Finding Faith, Family, and Life Lessons | Conversations with a Chiropractor - Conversations with a Chiropractor

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi, this is Dr.
Stephanie Wautier, and I'm the hostof Conversations with a Chiropractor.
This is not a health how to, butrather a conversation with some
amazing people I've had the pleasureof being with on my journey of life.
Think of it more like Tuesdays with Maury.
A fireside chat orchicken soup for the soul.

(00:27):
Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoythis conversation with a chiropractor.

Stephanie (00:41):
thank you both so much for agreeing to be on this podcast.

Holly (00:45):
You're welcome.

Stephanie (00:47):
So just started and I think it's always a good place to start.
Gary, will you tell me when youwere born and where you were born?

Gary (00:54):
I was born on May 24th, 1943 in Brussels.

Stephanie (00:58):
In Brussels, Wisconsin.
Which is a really stronglypopulated Belgian population, right?

Gary (01:06):
yes.

Stephanie (01:07):
In fact, I was telling someone that the cemetery there
at that little Catholic churchis like 80 percent Wautier's.

Gary (01:14):
Yes, there's quite a few.

Stephanie (01:17):
Now, I know that there's two people not buried there, but to your
knowledge, are most of the Americandescendant Wautier's buried there?

Gary (01:27):
I would say most.

Stephanie (01:28):
Most of them?

Gary (01:29):
yes.
... Holly: And Holly, when were you born and where were you born?
I was born July 7th, 1952in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
in Green Bay.
But you grew up mostly in what, community?
it was called Duck Creek then,now it's called Village of Howard.
It's a suburb of Green Bay.

Stephanie (01:51):
Okay.
And you guys met and got marriedand I know you didn't meet and get
married in the same year, but remindme what year you were married.
1977.
Okay, 1977.
you're coming up on what anniversary?
Help me with the math.

Holly (02:09):
May it was our 47th.

Stephanie (02:12):
Three years till the big 5 0.

Holly (02:14):
Yes.

Stephanie (02:15):
Yeah.
That's a milestone anniversary.
We're looking forward to it.
Give our listeners some marital advice.
what is the secret to a long,happy, healthy marriage?

Holly (02:27):
I think number one.
Is to put God first in your life.
I think that's the most important thing.

Stephanie (02:33):
It sounds like that is what both of you would say
is the most important thing.
Yes.

Gary (02:38):
That's exactly what I was going to say.

Stephanie (02:40):
go ahead, Gare.

Gary (02:41):
keep the Lord first,
in your marriage.

Holly (02:44):
And each other second.

Stephanie (02:46):
Have there been times that you guys have needed to
forgive the other for something?

Holly (02:51):
Oh gosh.
. Yes.

Stephanie (02:53):
Never.
Never.
Neither of you ever did anything wrongthat the other would have to forgive.

Gary (02:58):
Not that I can remember.
. Stephanie: That's
the key.

Stephanie (03:01):
That's the key.

Gary (03:02):
Not remember

Stephanie (03:03):
you know what's funny, so learn to forget.
Yeah.
And

Gary (03:06):
forget.
Right.
That's the big thing.
Don't hold grudges or, don't hold things.

Stephanie (03:10):
Love keeps no record of wrongs.

Gary (03:12):
Exactly.

Stephanie (03:13):
I used to say whenever someone would get married, I would
put in their card, remember toforgive your spouse every day.
that's one of the main keys not to, keepa record of wrongs, recently I've been
thinking besides putting God first theReason people stay married is because
they decide to stay married Right?
They're like, I made the decision.

(03:35):
I'm, we're staying together.
Because it's so easy.

Holly (03:39):
Especially in today's age.
It's so easy to just, I don'twant to do this anymore and
let's move on to something else.

Stephanie (03:49):
I'm like, oh, I got married.
It was a mistake.
And we'll find somethingbetter, different.
you guys are both from the Midwest,the Green Bay area, Brussels
is in Southern Door County.
Gary, I want to jump a little bit aboutyour ancestors in your, upbringing.
was your home very stronglyin a Belgian tradition?

Gary (04:09):
as far as I know, my grandfather spoke Belgian a lot

Stephanie (04:13):
to my

Gary (04:13):
dad, and when he was yelling at me, I had to learn Belgian, because
I didn't know what he was saying.
And when we lived on the farm, mygrandparents lived on the farm too.

Stephanie (04:23):
They did.

Gary (04:24):
Yes.

Stephanie (04:25):
And that was very culturally appropriate, That's what families
did, Multigenerational families.

Gary (04:32):
my grandfather was actually born in Brussels, but his dad and his
grandfather came over from Belgium.

