WE*CA*TON NEWS REPORT!!
What better to do, on a blustery, late-Spring, Florida day than to write another WC bulletin? As the remnants of our first 2005 huuricane-season disturbance (Tropical Storm Arlene) brush by the "left coast" of the state, drop- ping copious amounts of rain on our coast, as well, it just seems like the thing to do. (Besides, it will also serve to delay my task of replacing all the back-up batteries in the security cameras and all the bulbs in our wall unit, as well as those in the breakfront. Ha!)

Let's begin with our folks who have checked in during this bulletin period, with psa's, health items, jokes, etc., shall we? They are 1954's WILLIAM L. MCNABB, 1958's SANDRA L. BARSALOU, LINDA L. BECKETT, WILLIAM R. HOWARD, ROBERT W. "SMITTY" SMITH; 1959's GARY E. BARNES; 1960's JUDITH A. STALDER, JOANN K. STEMLEY; 1961's JANET LOU CHANDLER, LARRY D. GILBERT, SALLY L. GILLETTE; 1971's PAMELA K. SHIPLEY, and I do believe that's it. Thanks to all.

Also during this last bulletin period, I received an e-mail from 1958's HARRIETTE E. DOGGETT, in which she informed me that her mother, Winnifred, is terribly ill. I believe her mother is now 82. Harriette had been caring for her at her Vilonia, Arkansas, home. However, very recently, she found it necessary to place her in a hospice program. Harriette goes to see her mother every day. We all wish you well, Harriette. Please come back to the alumni dinner/dance this year and thank you for letting us know.

There is also illness for 1960's LONNIE M. THACKER, our class president. I sent out a special notice on that one, as most of you will recall. Lonnie's 1960 spouse, LINDA J. SNELL, was kind enough to send us a report. Lonnie's prognosis is good, reports Linda, after his recent colonoscopy was successfully completed. He is back home now and on regular food. Linda, as most of you already know, suffers from multiple sclerosis, but she writes that she is on a new medication, which is holding it at bay and perhaps even improving it a bit. Linda was in the nursing profession, prior to her retirement, so Lonnie is receiving the best of care, at home. Several of you have inquired about how to reach the Thackers and I've given all pertinent info. Among those was LINDA L. SHANK, 1960, who reports that she's spending part of her summer with 2 of her grandchildren staying at her house. I know what you mean, Linda. I've got 2 of mine right now, too.

Of course, as everyone is by now aware, our 1954 WC alumnus, JAMES W. CHANCE, is in a hospice care program and things never look good when hospice is involved. We also have 1959's RICHARD C. HENSLEY, who is gravely ill with cancer. We started off the month, right on June 1, with the death of 1954's JAMES W. BLAIR, who was the older sibling of my own classmate, DAVID A. BLAIR. Thanks, Dave, for the extra info on the passing of your brother. I know I speak for us all when I offer our condolences. I had the distinct pleasure of working with the mother of the Blair brothers at Daytona (Dayton-ed.) Tire & Rubber back in the 1960s, Margaret. She was a classy lady and I was very fond of her.

Jim's 1954 classmates, WILLIAM L. MCNABB and PATRICIA THOMPSON both took the time to send in a report, which was much appreciated, too. Pat wrote that the 1954 class has always been very close and that she knew many would be attending Jim's funeral. DONNA G. TUDOR, 1955, also reported. This is not pleasant news, I know, but I think it's nevertheless important that we all stay abreast of these things. No, I'm not going to get out my soapbox again, for this edition. Just suffice to say, BE AT THE WC FUNCTIONS!!! Life is too short and we never know.

As of the last bulletin, we had also lost 1961 alumnus, BARBARA LEE HECKER. It was her daughter who reported it to me and I don't even know how her daughter found out about me, but she did. We do not yet know the cause of Barbara's death. Her daughter didn't include that info and referred to it only as, "sudden and unexpected." I know that many of you have asked me of what did she die. I'm sorry, I cannot tell you. Does anyone out there know how Barbara died? Two of her classmates, PATRICIA LYNNETTE GARRETT and LARRY D. GILBERT, vividly recall Barbara, as I'm sure most of you do. Her brother, WILLIAM E. HECKER, was 1960, but I haven't heard from him, either. Lynn also vividly recalled Lonnie, and remembered that he used to live near yet another 1961 classmate, BARBARA J. TURNINGTON. We were all Miami Shores Kids together!

Cousin JUDITH L. SAMUELS and I, manage to exchange various e-mails about topics of interest. She continues to travel in short trips in her RV and she does lots of restaurant dining. We talk a lot about the steep costs of everything these days, including groceries, fuel, property insurance, property taxes, and just about every- thing, I suppose, especially health care.

