Claire and I will have been married 23 years on September 21st. I still remember the day back in 1990 when we moved to Racine. We moved from Stevens Point where we met and went to college together. I was to do a one-year internship in the Clinical Laboratory Science program at St. Luke’s Hospital. We were taking a chance on Racine and each other.
Our lives were far from stable. I was $19,000 in debt from school and Claire had a business major but no job. We did not know a single person in Racine with the exception of the education coordinator at St. Luke’s who I met briefly at UW-Stevens Point six months earlier.
Those first few years in Racine were challenging with very little money, no family within 200 miles and a neighborhood that was unsafe to be out in at night.
But we had each other and that proved to be all we needed. We started making friends and were welcomed whole-hardheartedly by my co-workers at St. Luke’s. Claire landed a great job as a Graphic Designer at Case Corporation and we started becoming productive members of the community. We had two beautiful children, Paige and James, born at St. Luke’s during my tenure there.
Fast forward twenty years later and here we are in the house of our dreams; mind you it’s a 1,700 square foot three-bedroom ranch. But it has an inground swimming pool and a fireplace, which we always wanted. We never had much time for hobbies or fun activities because we were always driven to work hard and be financially successful. With that said I can proudly say we ‘made it.’
At 51 years old and Claire not far behind me we have the financial freedom to do whatever we wish. Certainly we are not going to let go of Image Management anytime soon. We are proud of the business we created and feel indebted to our clients, employees and the community to continue on with our company. But now we can do so with a sense of security and freedom to know we will be OK no matter what.
We worked hard together in those early years and we have not slowed down. Currently we spend our fun times taking bike rides, running and swimming in a Masters program at the YMCA. We both compete in triathlons and have excelled. I recently qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship for the 4th year in a row and Claire won her age group in a recent Irongirl competition at Pleasant Prairie.
We enjoy our workouts together and support one another in our events. Our lives could not be better and are proud to share our story.
Peace and Love.
Kevin
Published on August 24, 2014