Stephanie (04:42):
Did they come over on a boat?

Gary (04:44):
my grandfather was actually born in Brussels.

Stephanie (04:47):
In the United States?

Gary (04:48):
Yes.

Stephanie (04:49):
Okay.
Brussels, Wisconsin.

Gary (04:51):
Yes,

Stephanie (04:52):
What kind of farming was done on that farm?

Gary (04:55):
It was a dairy farm, but back in those days we did everything.
We had cows, pigs,chickens, we had everything.

Stephanie (05:03):
family to eat?

Gary (05:04):
And I think I can remember that when I was small, They had, these big horses
and I think he would raise horses forother farmers to do farming I remember
my dad placed me on a horse's back andmy legs sticking out and I couldn't
even reach the edges, that's how big.
So it might have been the Clydesdales.

(05:25):
Is it the Clydesdales?

Holly (05:27):
Belgians?

Stephanie (05:28):
Belgian horse.

Gary (05:29):
I think that's how they started even before the cows.

Stephanie (05:32):
Really?

Gary (05:33):
It was more of a raising horses.
But it converted to cowsand for milking dairy.

Stephanie (05:39):
Did you have vegetables too?
Like a big vegetable garden?

Gary (05:41):
Everything.
Like living off the land.
vegetables, fruit Grape vines, raspberrybushes, apple trees, pear trees,
everything you live off the land,

Stephanie (05:53):
And how many brothers and sisters do you have?

Gary (05:55):
Seven.

Stephanie (05:57):
was it pretty typical to have a big farming Catholic family?

Gary (06:01):
Back then, yes.
Oh yes, everybody had, you know,seven, eight kids, or whatever,
but in these large firms.

Stephanie (06:09):
and that you were raised Catholic?

Gary (06:12):
Yes.

Stephanie (06:12):
and I don't know the answer to this, was that traditional in Belgium?
Catholicism?

Gary (06:18):
I know they had these little chapels on the side of the roads, in
the country roads, with the VirginMary statues and different things.
And if you needed prayer, you wouldgo in and pray in those little rooms.
Other than the regular church.
In the country of

Stephanie (06:32):
No, out back on

Gary (06:32):
Wisconsin.

Stephanie (06:33):
Interesting.
And, Holly, you wereraised Catholic as well?
... Holly: Yes.
Okay.
But your upbringing was different.
The village of Howard was more, a city,

Holly (06:45):
it was more a village, because it was a lot smaller than Green Bay,
but it was just real close to GreenBay, it was still just a little village.
they had a volunteer firedepartment, and my dad, volunteered
for the fire department.

Stephanie (07:02):
What was your dad's main job?
He was a steam fitter.

Holly (07:06):
Oh.
pipe and steam fitter?
He worked for, heatingcompany in Green Bay.
And he did that his entire life.
my folks started out in Manitowocand my dad built submarines.

Stephanie (07:22):
Really?

Holly (07:23):
Is

Stephanie (07:25):
that submarine company still around?

Holly (07:28):
I don't think so.

Stephanie (07:29):
No.

Holly (07:29):
No.

Stephanie (07:30):
Like submarines for the

Holly (07:31):
military?
Mm hmm.
Wow.
Especially during the war.
That's when he was there.
Okay.
And then I think in 1950 my dad got a jobin Green Bay and they moved to Green Bay.
From Manitowoc?

Stephanie (07:44):
Okay.
Did your mom work outside the home?

Holly (07:47):
Yes, she was a waitress.
She worked at a supper club when I waslittle, to save her tips so that they
could buy some land and build a home.
And she did that.
And by the time I wasfour, they had their house.
It's built and we moved in.
In Howard?
In Howard.
Okay.
And you're the youngest of four?

(08:08):
No, I'm the third of four.
You're the third of

Stephanie (08:10):
four.

Holly (08:11):
Okay.
You have a younger brother.
an older sister, an older brother,and then a younger brother.

Stephanie (08:17):
I know Gary probably worked on the farm growing up, your whole
family probably worked the farm, right?
did your mom or dad havean outside of the farm job?

Gary (08:26):
Yeah, during the winter months, my dad worked at the shipyards.
Oh, he did?
In Sturgeon Bay.
I forgot the type of boats they made boatsSo that, submarine mines couldn't blow
them up, the hull of the boat was wooden.

Stephanie (08:40):
That was kind

Gary (08:41):
of interesting.

Stephanie (08:42):
That is interesting.

Gary (08:42):
what he did, during the winter months, just did chores
and then a lot of the farmerswould go work at the shipyards.

