On 9/23/07, Larry Smith wrote this comment on the blog...
Charleen and I have been retired for two years, and are living on 13 acres up in the woods near Plantersville (Ren Fest). We have 3 grandkids (3,6,7) who stayed with us last week while their parents were camping near New Braunfels. We are still recovering!!
Charleen is pictured here with grandkids AJ, Addison, and Amie at a semi-annual roundup at a local ranch with BBQ and covered dish lunch.
On 5/11/08, Larry wrote again...
Karla, we have a life-changing current event to report... it started when we took Charleen's parents, Priscilla and Charles, with us on a week long vacation trip to Fairfield Arkansas. It was in September 2005, two months after I retired. We were having "some" fun seeing the sights, bird watching, junk shopping, when Rita starting heading for the Texas coast. Priscilla and Charles lived at The Terrace in Webster, and they wanted to head back, so we started driving home.
Charleen's brother Steve and his wife Beverly lived in Friendswood, and were evacuating up I-45.
We were able to cross over I-45 and get home without too much traffic, but it took Steve and Beverly 24 hours to get to our place in Plantersville. Steve was traumatized, and three weeks later was looking for land north of Houston.
Well, they really liked a 15 acre tract of woods 3/4 mile from us, and bought it, and by Jan-2007, were clearing and moving dirt around for a house. With Steve talking about moving North, Priscilla and Charles were getting fearfull of being abandoned in Webster because they saw Steve and Beverly every week.
After much consideration, and consultation with her brothers, Charleen drafted a proposal to convert our 24x36 garage into a cottage for them to live on our property with us. She did a great selling job, and they accepted it in June 2007.
I worked up a project plan for a new metal garage building, and the conversion of the existing garage. What a job! We hired an old school buddy of our kids to frame and plumb, and our lives went on hold in October. They gave notice at The Terrace, and we started full time jobs. Construction was completed on Feb. 15, 2 weeks later than scheduled, and they moved in.
Pictured here, The Stoneham Clan: left to right - Charlene's brother Steve and wife Beverly (who just retired from teaching in Pasadena), Larry Smith, Charlene's mother Priscilla, Charleen, and Charleen's father Charles. Steve and Beverly are moving up to Stoneham at the end of June 2008. Their log cabin is almost finished. It is on 15 acres, about a mile down the road from us. (see more on this, below)
We're going to have a family commune. Isn't life a hoot? ...Larry
Christmas 2007: Left to Right: youngest son David and wife Stephanie; oldest son Paul (unmarried); Charleen and me. Below are middle son Andy, wife Felicia, kids AJ, Addison, and Amie. They all live in the Houston area and come to our home for Christmas.
5/13/08 Larry gave the following information about how he met and married Charleen as a comment under "Valentine Love Stories".
It was Summer I believe, 1962. Ray Prichard and I went to a party, and sometime during the evening, we switched dates. Some of the particulars escape me, but I started dating Rita Beeler.
Later that summer, Ray, Larry Bailey, and I were planning a beach outing at Surfside. Ray didn't have anyone to take at that time, so I asked Rita if she could get a blind date for Ray. Well, Ray and I met the girls at Rita's house to get acquainted one evening, and we planned the beach trip for the next weekend.
Ray drove the six of us to the beach in his pickup, the "Blue Goose". We had a nice day, and sat around the fire in the evening making out. When it was time to go home, the Blue Goose wouldn't start. So, somehow Larry Bailey managed to call his dad to come get us, and we were sitting out the storm in the pickup. When Mr. Bailey arrived, it was a mad scramble in the rain from the Blue Goose to his car. Larry Bailey and his date, Ray, and Rita ended up in the back seat, and Ray's date and I found ourselves in the front seat. No one wanted to get back out in the rain, so we headed back to Houston.
Charleen and I talked all the way back, and by the time we arrived, Ray and I had switched dates again. We dated the rest of the summer, and when I had to go back to school, Charleen wanted to exchange class rings and "go steady". But I said I thought we should hold off a while.
What a stupid idiot!! As soon as I got settled in a dorm, I sent her an A&M pin. Now I didn't realize it at the time, but being "pinned" was considered a bigger commitment than exchanging high school rings. Sneaky aren't they?
We were married March 25, 1964 and again April 24, 1964. But that's another story. We renewed our marriage vows for our 40th anniversary in 2004 at the little Methodist church in Stoneham where we live.
Please take the time now to make a comment in response to Larry's biography. You will also enjoy reading the comments that others have left.
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Larry,
It was great seeing you and your family yesterday. You are all very brave to venture into Kenney. You just didn't buy enough stuff at our sale. Come back soon. Sheila
Posted by: Sheila Steele Howard | June 08, 2008 at 02:54 PM
Sheila...
I wish I could have kept everyone shopping for another hour. I so wanted to have lunch with everyone, I ate my heart out all afternoon. Send me an email to [email protected] so I will have your email address. I could have talked with you for another hour.
