Jack and Char
How They Met
Jack and Char met in the summer of 1960. Char was pursuing a nursing degree at the College of St. Catherine and Jack a degree in mathematics at the College of St. Thomas. Both colleges were in St. Paul. Jack had been president of a Catholic discussion group called Contact. Jack's sister Gloria brought Char to a meeting that was held at Mike Sexton's home on West Bernard St. not far from the Vitelli homestead at 120 W. Bernard. The Contract group was planning a Sunday trip to Taylor's Falls. Char was interested in joining the group and making the trip to Taylor's Fall.
Sunday arrived and the group met in front of 120 W. Bernard. Jack sported a nice little car called the BMW Isetta. He bought it from the Signal Hills barber where he got hair cut. It was red and looked exactly like the car shown here. Jack asked if anyone wanted to ride with him in this little car and Char said "Sure, I will ride."
They motored almost to Taylor's Falls and it started to rain. On the hill down to the town of Taylor's Falls, the point broke on the one cylinder engine and put an end to the ride. You see, with only one cylinder, if you lose the spark, the engine dies. The Isetta got 90 miles per gallon and had a 3 gallon gas tank.
Notice that the Isetta has a sun roof. The rain was a real downpour and the sun roof began to leak on Char's hair. Jack was embarrassed to see this beautiful girl getting soaked in the front seat of this BMW. He thumbed a ride. Someone stopped and a few of the other Contact group members helped push the car down the hill the entrance to the Taylor's Falls State Park. Jack asked the park attendant if he could park the car at the edge of the park for the day. He was told "OK, if you buy a park sticker." Jack did.
Char and Jack got a ride to St. Michael's Church in Taylor's Falls where Father Francis Dudley said the mass. Fr. Dudley was a former assistant pastor at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in W. St. Paul and a good friend of Jack. We all had a great day once the rain stopped. When it was time to return home, Jack had bought a ski tow rope so that Verne Ricci could tow the Isetta behind his car. The rope was tied to the right bumper shown in the photo. Jack asked Char if she would like to ride home with him. Char's response was "No way!!" But that was the beginning of a long lasting romance and marriage.
College Days
Jack soon upgraded his car to an NSU Prinz. The NSU Prinz was an automobile produced in Germany by the NSU Motorenwerke AG. Jack bought it from Tom Iago who just returned from a military tour of duty in Germany and brought the Prinz home with him. This vehicle now had two cylinders and double the power. Jack's Prinz was all black and looked much sharper than the red and white one shown in the photo. Jack, Char and Mike Sexton commuted to St. Thomas and St. Catherine's Colleges until they were clobbered by an old couple leaving mass at the church next to Cretin-Derham High School on Randolph. The Prinz was totaled and delivered by two truck to 120 W. Bernard. Char received a large bruise on her chin but Mike and Jack survived with no injuries. When the police arrived they asked "Where are the occupants of this wreck?" They wanted to take Char to the hospital but she said she would be OK. It was Jack's senior year and he moved up to a new blue Ford Fairlane.
The Wedding
Jack and Char were married on June 20, 1964 at St. Matthew's Catholic Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.
East Lansing, Michigan
After their honeymoon in Duluth, Jack and Char took up their first residence and East Lansing Michigan. Jack had completed three quarters of schooling at Michigan State University pursuing it a Master of Arts degree in mathematics. Their first apartment was selected by jack and was very handy object was very proud to show it to his new bride. There was one problem however. Char hated it. 
Within two months, they moved to the upper level of a duplex on Michigan Avenue in Lansing Michigan.
Char began working at Sparrow General Hospital on Michigan Avenue in Lansing Michigan. She worked in the obstetrics and gynecology ward. They had many visitors when they lived in Lansing Michigan. These visitors included Char’s family, Gloria and Roger O’Neill, and longtime friends Jan and Mike Faust.
Los Angeles, California
Jack graduated with his degree in mathematics in December 1964 and at the same time received orders from the United States Air Force to report for duty at the Los Angeles Air Force Station, Los Angeles California. They spent Christmas with friends and family in St. Paul Minnesota and then ventured across country to Los Angeles. Jack’s grandfather, Andrew Hein, accompanied them and Jack and Char dropped Andrew off at his daughter’s home in Merced California. 
