Well thankfully someone from Dad's (Gene Kerr's) side of the family is keeping us up to date on the family happenings.  We can't wait to see Aunt Kathy and crew at Reunion 2005.  In the meantime, here's some photos starting with our favorite one.

Fall 2000

Aunt Kathy

This was taken at our family gathering in Nebraska in August 1999.  That's Aunt Virginia Horner on the left, Aunt Pat Thiele in the center, and me Aunt Kathy Scholl on the right.  Several people took pictures like this but we had a terrible time -- the background was sunny but we were in a more shaded area and all the pictures came back really dark.  Carolyn has a photo printing place that was able to lighten the picture a lot, so if the color looks a little funny that's why.   Hope you enjoy this! 

Love, Aunt Kathy

Love, Aunt Kathy

.  When asked how old he was, George Horner stuck up four fingers and said, "four."

His mother, Claudia Horner, clapped her hands, exclaiming, "You did it. You said four!"

She explained, "This is the first time he has spontaneously said "four' and not "thor.'-"

George Horner, 4, reacts with glee, above, after completing a round of speech therapy at Mercy Health Center in Sioux City with therapist Cathy Teply. In the photo below, Teply urges George to concentrate during a therapy session.

George, who lives with his family in South Sioux City, has been going to speech therapy at Mercy Medical Center for the past year to help him learn to talk correctly. As a baby, he had ear infections that reduced his ability to hear. Consequently, speech therapist Cathy Teply said, George did not learn to pronounce words because he couldn't hear what people said.

"When George came to see me, he had a real difficult time being understood by his family," Teply said.

For instance, he said "dow" for "cow."

A key to George's success has been Gateway's Destination computer, which the Waitt Family Foundation donated to Mercy Medical Center last August.

Teply has found a number of phonics and language programs on CDs that can be used on the Destination computer. The programs use cartoon characters, music and conversation to engage children. The programs are in the form of games, with the computer program automatically keeping track of each child's progress to provide the next level of difficulty.

"This has been a really good thing for George," she said. "It's given him the opportunity to get involved. It gives him both visual and audio feedback. This bigger screen appeals particularly to children and it also helps their motor skills since they learn to use the keyboard and mouse."

At a therapy session earlier this week, George, an outgoing 4-year-old, climbed up on a table so he could touch the computer screen. When he answered a question correctly, he laughed, pumping his right arm in the air and yelling, "Yes!"

"I'm curious," he proclaimed, "just like George the monkey."

The Waitt Family Foundation will provide two more Destination computers to Mercy Medical Center and has just donated another to Opportunities Unlimited.

"I'm just thrilled they're being put to such good use," Cindy Waitt, president of the Siouxland Chapter of the Waitt Family Foundation, said.

Destination computers are designed to be used by groups and are mostly used in schools and business settings, Rob Margusee of the foundation, said.

Teply said she uses the Destination computer for many of her clients, who range in age from 2 to 90.

She said George's hearing problem was not genetic. Horner said she and her husband, Michael, first suspected their son had a hearing problem several years ago.

"George is our fourth child so when he wasn't talking at first, I wondered if it was because his three older sisters were talking for him," she said.

As a registered nurse, Horner said she realized her son might need speech therapy.

"He had a number of inner ear infections. We put his first tubes in when he was 1."

As a result, his hearing has cleared up. But, the damage was done.

Teply explained, "In the first year is when babies start saying sounds. If they can't hear right, their development is affected."

Believing her son needed the assistance of speech therapists, Horner asked the South Sioux City School district to conduct tests to see if he qualified for assistance. He did not. Next, she asked her physician to refer George to Mercy Medical Center for an evaluation. Teply discovered George couldn't move his tongue.

"He couldn't make it move up or laterally in his mouth," Teply said. "It's really a matter of learning how to use your tongue and he hadn't learned that."

His mother noted that George never had licked his lips andd.

His parents and sisters, Grace, Olivia and Madeline, worked constantly with George at home.

Because he has done so well, George only needs to attend therapy sessions at the hospital once a week now. A speech therapist from the South Sioux City School District also works once a week with George.

Teply said she assisted the Horners in documenting his problems so the speech therapy would qualify for insurance coverage.

"One of the things we emphasized to the insurance company was that George is John's role model," Horner said of her youngest child, who is 20 months old. "If George doesn't speak correctly, John won't either."

When John showed signs of having the same type of ear infection as George, the Horners didn't wait for treatment. At three months of age and again several months ago, a doctor inserted tubes in his ear to help drain the infection.

Horner said she found that parents need to be assertive in seeking treatment for their children.

"One of my goals for George is for him to be able to greet other people spontaneously and have them understand him. That is happening now."