Our very own U.S. Marine

We're very proud of young cousin Nathan Pepin, who is now a U.S. Marine after graduating from basic training in San Diego, where he excelled in marksmanship. Nathan, a 2007 graduate of Goodhue (Minn.) High School, came home this month to Red Wing for a brief visit, then returned to Camp Pendleton, where he'll stay until the end of May. Next he'll go for a year of schooling in California, Florida or perhaps on a ship for ground electrician, his military occupational specialty (MOS), and after that be assigned to his duty station, which could be Iraq, his mother reports. Among the very proudest family members are Nathan's parents, Patty and Steve Pepin; his grandma, Florence Sprick Bye, and his great-aunt, Anna Sprick Smith, who has installed an extremely large photo of him in her living room, dwarfing photos of all of us other cousins. And rightly so!