Milby Class of 1960

 

A Delightful Gathering for Lunch: Left to right, seated - Jody Bugg, Jo Ann (Peters) Green, Sue (Sanford) Lenoir, Linda (Robinson) Britt, Donna (Sanford) Phillips. Standing - Martin Green, Glenda (Burns) Minniece, John Minniece. (06/23/09) The girls met for lunch at Black Walnut Cafe. The guys met them afterwords. (click on photo to enlarge)

 

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Whose beautiful wedding cake is this?

 

Click here to read "A Cinderella Story" and other GREAT NEWS of one of our own.

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Sonny Jones performed in the Kemah area Saturday night, June 27th. Click here to view photos of Sonny and Buffs in the audience in this new photo album. (click on photo to enlarge)

 

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Glenda's Swan Song, sad to say... for almost a year, Glenda Burns Minniece has been giving us her column, "Speaking of Books". A few months back she sent me the final installments, the one for June entitled "Swan Song". I have enjoyed these book talks immensely, but she feels they have run their course. Click here for this last installment of our CYBER BOOK CLUB. And thank you very much, Glenda, for giving our blog a touch of class.

 

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Boyce Honea (’59) and other Milbyites remember a Fallen Buff, Henry Norman, in the new post, Making Milby Proud. Click here to read their thoughts.

      

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Would you believe.....

Left to right - Donald and Susan Hannsz, Kay (Burg) and Joe Moseley with their cruise ship in the background. (click photo to enlarge)

 

Kay sent this photo and wrote...

"By reading our blog, Don and I realized that we were going to be on the same transatlantic cruise in April.  We ran into each other on the steps of a lovely, old church in Ponta Delgada, Azores.  The Azores are made up of nine islands that belong to Portugal and are located in the North Atlantic Ocean about 800 miles off its coast. 

 

We also ran into each other at the Blarney Castle in Ireland.  Don't know if Don and Susan kissed the Blarney Stone or not."  So, Kay, did you and Joe kiss the stone???

 

Kay and Don's serendipitous meeting on a cruise reminds me of an earlier story Sonny Jones told on the blog of running into Sharon Abdo on a cruise. Check it out here.

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New photos in the Spring Album - the rebirth of John's barn and the death of a beloved pet. Here they are!

 

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THE SHOOTOUT - PART DEAUX

June 6, 2009 ~

Now chronicled in the photo album at the top of the right sidebar.

Since March 27 we’ve been following the growth and development of Larry and Charleen Smith's monster CENTURY PLANT. Now the flower stalk is over 30’ tall and beginning to bloom - a rare event! Check it out in the album near the top of the right sidebar.

 

 

Another offering the Smiths have provided can be seen in the new photo album “Charleen’s Beautiful Crazy Quilt”, just after “The Shootout” album, near the top of the right sidebar.

 

To comment on any photo or photo album, click here.

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Click on this link to see the CARS OF OUR YOUTH! (Thanks to Billy Carter for this link.)

 

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Reunion Committee Meeting April 19, 2009 at the home of Linda Hocher Bennett. See more photos from this gathering in the Reunion Committee album near the top of the right sidebar.

 

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See the "Reunion Countdown Meter" on the Milby Class of 1960 website. Click here

Ray writes that our Reunion Committee has completed the initial arrangements for our Spectacular 50th Reunion. Save the date ~ April 16-18, 2010. The site of this celebration is the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Houston.

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Wally Sisk is hosting a new column entitled "What's Happening at Milby?", bringing us news of interest to former Milby grads. Click here to view. 

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Ken Corey was honored with a grand Retirement Celebration 04/25/09. Charles Crider and Ray Prichard represented the Milby Class of 1960 at that event. Click on this photo to enlarge, and click here to see more related photos on Ken's biography page. 

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On the "Signature Dishes" page, we have a funny story about the pineapple upside down cake that Charles and Dolly Crider made for "The Shoot-out, Part Deaux". Click here to read their tale. I'm not sure which one was the sous chef, but they did find a way to solve their little problem.

If you have not visited this page before, be sure to read about the "Dueling Dutch Babies". Click here to view the photos and read about these delicacies. Then read the recipes and comments left by others, and then submit (via a comment on the page or to Karla, via e-mail) your photos and narratives of the dishes for which you are known far and wide (or at least in your own kitchen). 

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RECENT FEATURES ON THE BLOG: 

To access the latest material on the blog, just click on the check mark next to the description of the following items. Then use the back arrow or other link to return to this page.

ü "On the Streets Where We Lived" - give us your memories about the streets where you grew up and roamed as a kid

ü Judy Kennedy shares her remembrances of a departed friend ~ Connie Oliveros

ü Jody Bugg has added an update to her bio page, including a cute new photo of her great niece, Olive. (see blue print at bottom of post).

ü June Birthday and Anniversary Dates

ü Laura Striegler Wilson has sent photos, now featured on the beginning of her biography page. She also sent beautiful photographs of flowers that are featured in a new Spring 2009 Photo Album. Click here to access that album. To comment on any photo or photo album, click here.

ü New page with information about two Class of '62 Milbyites, sure to be of interest to us ~ Donna Byrd Broussard and Marinell Roberts Mendoza ~ as well as news about a great Theater Production in the Houston area and a photo of some Milby 1962 classmates who attended. Click photo (below) to enlarge, and click on check mark to read names and other info.

 

 

 

 

 

ü New information about the Texas Repertory Theater's upcoming season can be found at 

http://www.texreptheatre.org/. The first show is "Thoroughly Modern Millie".

ü New post – “The Time You Enjoyed Wasting”, based on a thought from Larry and Kathy Bass.

 

ü New Photo Album - "Kemah and Galveston After Ike" - with photos Karla took during her Spring Break trip to that area. To comment on any photo or photo album, click here.

The above links highlight some of the many newer items of interest on the blog. But there is so much more to enjoy. Just scroll down the right sidebar and click on any title or name to access that post, page or photo album. Scroll through this main section to view and read some of the original items on the blog. Some have had additions since their first publication.

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Click here to read instructions for editing any former post or comment that you have submitted.

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SPEAKING OF BOOKS: A Cyber Book Club

  Posted by Glenda Burns Minniece

To view May 2009 SOB click here.

June 2009, SWAN SONG

Swan Song – The final work of a person, as before retirement.

The love of reading often comes from being read aloud to as a child.  Some of my earliest memories are of Mother reading aloud to us three children. Although I love to read, I’ve never been, by any stretch of the imagination, a literary expert, nor do I claim to be.  My personal taste in books has always been very eclectic. 

 

Getting Involved:

We all know that Karla tries to find ways to get more of us to contribute to the blog.  When she suggested that I might lead a book discussion, I was at first amused, and then I thought “Why not, if it will generate chatter?”  So, acting on her prompting, I’ve proposed titles and authors for your consideration since August of last year, and have read and appreciated the suggestions you’ve made in return.  But this is my last submission – my swan song – to Speaking of Books.  The time has come to pass the torch.  In doing so I’d like to leave you with the following:

 

On-Line Resources:

When you want to find something interesting to read,   www.npr.org is an excellent location.  Under ‘Browse Topics,’ click on ‘Books.’  A lot of interesting things are there.  One of my favorites is the London cab driver, Will Grozier, who, in radio interviews, tells about books he is currently reading. 

An excellent source for book reviews is www.wsj.com.  Click on the heading ‘Life and Style,’ then on ‘Books.’  ‘Book Lover’ is a good link or you can go directly to www.booklover.wsj.com. 

Did any of you happen to see the December 26th issue of the Wall Street Journal?  If so, there was an interesting article about what President Bush had been reading.  Many of our Presidents have been inveterate readers.  I can recall seeing lists of what Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, and Reagan read.

 

If you Google “book reviews,” you will find a lot of different links that you could explore to find book reviews and recommendations.  Also Google “You Must Read This.”  Up comes an NPR site that offers weekly conversations with writers about the books they love.  All are archived and available at the click of your mouse.

 

Final Recommendations:

1. If you can find a copy, get Jock of the Bushveld by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick.  You’ll relish these true stories about the author and his dog in the early settlement days of South Africa.  The little ones in your life would also love for you to read the stories aloud to them.  (Do you know that I still enjoy being read aloud to?  When we lived in Marfa, I’d go over to a friend’s home some evenings, and her husband would read short stories to us.  Pleasant memories.)

2. I’ve never discussed poetry in Speaking of Books.  Vagabond’s House, Don Blanding’s small collection of his lyric poetry, was a gift from a friend.  When she quoted from memory (!) the title poem to me, I cried.  It’s the story of my life.  For laughter, I have Russell Baker’s Light Verse.  Any anthology of poetry is delightful for the variety.

 

3. What’s currently waiting for me on my bedside table:

 

Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874-1945 by Carlo D’Este. (D’Este is a retired U. S. Army lieutenant colonel who has written biographies of George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower. 

 

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright.

 

All ten (!) of Alan Furst’s European intrigue novels, set in the ‘30s and ‘40s.  John read them all and is put out with me because I haven’t yet found the time to get to them.  (And he’s pushing me to read his Vince Flynn thrillers as well as his Charles McCarry espionage books.  Ay-yi-yi.)

 

A Question:

Now I have a question for you:  a couple of years ago I was driving back from Broaddus on a Sunday morning, listening to a woman being interviewed on NPR.  She had written a book about her life and the lives of other women who have the same name.  Many people have a first and last name that other people share.  That author took that premise and contacted all of the women around the U.S. that she  could who have the same name, then wrote about their contrasting lives.  An interesting concept.  Regrettably, I didn’t write down either the author’s name or the title of the book so I’ve been unable to locate it, but would like to.  Can you help me???

 

Sayonara, vaya con Dios, shalom, aloha, and blessings to you all.   

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Memories of Days Gone By...

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis

I have been looking through my Milby yearbooks to get inspiration for the initial blog threads. If your memory is anything like mine, you have an easier time remembering things that happened in 1960 than you do remembering why you walked into the next room 5 minutes ago! Still, the yearbooks serve as a good jog to my memory. As I look at various photos, I immediately have some fond (and some not so fond!) memories of classes and teachers . . . extra curricular activities . . . special events . . . classmates . . .

I can still remember exactly where I sat in some of those classrooms. I can picture who sat in front of, behind, and beside me. I can also remember how stressful it was to rush to get to my locker, work the combination (why did my lock so often fail to open?), find the right books and materials, and then get to the next class on time. I actually still have dreams about that, waking up in a cold sweat and then being so relieved when I realize it was just a dream and I don’t EVER have to go through that ordeal again. I have another dream that recurs every few years (probably closely related to the previously mentioned dream) in which I am zipping down the halls of good old Milby on roller skates. Not that I ever did that, of course. I think it is just my positive alternative to the negative locker dream! (Note: Laura McNeil Burns sent me this addition in an e-mail after this was published: "You know, Karla, you can't roller skate in a Buffalo Herd!!!"   Funny, huh!?!?!?!)

What are your favorite memories of Milby? What words of wisdom from certain teachers still come to mind as you wind your way through life. What hilarious stories do you tell your children and grandchildren when the subject of your youth comes up? For example, any crazy experiences while “wrapping” houses? I remember being terrified that someone would catch us in the act (especially when “borrowing” rolls of paper from a service station restroom) and we’d “get into trouble!” Of course, that did not stop me from participating.

And someone out there owes me big time! You may remember that our yard had huge oak trees. Someone(s) did a really thorough job of throwing those toilet paper rolls high into the trees for a really lovely effect as they trailed down to the ground and were again tossed high. My dad was quite mad, and said since he didn’t know who did it that I could just get myself out there and clean it up. I did! You owe me!!!

Please use this opportunity to comment about your favorite high school memories – in or out of school hours. Let’s enjoy a stroll down memory lane together…

Note: This is one of the first posts created for the blog. The number of comments that had accumulated had made accessing the most recent ones too cumbersome. Therefore, on March 26, 2008 I moved the earliest comments to a page linked in the right sidebar entitled "Memories of Days Gone By (archived earliest comments)". There are some great chains of dialogue there and they are well worth a read. Please be sure to access them by clicking on the link under the heading "Biographies and Less Active Posts".

