newspaper, selling cookies to all the little stores from Santa Cruz to Boulder Creek. They moved to San
Francisco and by now had two daughters and had borne and lost a son; during the war they both worked in
their gas station; as a family they enjoyed outdoor activities including camping, fishing, hunting and
skiing; divorced; James died in 1989; Valerie says that her mother is a great cook and has a deft style of
fluting pie crusts like an artist , a talent she has passed down to her grandchildren. She is a seamstress
of great ability and does lovely embroidery. She continues to do alterations for pocket money; Erma's
address 5555 ######### ##, #55, #### ####, ## 55555; children, (
1) Valerie Marie, (
2) James Wendell, Jr.,
(
3) Donna May.
8.4.1.5.1. Valerie Marie (Val) Ellingson, born 18 May 1932 in Santa Cruz, CA; attended Mission High School in
San Francisco, which has a student body of great cultural and racial diversity, where she became
interested in art, sports and drama. She remembers the days of World War 11: the air raid alerts, lights
out, sitting on the floor right in front of the big Zenith radio listening to Dinah Shore singing, the
street lights painted black facing the sea. Val attended the University of California at Berkeley where
she had a blind date with a fellow student Dexter (Dex) Ahlgren and instantly fell in love, they were
married 2 Feb 1952; Dex had been in the army for 15 months just before the armistice was declared in
1945 and was back in school as a junior Civil Engineering major; after their marriage they lived over a
bakery in a one-room upstairs apartment (plus a tiny kitchen) furnished with hand-medowns from their
families. During part of their college years, Dex worked at the prosthetics devices lab on campus and
Val worked as playground director. After graduation, Dex worked as an engineer at Pacific Gas and
Electric in San Francisco, then was hired as assistant engineer for Contra Costa County. In 1957, he
was hired as City Engineer of Los Altos on the San Francisco Peninsula; Val completed her B.A. degree
at San Jose State and her Master's Degree in Rhetoric from Berkeley in 1968 and taught for two years;
she resigned to devote more time to family, gardening, art and the boating outings the family enjoyed so
much; meanwhile, she and Dex built their own home on their mountain property using lumber they made
themselves from redwood trees purchased from a neighbor ; they became interested in wine making and Dex
quit his job and the two now have their own winery, Ahlgren Vineyard, in the Santa Cruz Mountains of
California; address 55555 ### 5, ### #, ####### #####, ## 55555, (555) 555-5555; children (
1) Kim,
(
2) Dennelle, (
3) Beth.
8.4.1.5.1.1. Kim Ahlgren, born 3 Nov 1952 in Berkeley, CA; spent a year attending school in in Schleswig,
Germany where she met Hans Groth; she returned home and worked a year to earn money to return to
Germany and ultimately married Hans on 2 Apr 1972 and lived in Germany six years. They had a
daughter,
Mette Groth born 28 Feb 1977 and soon after Kim returned to California because Kim wanted
to raise her child in a freer society than she experienced at that time in northern Germany; Kim and
Mette lived with her parents for a year and a half and Kim worked in a bakery and then in a bank in
Boulder Creek until she married secondly David Okrant, whom she met at Ahlgren Vineyard vintage
during the fall before; David was a carpenter and, after their marriage, he and Kim began designing
and creating artistic boxes which make to sell. Kim is an accomplished needleworker, a skill she
developed in Germany, and is a dedicated gardener; the entire family is musical. David has legally
adopted Mette; children, (
1) Mette Groth, (
2) Ryan.
8.4.1.5.1.1.1. Mette Groth Okrant, born 28 Feb 1977 in Reudsberg Germany; returned to the United States with her
mother; she enjoys opera, plays on her school's varsity soccer team and, like her brother, is a fine
swimmer; she works part time at Eric's Deli, considered the premier local sandwich shop in the area.
8.4.1.5.1.1.2. Ryan Okrant, born 3 Oct 1980, he is a good student and athlete, loves baseball and soccer; he likes
to cook and is a good carpenter with a creative approach; like his mother and sister, he follows the
Corrie family tradition of loving animals--he has a 50 gallon aquarium in his room that is home to
two large red-eared turtles and some fish, and is a collector of many things. He works summers as an
"attendant" at a neighbor's swimming pool. He and his sister both work in their grandparent's winery
operation.
8.4.1.5.1.2. Dennelle (Denver) Ahlgren, born 12 Nov 1954; was the assistant wine maker in the family business for
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