Stephanie (08:49):
Oh.
I suppose just to survive.
Extra

Gary (08:53):
money and there wasn't that much work, he didn't work
in the fields during the winter.

Stephanie (08:56):
Yeah.
it's interesting, when I thinkabout people that are farming,
how reliant they are, what isthe weather going to do, right?
Will there be enough snow?
Will there be, enough sun,you're so reliant on whatever
the weather's going to do.
Now, did you go into the militarystraight out of high school?

Gary (09:16):
No, I did, I think, a semester or so at a vocational type school.
I can't remember the name of it, but,for accounting, and of course, my parents
didn't have a lot of money to send you tocollege, so that wasn't even a thought.
So after the first semester, likein February, I graduated, and by
February I enlisted in the Air Force.

Stephanie (09:36):
Okay.
So you did get some sort of, certificateor degree at that vocational school?

Gary (09:42):
I didn't finish the whole year.
I was only there one semester.

Stephanie (09:45):
Okay.

Gary (09:46):
Yeah,

Stephanie (09:47):
what branch of the service were you in?

Gary (09:49):
I was in the Air Force.

Stephanie (09:50):
Air Force?
what was your job in the Air Force?

Gary (09:53):
I can't talk about that.

Stephanie (09:55):
You can't talk about
that?

Gary (09:57):
Or were you sworn to secrecy?
Actually, I wasn't.
it was considered intelligence.
We needed top secret crypto clearance.
Because the work we did was classified.

Stephanie (10:06):
Okay.

Gary (10:07):
part of my job was intercepting Morse code, and the only place
I could work was overseas.
So That's where I went after school.

Stephanie (10:15):
I know we've talked about this a little bit, but you were in Turkey.

Gary (10:20):
That was the last tour.
That was

Stephanie (10:22):
the last tour.

Gary (10:22):
I happened that I could do this work.
It came to me rather easyand I was ahead of my class.
Went to class down in Biloxi,Mississippi, and I was ahead of the class.
So that was the big thingall the way through.
It was about, nine months worth.
of study, the head of the class couldpick the country they wanted to work to.

Stephanie (10:42):
Wow.

Gary (10:43):
They wanted to send me to the east, far east, and I said,
I'd like to go to Germany becauseI was the head of my class.
And by golly, they camethrough and that's where
I was sent.
it was supposed to be for a few years,but then they needed experienced
people in Turkey, in, that area.
And that's where I ended up.

Stephanie (11:03):
what was the political climate when you were in the service?
what was happening?
what years were you in?

Gary (11:09):
1962 is when I went in,

Stephanie (11:12):
so right at the beginning of the Vietnam.

Gary (11:15):
Yeah.
And it was progressing andby 66 is when I got out.
that's one of the reasons Igot out, because of Turkey.
I didn't care for the, remote site.
Because of the classification ofthe job that we did, we really
didn't work on an Air Force base.
when I was in Germany, I wasactually on an Army base.
we had a little section of the people,that did the same types of work.

(11:39):
I had a roommate that interceptedRussian and one intercepted, Polish

Stephanie (11:44):
and,

Gary (11:45):
we all worked in the same place, gathering information.
Okay.

Stephanie (11:48):
And you were interpreting Morse code.

Gary (11:50):
I intercepted it.

Stephanie (11:52):
Intercepted it.

Gary (11:53):
Yeah, You'd listen to different people.

Stephanie (11:56):
Like different radio signals, radio frequencies.

Gary (11:59):
the big radios and, After experience, you could tell, by the
way they sent Moore's Code, it was,it was, you could understand and,
relate to who it was that was sending.
Even though it was basically enemy,

Stephanie (12:16):
Yeah.

Gary (12:16):
because they always changed their name, their codes
and, everything was jumbled up.
So you never knew what station or Who itwas or where they were, but an experienced
operator could listen to it and the wayhis accent was, the way he was sending,
I could say, Oh, this is Joe Blow

Stephanie (12:35):
and here's his

Gary (12:35):
here's where he's at.

Stephanie (12:36):
Wow.
Tremendous

Gary (12:38):
amount of intelligence could gather from that because it was not
only ground people but it was alsoaircraft and all different things.
Back then in the sixties,they used Morse code a lot.

Stephanie (12:49):
I can imagine, and then like radio was probably the primary way of
them communicating with each other.

Gary (12:55):
Exactly.
And of course many times they knew what wewere doing, They knew you were listening.
So they would have a lot of, scratchingand interference and different things
to try to keep us from, hearing them.

Holly (13:08):
Hearing clearly.

