WECATON NEWS REPORT, 05 SEP 2006:

Here I am, in the midst of reaming out my house, in preparation for a major move, hopefully in the not-too- distant future, and I find myself also having to "ream out" my WC folder. Once again, as I'm so fond of writing, it's bursting at the seams.

As usual, we'll begin with those who have sent forwarded items of news, politicisms, psa's, jokes, etc., and move on from there. They include 1954's WILLIAM L. MCNABB; 1955's DONNA G. TUDOR, NORMAN E. JACKSON, FREDA P. FLETCHER; 1957's DARELL L. TOBIAS; 1958's BRUCE E. CHENOWETH, ROBERT W. "SMITTY" SMITH, WILLIAM. R. HOWARD, BRUCE K. COPSEY, SANDRA L. BARSALOU, RONALD D. "TOM" FEE, HARRIETTE E. DOGGETT; 1959's GARY E. BARNES; 1960's LINDA J. SNELL, LONNIE M. THACKER, THOMAS L. WOLF, JR., FRED L. DOOLEY, DELORES K. FAHRNEY, EULA FAYE BAILEY, JUDITH A. SLIFE, RICHARD S. HOLT, MICHAEL S. WEST, STEVEN M. KOKOT; 1961's JANET L. WALTERS, BARBARA J. TURNINGTON, SHARON KAYE WENDELKEN, SANDRA SUE HOLLINGSWORTH, DALLAS K. MATHIS JUDITH LYNN SAMUELS; 1962 's BARBARA T. O'NEAL, RICHARD C. CALL; 1971'S PAMELA K. SHIPLEY. Thanks to all, and during this next bulletin period, how about also sending a little blip about your personal life and what's happening in it? We can get a little more, "mileage" from your e-mail, if you will. Also, I will again mention that I heard from Martha E. Craig, widow of 1960's late RONALD P. CRAIG.

You all know by now about our intent to make a move to Tennessee. I feel the need to apologize to all of you, for the way in which I see I worded things. I got back a few e-mails in which people were offering us sympathy and sincerest apologies and feeling very badly for us. I couldn't quite figure out why. Then I went back and re-read my original announcement. It seems everyone took me quite literally, when I wrote that we weren't going to to stay in Florida and become poor and destitute. I was just using a bit of, "poetic license," when I wrote that. I never dreamed anyone would take me literally. Even if we DID stay, that wouldn't happen. We'd just be spending a lot more of our income on taxes, insurance, and utilities. We do not want to do that, we've decided; hence, the move to Tennessee. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. We are not on the verge of abject poverty and having to leave the state in a covered wagon or anything like that. However, it's heartwarming to learn that so many of you are so very concerned for us. Our decision to leave Florida is totally voluntary and we are now, in fact, quite excited about it. Of course, it's going to be a very long, slow transition, and I sure do hope I can get this house sold in what has now become a slower market. That may hold us up for a while. We'll see.

Once I made that decision, help came pouring in from all of you, as regards our needs as we move through this process, and also, once we've moved. My 1960 classmate, T. BARRY RUSSELLO, telephoned me the other night, and we spoke at length. As you know, Barry and his 1959 spouse, BETSY R. MURPHY, own The Realty Group in Vandalia, and Barry offered me any and all advice I may need with that. We will all be seeing them, as usual, in October.

My insurance agent in Tennessee will be none other than 1958's DONALD I. MCCOY, who has been in the business for many years and owns the Insurance Store of Ohio, in Middletown. Not only is he licensed in Tennessee and a fellow alumnus, but he's a fellow Miami Shores Kid, the very BEST for me! You all know how I love Miami Shores, even to this day. Don gave me a lot of tips and a lot of information on the current guidelines for insurance there. Thanks, Don, and I'll be in touch! Don is going to be joining us for our alumni weekend this year, too., for the first time, ever, I do believe.