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Current Events

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis

I am curious, whenever we get together at reunions, to know more about each person there. I know I could go up to each person and ask a few questions, but I really am quite shy by nature. Still, whenever I find someone who works in the field of education (as my husband and I do) I feel an instant affinity to that person. We immediately have something in common, something to talk about beyond the memories of days gone by. Perhaps you know those feelings – both the wanting to know and the pleasure of learning more about the “here and now lives” of each of our classmates. And some of our classmates have some truly fascinating things to share about themselves!

This would be a good place for you to give us a little information about your vocation(s) as well as your avocations. Heck, let’s throw in the topic of vacations while we are at it! Are you a traveler? Sportsman? Traveling sportsman? Comments, please! In what fields have you worked, what hobbies have you pursued, and what do you do in your “spare” time? What are you passionate about (please keep it clean!), what thrills you, what makes your heart sing? For example, I am into photography these days, chronicling the events of our families’ lives through creative scrapbook albums.

And now that we are on the topic of family... our lives revolve around our family at this point in time. It’s hard to believe that some of you are great-grandparents by now. We started late and our two sons have given us 3 grandsons who are now 1 year, 4 years, and 8 years old. No daughters or grand-daughters as yet, but we have wonderful daughters-in-law! Tell us about your family.

Some of you have probably retired – lucky ducks!!! So what are your plans now?

Note: This is one of the first posts created for the blog. The number of comments that had accumulated had made accessing the most recent ones too cumbersome. Therefore, on September 6, 2008 I moved the earliest comments to a page linked in the right sidebar entitled "Current Events (archived earliest comments)". There are some great chains of dialogue there and they are well worth a read. Please be sure to access the older comments find the link to "Current Events (archived earliest comments)" in the right sidebar.

CLICK HERE to return to the top of the main section of the blog after reading comments below, and/or making your own comment.

Sports News

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis

At this point I thought I had started a sufficient variety of threads to give everyone something to which to respond. Then Ed read through them and exclaimed, “What? No sports thread? You have to include a sports thread!” Personally, I think he just wants an opportunity to mention – once again – that the Clear Creek Wildcats beat the Milby hoopsters in 1957, especially since he was one of the Wildcats playing in that game.

So, what would be your choice as the most exciting (or disappointing, if you want to go in that direction) sports event while we were at Milby? Perhaps you played in that game, or maybe you participated in such a game as an enthusiastic spectator, a member of the band, a Coed Cadet, a Bisonette, a cheerleader, etc. Give us your thoughts on this.

While we are on the topic of sports, what teams do you support now? Any coaches in our midst? (or retired coaches?) Ed was a high school administrator for years, so I have supported my share of teams in places where we have lived over the years – Houston, Indiana, and Wyoming. I am now an enthusiastic Baylor fan as we live in Waco and have many Baylor graduates in our family. But I find myself following local little league sports even more enthusiastically, as I attend all of my grandsons’ sports activities. How about you?

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A Place for Miscellaneous Thoughts, or Simply Idle Chatter

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis

It occurs to me that you might have something to say that is not related to any of the threads you find in this blog. So here is a place for miscellaneous topics, or simply idle chatter among the readers of this blog. You will find a lot of interested folk out there who are just waiting to hear what you have to say - any subject that is fit for such a family-oriented weblog as this. (There are censors at work here, you know!) Let's hear your miscellaneous thoughts… what is on that idle mind of yours?

Note: This is one of the first posts created for the blog. The number of comments that had accumulated had made accessing the most recent ones too cumbersome. Therefore, on March 14, 2008 I moved the earliest comments to a page linked in the right sidebar entitled "A Place for Miscellaneous Thoughts, or Simply Idle Chatter (archived earliest comments)". There are some great chains of dialogue there and they are well worth a read. Please be sure to access them by clicking on the link under the heading "Biographies and Less Active Posts".

CLICK HERE to return to the top of the main section after reading comments below, and/or making your own comment.

Location, Location, Location...

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, as suggested by Bob Neal

No, I'm not trying to sell you some real estate, but rather - as Bob suggested - providing a place for you to fill us in on all of the places where you have lived as well as where you are currently residing. We might be surprised to find that our paths have crossed through the years, or that we are living closer to one another now than we ever imagined. In addition, some of our classmates have lived in some pretty interesting and far-flung locations. We might want to start a discussion with them.

For example, Ed and I have lived in a lot of different places. He is an adventurer by nature and I should have known when I married him that his idea of visiting a place was to get a job and actually live there. Since we both work in the field of education, that has been fairly easy to do.

After leaving Baylor (upon Ed's graduation and our marriage) we moved to Boulder, Colorado. I graduated from the University of Colorado and taught in the Boulder system one year. Then we moved to Benghazi, Libya (North Africa). After 2 thrilling years there, teaching and traveling to exotic places, we returned to Houston for the next 10 years. Then Ed decided we needed to visit the Midwest, so we moved to Hagerstown, Indiana for 3 years. Go West Young Man? OK! So off to Cody, Wyoming for 9 years. In 1989, we returned to Waco, where we have lived ever since. (That's the short version - there are many stories we could tell...)

Now, let's hear about YOUR adventures and the places where you have lived...

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On Becoming the Parent of Your Parents

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis

I wonder how many of you have had the bittersweet experience of becoming the parent to one or both of your parents. Bitter because it is such a difficult thing - emotionally, physically, financially. Sweet because it usually means your parents have lived to a fine old age and you have been blessed to have them with you so long.

Did your family take those Sunday-after-church photos when everyone was dressed up and looking spiffy? Here are a couple of pictures of Randy and me with Mama and Daddy and our dog Sheba in 1948. These were taken in the front yard of our house at the end of Broadway.

My father died in 1994 (in Houston) at the age of 86. He was needing a great deal of help by that time, but together Mama and Daddy were able to manage to take care of themselves. After Daddy passed away, we moved Mother to Waco and enjoyed having her live in very close proximity to us for another 6 years. She lived to be 91. Mother was severely crippled with rheumatoid arthritis so that she was wheelchair bound, and during her last 5 years she required a caregiver 24 hours a day. We were blessed to have two wonderful women who shared that duty and lived with her (alternately) in her own home. Randy and Jeanine moved to Waco during that time and we all lived within a square block of each other. What a blessed time!!!

This photo was taken in January of 2000 at Randy's 60th birthday party. Mother was in such great spirits that night and I am so glad we have this photo. She got sick soon after this, was in and out of the hospital for several months, and declined very quickly. She entered into hospice care in her own home in May and died within a few weeks. She was ready to "go home" (as she expressed it), but we were certainly not ready for her to leave us.

Two rather humorous things stand out to me as representative of this phenomenon of parenting your parents. One is that I was always hunting for things for mother. She was so grief stricken when we were packing up her things to move her to Waco after Daddy's death that she did not participate much in decisions that we made. Once in Waco she began to wonder about various things. I would come home from work and she would have fixated on something and need me to find it right away. I soon learned that it was far easier to search than to try to reason and put her off. Most of the time I could find what she wanted, she would look at it curiously, and then set it aside, satisfied that it was there.

The other thing that stands out in my memory is that she could never decide whether she liked the skin on or the skin off of her baked potato. However, she definitely knew she felt strongly about it. One time I would come and she would be scowling at her caregiver, fussing because she had taken the skin off. "Judy took the skin off my potato. She KNOWS I like my baked potato with the skin ON!" The very next day the situation might be reversed. "Why did you leave the skin on my potato? You KNOW I like my potato with the skin taken off." Bless her heart...and bless her dear caregivers for their infinite patience.

I wonder how many of you have had similar experiences...or perhaps are having them now? Please tell us about your parents and what your experiences have been with them as they have gotten older.

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Memories of Garner and Concan State Parks

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis

We went to Dallas this weekend to celebrate our youngest grandson’s first birthday. On the way I was reading articles to Ed from the Waco Today Magazine. Lo, and behold! I came upon a story that rekindled many fond memories. The area high-lighted in the article encompassed a number of Texas parks which are located along the Frio River, including Garner and Concan.

When I was a youngster (hard to believe I was one, once) my family went “primitive” camping at Concan State Park. Long before there were umbrella tents and pop-out tent trailers, my Dad went to Army Surplus stores and assembled our gear – tarpaulins, army cots, mosquito nets, oil lamps, mess kits, etc. (Photo above is one of our camp sites, about 1952. Double click for enlarged image.) Funny thing to see Mama wearing a dress in a primitive camp. She would hike and swim with us, but I guess the "lady" thing dictated a dress in those days.

Our extended family – aunts and uncles and lots of cousins – usually joined us. My cousins were more daring than I and would swing out on long ropes attached to trees located atop high cliffs and drop down into the river below. We would use the smooth tumbled boulders in the river to dam off a semi-circular section for a little soaking pool. That was the kind of swimming I preferred. The water was cold and very refreshing. (Photo above shows some of our family swimming in the Frio. Double click for enlarged image.)

Occasionally we would take a drive over to Garner to see the “fancy” campsites and cabins available there. Even though Garner offered many more conveniences and civilized amenities, my folks preferred the seclusion of a less developed area. Of course, as teenagers, seclusion was not what we wanted. Garner not only drew a larger crowd of teenagers, but it also had that fine pavilion and nightly dances. My only memory of camping at Garner was a camping trip I took there with Judy Kennedy and her mother and sisters. There were a lot of Milby kids there that week and we did have fun! How about sharing some of your Garner Park memories with us? Or…tell us about any other “roughing it” adventures you remember. Do you still camp? Hike? A good topic for discussion, I’m a’thinkin’!

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Fulfilling A Dream

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, Inspired by John Echoff, with Additions by Charles Simmons and John Hammerle ~ First Published September 10, 2007

I received a couple of photos in the mail today from John Echoff. As I looked at the photos - first one and then the other - I had to smile. They are a perfect example of the kind of reminiscing I had hoped would be revealed as a result of this blog. The first photo shows John in 1949 proudly posing on a Cushman motor scooter. We can surely imagine what 7 year old John was thinking and feeling as he posed for this picture.

The other is a more recent photo (taken in 2005) - also showing John astride a two wheeler - but this one a much more powerful Sheriff’s motorcycle. John remarked in the letter that accompanied the photos that it was taken during an annual training exercise.

In the letter John also wrote the following. “Do you think I might have been pre-destined for my job?” You can read more about the things John has experienced and accomplished as a law enforcement officer in a comment after the post “Success Has Many Faces” or on his biography page. There is a great and somewhat amusing piece of John's writing there too, an article he wrote for a law enforcement periodical. John concluded his letter with this thought… “It’s amazing what can be accomplished if you really want to fulfill a dream.” John speaks volumes in those few words, and we can all read a lot into them from our own experiences.

I appreciate that John has shared these photos and these thoughts with us. I have been thinking tonight about what youthful dreams have been fulfilled in my life. Since I have made teaching my career, I think it is interesting that I was not in the Future Teachers Club at Milby. I can’t say that being a teacher was really my childhood dream. My dream was to be a homemaker, something that I was privileged to do full time for 18 years while our two sons were growing up. But working through the years in the field of early childhood education is surely closely related to that dream. I have been able to nurture my own children (and now my grandchildren) as they were growing up, as well as contribute to the nurture of a host of other little ones along the way. God has truly blessed my life!

In what ways have your childhood dreams been fulfilled? Please share your thoughts on this topic with us.

NOW ANOTHER DREAM FULFILLED... Soon after this post appeared in the blog, Charles Simmons submitted a similar series of photos of his own. The first picture shows a young Charles, a shadow of who he would become. Charles’ own words best describe his thoughts when viewing these photos. Charles wrote… “John Echoff’s piece inspired me to include one of my own. Like you, my initial ideas of myself didn’t pan out, but God had other plans. Is this first picture a premonition or what??

We never know, but it's becoming clearer!

Dream realized!

Hopefully these posts will encourage others to do the same. I look forward to it. Charles Simmons”

Click here to return to the "Charles for President" post on the main page.

AND YET ANOTHER DREAM FULFILLED…

John Hammerle picked up on this idea of “Fullfilling a Dream” with the following series of photos and comments…

From the Deady Band…

To the Dixie Cats at Milby…

To Director of the Westchester High School band in Houston (band shown here forming the “Chase Logo” in New York after the winning performance in the Macy’s Parade)

John went on to win the “Hummer Award” as the outstanding North Texas Director of Fine Arts.

