By Ralph and Elaine Hakkila

In the late 1940’s Ralph Hakkila was born in Hawthorne, NV. He joined his brother, Don, twins: Carl and Carol, and Pennie. His dad was in construction so they moved on to Reno, then Carmel, CA. To Monterey, CA, to Belmont, CA, to Las Gatos then to San Jose, CA where he graduated. He did 2 tours in Vietnam with the Navy. Ralph moved to La Pine in 1973. Worked for Russell Industries many years, then onto Beaver Motor Coaches. In 1998, we started our own business, E & R RV Specialist, Inc.On the other hand, I was born in Watertown, So. Dak. In the early 50’s. I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. I grew up on a farm,moved into Watertown, then Aberdeen ,So. Dak. I moved out to Bend in 1976. Worked as a seamstress for Western Trails then onto Beaver Motor Coaches in 1981. You guessed it, that is where Ralph and I met.Ralph’s profession includes many jobs. He is a furniture builder, upholsterer, cook, corvette driver, cleaner, and my personnel pool boy !!! All I do is eat and sew, take care of our three cats: Calley, Fluff and Misty; mow the lawn and help run the business.We joined the HDC 8 years ago. We have held the Presidents job, and Secretary’s job- several times.
Ralph has always dreamed of a corvette, but wasn't’t realistic until we bought a 1971 all original bumper car from Mike Alvereze. At that point, life was treating us well, so we bought a 1988 White Roadster. That was supposed to be MY car. After a few years, we sold the “71”.Then Sunday, Sept. 1999 we got a phone call from John Harken. He said there was a Millennium yellow corvette at the Big Boys Toy Show in Redmond. Ralph couldn't get out of the house fast enough to look. Dave Hamilton had one for sale. This has been Ralph’s dream color and had to be a certain yellow too.So this meant my car had to go.He finally got his muscle car, color and speed all in one. Better enjoy it, it will be the last car for a long time.

Final comment: We have really enjoyed the club and meeting so many good people. We can really make this club happen if we all stick together and share ideas. Thank you to all who have made this possible and especially to Mike and Kemi for starting the club. It makes you proud to do the “wave”.