...Larry
Posted by: Larry Smith | June 08, 2008 at 09:49 PM
Hi Larry - ROTC days were fun, weren't they! Am sooo glad to know that you and Charleen take in all and sundry. When will my and John's room be ready??? You're very perceptive to understand that it will be when school starts again that I will truly feel retired. At first it was just summer vacation. Now I'm already starting to feel the "openness" of it a bit, though, because usually by this time we're deeply into Staff Development training. My former colleagues are! So we'll see how long I hold out before finding special interests - like another job . . .
Posted by: Glenda Burns Minniece | July 22, 2008 at 04:05 PM
Hey Larry - I forgot to respond to your question about the Marfa lights. Have you seen them? I did, lots of times. Of course there are two schools of thoughts about the lights, even from people who live out there. But most have relatives who go back to early settlement days and know that the lights were there then. Lots of research has been done on the lights - researchers from all over the world, including Japan - but they are still an unexplained phenomenon. I hope they remain so. A little mystery is a good thing.
Posted by: Glenda Burns Minniece | July 23, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Glenda...
We were close to Marfa when we drove from Big Bend to Fort Davis about 15 years ago. But have never seen the lights. One day we will go through again and spend the night, and hopefully see them. Some day I would like to see the Northern Lights. One night down near Matagorda two of my kids saw a UFO. They were outside yelling at 2am and woke us up, but by the time we got out there, it was gone. Bummer!
Posted by: Larry Smith | July 23, 2008 at 07:14 PM
Larry - When you're in West Texas again, the viewing spot for the lights is east of Marfa on the way to Alpine. Nowadays they've got a big roadside parking lot to accommodate buses, etc.
Would you believe that I saw the northern lights in Minnesota? It was the 4th of July about 20 years ago. We went to a family gathering at a neighboring farm, watched fireworks in the evening in Black Duck, then went out to our friends' farm. The aurora borealis was really dancing around! Next day there was a tornado that destroyed the barn we'd been in the day before.
As to the UFO - well, maybe you were lucky not to see it. :)
Posted by: Glenda Burns Minniece | July 23, 2008 at 10:15 PM
Hey guys! We saw the Northern Lights two different times when we were living in Wyoming. They were BEAUTIFUL dancing across the sky. I am so glad our boys had a chance to see them with us. The first time we saw them from our front yard - looking up towards the mountains that surrounded our town on three sides. We were alerted to their presence by a message on TV.
The other time we saw the lights we were traveling home from a day excursion into Yellowstone (an hour from our home). The boys and I were laying on our backs on the bed over the cab of our motor home, looking up at the stars through an overhead window. All of a sudden these surrealistic lights began to play across the sky - incredible. They are so unbelievable looking that I think it would really have scared us if we had not seen them the first time when we were safe at home with knowledge of what they were.
What a beautiful world we live in!!! Karla
Posted by: Karla Lofgren Davis | July 24, 2008 at 12:14 AM
Karla...
Did you live in/near Big Sky? We stayed for a week at a timeshare there and drove to Yellowstone each day. It seems like it was about an hour's drive. We saw Moose along the road and Bison in the park, but no Grizzly. I would like to go back while you can still drive through the park. Charleen wants to go on an Alaskan cruise.
Posted by: Larry Smith | July 24, 2008 at 12:31 PM
We lived in Cody, Wyoming for 9 years. Cody is considered to be the Eastern gateway to Yellowstone. From Big Sky you probably entered the park through the Northern gate.
When Randy and Jeanine and their two (then)teenagers visited us to celebrate their 25th anniversary, the 8 of us stayed at the lodge at that entrance and entered/toured the park on the snowcoaches (the only way in winter). The thermal features were awesome as the steam rising through the snow created beautiful ice formations.
Cody is in the NW corner of Wyoming and the closest "city" to us was Billings, Montana. We went skiing a number of times at Bridger Bowl in Montana and a few times at Big Sky. Isn't wilderness terrain gorgeous in that area? Karla
Posted by: Karla Lofgren Davis | July 24, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Speaking of the northern lights, I suppose I had a sort of ring side seat to view them many nights at 35,000 feet over the US. Surprisingly the best view came over North Carolina one night. The lights were red and covered the entire sky. Normally they were a shade of light green, but this was an unusual phenomenon.
Posted by: Charles Simmons | July 30, 2008 at 09:47 PM
Hello Larry and Charlene,
I'm so happy you two are still together. What a wonderful time we had together back in 1962. And it was very fortunate, Charlene, that you were able to join us on that eventful night.
I hope to see you both in the future.
Posted by: Rita Beeler Robinson | February 10, 2009 at 11:13 AM
Hey Rita...
You don't know how often we think of you, and wonder how your life has gone. Please write up some bio stuff and email to Karla. I think we missed you at one of the recent reunions, when we couldn't make the Friday event, and you weren't there Saturday. We will definately enjoy seeing you.
...Larry
Posted by: Larry Smith | February 14, 2009 at 10:08 PM