John concludes… “I wonder how many others became what they thought about. They do not teach this in school. After seeing John’s and Charles’ paths taken, as well as my own, this would be an interesting topic of conversation." (Read John’s bio to learn more about the path his career has followed)

You can add your own "Dreams Fulfilled" thoughts in "words only" via a comment, below - or through photos sent to me by e-mail. I'll add them to the blog with your thoughts on the topic. Karla

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Pampered Pooches and Coddled Cats

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis ~ November 8, 2007    

[Gus Davis is now an integral part of the Davis family - see end of Davis section of this post.]

We are a family of animal lovers, that’s for sure! When I was a kid we had a number of yard dogs. (Mother wouldn’t tolerate a dog in the house.) My favorites were a collie named Sheba (seen on the “Parenting Your Parents” post) and a mix that was at least part setter (his name was Trouble, and that says it all! Mother said neighbors would call and ask her, “Are you looking for Trouble?” Ha!). We tried taking one of my cousin’s cats home once. ONCE! She got out of the box in the back seat of the car, leapt onto my Dad’s shoulder, and dug her claws through his sports coat (drawing blood). We promptly turned around and took her back “home”. My folks were not very fond of cats anyway.

Ed’s family had a number of much-loved dogs over the years, but they were REALLY cat lovers. When I first went to visit his family, they were living in the apartment over his dad’s boatyard on the Kemah waterfront. [Have you seen that area lately? Incredible tourist mecca where Jimmy Walker's and the Clear Creek Inn used to be! Joe’s Crab Shack covers the exact property where the Davis Boatyard stood.] Anyway, his family had 42 cats. Now cats are a must for a boatyard, but naming, feeding, and treating 42 cats as pets is a bit much!

With this background it was only natural that when we married and got out on our own we would share our lives with a variety of pets. In Benghazi we had a Black Alsatian Shepherd, a beautiful dog. When we left we gave her to an officer at the British Army Garrison (situated just behind our compound). Back in Houston a student gave us a cocker/poodle mix who lived with us for 16 years, moving with us from Houston to Indiana, and then to Wyoming. In Indiana we lived on several acres of beautiful hilly, wooded land situated between and amongst a number of farms. We had a lot of cats while living there, to offset our fair share of mousies that roamed the cornfields and surrounding areas.

We also had a beloved Cairn Terrier (like Toto in the Wizard of Oz) for a number of years while living in Wyoming. My favorite memory of her is that she was the mediator of mother and son when “WE” were going through puberty. For an unbearable stretch of time the only comfortable communications we had were when we both sat on the floor and played with the dog. I was very grateful for that means of breaking down barriers and sharing love and laughter, if only for a brief time. It let me know things would be good again between us – and they are!

We have not had a pet living in our house full time for a number of years now. Fortunately, however, our grand-dogs come to see us regularly. Our kids feel blessed to have resident doggie care, and we feel blessed to have these hooligans fill that particular hole in our home occasionally. 

Rocky (the ersatz Australian sheep dog) and George (who knows what he is!?!?!?) were rescued by Matt and Megan from the Fuzzy Friends Animal Shelter. I think they look for the dogs least likely to be chosen and fall in love immediately. [Upon reading this Megan remarked, "I think someone would have chosen Rocky, but George is another matter!"

I agree, Rocky really is a beautiful dog - silky fur and perfectly porportioned body!] And it is amazing to see how good these dogs are with our 15 month old grandson. I think they know they owe a debt of gratitude to their folks. Even before the baby came, we traveled to Dallas occasionally just to babysit Rocky and George. Now our main motive for the trip is that we want to spend time with Alex – but don’t tell the dogs that! They think we go to Dallas just to see them, and they come to see us in Waco for special occasions, too.

But what about the cute Rat Terrier pictured in her cowgirl garb at the first of this post? That's Nike, and when I first published this post she was the beloved pet of son Jonathan, wife Jennifer, and grandsons Tyler and Ryan. She had been in the family since before the boys were born and really was a part of the family in every way. She stayed at the Davis Spa frequently and was very attached to Ed. In fact, when Jonathan and Jennifer came to get her after a trip she would hide so she wouldn’t have to leave our house.

Unfortunately, Nike is no longer with us and we have all grieved her departure. After a few months the kids visited Fuzzy Friends Animal Shelter and found a new friend, a mistreated dachsund who is several years old and is fast becoming a beloved pet (and much less traumatized, now that the bullet hole on his face has been repaired). He goes by the name of Gus. You can tell by the first picture of the post that he has become the patriarch of the Waco Davis family.

I’m guessing many of you have a lot of good memories about the pampered pooches and coddled cats that have filled your lives. Perhaps you have a beloved pet who is your companion now. Please send me photos with your comments (by e-mail) so I can add them to this post. Or make a comment below. And if your pet is a bird, a fish, a horse, whatever – all are welcome here!!!

. . . March 12, 2008 John Echoff sent the following photos and commentary about the pooches that inhabit his world. Thought I'd pass on a couple of pix of two of our pampered pets. "Tasha" is our newest family member. She will be 5 months old next Monday (March 17th). The other guy is "Oskar" he is 8 years old and King of the house. We've had Oskar since he was 9 days old and Linn had to hand feed him every 2 hrs until he was old enough to eat on his own. Looks like he eats pretty well, eh? He has been on a diet for about a month and now is down to 112lbs.

June 2008, John found, scanned and sent more photos of pooches from the past. In that e-mail, John commented - "You CAN teach an old dog new tricks" - referring to his new-found tech knowledge, but appropriate as he was attaching puppy pictures!!! (Prior to this John had sent photos via snail mail so I could scan and use. YOU GO, JOHN!!!) Double click images to enlarge

About this photo, John wrote, "Skipper is a dog I had as a child while still living in Manchester. He caught rabies, bit me and I had to take 21 shots in the stomach. 

Tyke was the first dog I had as an adult. He looked like a miniature border collie.  He was my fishing buddy. Whenever I caught a fish, he would swim out and nip at the fish's tail until I landed it.

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Pooches a’Plenty!

Posted By Ray Prichard ~ November 9, 2007

Pat and I are very much dog people. Many years ago we decided we did not want to have children. Somehow, in our 35 years together, we have become parents to nine dogs, who we always refer to as puppies, never dogs.

We got our first puppy in 1977, a golden retriever mix who we named Jerome. His mother had her first litter too early and the nine pups in the litter were literally killing her with their demands for milk. We took him home at four weeks and he was so little he could hide on the floor under the kitchen cabinet overhangs. He was our first child and filled our lives with joy for 14 years.

For the first seven years he was an “only child”. Then one day in 1983, I was going to see a client and while driving in west Houston on I-10 (the Katy Freeway) and looking ahead I saw a little dog running at breakneck speed in the inside shoulder, obviously panicked by the traffic noises. Luckily, I was able to slow down and get my truck into that shoulder lane, stop and get out and stand on that shoulder as the dog ran towards me. I was not sure how much of a panic it was in and if it would try to run around me, going into a traffic lane. As it approached I started talking very slowly, telling it not to panic and to stop so I could help. To my surprise, it stopped and sat down and let me approach. Still talking softly, assuring it was safe, I asked if I could pick it up.
It was a little girl, part whippet, sleek and soft brown. I picked her up and put her in my truck, on the right front floorboard. As I drove on, I kept talking to her and she lay calmly on the floorboard. I took her home and we had her for the next 14 years. Her full name was Miss Katy Freeway, but we called her Freeway. She and Jerome bonded immediately and were never apart for the next seven years.

On Christmas Eve in 1984 I had to go to the local grocery store one afternoon. As I walked across the parking lot, I noticed a man and a little boy standing together, holding a pretty little black and white puppy on a leash. The puppy had a big red bow around her neck and the little boy was holding a sign that read “Please give my puppy a home for Christmas”. She was a beagle and dachshund mix. I talked to the man about the dog and gave him my card, telling him if nobody wanted her by the time he had to leave to go home, call me and I probably would take her.
I then walked across the parking lot, got in my car, drove up to the man and said, “I will take her now, please”. I took her home and she immediately walked up to Freeway and Jerome to introduce herself and let them know she was here to stay. At first we called her Eve but after a couple of days of watching her scarf down her food like a vacuum cleaner, then lick the other two dishes to make sure nothing had gone to waste, we changed her name to Miss Piggy. She and Freeway and Jerome became fast friends.

Those are only the stories of our first three babies. Including the current three we have there have been nine wonderful children in our lives. Maybe I will be able to tell you about those last six. We have had to have five of them put down when old age overcame them. Freeway had a stroke and died in my arms while I sat at the kitchen table. She was 14 when she died. All of the six were cremated and we have their ashes in urns in our house. Pat sleeps with the collars of those deceased puppies on her bed post.

Through the years we have worked with a local dog adoption group in Kingwood and fostered several dogs. I have stopped on the side of freeways and on the shoulder or curb of many streets to rescue dogs that are lost on the roads. It is unbelievable to me how many people just drive by never trying to help those lost creatures. Our group, Twyla’s Friends, has an adoption day every Saturday to try to find homes for our fostered dogs. There is never an end to the number of lost or abandoned dogs that we find faster than we can find homes for them.

Miss Ruby was a foster that our group had rescued. She was a really old miniature chow mix, nearly bald from skin disease, nearly blind and practically deaf. We were asked to foster her for a weekend and we could not give the baby up. We got her skin cleared up and most of her hair grew back. She learned her way around inside the house and to walk around in our back yard and never get near the pool edge, as blind as she was. She may have been selectively deaf because she never missed a meal call. We only had her 14 months before old age took her but we made sure she knew she was loved. We had to have her put to sleep when her hind legs gave out and she could not pull herself up with her weak little front legs. Every puppy that we have had, when it came time to give them rest, we held in our arms and talked to them as the vet gave them that final shot. They all died knowing they were loved.

That leaves our current brood, Luther, our border collie, Miss Maggie, a corgi mix, and Charlotte , our Dalmatian. Two of them are now 14 years old so we are afraid they will not last much longer.

When I was young, my daddy had an older brother, my Uncle Jesse and his wife Aunt Alice. Their twin girls had died at childbirth in the early 1920s so they did not have any kids. They had two dogs that they treated like their children. I remember some friends and members of the family would talk about them like they were some sort of weird creatures, the way they treated their dogs. Now I am sure some of my friends and family may talk or at least think that about Pat and me, but I have a great respect for my aunt and uncle. Without sounding corny or sacrilegious, I want to say that I seriously feel that saving and caring for dogs has been a path God put me on.

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Remembrance of Things Past

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, with help from Randy ~ October 15, 2007

These are a few of my favorite things. Some antique, others merely vintage ~ gathered from the belongings of our parents and grandparents, they are now sprinkled throughout our home. They evoke precious memories whenever we look at and handle them.

What are the triggers that bring back those vivid, full blown recollections of things about which we have not thought in years? What is the role of the five senses in relation to the spontaneous memory that stores up perceptions and impressions and reveals them in sudden flashes, but with great detail ~ as though we were back in the moment experiencing them once again?

Somewhere along the way (in college, I imagine) I studied Marcel Proust’s epic novel, Remembrance of Things Past. Proust has been credited with coining the term "involuntary memory" for the concept of human memory in which "cues encountered in everyday life evoke recollections of the past without conscious effort". The most famous instance of involuntary memory in Proust's work is known as the "episode of the madeleine". His vivid description of his own flood of memory when he ate a madeleine teacake, accompanied by a cup of tea, has long fascinated readers of literature and science who have pondered the enigma of the sudden awakening of long dormant memories.

While driving home from work the other day I was listening to beautiful classical music on National Public Radio. I suddenly had a full blown memory of attending Houston Symphony Orchestra concerts as a child. I hadn’t thought of those for years, although they are surely an important part of the memories of my childhood and youth.

My father was always referred to as a “classically trained vocalist” and some of you may remember hearing him sing solos or in ensembles at Park Place Baptist Church. He had a very rich, expressive baritone voice. At the time I felt somewhat embarrassed by his dramatic interpretation of a song, but I recognize now how talented he was. Randy has some scratchy recordings of Daddy singing, and I can’t begin to tell you how it thrills me to hear his voice in that way, at this time. In my mind’s eye I picture the expression on his face and the gesture of his hands with each phrase of a song.