Los Angeles was very impressive to the newlyweds. They had never visited such a large and expansive city. Jack reported for duty and they found in an apartment at 421 Indiana Street in El Segundo California. The apartment was only a short drive from the Los Angeles
Air Force Station.
Jack assumed his new duties as a project officer in the unmanned space shuttle advanced development program. Char’s immediately began working at Daniel Freeman hospital in Englewood California. She worked in the labor and delivery ward at Daniel Freeman.
Tim, their first child, was born in June 1965. Char continued work after the birth. Living in California seemed to draw many visitors. Char’s family visited, Jack’s a family visited, and Jack’s grandmother Carmen came out with a friend by train and these visitors were always welcomed with open arms. Jack created a special visitors tour of the Los Angeles area which included the homes of many stars and Beverly Hills and Hollywood.
Vicki, there second child, was born in July 1966. Both Tim and Vicki were born at Daniel Freeman Hospital in Inglewood 
California. After Vicki’s birth Char decided to become a full time mom. Jack and Char also decided that they needed something bigger than their apartment in El Segundo. They found a three bedroom house to rent in Hawthorne California. The address was a 5047 West 142nd Place. The home was very near to the San Diego freeway exit for Rosencranz Avenue. It was still very close to Jack’s office. In fact, it was closer than their apartment had been.
Jack and Char became very good friends with the landlord Ed Jenkins. In fact, they became such good friends that Jack and Char were the godparents of Ed and Sue’s 8th child. Ed Jenkins also helped Jack get into the part time house painting business which was very lucrative during their last 18 months in California.
United States Air Force Academy, Colorado
In November 1966, Jack was reassigned to the Mathematics Dept of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. A big Red Ball moving truck pulled up and took all of their belongings from their home in Hawthorne to their new officers’ quarters in Pine Valley at the academy. It was a very nice for bedroom house on one level. The address was Quarters 6604J in Pine Valley, USAF Academy.
Mark, their third child, was born in March 1967 at the USAF Academy Hospital. The hospital is located at 7500 feet in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. It’s a long story but basically Mark was almost born in the Volkswagen on the way up the mountain to the hospital.
Jack and Char both enjoyed living in Colorado. They would drive to Denver quite often for pixie pinup photos at the Penny’s department store on the south end of Denver. One negative of living in the mountains of Colorado is that the air is very dry and it is easy to get throat ailments. Life was good in the scenery it was unbelievable. Jack enjoyed teaching mathematics to such brilliant young men. He was always amazed at how much these young cadets could get done in a day.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jack resigned from the Air Force at the end of the 1968-1969 school year and the family moved to a new home in Minneapolis. 
Char continued to be a full time mom while Jack went to work for Pillsbury in downtown Minneapolis. Their new home was located at 5047 Bloomington Avenue South in Minneapolis. It was very near Lake Nokomis.
Jack worked in the corporate operations research department at Pillsbury but he didn't’t like the leadership and decided to look for another job. In retrospect, he had been assigned to such an outstanding team of officers in Los Angeles and at the Air Force Academy that nothing ever measured up to these Air Force organizations. Jack secured a job with Honeywell as an education consultant in their Information Systems Division. This new assignment also provided a substantial increase in pay.
West St. Paul, Minnesota
Lori, their fourth child, was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul in July 1970. About this time Jack and Char felt that they needed an even larger home and they decided to build a new home in West St. Paul Minnesota were both of them had grown up. The new home was built at 1750 Vivian Lane in West St. Paul. The home was built by Tony Craft an excellent contractor of German heritage. Tony actually lived near the house on Vivian Lane. Char and Jack took occupancy of the new home in August 1971. Jack obtained his real estate license and actually sold their home on Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis. Their new home in West St. Paul was a two story colonial type of dwelling with four bedrooms and two baths in the upper level.