Speaking of people named Judy, I must tell you that I'm trying my best to get current with my 1960 classmate, JUDITH A. SLIFE. Judy will be with us this fall, she says, so we'll all get to see her, finally, once again. Staying with the Judy theme, I'm trying hard to get 1960's JUDY A SHOCKLEY back on our list. She gave me an e-mail address, but it doesn't work. She gave me another one and it doesn't work, either. So I called her, then I wrote her, but still haven't heard from her. Now, I know a lot of you who live up there, go to the MCL Cafeteria, where Judy works. So tell her to send me an e-mail, so that I can get her back on our list!! MONTY ESTEP, I know that includes you and BEVERLY.

As of the last bulletin, we had lost MILTON R. WOLFE, 1960, GARY R. FRANK, 1961, RICHARD C. CALL, 1962, and JAMES E. KECKLER, 1958. Jim and Rich were lost to full mailboxes, so I think we'll be getting them back. But I have concerns about Milton and Gary, as the reason for those two is bum e-mail addresses. Can anyone try to contact them?

Once again, I got to be the fortunate recipient of many kind words about the WeCaTon Report. They came from 1961's JACK L. GODBY, 1960's RICHARD L. PHILLIPS and JUDITH A. STALDER. Jack called my report, "Brilliant, as usual!" Ah, Jack, you always WERE a charmer! Dick said he thought it was great that I take the time to keep up with everyone. Well, Dick, I think it's great that all of YOU take the time to write to ME. That's what I use, in order to do these reports. So without all of YOU, there would BE no WeCaTon Report! Judy wrote that she had missed reading my reports. Well, that sent up red flags all over the place. Judy, I thought I was sending to you, all along, as we now know. So take a lesson here, folks. If you've been on the bulletin list, and you go a month with no news, let me know! Something is wrong. Either I've died or your e-mail has somehow dropped from the list, okay?

Let's talk about the new additions for this period. Does anyone out there remember 1954's VICTOR C. NOEL? Well, I did, and he's now on our list. Vic lives in Maryland and the sign-ons for his class, 1955, and 1956, continue to mount. I believe Dick Phillips intends to rope in his brother, JERRY RAY PHILLIPS, too! We also welcome 1963's DOUGLAS OTT! Now, listen, we want to see all of you, come to the October functions, hear? There will be no acceptable excuses! Of course, another of our new additions has already attended a thing or two. We all remember that LINDA L. BECKETT, 1958, is on our list now, right?

The most challenging new addition turned out to be that of 1955's CAROLE JUNE TEWELL. What's that you say? You don't remember anyone by that name in that class? Well, if you you don't, you aren't alone. Carole said she couldn't even remember her class year, but thought it might have been 1951, which would have made her 4 years OLDER! But after a couple of e-mails, Carole told me her name was in the Piratan under her married name of Burton because she was married before graduating, a common practice in those days. She also told me maybe it was 1955. Well, bingo! She WAS 1955. of course. But since I invariably use the school name, which is normally the maiden name, that will be how I will refer to her. She divorced and now uses her maiden name, herself. So if I write about Carole June Tewell, you'll all know it's Carole June Burton. I told you this one was complicated, ok? Anyway, Carole, this is your 50th, as I told you. So your classmates will really be looking for you in October! Carole is still working and not just one job, but TWO! Also among the new folks is 1954's MARILYN CULTER. In fact, her request arrived as I was typing this very bulletin, so welcome aboard to you, Marilyn. It seems as though our Bill McNabb is spreading the word quickly, to all his classmates.

Along with GARY E. BARNES, WILLIAM R. HOWARD, RONALD D. "TOM" FEE, and myself, we have sort of decided to form a WC Alumni Rescue Team (or WC-ART, don't you just love it?) Every now and then, we run onto an alumnus who is in bad straits. They might be very ill or very poor or have no home or no food or whatever. An awfully lot of us, seem to be very fortunate. An awfully lot of us have shown that we are willing to help one of our own, too. So if you're aware of anyone in that situation, let one of us know. I'll bet we can help (IF they will allow us to help, of course!)

Recently, I've had some great phone calls from WC alumni. As always, I maintain steady contact with 1960's EULA FAYE BAILEY. I believe I have previously told you all that Eula Faye and I regularly solve all the world's problems, and we don't understand why world leaders can't do the same. Ha! In any case, I know of one problem you CAN'T solve, Eula Faye. Just the other day, our classmate, EDGAR L. "EDDIE" KELLY, called, as he now does, about 2-3 times each year.