I mention my father’s background in relation to those concerts because he was always looking for ways to expose his kids to fine musical experiences. He had an extensive collection of classical music recordings and although we were quite late in getting a TV, we always had the current state-of–the-art equipment for playing those records. And he often found sources for free tickets to concerts and operatic performances. Sometimes we each took a friend, more often our family of four attended together.

I wrote Randy an e-mail asking what he remembered about the concerts, and here is his answer, in part. Randy wrote, “The outdoor concerts in the amphitheater at Hermann Park were performed by the Houston Symphony Orchestra. I believe the city parks and recreation department sponsored them, and they were free to the public as I remember.” We took blankets and picnic food, and sitting there under the stars, listening to that grand music, was quite an experience.

Randy continued, “The concerts at the Houston Auditorium were sponsored by the grocery store chain Henke and Pilot. Dad would pick up the tickets the week of the concert. I don't think our seats were reserved - I remember them being general admission. The circular ramp will forever be etched in my memory. It was so much fun to run down the ramp from our seats in the highest sections of the auditorium. Of course, I always had an eye out for girls and used my vivid imagination to build some fictional scenario in my mind about those I met or saw while the orchestra played on. I particularly remember being in awe of the percussionists. My favorites were the tympani (or kettle drums as they were often described). The Houston Symphony Orchestra concerts - whether the ones performed in the park, the evening concerts in the auditorium, or those that occurred during the school day and attended via school buses - were a major influence on me.” rl

As you may know, Randy’s entire career has been built around music and drama in one way or another (choral director in schools and churches, college professor in the field of music, director of numerous community and school related dramatic/musical extravaganzas, actor/vocalist in some). My musical abilities have been used with young children almost exclusively – in schools and in churches. Surely we were greatly influenced in those pursuits by our exposure to fine music by our father.

In the center of the photo accompanying this post, you will see some brass and iridescent mother-of-pearl covered opera glasses. Daddy had used these while growing up and in college, and I am sure it gave him great pleasure to share them with his own little ones as he took us to the concerts. While Randy remembers his imaginings of girls, I remember holding and treasuring those opera glasses, zooming in on the various performers. The mechanism still works smoothly after all these years. I still love to hold them fondly, working the wheel that focuses the lens, and doing so is one of the triggers that unlocks the storehouse of my mind.

My life is full of beautiful and positive experiences now, but I also find great pleasure and comfort in my own Remembrances of Things Past. What experiences of sudden, full-blown involuntary memories have you had? What sights, sounds, textures, smells, tastes evoke strong, in-the-moment memories for you?

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Vehicles We Have Known and Loved

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, Incorporating the Musings of Franklin Heide, John Echoff, Laura Striegler, Larry Bass, and Ed Davis ~ October 30, 2007

Several of you have mentioned vehicles in this blog. That seems appropriate as memories of cars are probably one of the things most of us hold in common. Franklin Heide mentions several vehicles in his comments. In “Memories of Days Gone By”, he says, “I can't believe no one has mentioned THE RANGER yet!! Dip fries, malts, "fender roaches", etc. Those with cool cars just driving around & around & around with their fingers on the vent window, sitting low in the seat.

Several comments relevant to vehicles can be found in the post “A Place for Miscellaneous Thoughts, or Simply Idle Chatter”. In response to Judy Stevens’ mention of Sidney Jones’ passing, Franklin commented, “Sorry to hear about Sidney Jones.” He went on to say, “Sid was a good guy (and a helluva good football player) who had the best of everything. His Mom & Dad had a 196? Fury, which Sid took out at times. Anyone remember his Grey Olds, customized & all?

In the same post, John Echoff commented, “When you mentioned carpooling, it brought back lots of memories of piling 6 or 7 kids in my '49 Mercury and trying to make it to school. We called it "The Bomb". No radio or heater, just transportation. Some time the windshield wipers worked, but mostly not. It's a wonder we all didn't die from exhaust gases during cold weather, but somehow we made it thru. And those were the good old days!” John even sent this photo of “The Bomb”, originally posted in the “Various Milby Photos” Album. (At end of this post, see additional photos of later vehicles that John owned, sent in June '08)

Laura Striegler Wilson added her car memory. Said she, “ I was just talking to my husband, Loyd, the other day about the long walks I took from Milby home to Meadowbrook, past the Wagon Wheel, and through the park there at Park Place, across a bridge that is no longer there . . . I walked until my senior year, when in a fit of temper, after having yet another round of hard-to-start episodes, Loyd backed his Baby Blue '50 Model Ford into my driveway and said (with some expletives), "you can have it". Pat Roberson and I rode to school every day in it from that point on, and it never gave me the problems it had given him. (Consequently, every car since obviously belongs to me since most were traded in on newer models thereafter.)

 

12/08/08 – Larry Bass sent this photo with the following message:

I notice in the Blog that Sonny referred to my blue Mercury. Well, I happened to find a picture of that gem and it is attached. Note the exterior is certainly not blue (a Sonny senior moment, I am sure), but I remember the interior was baby blue naugahyde.

Since my folks had a very uncool Nash Rambler (which I was never allowed to drive anyway – and therefore I did not get a driver’s license until age 27 - what was the point?), cars do not figure so prominently in my memories. But boy, Ed sure did love his cars. So I asked him to share a few of those memories with us.

Said Ed: "Pretty girls in high school vied to capture the hearts of the high school lads back in the '50’s as they still do today. But the competition was fierce back then since many of us had a running “love affair” with our cars – or a longing for the ones we did not or could not have. And I plead guilty to this strange romance. I was one of those who received a driver’s license at the tender age of 14. Since we lived quite a distance from my school and I was involved in a number of activities, my parents decided to buy me a car at the end of my 9th grade year. I was the proud owner of a 1955 Chevrolet in the summer of ’56. However, it was the sedan version of this classic car, was a 6-cylinder and single tailpipe variety, and was a not-so-cool chocolate brown color. But it was mine and I drove it proudly for a couple of years.

In my junior year, my dad decided to buy himself a truck and trade in their 1955 Mercury coupe – a hardtop convertible with a V-8 engine complete with dual tailpipes. I convinced him to let me have the Merc and trade in the Chevy instead. Fortunately, he agreed and I now had a much cooler ride for the rest of my high school days. However, the car was chartreuse (remember that color?) and white which was quite unacceptable. So, I saved up some money and modified the ride: removed the hood ornament and all other chrome fixtures on the hood and trunk and “leaded” it in; replaced the stock mufflers with glass-packs; lowered the rear end; and then had the whole car painted a gleaming black. You’ll have to imagine how it looked when transformed.

After that, college came and I was introduced to the world outside of League City and my high school. Then marriage brought its own decisions about cars as we struggled to make ends meet for a number of years. (Karla will comment on the role a car played in our courtship when I turn the keyboard back over to her.)

There were a few more memorable vehicles when Karla and I pulled up roots for a couple of years and moved to Benghazi, Libya (North Africa) in 1965 to teach school. Our first car was a very interesting Fiat 500 that was extremely small and only had a 2-cylinder engine. But it did have a roll-back roof liner and got great gas mileage – and it was cheap as well. We affectionately called it our ‘sardine can’. Here you see my brother, sister-in-law, and Karla viewing the Mediterranean sights through the roof opening.

Later, we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to purchase an older model Triumph TR-3 convertible (pictured outside our school building in Benghazi) with overdrive, racing shift, and a very powerful engine. We should have shipped this one back to the U.S. but could not afford it at the time.

Then there was the Land Rover that was a necessary vehicle type for excursions out into the Sahara Desert, which was the back yard to everyone in Benghazi. Mechanics were few and far between and when things went wrong with your car you were often in trouble. This happened to us once out in the Sahara, as the picture shows. It was deathly hot, no shade anywhere, and water was scarce. Even though this was the only road into the Sahara in Libya, we rarely saw another vehicle or human being. We managed to take turns sitting in the shade of the Land Rover and a friend and I kept fiddling around with the engine until we got it going again late in the day. It was scary and I guess it was fortunate that we escaped what could have been an unpleasant situation.

We have probably owned far too many cars since then, but these were the ones that produced some really great memories.”

Now that Ed has completed his musings about memorable vehicles, I must add that when Ed asked me for our first date at Baylor in 1961, I was excited in part because at the time he asked me, he was driving a baby blue and white 1959 Ford convertible - a VERY classy car to the mostly “vehicle-less” girls at Baylor. Of course, that was not the only reason I was excited to have a date with Ed Davis, and it’s a good thing, because when he arrived at the dorm to pick me up he had traded that baby blue ’59 Ford convertible in for a maroon Pontiac Tempest. [Ed notes – the first one with the engine turned sideways.] No matter – I loved him for who he was, not for the car he drove!!!

How about the VEHICLES YOU HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED? Let’s hear about the VARIOUS VINTAGE VEHICLES that have filled your life and your memories with wonder and joy. If you would like to submit a post, please write it up and send it to me as an inline text or as an attachment. You can also send photos as attachments - they make the post much more interesting!. My e-mail address is on the Milby 1960 website alumni section. Or, you can leave a LONG comment with your CAR STORY below this post or after the other vehicle post ("Javelote"). Karla

June, 2008  John Echoff found some additional photos of vehicles he has enjoyed through the years. Here's how John describes the vehicles in the photos that he sent along for this blog post:

This green '52 Studebaker is what I got after 'the bomb' (described and pictured earlier in this post) bit the dust. 

Then I got the 1960 Triumph Tr-3. That's Dina Warren beside me. (Double click to enlarge image) 

Next came the coolest of all cars ever built. At least I thought so - the '63 Vette.

Although it doesn't really meet the description of a car, I included a shot of my 172 Cessna.  I flew it for a long time and enjoyed any chance to be in the air. John Echoff

So, while we are on the topic of VEHICLES OTHER THAN CARS, check out a vehicle that Thurburn Barker and his family  lived and adventured on for a year. Thurburn writes: "In February, 1979, Cathie and I and our two daughters, Janet (then 14) and Heather (then 9) sold our home in Boulder,CO. We bought a sailboat in Sausalito, CA, and spent a year coastal sailing in California. This picture was taken in August, 1979, as we made a passage from Moss Landing to Monterey." Read more about their fabulous adventure at sea on Thurburn's bio page.

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"The Javelote" – Really!!!

Posted by Ray Prichard ~ October 31, 2007

Here are some pictures of my "first car", from 1963 college days at UT Austin. My suite mates and I went together and bought this 1947 Plymouth from a little old lady who was the original owner. We paid $75 for the car which needed a paint job, the engine needed valves and rings and it had a hole in the muffler so you could hear it coming a mile away.

Since I was the only one of us who was 21 I made a deal with the other three. Each paid $25 and I put the car in my name. One of the guys was a mechanic at heart and he went to the auto supply store and bought a few cans of paint, bright orange. One afternoon and late into the evening, on the curb of the street in front of our rooming house, the four of us sanded down that car, by hand, and painted it using cheap paint brushes. It looked so "boss" that we took white tape and put a big UT # 1 made out of that tape on the trunk lid since UT was #1 in the polls.

When we drove down "the drag" we really got attention. We would go to the corner gas station and buy a gallon of gasoline for $.16 cents and two quarts of used motor oil for $.05 Cents a quart. We poured the oil in the engine block and took off driving around campus. We could go an awful long ways on one gallon of gas at a time.

I picked up my date one night at her ritzy private dormitory and when I walked her out to the parking lot, she saw that car and said "I wonder who is driving that monstrosity" to which I proudly answered as I flashed the keys in her face, "its me!".

One of my suite mates was from Laredo and he decided we should call the car "The Javelote". When someone asked where the name came from we told them of the legend from the south Texas desert of a mythical creature that was a hybrid cross between a javelina and a coyote that roamed the desert at nights, i.e. "The Javelote". You would be surprised how many people believed that story, if you could tell it with a straight face, which I always could do.

We drove it home on November 8, 1963, from Austin to Houston , in a blinding rainstorm for most of the way, with no windshield wipers. I was in the front passenger seat, looking at the roadway along the bottom of the windshield, under the inert windshield wiper, watching to see how close to the edge of the road my room mate was driving and telling him when to move back to the left to avoid going off the roadbed. This was before there was any interstate highway. The rain stopped about in Katy and we barreled on into east Houston . My roommate’s brother was getting married that night and he was to be the best man.

