WE*CA*TON NEWS REPORT !!

---Wow! What a bunch of "catching-up" there is to do! Not only do I need to do the alumni weekend reports, but I also have to "clean out the bins," so to speak, for all the e-mail I got, just prior to my departure. It would seem that, for quite a while, my other journalistic endeavors will be falling prey to my dedication to the glorious halls of WC. Then again, I have to think that perhaps that's as it should be, eh? In any case, with Biketoberfest right on top of me, I'm finding it difficult to resist, "the call of the wild," as my husband calls it, by throwing a mottled and vericose-veined limb across my Harley-Davidson full dresser and heading down to Main St. to see the show. You see, I'm actually a PART of that show, at this stage of my life. There are very few female riders who are 1.) astride Harley-Davidson full dressers, or 2.) exceeding 60 years old, and 3.) still interested in totally embarrass-ing themselves by riding up and down Main St. Ha! But ME? I have no problem with any of that, so you'll forgive me if a take a break, from time to time. You'll know just where to find me!

Lots of us sent PSAs, jokes, and the like. I'll run down the list for you. It's 1954's WILLIAM L. MCNABB, 1958's RONALD D. "TOM" FEE, 1959's GARY E. BARNES, 1960's LINDA L. SHANK, MICHAEL S. WEST, DAVID G. OTT, MONTY ESTEP, STEVEN M. KOKOT, JUDITH L. STALDER, WILLIAM O. WALKER, and BOYD H. JENKINS, 1961's JUDITH L. SAMUELS, DONNA JEAN RICHARDS, DALLAS K. MATHIS, P. LYNNETTE GARRETT, SHARON KAYE WENDELKEN, 1971's PAMELA K. SHIPLEY.

A very excited CURTIS A. KEMP sent me an e-mail on September 8, telling me of his travel plans for alumni weekend. I feel sure he wasn't disappointed, but more on that later, as I previously wrote.

Judy Samuels wrote to say that she wouldn't be there, as they had other plans which included some RV traveling. She also wrote that she just loved the website of 1961's NANCY J. ERTEL and her spouse. How about that, Nancy?

Around the first of October or the very last few days of September, we lost 1954's JAMES W. CHANCE. As some of you may recall, I was reluctant to confirm that one, until I knew for sure. Sadly, though, it was quite true, as confirmed by 1958's WILLIAM R. HOWARD. 1964's JANE E. GEBHART,1954's WILLIAM L. MCNABB, and by the guy who is, "the final word" on these matters, an alumni officer and 1965-er, STEVEN F. SHADE.

Sharon Wendelken wants to know if anyone out there has any information on 1964's RICK BUSH. Do you? If so, get back to me. Our former teacher, MURL E. HUFF -MAN, sent a mandatory attendance bulletin to us all, in regard to alumni weekend. That got a lot of laughs and good responses, particularly from 1959's JAMES L. LINDSEY, who wrote, "My God, this man is ageless!"

Messages continued to pour in, during the day just prior to my departure. Major among them, were those from 1955's FREDA P. FLETCHER. Freda and I are both of the Miami Shores molding and we just kept sending and sending, until we could think of no more to say. But I will have more to write about Freda, as we get to the reports on alumni weekend. The same thing occurred, though, with 1955's DONNA G. TUDOR. We just kept exchang-ing e-mails and getting so excited, we could barely wait. It's nice to be able to do that, when we get a little older, isn't it? Donna was especially excited at the prospect of seeing 1957's DARELL L. TOBIAS, with whom she had been very close friends, too. By the way, folks, Darell has rejoined us on the bulletin list and I have his new e- mail address.

Also prior to alumni weekend, most of you will recall that I asked everyone to be paritcularly solicitous of generous
-ly tipping the Frisch's waitresses, since we occupy the lion's share of the place, for the bulk of the evening. At the close, I wrote, "After all, we don't want them to think we're a herd of cheapskates, now do we?" For several hours, no one made any response, but for a couple of you who agreed and said we needed to do that. But leave it to my very wryly-witty pal and 1960 classmate, THOMAS L. WOLF, JR., who wrote back to say, "But what if we ARE a herd of cheapskates?" Well, I laughed aloud, of course. That was a good one, Tom.

Then there were long and windy exchanges between 1958's WILLIAM R. HOWARD and me, just prior to my departure. We spoke of the festivities and visiting and well---it just wasn't to be. Bill had the wrong weekend circled on his calendar. Oh my!

From 1961's CAROL ANN MUMMA came the news that she would not be with us. I did my very best guilt trip on her, but it didn't work, darnit! Carol is still selling her book, "Murder At The Ice Cream Parlor," which is based on a true story, which occurred in our own WC. Contact her to get a copy at ( cguy1943@yahoo.com ) Good luck from us all, Carol!

My old pal, MICHAEL S. WEST, and I were also on a roll with the exchange of messages, prior to our weekend. He and Sally had made all their plans and followed right through. Again, there will be more later on that. Also writing was 1955's JO ANNE MCCLURE, who said her work schedule would preclude her being able to be with us this year.

Prior to blastoff, I would also hear a lot from my old pals, BRUCE E. CHENOWETH, EULA FAYE BAILEY, SHIRLEY J. TUDOR, and P. LYNNETTE GARRETT. I even got a blip from 1986's KEITH A. SIMS, to whom I'd sent the 1978 and 1980 Piratans. So the e-mail lines were hot, before I left home.

With that, I shall end this edition. There is going to be either one huge or two shorter follow-up editions, and I'll try to get those done during the next week to ten days, in which I'll cover alumni weekend. So stay tuned! I leave you all with my usual wish for glowing health, great happi- ness, peaceful serenity, and boundless prosperity.

Ciao! BRM
- posted by Mikey @ 7:28 PM