Harold would not likely ever write about himself, but I would! 

Actually he’s not much of a reader or a writer, but he is good at math. He can add up numbers in his head faster than I can find a calculator. I’m just the opposite; so goes the saying, opposites attract.

Fun fact: Harold lived the first part of his life as “Bernard,” which is actually his middle name, and that’s what his family and oldest friends still call him.

Growing up in Madison, Indiana in the late 1940s, 50s, and 60s, he was the third child born to his parents, James and Mildred. His sister, Marilyn (1943–2024) was five years older, and his brother, Kenny, is two years older. Kenny’s name is actually James Kenneth, but, like his brother, he went by his middle name when he was young.

One of Harold’s favorite childhood memories was going to the Friday night sprint and stock car races in nearby Kentucky. They went fairly often since it was just a short car ride over the Ohio River on the Milton–Madison Bridge. It was there he began his lifelong love of car racing.

His favorite vacation memories were from Indiana Beach. They, and several relatives from his mom’s side of the family, would rent a large house on Lake Shafer where they enjoyed fishing off the docks, riding the rides at the boardwalk, and swimming at the beach. They liked it so much that they returned to Indiana Beach several years in a row.

He played basketball on school teams and also intramural basketball in grade school up through high school, either as a forward or a center.  He was tall so that worked out in his favor.

As a teenager he helped his uncles put up hay and tobacco, which was common work in rural southern Indiana. The tobacco work required several different steps: cutting and hanging, waiting for it to dry out, stripping it, and tying it into bundles.

It was in his junior high school years that Harold first came to faith in Jesus Christ. He was baptized soon after at North Madison Baptist Church.

In his junior and senior years of high school, he worked as a lot boy at Bennett Motors.  Working at this car dealership was the beginning of what would later become one of his two main occupations in his life.

After graduating from Madison Consolidated High School in 1966, he married his high school girlfriend, Linda, in 1967. Their first child, Kimberly Ann, was born in 1967, and their second child, Kevin Harold, was born in 1970. Linda filed for divorce in 1975, they separated, and then reconciled. They separated again in 1976. She filed for divorce again in 1977. It was finalized in early 1978.  

During their 10-year marriage, he worked installing terrazzo flooring and he also opened his own floor covering business. While installing terrazzo flooring, he traveled to various job locations, including a large job in Winsted, Connecticut, where he stayed for several months. He also learned how to do install tile while working with terrazzo flooring. After approximately four years of working for someone else, he opened his own carpet and tile installation company, Crandell Floor Covering, on West 16th Street in Indianapolis.  

Harold and I met in late September of 1976 while I was working at the Rodeway Inn near Weir Cook. He was friends with the hotel manager and had been staying at the hotel because of his separation. The manager introduced us one night while they were in the Library Lounge talking about a carpeting job for the hotel. We just so happened to see each other again later that night in the hallway outside the Library Lounge as I was getting off my shift. He asked me if I was hungry and if I’d like to go next door to Denny’s for breakfast. Actually, he likes to tell the story that I was the one who asked him to go to breakfast. I’m pretty sure it was the other way around, but he’s told that story for so many years that he’s almost got me convinced that I asked him!

I was attracted to his heart, his humor, and his good looks. Long story short, we fell in love.  We married three and a half years later on my mom and dad’s 41st wedding anniversary: March 15, 1980. We traveled to London, Paris, and Rome for our honeymoon.

At this time in our lives, Harold was working at a car dealership in Indianapolis, and I worked for Sky Harbor at Eagle Creek Airpark. We first lived on the west side in an apartment (Westlake) and then in a duplex on the Southside that my mom owned on Harding Street. It was here that God blessed us with our first two daughters, Michelle Nicole in 1981 and Megan Renee in 1986.

Although Harold had closed Crandell Floor Covering in 1977, he still had an interest in flooring. So, in the mid-1980s we started up a small business of manufacturing carpet tack strips, aka tackless strips. We also sold floor installation supplies. It was a short-lived business though due to low profit margins, so we sold the equipment and Harold then went back to work at a local car dealership. I worked at Sky Harbor Aviation and at American Trans Air during this time.

Kim and Kevin were very much a part of our lives back in the 1980s. They came to our home on a regular basis and they both came to live with us for extended periods of time and at various times. We were a family of six and continued being a part of each other’s lives for several years after we moved away from Indianapolis. Sadly, our relationship deteriorated over the past few years to the point of estrangement: first Kim, and then Kevin a few years later.

Our first big move was in 1988 from Indianapolis to Brandon, Florida. I wrote about this in my story titled, “The Land That I Will Show You.”  Harold worked at a local car dealership in Brandon, and it was here I began working at Delta Air Lines in their Tampa office in 1989.

In 1990 we moved to Torrance, California, where I worked for Delta Air Lines in their Los Angeles office and Harold worked at a car dealership in Torrance. I wrote about this move in my story titled, “The West Coast.”

In 1991, we moved to Orange Park, Florida, where I worked for Delta Air Lines in their Jacksonville office, and Harold worked at a car dealership in Orange Park. I wrote about this move in my story titled “Johnny Walker.”

In 1993, we moved to Lewisville, Texas, where I worked for Delta Air Lines in their Dallas office, and Harold worked for a car dealership in Lewisville. I wrote about this move in my story titled “Green Acres.”  It was here that God both blessed and surprised us with our third daughter, Mackenzie Anne, in 1996.

We still call Texas home today. We moved from Lewisville to Krum to Denton within a 10-year period, and have been in our Denton home since August 2004. Our favorite family memories here include vacations, holidays, birthday celebrations and being an active part of our children and grandchildren’s everyday lives.

In 2003 Harold opened his own car sales lot and then a couple of years later he transitioned it into RV sales. I helped him in the RV business while still working for Delta Air Lines,  and also after I retired from Delta in 2009.  Each of our daughters, and Kevin, helped and/or worked for Harold in one way or another and at different times as well.

Megan first helped Harold open the Lewisville car lot and worked with him in the car sales business for around two years.  She also helped him transition to RV sales in Denton. Michelle helped transport RVs and even helped sell a couple of them. Mackenzie, who, as a child, said she would never work in the RV business, ended up being very knowledgeable about RVs and the RV business in general. She worked for us the longest, sold more RVs than anyone else, confidently ran the business while Harold and I were out of town, and stayed with us until the day we decided to close the shop.

After a long and successful career in both the car and RV sales businesses, Harold retired at the age of 75 in December of 2023. These days we’re enjoying retirement and are looking forward to whatever God has in store for us. We’re thankful for the gift of faith, the gift of family, and the gift of His providence and guidance in our lives throughout our years together. We celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary on March 15, 2025, with a wonderful 14-day cruise to Hawaii. We’re still in love, and I’m still attracted to his heart, his humor, and his good looks.

It is by God’s amazing grace and work in our lives, “A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12