Tristan Corrigan

You know that I don’t believe in coincidences…I believe in God…I believe that He is in-charge of our affairs…at least, whenever He chooses to be in-charge. And the older I get, the more obvious His hand becomes. It is almost humorous.

So here’s the set-up. It is Monday May 31, 2009. Kathie and I are sitting in the Minneapolis Airport, after a visit with Shelly and her family…on our way to Pittsburgh, to visit with Jeff and Kimi. There is a handsome young man sitting next to me. Kathie leans over and says “I think he might be a Marine…he has his Lid (dress hat) with him”. So I strike up a conversation. The young man is not a Marine, but he is Navy…Naval ROTC to be exact…on his way to Germany for a 25 day exchange with the German navy. He is easy to talk with…so we chat. I tell him about our Marine sons…about Dan’s float in the Mediterranean. He had a similar experience as a crewman on a troopship. I tell him about Henry Sipple and his WWII service…his historical timeline which I recently typed up…problems with WWII torpedoes, etc. He asks if he might receive a copy of Henry’s timeline so I ask for his email address.

His name is Tristan Corrigan…now there’s a good old Irish name if ever there was one. He is attending Iowa State University on an ROTC scholarship. tristanc@iastate.edu

This is where Kathie and her incredible intuition come into play. She says…”you would not be from California would you?: Answer “No…I’m from Minnesota” So Kathie explains how she had just published her mother’s diaries from her Park City teen years…how she was enamored with a young man named Francis Corrigan who lived in California. Tristan looks at Kathie and says…”Francis Corrigan was my grandfather…he lived in California”.

This deserved a …YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME…right?

Well…it turned out to be true. Tristan’s father is Michael Francis Corrigan, the son of Francis Corrigan, of California. Francis suffered from heart problems and died a couple of years ago. It all fits. But what are the odds? That’s so weird. And if the Lord is actually pulling these strings…why? Surely it is not just to show us that he can.

Francis was unfortunately divorced from Tristan’s grandmother…and Francis was estranged from the family…Tristan never met him. But he is sure that his parents will want to exchange information and photos with Kathie, so we are going to email documents to Tristan who will send them on to his parents.

I can hardly wait to find out what will happen on our next trip.