Career Move

My brother-in-law, LJ Cook has been a part of the Schulenberg family just six months longer than I have, although he was dating my sister-in-law for a while before that. Nevertheless, we share some of the same early memories of the family. We double dated, his future wife, Debbie Cook and my future husband, Bob Schulenberg were brother and sister, and they were just 16 months apart in age. Those were fun times.

LJ served as an MP in the Army from 1968 to 1971 during the Vietnam Era. For a long time, that was all I knew about his service. I used to think of MPs as mainly dealing with disobedient military personnel, like in the movie “Stripes” or the show “MASH,” but movies don’t always tell the whole story. LJ completed basic training at Fort Ord in the Monterey Bay area of California. After that, he went to MP school at Fort Gordon, southwest of Atlanta, Georgia. Once his training was complete, LJ flew to Frankfurt, Germany, and then on to Mannheim, where he spent the rest of his service as an MP at the Mannheim Prison. I suppose that time was part of what qualified him as a candidate for law enforcement work.

So, he went on to become a Deputy Sheriff in Natrona County, which may have been where he met Debbie. I’m not sure on that really. Of course, Debbie was never in trouble with the law, so it wouldn’t have been a meeting involving his profession. LJ did love to “use” his profession the “pick on” his future brother-in-law…my husband, Bob. One of his favorite things to do was to pull Bob over on CY Avenue, in Casper, which was the main strip for the high school crown in the 70s. Bob wasn’t in trouble either, but LJ took great pleasure in pulling him over, complete with flashing lights. It was all in good fun, and Bob wasn’t offended. In fact, it rather cemented their relationship as brothers-in-law and a lifelong friendship. They were both jokesters and so had a good time. LJ and Debbie moved to Powell, Wyoming years ago, so we don’t see them as much, but we love them very much. Today is LJ’s 76th birthday. Happy birthday LJ!! Have a great day!! We love you!!