Gary (13:09):
hearing clearly.
Or they'd do weird things, screeching.
All different weird things, but anexperienced operator would know that, and
you could copy it, in Germany it was on anarmy base, and at one time it was a German
military facility, because even on thebase we had tunnels going from one room
to the other, or one building to another.

(13:31):
then a civilian bus would come andpick us up and take us to our camp.
Hideout, if you want to call it, inthe middle of the woods somewhere.

Stephanie (13:40):
Wow.

Gary (13:40):
none of the people on the base knew what we were.
We were weird to everybody else onthe base because we weren't even Army.

Stephanie (13:47):
And you probably couldn't talk about what you were doing.

Gary (13:49):
no.
there's pretty strict rules about that.

Stephanie (13:53):
did people back home know what you were doing?
No.

Gary (13:55):
they wondered about when I was going through school is we had to
have a top secret crypto clearance.
so the FBI was calling on differentpeople and federal agents.
Wherever I lived, whatever I did,they wanted to know about me.

Stephanie (14:10):
A

Gary (14:11):
lot of the guys didn't make it through school because they
couldn't pass the background check.

Stephanie (14:16):
You were a farm boy from Wisconsin.

Gary (14:19):
I went in for accounting and ended up copying code and interpreting.

Stephanie (14:24):
to be doing such an important, highly classified job.
I would hope then and now thatyou feel really proud of that.

Gary (14:32):
I felt like I did something for the country, The last part,
being sent to Turkey they apologized,but they said we need somebody
that knows what they're doing.
And it was a very small base,and it wasn't an Air Force base,
it was actually a NATO base.
We were protected by the Turkish Army.
we had just a little section and at onetime, we worked 24 hours a day, but for

(14:56):
the people that did what I did, therewas only two of us working at one time.
we were right on the Black Sea.
In a town called Samsunin the middle of Turkey.
Very, wasn't a real nice place to live.
For 15 months.

Stephanie (15:12):
it cold?
Was

Gary (15:13):
Winter, it was very cold.
The wind would come overthe Black Sea from Russia.
We were issued big winterparkas like they do in Alaska.

Stephanie (15:21):
That's how

Gary (15:22):
cold it got.

Stephanie (15:23):
And

Gary (15:23):
where we lived, the little metal barracks that we were in, we'd have
to take a truck to move up to thehill where the actual facility was.

Stephanie (15:32):
what would you eat?

Gary (15:34):
they had a chow hall.
We had just regular food.
They had a little NCO club.
it was run by, two German, cooks, and aTurkish cook, and he was like the manager.
Because they had Turkish employees.
See, this is in the non restrictive area.
Okay.
where we were, living, was complete.

Stephanie (15:55):
undercover,

Gary (15:55):
Yeah, it was a fenced in community, And this is where,
you spent most of the time.
We had a, It was a gymnasium That alsoserved, the gymnasium was actually just
a metal building that we had liftedweights and, did stuff like that It
also served as our theater We putup a screen and showed, just like on

(16:17):
MASH, you'd show pictures on a screen

Stephanie (16:20):
Like every Friday or something?

Gary (16:22):
that was periodically.
And it was so cold during the winterWe'd have to wear our big parkas And
we had a little speaker in the frontfor the noise, for the people talking,

Stephanie (16:31):
in the gymnasium?

Gary (16:32):
gymnasium.
We put a speaker up sowe could hear the movie.

Stephanie (16:35):
gosh.

Gary (16:36):
But the trouble is, when the furnace went, you couldn't hear the music.
So everybody would say, shut it off.
And we'd sit there with ourcoats, so we could hear the bit

Stephanie (16:45):
Oh, my gosh.

Gary (16:47):
So it was quite different.

Stephanie (16:48):
So that was not fun?
You did not enjoy that time?
But when you were in Germany, youdid get to do some excursions?
Some traveling throughout Europe?

Gary (16:57):
Oh yeah, quite a bit.
We worked 24 hours a day,so It was a six day shift.
so you'd work six days at oneshift, and then you'd have a
day off and do another six.
Then you'd do another six, and then thethird shift, you'd have six days off.

Stephanie (17:15):
So you could

Gary (17:15):
travel quite a bit around Europe, and at that time, I
also joined an archery team.
It wasn't actually an Air Force, but itwas more like a local base type thing.
The guys that did the jobs that Idid, we would go around shooting
competition around Europe.

Stephanie (17:31):
Amazing!
On our six days off.
That's so cool!

