I loved having five children, and I have enjoyed seeing each one so much. I loved taking them for their walks afternoons, exercising, dancing, playing games, reading, projects and all of our fun times on vacations. I remember so many good times and hope they do too. I remember one summer vacation when we were in the water somewhere and Judy and Anne said, “We’re going to call you Jane because we are having such fun with you.” One winter we fixed a skating rink in the backyard. It was such fun Warren and the neighbors made a large one in the vacant lot next door and some of us made hot chocolate in the church when they were cold. It just happened to be a mild winter so it didn’t last long.

Warren was such a good daddy. We attended every parade or community activity and often took neighbor children along with us. We always got to know our neighbors and became good friends. I remember the Meisers in Western Springs. I always held Sue up in the window mornings so Mrs. Meiser could wave to her. Mr. Meiser was such an interesting man, the children loved him. Whenever we left on a trip they were always up and in the window to wave goodbye. When we left Oklahoma City our neighbors took us out for dinner and presented us with a plaque that read “Good bye Grahams and thank you for being such good neighbors.” In Pittsburgh our neighbors loved the egg tree we put up at Easter and in St. Louis the neighbors fell in love with our dog, Duffy. Art Harding and Warren became such good friends and when Warren wasn’t feeling well several neighbors mowed our lawn.

As I look back, I suppose Warren missed some things that other fathers did with their children. He was busy with meetings most evenings. In Western Springs he was creating a church, a congregation and he worked at it long hours. He wasn’t particularly comfortable with newborns but he knew I was. He wasn’t often around for bath time, stories and tuck-ins with prayers but I was and yet he was always there for any important event and I always felt the children admired him for his loyalty to all of us: family and church family. They knew when he promised to be somewhere with them they could count on him.