Then there's my other classmate, MICHAEL S. WEST, long a resident of Tennessee, who has sent me envelope after envelope, and done more research than a lab chemist! Many thanks, Mike! What would I ever do without you? How can I forget those among you who have sent words of encouragement, too? It's a long list and many names. Naturally, it includes all the previous people, but also includes 1961's JUDY M. FRANTZ, NANCY J. ERTEL, DONNA RICHARDS; 1957's DARELL L. TOBIAS, BERTHA J. HOERNER; 1955's DONNA G. TUDOR, 1958's NICHOLAS P. WOLARY (who has recently moved to Tennessee, himself), "TOM" FEE; MURL E. HUFFMAN (the one and only); 1971's PAMELA K. SHIPLEY; SHIRLEY RANKIN (also a Tennessee convert, and what year are you, Shirley?); 1956's J. DEANNA CHRISTIE; 1963's DAVID L. BARNES; 1985's M. CYNTHEA POTEET, 1960's PHILLIP D. HOWARD, 1967's MARIAN K. HUSSEY, and I'm sure they'll continue to roll in. My thanks to all of you and I promise to keep you posted. From 1961's EDNA L. GRAY came an especially-inspiring e-mail in which she wished me well. Thank you, Edna, and please make sure I see you when I'm up there in October. However, not EVERYone was so encouraging and gung-ho about the idea of a move to Tennessee. For instance, from alumnus L. DEAN BANKS (I'm sorry, Dean, I don't know your class year) came an e-mail in which he referred to the state of Tennessee as, "Tenne-yuk-see." So I guess that Dean had some negative experiences there, or he just doesn't care for Tennessee's topography or its weather patterns or something. I wrote back to ask him, but haven't yet received a reply.

From 1961's DONNA J. RICHARDS, came a request or two for some classmate info. Donna is working hard on the 45th for her class, which is obviously this year. If you know the whereabouts of any 1961 folks, be sure to notify her. She just may be looking for them. But right now, I'm sure Donna is much more focused on her brand-new, beautiful, little cherub of a grandson! Isn't that exciting? Yep, Donna's daughter gave birth on August 30 to a 7lb. 3 oz. baby boy and his first name is Jack. She reports they haven't yet selected a middle name. I'm sure you're just over the moon, Donna. I know I can speak for us all when I offer you and your daughter our very best wishes and heartiest congratulations, upon this wondrous event.

This most recent bulletin period has brought about a lot of fun WC contacts. For instance, just this past Saturday morning, I received a call from EDGAR L. "EDDIE" KELLY, for whom I had searched for SO many years, as a lot of you will recall. Eddie was truly the Fonzie of our 1960 class. He was hip and cool and had that swagger walk and the ducktail haircut and the pegged Levis. He was super cool, no doubt about it. He also had a HUGE crush on EULA FAYE BAILEY, and he blames her to this day for his poor grades in Miss Marsh's English class. That's just too funny, isn't it? Anyway, Eddie and Eula Faye will have a lot of fun together this year. Eddie has booked his air flight, reserved his motel room, and rented his car. Yep, he's going to be with us this year for sure!! Hey, Eddie, I hear the search is on for DIANE MILTON of 1961. Wasn't she one of your girlfriends in school? You will likely see her, I'm sure. EULA FAYE and I have also spoken several times, as we always do. I very much look forward to our conversations and they aren't as frequent as they had been, due to all my cleaning-out efforts and also due to her becoming acclimated to her new retail management position. But we'll catch up. We always do!

This is all just going to be TOO fun!! Of the people our Eddie wants to see very much, there are AARON COUCH, RICHARD CALL, CURTIS A. KEMP, RICHARD L. PHILLIPS, and WILLIAM M. ROHLER. Bill won't be with us this year, but I'm sure all the others will be, so we can't wait to see you, Eddie. It's been just about a million years!

Another long-lost face who will be joining us will be that of 1960's Class Vice-President, THOMAS D. YOUNG. I think I've mentioned that before. For me, it's going to be the double thrill. Not only is Tom my dear, old, high school pal, but I absolutely adore his wife, Sandi, and she will be there, too. Sandi and I have been doing a rapid-fire exchange of postally- mailed letters (our preference) since we managed to get reconnected. I've even made a book for her letters, which are positively fabulous. She has done the same with mine and we plan extensive talking on some of the written topics. Poor Tom! He's caught right in the crossfire, but he's handling it well. She and I had been very tight friends throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, prior to her meeting Tom. I can just scarcely wait!

Also confirming attendance at this year's alumni gig is 1956's DENNIS A. MICHAEL. Of course, they are going to be our 50-year, spotlight class. My sister, JUDY ANN RISNER, has worked all year on this 50th gathering, along with 1956's ANITA RAE MASON . I hear they got some help from last year's expert on the 50th strategies, 1955's CARL D. MAYS. Also attend -ing, will be RALPH D. WILSON, as always.

We've lost a few people to failure to update e-mail addresses with me, so if you know of how to contact any of them, please let me know. We also lost a few to rejected e-mail or the cursed AOL problem. I would remind you all, once again, be SURE to put my e-mail address in your list of approved senders. Among those who are missing are DOUGLAS OTT , SONJA SUE BANKS, MERRY LEE SPEELMAN, CAROL ANNA PFISTER, RONALD L. "PETE" BECKETT, SARAH MARIE "JACKIE" MASON, and if anyone else pops up, I'll add them to the next one. But let's try to get these folks back on board.