The next morning, November 9, 1963 about 6:00 AM, we hopped back in The Javelote and drove back to Austin for the Texas vs. Baylor football game. There was a long line of cars headed to Austin for the game. You should have seen the looks of amazement when people in those cars passed us.

That year was Don Trull's senior year Baylor and he was All American Quarterback par excellence. UT beat them by one point, when Duke Carlisle intercepted Don Trull's last minute Hail Mary pass into the Texas end zone, to seal our victory.

Many years later, when I was in the insurance business, Don Trull was a client and I insured his construction company in Houston. I never did mention to him that I sat in the stands for one of his last college games rooting for The Longhorns.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.

[Thanks, Ray!!! Coincidentally, We were at Baylor stadium just after this post was entered. Our grandson was playing in a Pop Warner Football League End of Season Play-off game - he's the quarteback. On the way out of the stadium I looked up and saw this huge banner with Don Trull's picture. These banners of Past Greats ring the outside of the stadium. (Double Click on photo to enlarge image.) I have to admit to a choke of emotion on seeing Don's face there, especially just after reading your comments about Don in the blog. You'll see our connection with Don Trull at Baylor if you read Ed's comment immeditaely after this post. Couldn't resist including the picture here.]

FYI: If you would like to submit a post, please write it up and send it to me as an inline text or as an attachment. You can also send photos as attachments - they make the post much more interesting!. My e-mail address is on the Milby 1960 website alumni section. Or, you can leave a LONG comment with your CAR STORY below this post or after the other vehicle post. Karla

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“The media reports are not accurate…the 60’s were way better than that.”

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, January 12, 2008

His long, lanky body pacing gracefully back and forth across the front of the stage, Art Garfunkel reminisced about his life in the 60’s, including things he experienced on tours with his partner, Paul Simon – throughout America and across Europe, both before and as they were becoming famous as the duo “Simon and Garfunkel”. He interspersed his remembrances with some of the duo’s classic songs: “The Sound of Silence”, “Scarborough Faire”, “Cecilia”, "Homeward Bound", “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, and others, sung in his beautifully fluid tenor voice. Before he launched into his newer repertoire, he sidled onto a stool near the fixed microphone, leaned in, and softly spoke these words, “The media reports are not accurate…the 60’s were way better than that”... That brought uproarious applause from the mostly vintage crowd, folks in their 50’s and 60’s – folks like us.

The concert to which I refer was held last night (January 11th, 2008) at Waco Hall on the Baylor campus. It was one of the special pops performances featured in the Waco Symphony Orchestra’s 2007-2008 Season Schedule.
Our celebration of my brother Randy’s 68th birthday started with a fine dinner out and concluded with attendance at this thrilling concert. The experience was especially significant for several reasons. Art Garfunkel is our contemporary. He came of age at the exact same time we did; he was influenced by all of the same events that influenced us during our first decade after high school graduation. The Simon and Garfunkel songs were some of our favorites during that decade and therafter. We had recently joined Randy and Jeanine in their surround sound, “hi-def” home theatre for a viewing of Simon and Garfunkel’s 2003-2004 “Old Friends” World Tour. Hearing them sing together again on that DVD gave us a thrill, but last night we were surprised to find that Art Garfunkel’s solo renditions were equally thrilling.

The venue - Waco Hall – holds special significance for us as we all witnessed many performances there while we were students at Baylor in the early 60’s. Ed sang there with his fraternity in an “All University Sing” skit, and Randy performed there numerous times with various musical groups. Jeanine played the flute in Waco Hall as a member of the Waco Symphony Orchestra during that group’s formative years. While students at Baylor, we all attended Chapel services in Waco Hall twice a week, and I was a Chapel Checker – sitting in the balcony with a chart, looking down to see who was or was not sitting in the assigned seats below. (Yes, attendance was mandatory!) And…Ed sat in the section I was checking.

And then there is the fact that I had a potentially serious accident this past week in the school parking lot, an unbroken fall straight backwards, hitting the back of my head on the asphalt with great force. The starburst wound was stitched together easily enough, and the copious amounts of blood that drenched my clothes even washed out (the nurse told me to use straight peroxide - a trick I had never known!). But the concussion was of greater concern. It looks as though I am going to be OK, and I know that I am blessed – it could have been much worse. So after that traumatic experience, sitting there in that special place with people who are very special to me, listening to a beautiful voice sing nostalgic songs from the past – all came together to give me a very memorable evening.

I thought of all of you as I sat there. We have not talked much on this blog about our experiences in the decade following our graduation. I would like to open the floor for such a discussion. What comes to your mind when you read this quote…“The media reports are not accurate…the 60’s were way better than that.”? Any topic will be of interest, so please, leave your thoughts about the 60’s in the comment section that follows (click on the word “comments" below – no e-mail address or URL required).

Click here to link to an excellent source of information about the events and culture of the 1950's; click here to link to an excellent source for the 1960's.

And here's a great juke box link to the tunes we loved to play! (Unfortunately, you may not be able to play the tunes at this time. Still, just reading the titles and the names of the performers brings back great memories!)

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The Teacher Who Influenced Me

Topic Suggestion and Post Written by Linda Little Strickland, January 30, 2008

A while back I got this suggestion from Linda Little Strickland: “Karla, I thought a good blog topic would be about teachers that have influenced our lives. Now that we are in our retirement years we have the time to reflect on those days, oh so long ago. Linda”

I responded that it was a great topic and would she please write a piece from her own experience as the initial post. Here is Linda’s reflection on the topic…

“Here I sit in Savannah, Georgia, drinking coffee from Louisiana, thinking about my classmates in Texas and everywhere else. It has truly been a rainy night in Georgia.

When I was in high school I took Distributive Education, school half a day and then off to work. I missed meeting and having camaraderie with the students at Milby. Years after high school, my son Keith was looking through my school albums and said "Mom, do you know you went to school with K.T. Oslin?" I don't remember having a class with Kay. I'm proud of all my classmates - their adventures, and accomplishments. Like Karla, I just want to read more!

Teachers are important people in the life of a child. As I look back on my life, I remember Mr. McWhirter, a man of short stature who wore glasses. He was a soft spoken Christian man who was my English teacher at Milby. Wish I had paid more attention when grammar was taught, loved the Literature classes. I will never forget Silas Marner. I sat at the back of the classroom, always talking to my classmates. One day Mr. McWhirter walked to the back of the room (as he often did) and requested I write some of his comments on the blackboard.
  As I was walking to the front of the class he said to me "Linda, you could star in “Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend". Just a comment, nothing more. But to a lonely, insecure girl with low self-esteem, that comment spoke volumes. Would you believe to this day I can stand before any group of people? Instilled in me was a can-do attitude and a desire to discover my latent talents. Encouraging words still remembered from a teacher I knew fifty years ago.

During high school I worked at J.J. Newberry’s, located at the Gulf Gate Mall. I was so skinny had a hard time holding up those straight pencil skirts we wore back then. One day when at work, I was standing very still and a customer touched my arm. When I moved, she jumped back and said, '' I thought you were a mannequin.” Back in those days I bought a Ford station wagon for $75.00. The sides had wood panels. There was a hole the size of a plate in the back floor board, and it’s a wonder the fumes didn't kill me. Like Herbert Johns said about his car, it had four wheels and rolled.

After graduation, I attended Mary Beth McDonald Modeling School. That pursuit was derailed when I got married and had three children by the time I was twenty-six. My daughter was born when I was thirty years old and I was a stay-at-home Mom. The encouraging words of Mr. McWhirter that lifted my spirits while in High School were reflected in my communication with my children. Life revolved around family, church and school.

I worked part time jobs, like on Saturday at the post office, voting poll just once, and Social Services at a nursing home before a degree was required. While at the nursing home I observed how some of the patients were never touched, staff cleaned around them like a piece of furniture and their names were never spoken. It made me sad. I read a poem entitled "The Crabby Old Woman". From that poem I created a ten minute skit with props going from a ten year old child to an eighty year old woman. The skit represents the stages of life described by Eric Erikson, a psychologist who developed the hurdles of development from infancy to old age. I have performed this skit as an inservice to health care workers and others for the past twenty years. Now I have become the crabby old woman ................Not! After viewing my performance, a mayor from Pineville, La. had to go to the hospital because his blood pressure got sky high. The skit brought back memories of his mother.

At the age of forty-six I decided to go to college. Can't tell you how nerve wracking it was to take an ACT test after being out of school thirty years. I was not the sharpest knife in the drawer and always had to put forth more effort, study harder and longer. I completed college at LSU at the age of fifty. GO TIGERS ....... January 7th.

I chose to go into nursing as there was a shortage of nurses and there were employment opportunities everywhere. I decided to be a Psych Nurse. The field of mental health is my passion. I have seen the trail of destruction that mental illness causes in the lives of people, their family, marriage, and jobs. Many do not realize they have a mental illness or will not accept it. Some people have lived year after year under the dark cloud of depression, not knowing there is help out there. Many times people do not understand why a person would commit suicide or what to say to a friend or loved one who has those thoughts, although help is a phone call away. When a person is depressed they cannot just snap out of it. Being covered with a dirt blanket is a permanent solution to a temporary situation. Recently I created a skit on Suicide which was received well by my peers and other staff at the hospital where I now work. People with mental illness need encouraging words.

My retirement date is January 31, 2008. As I look back over this life I have lived, my accomplishment I am most proud of is my children. We have had struggles and many hills to climb, roads were not straight (my State Farm bills prove it), wrong turns were made, but life has been good. My son Kenneth lives in Texas, completed college after being married fifteen years, loves racing cars. Second son Kevin has a home building business in central Louisiana. Third son Keith is with the Secret Service (Homeland Security). The call went out for officers to train for the Counter-Terrorist Assault Team (C.A.T.). Many applied for the training, nine made it and Keith was one of them. At this time he is on the presidential detail with President Bush at the White House. Daughter Kristan has been in radio and television for many years and now has her own production business, Life's Eyes Media. Kristan is a Volunteer of the Year by the Cancer Association, 2007 in the Kentucky/Ohio region.

As Mr. McWhirter saw through the facade of a bleached blond (not appropriate in the fifties), rebellious girl without self worth, his encouraging words lifted my spirit and gave this little train the courage to say, "I can do it". I was able to pass that knowledge to my family, children, patients and coworkers. I am reminded of 1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Encourage one another and build each other up". Linda

WOW, Linda – thanks for those reflections on Mr. McWhirter and his influence not only on your life, but through you on the lives of many others. Thanks, too, for revealing so much of yourself to us. I would LOVE to see that skit, "The Crabby Old Woman". Maybe at our 50th reunion! (See Linda's Biography for more information about her life.) Please leave a response to Linda via a comment below. And, I hope that many others will offer their remembrances of teachers through comments below (or e-mail, with your photos). If you have a story to tell, do not feel limited on length – a comment can be as long as you wish to make it! Karla

Additional Information about Linda's son, Keith, was submitted in a comment under the post "Patriots and Heroes" on 01/10/08 as follows: Please remember my son Keith in your prayers. Today he is with President Bush in the Middle East. All our servicemen and women need the hedge of protection around them that only God can provide.

12/14/08 I received the following e-mail and attachments related to this Post from John Hammerle. John wrote, "A while back, someone suggested that we select a teacher that influenced us greatly while in school.  I received this in the mail a few weeks ago, and debated on sending a copy to you for the blog for fear of "tooting my on horn," pun intended.  I have received many of these thru the years, as many of you have, and am thoroughly convinced that this is the catalyst that keeps us going and improving our teaching pedagogy year to year.  When we realize how many students that we have been in front of thru the years, it really does hit home.” John   [You may have to put your specs on to read these. You may be able to increase the size of the entire blog, at least just to read these letters. My option is at the bottom right of the screen, yours may be a drop-down menu under view inthe upper task bar.]

 

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Paying Tribute

Posted By Karla Lofgren Davis, Based on a Suggestion and a Commentary from Paul Schrader, November 6, 2007

Paul Schrader posed this idea to me in an e-mail: “Who in our class has done what to positively enrich others? Maybe we could somehow acknowledge or honor one of our classmates who has made a difference. How could we get that info?”

