Hot August Greetings, Classmates
We are having a typical Ohio summer -- hot, cool, rainy, dry -- sometimes all in one day! I hope the sun is shining and all is right in your world. We have news and notes to share. Let us begin...
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Bill and I drove to Racine for the July 5 wedding of Sondra Parks Duffy and Roy Davis. It was lovely. The setting was the Sand Point Lighthouse overlooking Lake Michigan. The weather was perfect--mid 70s, bright clear skies, and a cool breeze. The ceremony was held in the garden by the water and the reception was held in the lighthouse meeting rooms. All the best to you both!
If you have spent the last month on a desert island, you might have missed the latest video sensation--the story of Christian the lion. In 1969, two friends, John Rendall and Ace Bourke, purchased a lion at Herrod's department store. At the time, Christian the lion was a 35-pound cub. He had been born in a zoo. The friends raised Christian in their London home. All three hung out in a friend’s furniture shop on the weekends.
Within a year, Christian had grown to 185 pounds. Rendall and Bourke realized they couldn’t keep him much longer. But they didn’t know what to do with him. A chance encounter changed that. Two actors from the film Born Free walked into the furniture store. The actors recommended a conservationist, George Adamson, living in Kenya. Christian was soon in Africa. There he was rehabilitated and released into the wild.
In 1974, Rendall and Bourke decided to visit Christian one last time. He was now a wild animal. Adamson told them it was doubtful that Christian could be found. No one had seen him in months. The two flew to Kenya, anyway. On the day they landed, Christian appeared outside Adamson’s camp. Somehow, he knew. He waited outside the camp until his friends arrived. After that reunion, he was never seen again.
MSNBC interviewed the two men recently after the worldwide success of the video. Read the full article here.
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I received a nice note from Tom Campbell:
Judy, I just wanted to let you know I appreciate you and Mary Cross keeping me informed. In fact, the other night, my brother Dave called from San Diego and we talked for 45 minutes about the demise of the Brown Jug. He'd heard the news from Keith Caldwell, who said "he spent more time in the BJ than he did in high school."
This summer has been sort of tough for me. I fell at my home and cut my head. That required 50 stitches, but it's fine now. Thank God for hard heads. However, I also fractured my 7th vertabra and it will heal by itself. But that takes time, and has left me with that "asleep feeling" down my left arm and hand. The Dr. says that will go away as healing progresses.
I am enjoying my home..first one I've ever bought. Actually it's a two BR, two bath condo. I've been there just over a year, and it has some nice features: backyard patio and deck, sprinkler system and upgraded features throughout. (The previous owner was a manager at Lowe's, so lots of those things he did.)
Augusta is Augusta in the summertime. Hot and humid, and sometimes terrible storms, as in yesterday.
My sister continues to live on Nantucket and work for the town.
My plan is to work until the end of 2010 and call it quits. That would be 43 years in TV, and I think that's about enough.
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TIDBITS
The sudden closing and sale of the Brown Jug on July 7 rattled us all.
Larry Barrett has sold his place in New Mexico and is moving back to Ohio to be near the grandkids. He and Betty will settle in the Dayton area.
Dennis Jackson retired in March and now has the time to digitize his extensive photo collection--and we benefit! Three new albums have been added.
See his houseboat adventures
here.
Enjoy the wildlife at his cabin
here.
Be sure to view the albums as slideshows so you can read the captions.
Sondra Flowers Hopper was in town for Larry's 50th class reunion. On July 27th, she and her sisters Kathy and Karen took some time to visit with Susie Donovan Mooney in Columbus, and then came to Delaware to visit with a group of locals who gathered at Karen Oller George's place. The weather was perfect for eating on the deck.
Standing: Sondra Flowers Hopper, Shirley Brimhall Welsh, Karen Oller George, Vicki DeVries Mills, Judy Myers Rosebrough
Sitting: Mary Carson Cross, Becky Ross Donovan (who really did enjoy herself!)
Ken Lavender visited Delaware in July, too. On the 31st, a group of us met at Byxbe's, a new eatery in Delaware. Ken lives in California and he has not yet retired from the aerospace industry. Wife Kay (Juanita Edelblute) was in the class of '63. Ken has never come back for a reunion but he promises to come to the 50th.
Guys: Dick Patrick, Ken Lavender, Dallas Evans, Fred Oehler
Gals: Vicki DeVries Mills, Judy Myers Rosebrough, Karen Oller George, Sandy Patrick Woods, Mary Carson Cross
Not shown: John Robinson
John Gaskell sent this video. I promise you have never seen anything like it. Watch to the end and prepare to gasp.
We were saddened by the death of Sherry Geesman Ream. Classmates have uploaded photos to her photo album which will be available until August 8.
AUGUST BIRTHDAYS
Reda Hackel Garlikov
Janet Taylor Snow
Cathy Crosby Vigor
Janet Dever Moore
Twila Vipperman Jackson
Brent Wilson
Peg Householder Jones
These birthdays were listed in the class directory. If I have overlooked anyone, please let me know.
Life is a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you can spend it only once.