Joseph, their fifth child arrived in May 1973. He was also born at St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul. Char was a very busy mom making many trips to the YMCA for swimming lessons and other activities as well as many activities at St. Joseph’s grade school. All of the children attended St. Joseph’s grade school. With all these children, Char also did a lot of sewing of clothing for the children and saved a lot of money and yet the children always looked like they were dressed to the nines.
Amy, their sixth child, was born in August 1975 again at St. Joseph’s hospital. The house on Vivian Lane began to become a bit crowded so plans were made for an addition. Three bedrooms and a bath were added to the upper level over the garage and family room of the original structure. Jack assembled a team to remove the roof over the garage and family room and rough in the new addition over a single weekend. All the remaining work was done by Jack with the help of Tim, Vicki, Mark and other members of the Vitelli and Stefaniak families. The addition was started in October 1975 in completed in December 1976.
During the next 10 years, the children continued at St. Joseph’s grade school while the boys later entered St. Thomas Academy and the girls Brady high school.
Frankfurt, Germany
In mid 1986, things are about to change four of the Vitelli family. Jack is doing quite well at Honeywell and had become the director of marketing for the Commercial Division. He was doing so well that he was asked to bring some of his ideas to Europe. Trips to Europe began in 1980 with most of them being to Frankfurt Germany were Honeywell had a major manufacturing facility. In mid 1986, Jack was offered an assignment as general manager of the home and building control business for Honeywell Europe. This was a difficult decision for Char but she gave the OK and began to make plans for a living in Germany.
It was decided that Tim, Vicki and Mark would continue to live in West St. Paul while Lori, Joe and Amy would move with Jack and Char to Frankfurt Germany. Tim lived in an apartment in the upper level of John and Leona’s home and at 120 West Bernard in West St. Paul. Vicki and Mark lived in a rented apartment at the corner of Charlton and highway 110. The home on Vivian Lane in W. St. Paul was sold. 
The family set up a new residence in Mammolsheim (part of Königstein) Germany and the three younger children began school in January 1987 at the Frankfurt International School in Oberursel (near Bad Hamburg) Germany. Jack’s Honeywell office was located in Maintal (near Hannau) Germany.
While Jack enjoyed working with Honeywell’s 14 affiliates in Europe Char did not enjoy the new life nearly as much. Jack is able to spend most of his day speaking English while Char had to survive on the German economy and in the German language. Char was a good soldier however and the family lived in Germany together from January 1987 until June 1989. Jack was there from October 1986 until January 1990. Honeywell treated us very well and provided frequent trips for the family to and from the United States.
An additional benefit of this “tour of duty” was the opportunity to be exposed to many nationalities of the world and to understand people of the world. We traveled to Moscow, Leningrad, Latvia, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, Scotland, Ireland, England, France, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Spain, and Japan. It seems that we toured every inch of Germany including East Germany and East Berlin.
Mendota Heights, Minnesota
On their return from Germany in the summer of 1989, Char, Jack, Joe and Amy spent the week touring Ireland. They then continued to Washington, DC where they met Lori. After receiving our household goods shipment in a large overseas container, they moved into a newly constructed home on Park Place Drive in the Mendota Heights Minnesota. The house was very spacious and they lived there for six years.
After six years, the house began to empty and Char and Jack sought a new home that was smaller. They found just what they were looking for at 1334 Sylvandale Road in the Ivy Falls section of Mendota Heights. They moved into that home in the 1998 and continue to live at that residence.
Finlayson, Minnesota
Char and Jack had always wanted to purchase a lake home and in 1999 they began a serious search for a lake home within 100 miles of the Twin Cities metro area. They were successful in finding a modest cabin on Pine Lake near Finlayson Minnesota. They weren't’t sure how much of the family would use this lake place so they made sure it was a modest purchase and one that could be sold quickly if it wasn’t used. However, the Pine Lake “cabin” was a real hit.
More of the story is told at this web site under Pinehill but basically Char and Jack upgraded their cabin by purchasing a new home on the same Pine Lake about ½ mile north on the same side of the lake. This was a much larger home and provided a lot of land, lake frontage, garage space, living space, and a pole barn for storage of boats and other water equipment during the winter.
