Tony's life is a colorful tapestry which, despite its length, shows no signs of nearing its final stitches.  Throughout have been interwoven amazing accomplishments along with debilitating setbacks.  The joys have been many and the tragedies few, but all have worked together to make Tony the thoughtful, loving, respectful man he is today.

A California native, Tony’s formative childhood years spanned the thirties and forties.  We hope to provide details in the future from the horses mouth.  As a young adult he was smitten by wanderlust and sought to expand his horizons.

After departing his home state and serving a term as navy medic during the Korean War he relocated to the Midwest and chose Wisconsin as his new home.  There he planned to enter medical school to become a doctor.  His plans were curtailed by a knockout combination of romance and finance—Tony married and began his lifelong task of nestbuilding while attending college in the mid 1950’s. 

Four children were born to he and his wife through the early 1960’s.  After a contentious divorce he took custody of his two sons, married his present-day wife, and settled into what became a successful career of teaching Spanish and English in a rural Wisconsin high school.  Tony’s time was split between his job as a dedicated educator and that of devoted husband and father to the sons he cared for. 

Despite his hope that he might keep all of his children together, Tony’s two daughters were assigned to their mother’s care.  This was still a time when courts were loathe to give equal consideration to both parents in such matters.  Unfortunately, here both mother and father wished in equal strength to assume the responsibility for all four children, for the childrens’ sakes--the older girls had become very attached to their baby brothers. 

The divisive way of divorce was not to be mitigated for those estranged parental units; the sons and daughters were never to enjoy a cohesive upbringing all together after that time.  This made a deep impression in a man who, up to that time, had, perhaps, dealt somewhat carelessly with his relationships.  Now matters of the heart were to be cherished and protected more than ever before.

The Cardiel family of four had humble beginnings.  Their first abode was the rustic, but cramped, quarters of a one-room cabin on Big Cedar Lake.  This was followed shortly (and necessarily) by a brand new apartment in the bustling town of West Bend. 

Modern multi-family architecture was not Tony’s idea of “great digs.”  As throughout his entire life, he made the best of an imperfect thing by adding his own creative touches.  He furnished the apartment with hand-made creations—a naturally finished folding leaf table with tree branches for legs, and a solid maple China cabinet with antique chain links for handles (the China would have to wait).  He filled his family's home with the music he adored--a disparate mix of classical masterpieces and musical movie soundtracks--Tchaikovsky, with a Streisand chaser; J S Bach before Zero Mostel.  Weird sometimes, but it grew on you. 

The most important ingredients in the making of that warm, happy household were those of the heart—the time, the devotion, the love, and the dreaming.  Of those things, there was a limitless supply.

To be continued...