Gary (17:35):
One year we had, in Bad Tolls, Germany, a European
championship shoot, which was fun.
Wow!
They're just English, Italians, all over.
They were there for a three dayshoot, and we were able to go
and participate, and it was fun.

Stephanie (17:49):
How cool to be with that elite crowd of archery.

Gary (17:53):
Yeah, it was interesting.

Stephanie (17:55):
I know the story that you went skiing in Austria.

Gary (17:59):
Yes, I went to Innsbruck, went to the Alps and did skiing, I
didn't know how to ski, so I lastedone trip down the bunny hill, and
crashed at the bottom, then I wentand sat in the clubhouse and watched.
Beautiful, beautiful country.

Stephanie (18:13):
It's

Gary (18:13):
just beautiful.

Stephanie (18:14):
I can only imagine.

Gary (18:15):
Yeah.

Stephanie (18:16):
And you went to London, Paris?
Yes.

Gary (18:19):
London, mostly just in transport, that was another thing, is because of
our classification, we flew commercialairlines and we didn't wear uniforms.

Stephanie (18:28):
You were undercover.

Gary (18:30):
Yeah,
In fact, when I decided to get out of,in Turkey they wanted you to stay in
again, because now, by now, we were.
I'm pretty experienced, and the only placethat I could work near first was overseas.
if I did 25 years, I figured I'dhave at least three remote sites.
there was a remote in Alaska and thiswas considered a remote site in Turkey.

Stephanie (18:51):
Okay.

Gary (18:52):
I said, I don't want to go through this, three more times.
Plus you didn't have really a family life,

Stephanie (18:58):
no.

Gary (18:59):
You couldn't even, one of the fellows started dating a German girl.
He lost his classification.
He was sent out.
You couldn't have anyrelationship with the country.
because of our classification.

Stephanie (19:11):
Oh, okay.
They didn't

Gary (19:11):
know who, you know, who, who would

Stephanie (19:14):
be dating or

Gary (19:14):
anything, you know?
So it was, you were very, isolated.
from a lot of things.

Stephanie (19:19):
forced isolation.

Gary (19:21):
So in Turkey, when they found out that I said I can't take this
anymore and, blah, blah, blah.
And so then.
The, one of the officers come in andI was offered, I could have worked
for NSA doing the same type of work.
But then I wouldn't have the protectionof being in a military facility.
I'd be as a civilian.
I'd make a lot more money, butit would be a lot more dangerous.

Stephanie (19:42):
you chose not to take that position.
when you were done with Turkey,you went back to the United States?

Gary (19:47):
Yes.

Stephanie (19:48):
Okay.
And started your journeyto become an accountant?

Gary (19:53):
Yes.

Holly (19:55):
That started in Turkey, didn't it?

Gary (19:57):
when I was in Turkey, there was nothing to do.
Some of the guys, we had a littlebar, restaurant type thing, that's
where the German cooks came out, Someof the guys did a lot of drinking,
and I didn't want to do that, Theyneeded somebody to keep the books.
we did have a manager, and wewere under the European control
of the financial statements.

(20:17):
I knew the fellow that was doing theaccounting for them, and when he was
transferred out, I was offered a position.
So that's what I do.

Stephanie (20:27):
Wow, on the side.

Gary (20:28):
the side,

Stephanie (20:29):
but

Gary (20:29):
a lot of nights I'd be there working, but there was
nothing else to do anyway.

Stephanie (20:33):
It's

Gary (20:34):
better than the alternatives, like some of the guys did.

Stephanie (20:38):
And so you really had a love for numbers, a love for

Gary (20:42):
Oh yeah, I went into the Air Force for accounting.
in fact, I just about aced thetest and the recruiter said, oh
yeah, you'll be in accounting.
little did I know thatone was in basic training.
They give you these differenttests, and what I ended up in was,
what they call a critical field.
a lot of guys couldn't do it.
You had to be able totype 60 words a minute.

(21:02):
I would copy five characters a second.

Stephanie (21:06):
Wow.
And they were

Gary (21:07):
They weren't like A, N, D,

Stephanie (21:08):
Yeah.

Gary (21:09):
They were characters or numbers and you have to be able
to copy five of those a second
A lot of guys couldn't do it.
Plus they wouldn't pass the background,

Stephanie (21:18):
Yeah, the background checking.

Gary (21:20):
One of the fellows, that was a roommate, When they first
started out, it was very basic.
You don't get into anything, secretiveuntil you're actually on the job.

Stephanie (21:29):
We knew a basic

Gary (21:31):
thing, but not the details.
Well, he was from Brooklyn andhe used to tell me about the gang
fights and drive by shootings.
needless to say, he didn'tpass the application.