As we spoke and reminisced, he told me the following story. He said when he was in school, he couldn't pass English because of you, Eula Faye. He said you were so pretty, all he did was look at you, throughout that class. He also said he was enthralled with your southern accent. So I told him about our visit in April and I told him to call you and tell you that story. Did he? If not, he probably will.

Eddie and his wife, Marilyn, recently moved to the tiny town of Nampa, Idaho, from their former home in Boise. He has new contact info now, so if anyone wants it, please let me know. After taking 15 years to find him, I'm not about to let him slip away now!

Also, I heard from 1963's RONALD E. LINK. He lives right around the corner from my sister (1956's JUDY ANN RISNER) in Englewood. Ronnie wanted to reach his best high school buddy, JOHN WOLFE, so I put him in touch. He also wanted to reach an old high school girlfriend, SHARON NEWKIRK. I put him in touch with her, too. So he was very pleased. Ronnie was once married to 1960's SANDRA LYNN PENWELL, as I think I wrote previously. So hopefully, Ronnie is chatting with all his old friends, by now.

NANCY J. ERTEL, 1961, continues to work hard for all of us, posting things to the internet, and researching information. Take a look at http://wchs.blogspot.com and you can read some good stuff. Nancy did some research work for us on the in-progress, long search for1959's ROBERT L. TANKERSLEY. Does anyone have any updates on him? We continue to search for him for his high school pal, 1960's DANNY A WALTERS. I can tell you this much, Danny, for what it's worth. I firmly believe that Bob's current street address IS the one in the alumni book. It's 10253 N. W. 57th Street, Miami, Florida 33178-2663. That's the address which pops up for him on EVERY search engine. No, the phone number is no good anymore, but there could be a million reasons for that one, including dropping the land line in lieu of a cell phone, who knows? Why don't you take a moment and drop a chard to that address and see what happens? We do know he isn't deceased. Nancy checked that for us in the Social Security records.

From 1961's JOHN W. BYSTREK came a photo of the movie actor James Cann, and he compared it to the photo of you, GERALD A FULLER, 1960. He thinks you look an awfully lot like the actor. So how about that? And speaking of Jerry, I got a nice thank-you note from Jerry's wife, Becky. You see, I found a 1953-54 photo of the crossing guard crew for Moraine City Elementary School, which Jerry and I attended, along with many other WC alumni. They loved it and Jerry was front and center in the old photo.

From 1960's DAVID G. OTT came a reference to a chatboard, of sorts, about our old teacher, PHILLIP HUBBARD. I liked him and remember him as being a nice guy. Does anyone else out there happen to remember him?

My dear friend, 1958's BRUCE E. CHENOWETH, has been out gallivanting around the country again. On a recent trip, he swung down to Greenup, Kentucky, and escorted 1960's NINA F. KNISLEY, out for dinner.

Also checking in was 1987's SHARLENE N. MERKER, daughter of 1960's SHIRLEY J. TUDOR. Sharlene reports that her family is all healthy and doing well. Her husband is JEFFREY A. SIZER, son of 1959's GARY L. SIZER. This whole family is a real WC effort! As is that of GARY E. BARNES. We now have both his daughter, MISSY BARNES, and his son, SCOTT A BARNES, and his son-in-law, ROB ZIMMER.

Of course, we have reports from 1960's MICHAEL S. WEST. Mike took a nostalgic trip to Ohio, and he mentioned lots of places which are familiar to us all. He wrote that the old Imperial House Motel is being torn down. Remember that place? He also ran into the brother of our classmate, KEITH SHADOWENS. So Keith is obviously still around the Dayton area. Mike also mentioned classmate JAMES JORDAN. I instantly remembered that Jim had died, years ago. I also remembered that he had hit it big with the Ohio Lotto, years before that. Mike also hit on the tender topic (to WC folks, anyway) of the demise of the Woody's Supermarket building. I guess nothing has happened as yet, though. But Mike's best joke was the laundry story, wherein he wrote that he once had the poor judgment to complain to Sally, his wife, about something to do with the laundry. Sally, wise woman that she obviously is, told him perhaps he should do the laundry himself, if he's unhappy with her services. Apparently, Mike has been doing the household laundry, ever since. A lot of us women want to talk to YOU, Sally!

On that humorous note, I will leave you all with my usual wish for glowing health, great happiness, peaceful serenity, and boundless prosperity. Ciao!
---And there you have it! More at 11--- B

- posted by Mikey @ 10:34 AM