What a great idea!!! However, I too am stumped when it comes to knowing how to get the information upon which to base such a tribute. So many of us have lived far and wide over the years, and have had limited contact with others – mostly at reunions. Paul's suggestion was this: “What if several people shared a story about what they know currently about one of our class mates, that because of modesty or whatever that person is not likely to volunteer? That might get the ball rolling. What do you think?”

Well, I think that would be truly wonderful and inspiring. He went on to tell about a visit he had with one of our group and what he had learned about her work over the years. He concluded with this: “Her old friends and class mates would also be very proud of what she has become, but they aren’t likely to know any of these things unless they are fortunate enough to have several hours with her alone.”

Fortunately, after this post was established Paul followed through on his suggestion and here is what he wrote about Dr. Judith F. Kennedy:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Have you ever had a desire to re-connect with a good friend from our high school days and learn about their life over the last 50 years? Well, I did and it was a great experience! Judy Kennedy was one of my good friends in high school, but I hadn’t really thought about her until I noticed her email address in the material we received after our 40th reunion. When I saw her name I remembered how much I liked her and how I would like to find out about her life. Even though I hadn’t seen or talked to her since high school, I decided to take a chance and write her. To my surprise, she answered.

After exchanging a number of emails over several months and becoming reacquainted, Judy eventually moved to Orlando from Seattle. By chance, I planned to be in Orlando for a golf outing and wrote her to see if she would be up for dinner. We spent a wonderful evening together exchanging stories on our lives and experiences. Here’s some of what I found out about Judy that I’d like to share:

•She completed her education after having two daughters and eventually received her doctorate in psychology (a shrink!!!)

•She has a successful business psychology consulting practice that keeps her in Seattle a lot, but she has clients all over the country

•Judy re-married a few years ago and currently lives in Florida

•Her daughters are married, have children, and live in Houston and Philly

•Most importantly, she is the same warm, caring, energetic and fun person that you may remember- and that rare combination of a very successful and good person

We stay in touch and share adventures (living through the earthquake in Seattle, snow storms in Denver and hurricanes in Florida) and will get together again for dinner one of these days somewhere and share more stories. A new/old friend is the best!     Paul Schrader

Karla's addition, January 13, 2008 - I received a beautiful hand painted Christmas card from my dear friend Judy Kennedy. It bore her signature and had a definite Florida flair. I had not known that she was painting, so sent her an e-mail, complimenting her on the piece, and inquiring about her artistic endeavors. Judy replied, "Thanks for the comment about my artwork. I have been doing watercolor for the last year and it is very much a passion of mine. I love doing portraits." I remember that Judy's mother, Nona Kennedy, was an artist. How appropriate that Judy would follow in her mother's footsteps.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thank you so much, Paul, for sharing your experience and this information with us. If you know something about one of our number…how he or she has enriched the lives of others… please share a tribute to that person in the form of a comment to this post. Of course, each of us may have a different idea about what it means to “enrich the lives of others”. There are no criteria written here. It is entirely up to you to determine the criteria that qualifies the person for your words of tribute.

[FYI – you don’t have to be a Milby Class of 1960 alum to write here. If you are a spouse, son or daughter, friend, reading this in our blog - feel free to write a comment telling about our classmate whom you admire.]

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In Loving Memory

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, first published October 23, 2007

Yesterday morning (October 23rd) we received an e-mail from Ray in which he informed us – as he has too many times before – that another of our classmates has departed this earth. That’s the third such e-mail in the past 4 months. We learned first, this summer, that Tommy Outlaw passed away on June 12. His passing was made especially poignant when Alton Couvillon closed his comment on the blog with this remark, “I was really effected by T.O.'s death, it hit me hard ...” Sad though it was, I am glad we had that glimpse into Alton’s sorrow at the loss of his dear friend.

We received another e-mail from Ray a couple of months later informing us of the death of John Craig on September 14. (Many of you will remember that John was married to another of our alumni, Jennette Coleman Craig, who died on September 10, 2002.) Both John and Jennette were good friends of mine, and I wanted to say something to someone about what dear people they were. However, here in Waco I am far removed from any gathering where folks might know John and share my admiration for him. At that time I wondered if it might be good to open a post on this blog to provide a virtual community where we could gather at such a time to express our love, sorrow and admiration.

Then yesterday morning, October 23, we received the e-mail from Ray containing this message from Janellen Wilder Cole: “Ray, it is with sadness that I am letting you know that Pat Bain (Belzeski) Hoyt passed away on Thursday, Oct. 18th. There will be a memorial service at Woodlawn Funeral Home on Antoine this Saturday 4-7pm. She died from lung cancer--and was never a smoker. Born Dec 23, 1942. She leaves a daughter and 3 sons, and grandchildren.”

I have thought a lot about Pat lately as I was in Park Place Elementary school and went on to Deady and Milby with her. As the blog has progressed I have identified her in most of my Park Place Elementary class pictures. I remembered fondly that her mother was our Brownie leader, so I thought of her each time someone mentioned our Brownie and Girl Scout Troops. Although I have not seen her in all these years since graduation, I remember her well as a very sweet, kind, and loving person.

Since I was once again faced with the desire to express my feelings about a childhood friend with others who knew her, I decided it really would be appropriate to have a place on the blog for just such occasions. It is my sincere hope we do not have other occasions to use it, but it will be here when it is needed. Please feel free to use the comment opportunity below to leave your remembrances of any of our departed classmates – whether recent or long ago.

Here is another recent loss for our class: Carmen PHILLIPS Inge  (03/10/1941 to 09/17/2008)

And here is a link to our Milby 1960 Website "In Memorium" section that lists all of those we know of who have departed.

http://www.milbyclassof1960.org/memoriam.shtml

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What Are You Doing, Now That You've Retired?

April 14, 2008 . . . Here's a question posed to those of you who have the luxury of RETIREMENT by Linda Little Strickland, who has recently joined your ranks and ~ after a prolonged visit with her mother, then assisting in the birth of her newest grandchild  ~ is now wondering...

"What are some of the things our classmates have done since RETIREMENT?" 

Linda continues: I love this quote from Henry Ford. "Anyone  who keeps learning stays young.  The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young".   I am thinking about taking an art class.  Nice to be 65, college courses are free here in Georgia. I have tried to put feet to some of the things I want to learn, and I have bought the books on growing roses, growing herbs, training a dog. Tried to put exercise in my schedule as a job and only with music can I stay on the treadmill. Do we have anyone in our class who has written a book or invented anything in the last fifty years?  I would like to know who has climbed a mountain, joined a motorcycle gang, moved to a place of their dreams, learned a new dance and on and on. Many have talent and so proud to read of their accomplishments. I really would like to hear what others are doing for fun in retirement years. Linda (you must read Linda's amusing yet poignant comment about her visit to her mother, attached to "On Becoming the Parent of Your Parent", then visit her bio page to read the hilarious account of the birth of her grandson)

To get things started, I have scoured the blog for information already posted about retirement activities. I have collected what I found and entered it as a comment, below. Please click on the word "Comment" (just below, on the right) to read that information. Then tell us what you are doing with your retirement time, or report on another of our classmates ~ some in our group are a bit shy, or perhaps too busy climbing that mountain to read the blog! KD

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April 14, 2008 . . . Here's a question posed to those of you who have the luxury of RETIREMENT by Linda Little Strickland, who has recently joined your ranks and ~ after a prolonged visit with her mother, then assisting in the birth of her newest grandchild  ~ is now wondering...

"What are some of the things our classmates have done since RETIREMENT?" 

Linda continues: I love this quote from Henry Ford. "Anyone  who keeps learning stays young.  The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young".   I am thinking about taking an art class.  Nice to be 65, college courses are free here in Georgia. I have tried to put feet to some of the things I want to learn, and I have bought the books on growing roses, growing herbs, training a dog. Tried to put exercise in my schedule as a job and only with music can I stay on the treadmill. Do we have anyone in our class who has written a book or invented anything in the last fifty years?  I would like to know who has climbed a mountain, joined a motorcycle gang, moved to a place of their dreams, learned a new dance and on and on. Many have talent and so proud to read of their accomplishments. I really would like to hear what others are doing for fun in retirement years. Linda (you must read Linda's amusing yet poignant comment about her visit to her mother, attached to "On Becoming the Parent of Your Parent", then visit her bio page to read the hilarious account of the birth of her grandson)

To get things started, I have scoured the blog for information already posted about retirement activities. I have collected what I found and entered it as a comment, below. Please click on the word "Comment" (just below, on the right) to read that information. Then tell us what you are doing with your retirement time, or report on another of our classmates ~ some in our group are a bit shy, or perhaps too busy climbing that mountain to read the blog! KD

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April 14, 2008 . . . Here's a question posed to those of you who have the luxury of RETIREMENT by Linda Little Strickland, who has recently joined your ranks and ~ after a prolonged visit with her mother, then assisting in the birth of her newest grandchild  ~ is now wondering...

"What are some of the things our classmates have done since RETIREMENT?" 

Linda continues: I love this quote from Henry Ford. "Anyone  who keeps learning stays young.  The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young".   I am thinking about taking an art class.  Nice to be 65, college courses are free here in Georgia. I have tried to put feet to some of the things I want to learn, and I have bought the books on growing roses, growing herbs, training a dog. Tried to put exercise in my schedule as a job and only with music can I stay on the treadmill. Do we have anyone in our class who has written a book or invented anything in the last fifty years?  I would like to know who has climbed a mountain, joined a motorcycle gang, moved to a place of their dreams, learned a new dance and on and on. Many have talent and so proud to read of their accomplishments. I really would like to hear what others are doing for fun in retirement years. Linda (you must read Linda's amusing yet poignant comment about her visit to her mother, attached to "On Becoming the Parent of Your Parent", then visit her bio page to read the hilarious account of the birth of her grandson)

To get things started, I have scoured the blog for information already posted about retirement activities. I have collected what I found and entered it as a comment, below. Please click on the word "Comment" (just below, on the right) to read that information. Then tell us what you are doing with your retirement time, or report on another of our classmates ~ some in our group are a bit shy, or perhaps too busy climbing that mountain to read the blog! KD

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The Typing Teacher, The Paddling, and Wishful Thinking

An e-conversation between Darryl Roberts and Karla

Subtitled: A Likely Story!

After Linda developed the post entitled “The Teacher Who Influenced Me”, I sent an e-mail to those who had previously made a contribution to the blog, listing all of the teachers from our years at Milby and encouraging them to tell an anecdote or two about a teacher. I received this missive from Darryl.

Karla,
The typing teacher seems to be missing. I can't remember his name but I really learned to type and that abi/l-iTy ha s ser,ved m e W'ell. But another thing about him is that he paddled me once in the coach's office for looking at a card that a girl behind me had handed me. He walked in just as I took it from her and he grabbed it and immediately proceeded to escort me down for a paddling.

After the paddling I asked him to please explain what the card was. It was something that was mildly suggestive by 1958 standards but would be nothing today. The typing teacher apologized to me. The girl that handed me the card was Patty Nettles. I was somewhat interested in dating her, but she wanted nothing to do with me. Guess she didn't want a band nerd. Other than that, I was charming, dashing and very handsome…and rich. Signed: Darryl

Hi, Darryl!
Could the typing teacher to whom you refer be Carl Shelburne? He is the only male teacher in the commercial section (includes typing) in the 58-59-60 yearbooks. I notice that Patty Nettles was in the band, too. So, was she a nerd?

My husband and my sister-in-law were both in the band in high school and they loved it. It was an important part of their high school careers. They always scratch their heads in puzzlement when someone jokingly casts aspersions about band guys and gals.

On that subject - I have been very impressed with the contributions on the blog from our former Milby band members (including yourself). You all are well represented here and are an impressive bunch - charming, dashing, handsome/beautiful, and successful (rich) indeed!!! Signed: Karla

Yes Karla,
Shelburne was his name. Sorry I didn't see it. And I had forgotten that Patty Nettles was in the band. We could have had little nerdy kids. Signed: Darryl

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Patriots and Heroes

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, based on e-mail from Ray Prichard December 11, 2007

Click here to view a related post entitled VETERAN'S DAY ESSAYS

Ray sent this photo, along with the following e-mail message:

"This is a picture of Patsy FORBES Serna’s son, Troy Charleville, a medical corpsman who is serving in Iraq . [Double click on the photos for a larger view.] She has sent me emails relating how worried she is and how she prays every day for his safe return. How about putting something on the blog for people who have children or grandchildren serving in Iraq or anywhere in the U.S. Military, at home or abroad. We probably have several classmates with close family members in harms way. This would be a way to honor those service personnel and our classmates who wait for their safe return."

