June 19, 2003

Dear Caleb and Bonnie,

Thank you for coming with your parents to my 95th birthday party. Hopefully you can come again soon.

How much longer do I expect to live, you may ask? When I was born and while growing up, the possibilities of becoming the oldest living member of our family tree did not occur to me.

I was born in a farmhouse built by your Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Walter VanMeer. While the dwelling provided shelter, it had no electricity, neither hot nor cold running water, and no indoor bathroom facilities.

Our family used an outhouse, located near the back door for easy access during hot or freezing days. We took a bath in one of your Great-Great-Great-Grandmother Bertha's wash tubs. The water was carried from an outdoor well and heated on a cast-iron, wood-burning range. After a bath, the water had to be carried out and dumped over the back porch railing.

The year before my birth, an experimental plane was flown over windswept Kitty Hawk sand dunes by Orville and Wilbur Wright, who were bicycle repairmen. This led to the development of airplanes, weighing tons, carrying freight and passengers across oceans to other continents at the speed of sound.

Years later, computer-controlled spacecraft carried astronauts to explore the moon and return safely to Earth.

Only a few decades before you two were born, inventions made possible radio, television, computers, a worldwide telephone system, as well as the Internet.

People, today, live much longer than they did at the turn of the last century. You both could live to see the 22nd century. Along with your children, grandchildren, great-children, and great-great-grandchildren you will experience marvels we now know nothing about.

With love, from your Great-Great-Grandfather who wishes you a long and happy life,

Leo VanMeer

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