our house mortgage by taking the family to the 95th floor of the Hancock Building for lunch on November 11, 1999.

While Kim and I lived in Parchment, Michigan, near Kalamazoo, I volunteered in the Parchment library repairing the binding on old library books.

We lived for time without a car in Parchment; I walked or rode my bike to work. Occasionally, there would be a slow moving freight train that ran on the tracks near our Parchment house that I would hop on to ride home. (No danger, walking was often faster). We took the Kalamazoo bus, 25 cents, to downtown Kalamazoo to take the Amtrak train to Chicago and then the El to Evanston.

I got a visit from the police while throwing some old carpet out in a dumpster late at night in Parchment, Michigan.

Top 10 life changing events (in order of occurrence):
-Becoming a Christian
-Taking printing in high school
-Attending University of Illinois, Champaign as a Agriculture major
-Having a beard
-Marrying Kim
-Moving to Parchment, Michigan
-Taking the position of System Manager at Kieffer-Nolde, downtown Chicago in 1984
-Having children
-Moving to Evanston, Illinois
-Taking current position with Schawk in 2001

Things I enjoy doing as a father:
-Taking lots of photos
-Tape recording the kids
-Creating and maintaining the Klamm web site; www.klamm.com
-Playing catch with the kids
-Playing basement floor hockey
-Having family devotions
-Cooking hot breakfast
-Celebrating Advent during the month of December with daily readings and songs

Happiest moments (in order of occurrence):
-Finishing school
-Marrying Kim
-Birth of our children
-Being with everyone at home
-Mom and Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary
-Watching my kids participate in sports
-Family vacations
-Going to the beach with everyone after dinner for a cool-off swim on a hot summer day
-Obtaining family web site address; www.klamm.com
-Working our sponsored house in Baltimore with Habitat for Humanity
-Downhill skiing with the entire family
-Christmas morning brunch

Long distance bike trips:
-Evanston, Illinois to Three Lakes, Wisconsin, 400 miles during the summers of 1971, 1973 (aborted-not completed), 1980 and 2000
-Missoula, Montana to Spokane, Washington, 320 miles Summer, 2002
-Evanston, Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, 80 miles Summer, 2005

Canoe trips:
-Boundary Waters, 1978
-Quetico, 1995
-Wisconsin River, 2005

One day in 1983, I did it. Something I always wanted to do. I changed my name to Wally. Not that the name Wally was special-it was just that I always wondered what it would be like to start over. What would it be like like to go somewhere where no one knows you? No one has expectations for you. You can be anyone you want. You can act any way you care to.

And so I did. Kim and I were invited by a friend to go to a distant Chicago suburb to go square dancing. Never been there, never met any of these people. They wanted each person to wear a name tag and when I was filling it out, I thought that this would be my chance to be anyone I wanted to be. So I was Wally and it was fun. Was I any different as Wally than I had been as Tom? Probably not. But it sure was fun and I laughed quietly to myself because when we were leaving the people all said how nice it was to meet you Wally and please come back.

I taught Sunday School to 4 and 5 year-olds for 6 years.

My biggest surprise was 40th birthday party.

I raised $7,100 of the $20,000 needed for the Elsen-sponsored Habitat for Humanity house in a Baltimore neighborhood by printing memo pads.

I was asked to be a hand model for Kraft food recipe magazine.

I have a wireless weather station with instruments on the house roof and have kept Weather statistics since 2002.

I never have acquired a taste for coffee.