Just looking at this picture conjures up all sorts of thoughts - from what it must be like for Troy to serve in this way, to what it must be like for Patsy and her family to long for his safe return. Here's another picture of Troy and the Christmas tree at the military hospital where he is based, "somewhere in Iraq". Suddenly the news reports seem much more real. Certainly this can be a good reminder to all of us to pray for Troy and all others who serve. I would love to post other names and photos of your loved ones. Just send them to me via e-mail and I'll add them to this post. Feel free to give your own thoughts on this topic, either as an accompaniment to the photo you send via e-mail, or through a comment below.

Another service member is identified in a comment below. He is Linda Little Strickland's son Keith, who is in the Secret Service (Homeland Security) on the Counter-Terrorist Assault Team (C.A.T.). He is serving on the presidential detail with President Bush at the White House (or as he travels overseas). Please be sure to read her comment for more information.

August 1, 2008 - In a comment elsewhere on the blog Donald Hannsz wrote about his son, as follows, "We have a son, Donald...but he's not a "Jr."...different middle names, who is a 3rd Class Engineman in the Navy and is currently stationed at the Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, VA. He graduated from Clear Lake High School in 2004. He is in a Mobile Maritime Security Squadron (they use 34ft Ridgid Hull Inflatible boats powered with two Cummins Diesel engines with 3-50 cal. machine guns mounted fore and aft) which protect our national assets (such as Naval ships and Naval support vessels) to prevent another USS Cole incident. He will be shipping out shortly for seven months overseas (I'll leave the destination to your imagination...remember..."loose lips sink ships"). Please keep him, his shipmates, and all of our Military Service Personnel everywhere in your prayers."

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A Link to the Gulf

Franklin Heide forwarded photos and commentary that were sent to him by Lonita “June” Sillings Priest. March 2, 2008

Here’s something for those that have been intrigued by the “longer than life” highway construction project named I-45 (commonly called the Gulf Freeway). The Gulf Freeway between Houston and Galveston was constructed in the mid 50’s. This view near present-day El Dorado Boulevard shows a typical section of the Gulf Freeway in July 1956.

Interesting note: The Gulf Freeway was really not a freeway at all in the beginning. Most of the Gulf Freeway was in fact a highway without access control. TxDOT did not purchase access rights along the highway, so only an 8.5-mile (14 km) section in Houston was actually a freeway, and there were 32 at-grade crossings between Houston and Galveston. But it just wouldn't have sounded right to call it the Gulf Highway. Later, frontage roads would be added for the entire length to Galveston to make the Gulf Freeway a true freeway.

If they had waited to dedicate the highway until construction was completed - it still wouldn't be dedicated!!!
The official dedication ceremony was held on August 2, 1952. Motorcades from both Houston and Galveston met at the approximate midpoint near Dickinson on the FM 517 overpass.

By the early 1960s rush-hour traffic jams were part of everyday life on the Gulf Freeway. This 1965 photo shows the evening rush-hour backup at the beginning of the freeway in downtown. Researchers at the Texas Transportation Institute used the Gulf Freeway to investigate experimental traffic control practices. This lead to more construction....more lanes....more traffic...more congestion...ad infinitum ad nauseum.

Surely this freeway - and those that followed and now crisscross Houston - changed the city forever. How did the Gulf Freeway impact your life? What memories do these photos and this commentary stir up for you? Please click on the word "comment" below and leave your thoughts and/or respond to those of others. And thank you Frank and June!

March 3rd...Mike's comments (click and open, below) stirred my memories of camping on the beach in Galveston. I rummaged in the photos tonight and found this photo of a Lofgren family campsite on the beach, dated July 1948. Recognize the Lofgren Kids, below?
Do you have any vintage photos taken at the beach in Galveston? Any year will be great. Send them to me and I'll post them! Karla

Mike sent this link to a web cam site for Galveston. Check it out for a present day view - updated at regular intervals:

http://www.galveston.com/webcams/casadelmar/frameset.html

FYI - this had been showing the same picture since the day before Hurrican IKE hit Galveston (09/11/08). However, on 12/18/08 it was once again operational. That's encouraging!   KD

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Memorable Spring Images

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis ~ March 16, 2008

In an earlier post (Remembrance of Things Past) I talked about the things that ~ when we encounter them in our daily lives ~ suddenly bring forth full blown memories without conscious effort. I have had that kind of experience several times lately as spring growth is burgeoning all around us.

We have several plants around our yard now that evoke strong memories of our old home place there at the end of Broadway. Bridal Wreath is one of those. When I was growing up, there were two such bushes in our front yard, twin sentinels at either end of our screened front porch. The more technical name for the bush is spirea, but I still prefer the common name “bridal wreath”. As a young girl, playing in that huge wooded yard, I loved to break off long branches of the flowers. I suppose as I waved the graceful arching boughs of delicate white flowers about, and thought the words “bridal wreath”, the flowers were imbued with an ethereal quality that caused me to dream of a beautiful wedding scene (of which I was the center of attention, of course). Maidenhair fern and woods violets are other plants that have a similar effect on me. Since all three ~ bridal wreath, maidenhair fern, and woods violets ~ are so delicate and exquisitely fragile, there seems to be something almost magical about them.

Just this past Sunday Ed and I were walking around our yard, talking about the spring gardening chores that we need to do ~ pruning, weeding, replanting, etc. The violets always need to be thinned out as they are rampant growers, and we both realized our bridal wreath and maidenhair fern plants need to be ripped out as they are well past their prime. The awful wrenching emotions I suddenly felt gave me insight into why I always want to have these plants in our garden.

Are there plants and flowers that you love, that bring forth strong memories for you? Please share your memories ~ or your current gardening projects ~ with us. Send photos to Karla by e-mail attachment.

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Springtime in North Texas

Submitted by Charles Simmons, March 30, 2008

Karla's article on "Memorable Spring Images" reminded me of the springtime in North Texas. To Hilda and me, that means azaleas, azaleas and more azaleas. Our home in Arlington literally looks like it’s on fire with the brilliant reds of the azaleas. Here is a photo of us with a young nephew amongst the flowers in our back yard.

The spring also brings out the beautiful white Bradford Pear trees.

The fall is ablaze with our wonderful Japanese Maples. It’s so beautiful; I simply had to share it with everyone. Charles Simmons

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Charles and Dolly's Dobermans

Post submitted by Charles Crider, August 13, 2008

After moving to Spring, we thought that it was time for us to get a little companion. Being raised with Buster and Blackie, we decided to get a Doberman which we named Fritz Wolfgang Lubick Jr. but called him ‘JR’. Dolly was not afraid of him attacking her by the throat.  (Click on photos to enlarge)

When ‘JR’ was about 10 months old, we enrolled him, and us, in an obedience class. After sixteen weeks of the class we put him in a obedience dog show in Conroe. He won a trophy for his class and another for getting the highest score in the show. We were very proud of him and he really loved us.

A few years later, we decided to get ‘JR’ a friend. I found a little girl that was just right for ‘JR’ and named her ‘Shan Grr La’.  She told most people her middle name (Ha Ha). All four of us enjoyed doing things together including camping and hiking.

We enrolled ‘Shan’ in obedience class and she really liked to please and obey. I decided to make a warning sign. Since I made it, we have not had one salesman come to our house (Ha Ha).

A year or so after 'JR' and and 'Shan' had both passed away, we found another ‘little friend’. We named this Doberman, ‘Miss De Meaner’. She would always ‘steal your heart’. She enjoyed going everywhere with us.

‘Miss’ made a lot of friends. One was a squirrel that lived in our yard. She would protect her friend while she ate, keeping other squirrels away from her friend’s food.

After ‘Miss’ passed away, we met a lady whose husband was being transferred overseas. They had a young Doberman that they could not take with them. Her name was Nakita, which is Russian for Angel, and she was really an angel. If you were sitting and she was around, she would walk up and place her chin on your knee and look at you with her big brown eyes. She also loved going everywhere with us. Nakita has since passed away.

They all loved us as much as we loved them. I am sure they are all waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge. 

[ Enjoy reading Charles' biography by clicking here. You'll be amazed at the beautiful, creative products he makes using fine woods, deer horns, and bullet casings. ]

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Charles Simmons For President

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, based on an E-mail from Charles Simmons on 09/27/08

Charles Simmons sent the following e-mail and photos. VERY intriguing in such a time as this!!!

To My Dear Friends,

This picture of John McCain brought back some fond memories.

I’ve seen this picture many times, but only recently did I realize what airplane it was. 

  

(John McCain is bottom right)

This is the same airplane I flew in the Navy Training Command.  It is the T2A Buckeye.  John was in training at NAAS Meridian and I would be willing to bet that this was his last flight at Meridian.  It typically was a four-plane formation flight and they would take a picture of the students after completion of this graduating flight.  John and I followed the same training track in the Navy although he was about four years ahead of me.

Here’s mine!

(Charles is far right)

Just think, I could be running for President!

Charles

For more about Charles and the path his life has taken him CLICK HERE  and HERE.

Charles, I would surely vote for you for president!!! Karla

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The Shootout, 2008

Posted by Larry Smith, 10/12/08

A few weeks ago I  said something in the Blog about recording music from LP to CD, and John Echoff volunteered to donate some old LP's for conversion.  We started e-mailing, and I mentioned some things I liked to do, and one was shooting in rifle matches.  Well, that got us talking about getting together, and Charles Crider jumped in, also interested.  So, when Charleen offered to invite them up to our place and provide lunch, I could not pass it up.

 

 

 

About 200 feet behind the house, there is a narrow path through the trees, ending at the back side of the pond, with wire to hang targets.  That was all it took to lock in John and Charles for a visit, and we picked Oct. 11 as the best day.  We all have toys we like to play with, and our common toys are firearms.  So, we exchanged info on things we liked to shoot, and started getting excited about what each of us was going to bring.  You know, show me yours and I'll show you mine.  And bring the girls along.

 

I told Sheila Howard what we were doing, and she said it sounded like fun.  And John told Glenda Minniece about it, and she was also interested.  It was sounding like an old-timer's ROTC meeting.  Unfortunately, Glenda and Sheila could not attend because of prior commitments, and we really missed them. 

 

 

 

This was the most serious shooting we have done here, and we needed some "shooting furniture".  So after looking at designs on the internet, I got some lumber and built two shooting tables and benches, and a few days ago realized that we needed a place to display our rifles.  So I also built a rifle rack out of wood scraps I had saved, with space for 14 rifles, and Charleen made four sandbags for me out of an old mail bag.

 

We set it for 10:00 am. John had the longest drive, from Santa Fe to Navasota. Charles was coming from the Spring area.  Saturday morning John and Linn missed the Hwy 105 exit and ended up around Roans Prairie before calling me.  And Charles got caught in the Ren-Fest traffic. So we got a late start.  Luckily I found a path through the trees for John to get his car through because he had a lot to unload.  I am glad I had the rack because John brought 10 rifles and a bag full of pistols.  I had to lean some of mine against the side. 

 

Charleen did a nice job on lunch.  We had crock pot pork BBQ, potato salad, calico beans, and Bahama cole slaw, and Dolly brought a great chocolate caramel cake for desert (yummy).  Whose cake recipe was that?  Chuck and Priscilla (Charlene’s parents) came out for lunch, and we had a nice time getting acquainted and re-acquainted.  Then we started making lots of noise.

 

 

 

I had told John that I liked lever action rifles, and he brought several of them.  I especially liked the uncommon .45-70 and the .25-20 calibers.  Those, and Charles' .30 Herrett caliber single shot pistol, were my favorites at the 80 yard range.  Charles got to shoot John's M1 rifle, then we walked up to about ten yards from the targets and shot a bunch of the pistols. 

 

 

 

My favorite of them was John's single action Colt .45 western revolver.  It was the first time for Linn to shoot a German Luger (1917).  Turns out John also has one of them, but much too collectible to shoot.  We oooo'd and aaah'd and ogled everything, actually spending more time visiting, looking, and handling than we did shooting. But my shoulder is still sore.   