Stephanie (21:42):
And this was in the 1960s?

Gary (21:43):
62.

Stephanie (21:44):
Wow.

Gary (21:45):
probably, when I was there.

Stephanie (21:46):
In Brooklyn, it was rough even then, eh?
Yes.

Gary (21:49):
yes.

Stephanie (21:50):
Wow.

Gary (21:51):
But, so that's why it was considered a critical field.
one day we marched to, this building andsaid, we're going to give you guys a test.
Okay.
it happened to be Morse code.
I said, I don't want Morse code.
when they would play this tune,they'd go da, that's an A.
Da diddy did, that's a B.
I would wait, and thenI'd just put one down.
I didn't know, the way they were scoringit, is not how many answers were right.

(22:16):
So
most of my answers wereright, but not many.
I still say, you're notgoing to be in accounting.
This is a critical field.

Stephanie (22:25):
have no choice.
And that's how we ended up there.
They needed you.
Yeah.
So you must have some sort ofinborn or genetic or instinctive
gift with that, I would think thatMorse code is like numerical, right?
there has to be some sortof similarity between that.

Gary (22:42):
don't know.
I don't

Stephanie (22:43):
Now, you're also musical though, right?
you also play the guitar.
And when did you learn that?

Gary (22:50):
when I was in the service.
I think it was Germany.
One of my roommates was playing.
He was from the south.
And he'd be playing away.
And I said, Oh, that's pretty cool.
And he said, here, I'llshow you how to do it.
that type of thing.

Stephanie (23:00):
I really

Gary (23:01):
pretty much self taught.

Stephanie (23:02):
Okay, and you play the piano

Gary (23:04):
I took piano lessons.

Stephanie (23:06):
a little bit of piano lessons, learning the guitar in the service.
Do you also sing?

Gary (23:12):
I did, at church, for about, 20 some years, I led the Praise and Worship

Stephanie (23:17):
That's amazing.
are you musical at all?

Holly (23:22):
I like to sing.
I do like to sing.

Stephanie (23:24):
Did you grow up singing?

Holly (23:26):
Yes, I love being on a swing set and just singing
my heart out in the backyard.
Did you sing at church growing up?
I was in the church choir,when I was in grade school.
I went to a Catholic grade schoolfor eight years, 7th and 8th grade
I was in the choir, maybe even6th, I don't really remember.

Stephanie (23:45):
either of you, were there like music classes in high school?

Holly (23:50):
I had started playing the clarinet when I was in 6th grade.
And then when I got to high school, I justcontinued with the band instead of choir.

Stephanie (24:00):
it's funny, I played flute in middle school, and I also sang,
but I dropped the flute for highschool because I was like, I want to.
Do choir instead becauseit's hard to do both.

Holly (24:12):
I don't think they allow you to when I went, they didn't allow
you, you had to pick one or the other.
Really?

Stephanie (24:18):
Interesting.
So you played the clarinet all the way

Holly (24:21):
through high school, I went to, alto clarinet and, Played
for four years there and did themarching band It was a lot of fun.
We even did some Packer halftimes.

Stephanie (24:35):
did Amazing Now just from what I like we think about the movie
Greece a lot of people have seen thatI don't know What era, like what time
frame it was even supposed to be setin, but would you as a band person
been considered like a geek or a nerd?
Or was that like a thing?

Holly (24:56):
You know, you think about those stereotypes.
No, I don't think so.
Oh, you did cheerleading, too.
Yeah, I was a cheerleaderin high school, too.

Stephanie (25:04):
Was there a connotation that a cheerleader would have
been, the more popular girl or?
The pretty girls.

Holly (25:10):
I don't think so.

Stephanie (25:11):
I think you guys are just being very, humble.
And you're not saying, yes, I wasbeautiful and popular and I played
the clarinet, but I was also a

Holly (25:21):
cheerleader.
Yeah.
No, I guess I neverthought of myself That way.

Stephanie (25:26):
Holly, what did you do after high school?
Did you work?

Holly (25:30):
pursue any kind of schooling?
no schooling.
But I did work for anumber of years until.
Gary and I got married I workedfor a little while after we
were married and then I quit

Stephanie (25:45):
right this minute my kids are a junior and senior in high school
and I feel like we as parents are like,What are you going to do with your life?
when I was in high school it was mandatorythat people went to college, my parents
didn't help me financially at all.
maybe a teeny tiny bit thatfirst year, but I was one of
five, we didn't have money.
There was no college fund.

