How is this for weird?

I’m attending the Otis Sanctuary Reunion in 2009 with a whole lot of relatives that I’ve never met before.  I’ve emailed a bit with Mike Otis and discovered that we are 11th cousins, i.e. a traceable relationship, but just barely.  He has sent me some information and I’ve printed out this 10 foot long family tree chart.  So I’m standing there going over the mistakes (lots) and fixing things up with the help of lots of people I’ve just met.  This was fun.

I was getting some extra help from Kim Erway Birck and somehow the topic came up that a lot of these relatives that we were working on were born in Kalamazoo.  “I was born in Kalamazoo, too”, I said.  Kim said that she was born in Wisconsin but that her parents, also at the reunion, went to Kalamazoo College.  I said that my parents went to Kalamazoo College also.  Now the wheels are starting to turn.

Kim’s Parents:

Norman D Erway, born 1922. (Norman’s mother was Nina Otis)
Wilma Fechter, born 1923.

Married June 9, 1945 at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo.

My Parents:

George Otis, born 1919 (college interrupted by war)
Shirley Stevens, born 1924.

Married June 8, 1946 in Dowagiac, Michigan (where Shirley was from and only 45 miles from Kalamazoo).

ALL FOUR WENT TO KALAMAZOO COLLEGE and, as it turns out, Shirley worked on the college yearbook, The Boiling Pot, while Wilma was the yearbook editor and Wilma remembered Shirley!

As mentioned, Norm & Wilma were at the reunion.  George and Shirley passed away in January of 2007.