 

It was a very nice day with a cool breeze under the trees.  Steve and Beverly (Charlene’s brother and sister-in-law) came over to meet everyone, and the girls took a walk out to the greenhouse and garden area.  Not sure if Linn went with them because she spent some time shooting with the guys.  Sorry we didn't get a camera out until we were sitting around at the very end.  John needs to send you some pics, and we definitely need to do this again.

 

[John added his bit to the story of the afternoon: " We had a blast, literally!!!  And Charles presented Larry and me with one of his hand made pens, very nice."]

 

John also sent me this photo of what HE called "The Three Milby Monkeys - Hear No Evil, See No Evil, and Speak No Evil."  His story was that it was taken with Linn's cell phone, hence the blurred quality. Now, if you believe THAT, I have a photo of the Loch Ness Monster that I'd like to show you. I think it's more likely that the three of them, well, you know, sort of. . . well, 

broke the camera.

 

Click here to read Larry's bio page. Then use the back arrow to return here.

 

Click here to read John's bio page. Then use the back arrow to return here.

 

And click here to read Charles' bio page (you'll see his pens there, too). Then use the back arrow to return here.

 

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The Time You Enjoyed Wasting

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis, March 13, 2009

I am so glad I am now in the e-mail groups of so many of our Milby classmates. I am getting lots of interesting / informative / funny / vivid / inspiring messages these days. Some of you are VERY prolific, others more selective! Keep them coming!

Lately, Larry and Kathy Bass have been sending some provocative “Thoughts for the Day”. I really am enjoying all of them, but on Saturday, 02/20/09, I received one that is REALLY for me!!!

The time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted time!

I am far too task driven and feel guilty over "wasted" time. Ed has scolded me for 47 years about my lists, saying I need to be more ROLE oriented (wife, friend, mother, and now - grandmother) rather than being GOAL oriented. I get it, but I don't often do it! This daily thought was just what I needed to read. I enjoyed wasting a full day yesterday - guilt free!!!

Care to respond??? (Oh, I hope so!) Just scroll to the bottom of this post, click on the word 'Comments' and leave your own.

Posted by: Glenda Burns Minniece | February 22, 2009 at 06:01 PM - Karla,  This is a comment regarding your reflections on the quote Larry and Kathy Bass sent: "The time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted time!" I've always been a lazy creature and have wasted a lot (!!!) of time, but have always felt guilty about it, coming from a family of very industrious people as I do. So when my mother would try to amend my behavior, I would quote Richard LeGallienne's poem:

I meant to do my work today,
But a brown bird sang in the apple tree,
And a butterfly flitted across the field,
And all the leaves were calling to me;
And the wind went sighing over the land
Tossing the grasses to and fro,
And a rainbow held out its shining hand -
So what could I do but laugh and go?

Mother was a poetry lover so some of the time she'd let me get away with it, but not always! For sure!

But in more direct response to the Bass' quote, a poem written in 1900 by William Henry Davies is especially apt in our modern, fast-paced world. Here's part of it:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to sit and stare?
No time to see in broad daylight
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

And I know that we've all noticed that if we've been wrestling with a thorny issue, then lay it aside for a bit, our minds relax and the issue becomes clearer and/or more manageable. The Bass' quotation is right on - "wasted" time is never wasted - especially when enjoyed!

Posted by: Linda Strickland | February 23, 2009 at 11:41 AM - Now that we are retired seems we have more time to reflect on life going on around us.

Glenda, Talking about time...I sometimes do not wear a watch when out and about. I enjoy the moments spent not looking at a list, viewing a new business, speaking with others I meet, not on a mission but a "la la" time of simple enjoyment. Linda

 

Posted by: Charles Simmons| February 25, 2009 at 07:04 AM - While flying for the airlines, I was married to my wrist watch. Like Linda, I never wear one around the house anymore - only when I'm out and about, but hardly ever look at it. Another thing I don't do anymore is constantly watch the Weather Channel. About all I care about is, "Did the sun come up this morning?" Time is different when retired. I find it's measured in weekends - not hours. Getting somewhere on time is a virtue, but I've coined an expression that applies when we get just a little behind schedule -- Relax, we're not catching an airplane!!!

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The Streets Where We Lived

Posted by Karla Lofgren Davis ~ June 20, 2009 

Take a look at the maps below and find your old neighborhood. Let’s reminisce about the things that happened on the streets where we grew up...or in the wider neighborhood, "The Streets Where We Lived."

My old house sat on several acres at the end of Broadway – where it dead-ended into Sims Bayou. Later (when I was away at Baylor) the old house would be cut in half and moved away. The big multi-lane bridge that crossed through our old property would extend Broadway from Park Place on over to Glenbrook Valley and beyond to the rapidly burgeoning Hobby Airport.

While we were growing up there at the end of Broadway we led an idyllic life of adventure. Lucian Carter (Randy's age, and a frequent companion) lived nearby - seen here with Spanish Moss fashioned as Daniel Boone's hat. Peggy O’Neal and Doris Lentz lived near the bayou several streets over - on streets that ran parallel to Broadway (can’t remember the names of those streets), and just a few blocks from them (toward Park Place Boulevard) lived Mike Collins and Dale Whitmarsh (both in the class of ’59). James New (we shared a party line with him) and Johnny Neal Heard lived just one block over in one direction. Paul Irwin, Thomas Barnes, and Jerry McDaniels, lived in the next block or so in the other direction. We all rode our bikes a lot. I still do that in my dreams occasionally, whizzing past familiar landmarks. There were no sidewalks, curbs, or gutters, so we mostly had to walk or ride in the street.  

Before the Gulf Freeway overpass went in at Broadway and Park Place Boulevard, Broadway was a fine old road with a broad grassy center esplanade. There were Palm trees down the center - very "old fashioned". I overheard someone telling Mama that a child had commented, “Mr. Lofgren drives so fast he doesn’t give the toads time to hop.” There were a lot of smashed toads on that road, and at some point I started collecting them – I guess so neighbors wouldn’t know how many my dad had murdered. Mama found the stacks of dried stiff toads on my windowsill – behind the curtains – and I was forbidden to collect them after that.

What are some memories you conjure up when you picture the streets where you lived and roamed as a youth? There are already a number of descriptions of neighborhood shenanigans on the blog -  they have brought many a laugh and  even a few tears to my eyes in the past. Stirred old feelings, long dormant. I will start hunting them down and copy them here as a starter.  May 30 - the first of such exchanges is now at the bottom of this page - comments between Darryl Roberts and Mike Roberts (are they related? and what is Sonny Jones' relation to either? Or did I dream that up???)

Here are some maps from Google. Click on each map to enlarge. Your browser may allow you to click again for an even larger view. Side and bottom bars may allow you to maneuver around the areas. Then tell us where you lived, worked, and played. Help me add to the following list - the neighborhoods that Milby served: Meadowbrook, Park Place, Pecan Park, Harrisburg (Laura gave us that one), Manchester (John confirmed this one), what else?

Golfcrest, Mason Park, Magnolia Park, Glenbrook Valley, Allendale, Oak Meadows   ........- which of these were considered neighborhoods, and which were areas served by Milby? What are some others not named here?

  

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Here are the first of the exchanges about the streets where we lived, brought forth from the bowels of the blog. Enjoy and watch for more.

Posted by: darryl roberts | January 03, 2009 at 04:21 PM

Karla,
I have been thinking of an incident that happened when I was at Deady in the 7th or 8th grade. Several boys and I'm not sure who they were. One was probably my neighbor and friend, George Allbritton (Milby '62). The ring leader whose name I can only hope to remember organized a trip to Southmayd Park. He said that there was a big drainage pipe that went underground from Woodrigde street to a large concrete drainage ditch. Down in the pipe, supposedly, it opened up into a large room where a man named Trask lived. But first we all went to Lang's Drug Store and bought nickel cigars. Because Trask would only welcome our visit if we brought him cigars. It was the first and only cigar I have ever bought in my life.
So we rode our bicycles over to Southmayd Park, cigars in hand, to see Trask. On the way I heard an inner voice telling me something was not right about this situation and I gave my cigar to one of the other boys and left for home.
As I think about it, I realize there was no man named Trask. It was a scheme to get everyone to smoke their first cigar. I now find it humorous but I'm glad I didn't smoke that cigar.
Has anyone else any recollections of any such events?
Darryl

Posted by: Mike Roberts | January 03, 2009 at 08:48 PM

Hi Darryl, I remember that pipe well, at 1 point in time there was an entrance, just below the street off Woodridge, which ran thru the apartments next to Southmayd Park. The pipe ran about 20' under the street and teed left and right. Two neighbor pals and I were told if you went right it would come out in the big drainage ditch behind the apartments. One bright sunny day with nothing special to do we thought we would check it out.

Terry Brown, a brave little cuss, led the way. Ronnie Gibbs and I followed closely behind as to not get lost, it was dark in there with the only light entering at given drain points. Terry had started down a smaller pipe leading off the main pipe. He quickly reversed his direction hollering " Look out, it's a huge rat. "

I always tought I was about as fast as anyone around in those days, but Ronnie past me up heading for the light at the end of the tunnel. One had to run on 1 side of the pipe a few steps and jump across the water, running on the other side of the pipe and back and forth. As he reached the end and made his way off to the side I joined him. We heard Terry slip, cuss and hit the water. I looked back just as Terry past me with his hands outstretched in front of him as tho he were diving, skimming along the top of the water and down the concrete flow ramp and into the drainage bayou. He came up from the water laughing at himself and Ronnie and I joined him in the humor of it. After a moment and taking inventory of his condition he held his hands up. They were slit open as there was broken glass all thru the tunnel and down the ramp.

He immediately began to scale the 6 foot concrete wall with my help and before I could get up the wall and the hill to the 6 foot fence surrounding the gully, Terry was over the fence and gone. He ran all the way home. He recovered from the cuts and added to his daring deeds.We all learned from our curiosity but never let that incident sway our penchant for excitement and ( bloody )colorful memories.

Posted by: Larry Smith | January 03, 2009 at 10:45 PM

Hey Mike, I lived on Woodridge just down the street from that big gully and entrance to the drainage system. A bunch of us played down there for years. There was a rope tied to a tree limb that the kids would swing across the gully on. What great memories come to life on our blog.
...Larry

Posted by: Mike Roberts | January 04, 2009 at 10:59 AM

Yeah, that was a kick, and we didn't have to wear helmets and pads either !

Abdo and Sonny on the Beach

August 17, 2008

Talk about a small world. Elaine and I took another Carribean cruise last week and it was terrific as usual. The weather was perfect and "ridin' them seas" was smooth and beea-utiful. Any way, our first port-of-call was Montego Bay, Jamaica. We signed up for an excursion called the "Deluxe Day at the Beach". So we get off the ship at the terminal, and we're in line on our way to the shuttle bus, and who is in line just ahead of us, but everyone's favorite introvert...Sharon Abdo.

I had only seen Sharon a couple of times since high-school, and then only briefly. So now, I travel to Jamaica, and she is directly in front of me. You all remember how shy and demure Sharon was when we were young.....well she's just as you remember(and then some)! She has aged as well as any Angus beef I've ever seen. I guess "fine wine" would be a better analogy. Seriously, we had some big-time fun and all I can say is that she brought back many Milby memories and more. She was with her daughter and granddaughter on an all-girl trip. I fell instantly in-love with her granddaughter, Kaitlyn (who I'm sure is adopted).

The beach was storybook and we had one "different", but entertaining bus ride back. A singing, rapping, rhyming bus driver got some laughs in the beginning, but then, didn't know when to quit, until people started jumping off the bus and handing out ear-muffs. All-in-all, it was a terrific stop, and seeing Abdo was the bomb. She's pretty as ever and conducted herself admirably for someone who had consumed even half as much as she had. Her probation officer told her she could skip checking in that week, so she was feeling kinda loose. She told us she had an appointment to get a "skull & crossbones" tatooed on her forehead when we got back to the terminal. The last we saw of her, she had hopped up on a 30 gallon drum, and was leading everyone in the terminal in a rousing chorus of "Louie, Louie"....Yaah mahn!!

Posted by: Clyde (Sonny) Jones | August 17, 2008 at 02:37 PM