(26:06):
Tell me a little bit about what itwas like for you both in the time
that you were, like, graduating fromhigh school and the time that you
were thinking about the next decision.
my very first podcast guest, Bertha,who is going to be 99 here in about
six weeks, it wasn't even expectedthat they would, Go off into the world.
They finished high school, andthen they helped on the farm.

(26:28):
there was no anticipation that theywould leave, that they would, figure
out what they were going to quoteunquote do for the rest of their lives.
And I feel like fast forward now,there's a huge expectation that a child
will not only, figure out what theywant to do, but Go to college and or
find some sort of like vocational andor go into the service like I feel

(26:51):
like there's so much more pressureTell me if you guys can think back.
What was it like for you bothwhen you were in that phase?
So maybe like Berthapeople in your generation.
They weren't really forcedget out of the house or go to
college it was like whatever

Holly (27:10):
I think it was the main thing was to get a job.
doing something to get a job

Stephanie (27:16):
To be able to support yourself like to be I don't know Self
supportive and Gary your parents didn'treally push you to take the farm over

Gary (27:26):
No, not at all.
I never had a desire to continue, althoughin my high school years, my dad depended
on me because of my age or whatever.
I know a lot of the field work.
he'd ask me, do you think we needto cut that field or whatever?
And I'd just go out and do it.
And, I even, on one occasion.

(27:49):
In fact, a couple occasions he hadme go over to a neighbor because he
didn't have somebody to help him withdriving his tractor on the machinery

Stephanie (27:58):
all this

Gary (27:59):
But he never, pushed me to stay or anything like that.
Didn't expect you to goto college, I don't think.
I think he expected you to, Figured out.
and I knew I liked accounting,because even in high school, one of
the classes I was, situationally, isa word, It was a bookkeeping class.

Stephanie (28:18):
I

Gary (28:18):
loved the heck out of it.
getting the debits andthe credits to work out.
And that's why I went into the vocationalschool for that and aced the test there.
It just came real easy for me.
And that was an easy transition tothe Air Force because I was guaranteed
that's what I was going to do.

Stephanie (28:36):
Until you

Gary (28:37):
Until

Holly (28:38):
they needed you more in a different area.

Gary (28:40):
a more

Holly (28:41):
Yeah, until he aced the typing class.
But even

Gary (28:44):
when I was in Turkey, besides doing the accounting at the little
restaurant, like they called it, anNCO club and a remote facility, Even
then, I was taking correspondencecourses from the, it was out of Chicago.
It was a correspondence accounting course.
It's supposed to be equivalent toa master's degree by typing it out.

Stephanie (29:02):
Interesting.

Gary (29:03):
I'd fill out the work and the questions and mail it to them.
They'd grade it and send itback and the next lesson.
And I did that.
I went through, I think a, three or fouryear course, and I was able to finish it
in the 15 months that I was in Turkey.
It just came to me.

Stephanie (29:18):
That's so cool to hear.

Gary (29:20):
So that's why, when I got out, that's the field I went in.

Stephanie (29:23):
Because you already had all of that, really, education and experience.

Gary (29:28):
yes.

Stephanie (29:28):
that's an interesting thing too, to think about now how
there's so much online school andpeople can do this online but for
you to have a correspondence coursewhere you were physically mailed the
book and then you mailed it back.

Gary (29:42):
the lessons back, yeah.
There was no.
What do you call it?
Skype?
Zoom?
No Zoom,

Stephanie (29:48):
no
Skype.

Gary (29:49):
There was no internet back then.

Stephanie (29:51):
No, in fact, when I was in college, the World
Wide Web was just beginning.
And now my kids can jump on their phoneand, Google or Safari and find an answer
to any question, in a split second.
Yeah, exactly.
Did you get a lot of mailwhen you were overseas?

Gary (30:10):
No.
my mother would write once in a while.
we, every couple of months or whatever.
And I know I didn't write much either.
In fact, I had one of the officers,anyway, somebody came and complained.
Your parents want to knowif you're still alive?
. Stephanie: Oh my
Yeah.
It was very littlecorrespondence whatsoever.

Stephanie (30:30):
Holly, did you have any friends or family that were in the
service during the Vietnam era?

Gary (30:35):
wasn't Glenn?
Glenn

Holly (30:36):
was in the Navy.

Gary (30:37):
Is

Holly (30:38):
Glenn your brother?
My older brother.
but he, I don't thinkhe ever went overseas.
He didn't?
No.
I think he was mainly stationed onthe east coast of the United States.
Okay.

Stephanie (30:50):
It's interesting, my dad, I don't know if he was drafted or if
he, went to enlist, but he had horribleeczema, on his hands and feet, and he
didn't pass the physical because of that.
He used to talk about his mom, puttingwhatever salve, and wrapping his hands and
feet in cotton and, Yeah, just really bad.

