Having just celebrated the centennial of World War I, the past is on our minds. From the time that Rochelle Balkam, your instructor, was a child, she listened to stories about ancestors who had gone to war. These heroes included William Renwick, her great-great-uncle, the recipient of the Kearney Cross for bravery in the Civil War and Howard Renwick, her grandfather, who joined the Coast Guard one week after he married her grandmother, in 1918. Rochelle’s father, Jack Renwick, served in WW II, receiving a disability discharge.
Her mother left the family farm in mid-Michigan to join other “Rosies” at Willow Run where she met Rochelle’s step-father, Vince Balkam. He was stationed in Guam during the war and served in both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force for 25 years, including the period of the Korean War and the war in Vietnam. He spent 18 years as a special agent with the OSI, assigned to undercover work in Turkey for two of those years. His final station was at the Pentagon.
This heritage has played a role in Rochelle’s journey to become a historian. This Study Group is for those 50 and over and will meet Monday, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., June 3rd.