AUGUST 1957
A kissing game at a graduation party.
It started with a kiss in the summer of 1957.
Four hundred and thirty-five of their letters survive. Bob and Fran wrote to each other for eight years before their wedding, and this site is their story: the letters, the book, and the music.
On Bob's music stand
The next chapter has a soundtrack.
Music is what Bob's making now. Meet seven favorites from his songbook, hear him play, and spend some time with the stories behind the songs.
Explore the music & songbook ↗
The Archive
Where it began
Three letters from the first weeks.
He was thirteen. She was fourteen, an older woman by three months.
Aug 20, 1957
Bob to Fran
Do you have a picture of yourself you can send me?
Aug 22, 1957
Fran to Bob
I sure wish you were here so I could ask you to go with me.
Aug 27, 1957
Bob to Fran
I am enclosing a picture of myself. It's not very good though.
The story
From a kissing game to a wedding.
JANUARY 1964
An ocean between them.
JUNE 1965
435
letters survive
8
years of writing
400
miles apart
3¢
to mail a letter
61
years married, so far
The book
Sealed with a Kiss: An American Love Story in Letters
The story of Bob and Fran's eight-year correspondence, told through the letters themselves. It's a love story, a coming-of-age story, and a portrait of an America that was growing up right alongside them.
Buy the book on Amazon“I loved it.”
A few more pages.
Family history and the people who shape us also have a place on Bob's bookshelf.
A family history by Bob
Finding Our Roots
The Zühlsdorff Family History
Bob traced his family's story back to Pomerania in 1765. He wrote this genealogy for his own family and made it available for relatives and others researching the Zielsdorf name.
Bob feels the Amazon price is high, but wanted fellow family-history researchers to know the book exists.
Find it on Amazon ↗An essay contributed by Bob
The Mentor That Matters
Stories of Transformational Teachers, Role Models and Heroes, Volume 1
Bob contributed an essay to this anthology, edited by Suzanne Fox. Its writers reflect on the teachers, role models, and other people whose influence stays with them.
One contribution to a collection of many voices.
Find it on Amazon ↗Notre Dame, in Bob's words
An afternoon with Father Ted.
A love of Notre Dame, a book sent as a gift, and a conversation Bob never forgot. Read his account of meeting Father Ted Hesburgh.
Read the story ↗