(31:12):
That is horrible.
Eczema.
is there anything else that you wouldlike to tell our listeners, whether
young or old, about anything aboutlife, anything about your growing
up times, or lessons you've learned?

Holly (31:26):
I know that being married to this man has been
the best thing I've ever done.
Yeah, 47 years and I'd do it again.

Gary (31:36):
I think the most important thing that could happen to anybody
is their relationship with the Lord,that'll change the life completely.
and I think when that happened,that was the biggest thing
that ever happened in my life.
one of the reasons we went out, my thoughtwas, I'd like to lead her to the Lord.

(32:00):
She needs to know Jesus.

Stephanie (32:02):
Yeah,

Gary (32:03):
and she did accept the Lord very shortly after that.
to me, that's the most important thing.

Stephanie (32:08):
You

Gary (32:09):
these other things are not important at all.

Stephanie (32:12):
Yeah.

Gary (32:13):
Your relationship with the Lord means everything.

Stephanie (32:16):
Because everything else passes away, right?
Exactly.
Like dust.

Gary (32:19):
Exactly.

Stephanie (32:19):
All of our belongings, all of our things.
The granite countertops, the Swarovskicrystals, all of the things that
we enjoy, these pretty things.

Gary (32:32):
And

Stephanie (32:32):
that happened for me,

Gary (32:34):
that happened for me in 1972.

Stephanie (32:36):
Okay.

Gary (32:37):
When I accepted the Lord.

Stephanie (32:38):
So you were back home from being in the service.

Gary (32:40):
back home from being in the service.
I lived in Illinoisfor, maybe eight years.
due to domestic problems andsituations, I was back in Green Bay.
And, was confronted by an individualand said, I can tell you this, how
to solve some of those problems.
Come to church.
I went, heard a message, and Iaccepted the Lord right then.

Stephanie (33:00):
Wow.
In that very first,

Gary (33:02):
very first service.
And, was baptized, nottoo many months later.
And been following the Lord to thebest of my abilities ever since.

Stephanie (33:11):
And, I think a lot of people are curious when we talk about the
difference between knowing the Lordas your Savior versus being in church,
I'm a Catholic, I go to church, orI'm a Lutheran, I go to church, how
would you describe that experiencethat you had or that you went through?

Gary (33:27):
it's a personal relationship.
I was an altar boy until I graduatedfrom high school, raised as a catholic
my parents went every Sunday but younever had that personal relationship.
You knew there was a God, you knewthat Jesus, came to earth to save
our souls, from sins and died on thecross for us, and you knew that, but

(33:47):
it was never a personal relationship.
But when you, experience anactual relationship with the Lord.
Everything changes all of a sudden,things that were important to you aren't
anymore and things that weren't are,it's a personal relationship and that

(34:08):
you have that relationship with God
That's the only way once youexperience that, you don't
go back, your life changes.

Stephanie (34:17):
absolutely.

Gary (34:18):
that's the best I can explain it.

Stephanie (34:20):
Yeah, good job.
And how cool too that, you guysprobably at the very beginning of your
relationship like grew together, right?
if you were newly saved,

Holly (34:32):
Born again.
Yeah, I accepted the Lord at a Thursdaynight service that Gary brought me to.
December 9th, 1976.
we've been

Gary (34:45):
That was probably our second date, huh?
Pretty close, yeah.
And then when you left, what did you say?
I hope I don't have to go back.

Holly (34:53):
meeting Gary, and I knew the circumstances he was going through, and
he was always so happy, and we alwayshad such a great time, I thought, I
want what he has, He said it was becauseof his relationship with the Lord.
I thought, I want that relationship too.
So I accepted the Lord asmy personal Lord and Savior.

(35:14):
Best thing I ever did.
And then I married this guy.
There you go.
And three

Stephanie (35:20):
years to your 50th wedding anniversary.
Yes.
thank you both so much for takinga little moment and having this
conversation with me today.
I think our listeners arereally going to enjoy this.

Holly (35:33):
welcome.

Speaker (35:35):
Thank you so much for listening.
If you've enjoyed this podcast,would you please rate it,
review it, like or subscribe?
You can find me on social mediaat WautierWellness.com, Dr.
Stephanie Wautier on Instagram,or Wautier Wellness Chiropractic
and Massage on Facebook.

(35:56):
And I'm so curious where yournext conversation will take you.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Finding Faith, Family, and Life Lessons | Conversations with a Chiropractor