Elyn and Kurt Koentopp live in a rambling frame house with their two sons, Sam, twelve, and Danny, nine. They also have two cats, one of which is an ancient Siamese. Rounding out the family is a friendly and excitable golden retriever, Barkley. One cannot help but notice that Barkley, Elyn, and the boys all have the same color hair. It is a reddish hue that used to be called strawberry blond.
Elyn and Kurt met at college. They remain sweet-hearts, bound in what Elyn calls an “Ozzie & Harriet type marriage.” They graduated from college, got married, and began new jobs, all within two months. They were married for ten years before having children. “We saw every movie ever made,” Elyn says.
Both Elyn and Kurt enjoyed happy childhoods. She is the eldest of four, two girls and two boys; Kurt is the middle of three sons. Ellen says of her child-hood, “It was carefree. There were no restrictions on us. You’d get up in the morning and you’d get on your bike and ride wherever you wanted to ride.” Kurt says much the same: “You’d walk out the door in the morning and come back at 5 o’clock in the afternoon and there’d be no worry.”
Kurt grew up in Minneapolis. His family moved to Chicago when he was twelve; his parents still live in the area. Elyn’s parents and all of her siblings also live in the Chicago area. Kurt’s brothers live in the west; he is not close to them and sees them infrequently. The Koentopps have a warm relation-ship with Elyn’s parents. On the other hand, Kurt’s mother and father have become remote and retiring, much the same as his maternal grandparents were.
In Elyn and Kurt’s home there is an overwhelming sense of well being. The boys love their parents and show affection for them in an undisguised, matter-of-fact way. Elyn and Kurt dedicate most of their free time to the boys, particularly taking them to their soccer, football, and baseball games.Elyn and Kurt’s own dreams and goals have changed somewhat. Elyn, who began taking art classes some years ago, stopped working at a job outside the home. She thus let go of her youthful desire to have a career in business. Painting has become her passion. Kurt is an architect whose career goals have been detoured by a prolonged slump in the building trades in Chicago in the early 1990s.
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