Hello Charlie, Roger and all ol' chums,

Well, the holiday season has finally wound down and I have run out of excuses to put this off, so....... here goes;

     As some of you may recall, I started working in the grocery store in the eighth grade, well, I’m still at it.  I had a wonderful relationship working with my father all those years, and regret to say he passed away in 1976. My brother Mike and I were then partners and we expanded to a second store in Arma in 1984. Mike ran that store and I stayed in the store at Summit and St. John. In '87 I bought him out of the Girard store and Mary (Radil) and I ran that it until '92 when we had the opportunity to buy our competitor and move to a much larger facility (by Girard standards)  where we are today, which is on West St. John .                                       

     Our two daughters, Jennifer and Sarah worked in the store all through high school (which seems to be a Crocker tradition), and then attended PSU, graduating the same day in May of '92, Jennifer with a degree in communications and adverting and Sarah in commercial graphics. They both now have rewarding careers in business in Kansas City, and have been complemented often on their good work ethic. Makes a father and mother proud.  Mary is now semi-retired from the business but maintains an office at home and keeps the books. I would hate to run the the store without her. At peak times, we have as many as 30 employees and it takes us both.

     Youngest daughter Sarah is married to a great guy and we now have an extraordinary granddaughter, Lillian Ann, who will be two in July. If I had known grandchildren were going to be this much fun, we would have had more kids.  Oldest daughter Jennifer is with H and R Block and enjoys hiking and camping in National parks with a close group of friends, and of course, just being "Aunt Jen".  We see them all often and my SUV seems to know the way to K.C. on it's own.    

     Please, don't make the assumption that I am a work-a-holic that has no hobbies. If anything, the opposite is the case.    I am very fortunate that Mary shares my love of the outdoors, and we spend a little too much time on trout streams in Missouri , pheasant fields in South Dakota , tree stands here  at home  and boating on Grand Lake.  We also shoot sporting clays and trap.   So many games, so little time.  I have been privileged to hunt and fish in Alaska, Canada, Wyoming and Colorado.  Last year, I fulfilled a long time dream and fly fished for bone fish in the Bahamas.  We had a ball!! 

Enough drivel. See you in June                                 

Denny