Post High School and Marriage to William Weger

After High School she worked in a ready-to-wear shop, called “LaRose”. Gretchen met a man named William Lee Weger at Lake Lawrence in Illinois. They met at a dance. They got married on September 10, 1950, when she was 21 years old, and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Bill was finishing up his degree at the University of New Mexico.

Their first child was a son, Frank Randolph Weger. The name “Frank” was chosen because of Gretchen’s dad, Joseph Frank LaMar. “Randolph” was just because she and Bill liked the name. He was born in the Methodist Hospital on July 22, 1951, in Terre Haute, Indiana, and weighed 7lb. 3oz. After she gave birth to Randy she had so much milk that they pumped her and fed the premies in the hospital. Gretchen recalls that Bill bought her a box of chocolate turtles when Randy was born.

After Bill got out of school, they moved to Peoria, Illinois; then Monroe, Louisiana, and then to Memphis, Tennesee. While in Memphis, a daughter would join their family. Debra Sue Weger was born on September 25, 1954. Debra was born at the Methodist Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and weighed 8lb. 3oz. The name was chosen because she and Bill liked the name.

After Debbie was born, we moved to Fastus, Missouri. On May 20, 1956, Bill Weger was killed in a flash fire, from lightening. After his death, I returned to Lawrenceville, Illinois with Debbie and Randy. Gretchen would have to say that this tragedy was the most trying event of her life. Not only the loss of her husband at such a young age, but how he died as well.