We've got travelers, as always. Right now, 1960's JUDITH A SLIFE is out running the roads. Our girl, DONNA J. RICHARDS, made a recent trip to Virginia to her son's house, JUDITH L. SAMUELS, 1961, is currently on a trip in another Florida city and also has just returned from a recent trip to Tampa, where she and her husband toured Ybor City, always a fun trip. Then we have FREDA P. FLETCHER, who takes so many trips I can't even stay current. Our traveling folks of all time, 1960's WILLIAM O. WALKER, and his WC -honorary spouse, KAREN MURPHY, have recently completed their annual, "Jeeping journey," out in the Colorado mountains, where they spent an entire month. This would not be my personal cup of tea, but as you wrote, Karen, it's a good thing we all don't want to be in the same place. Karen reports that she and Bill had a wonderful time and saw many old pals. We hope to see you both this year, come October! So far, it's been a slow storm season and that's good.

We'll go ahead and get to the negative news now. I don't want to have to end the bulletin with it, so I'll slip it in here now. Just today (September 1), I received word from Freda (1955) of the death yesterday of 1952's PEARLEEN NOLLY. Also passing away on that same day was the spouse of SHARON COLLINS -WORTH, whose name I do not know, aside from the surname of Sheets. Thanks for this info, Freda.

Finally checking in with a report was 1960's BOYD H. JENKINS, telling me that he's having some breathing problems, but doing okay. Boyd reports that he's lost a few relatives lately, including 3 aunts, 2 cousins, and one nephew. The nephew was the son of 1955's EDGAR EARL JENKINS, Boyd's late brother, who died early last year. We're all glad to hear from you, Boyd, and we hope to see you soon.

From 1958's HARRIETTE E. DOGGETT, came the news that her mother, Winnifred H. S. Doggett, died on July 28. Harriette took her mother's remains to Ohio for burial where she visited with former brother-in-law,1958's BRUCE E. CHENOWETH. Bruce was graciously present for Winnie's services, quietly sup-porting Harriette, and in tribute to his late ex-wife, who was Harriette's younger sister, 1960's W. SUSAN DOGGETT. Susan had been one of my dearest and closest friends throughout high school, and I had known Winnie nearly all my life.

As everyone knows by now, the daughter of 1960's MILTON R. WOLFE, committed suicide. Her name was Heidi, she was married , and she left behind two teenage children. Heidi, I was told, had long been battling the effects of clinical depression. How terribly sad! I know we all extend our sincerest condolences to Milton. He lives in Michigan. Thanks to the many who tried to provide information. They include 1961's P. LYNNETTE GARRETT, Sandra L. Young (spouse of 1960's THOMAS D. YOUNG) who sent a lovely prayer for Heidi, Pamela J. Carter, wife of 1960's CHARLES V. CARTER, with whom Milton had once been quite close, and 1954's JO ANNE MCCLURE, who sent condolences. Somehow, even though we've lost Milton on the e-mail list, I feel certain he will know that we're all thinking of him.

Does everyone remember the passing of STEVEN G. RIFFLE, during this last bulletin period? Well, it was confirmed to me by 1959's GARY E. BARNES, that Steve was a member of the Class of 1974. We all seemed to have some confusion about that and no one knew for sure. Many thanks to you, Gary, and I also offer thanks to others who contributed to that information, including 1971's PAMELA K. SHIPLEY, MICHAEL S. WEST, 1960, and 1965's STEVEN F. SHADE, who is an alumni officer.

Of course, there was a load of feedback on the death of WC's most prominent businessman in its history, WOODROW W. BOWMAN. I truly wanted SO much to come up there for that, but I just couldn't. I'm still feeling badly about it. Thanks for all the reports on everything about his service and his viewing and all the visitors who were there. I appreciated each and every single one of them and read every word of each one. I kept all the news clippings, too. An especially noteworthy commentary on Woody, came from 1960 classmate, JUDITH ANN STALDER, wherein she referred to Woody as, "the king of WC." You were so right, Judy. I couldn't have said it better.

From 1967's MARY J. CONDON came a report of the death of Joanne Kathleen Haller, who was retired from the WC Board of Education and was 77. She lived in Carlisle. I believe she was the mother of 1965 alumnus, ROBERT E. HALLER, Mary's husband. Is that right, Mary? Thank you for sending that.

Also, Lynn sent a message that the husband of PATTY HAUK, passed away over the weekend of August 18. I don't recall Patty's class year, but I'll bet someone does.

On a final note with the sad news, finally, comes the report from 1971's RODNEY R. GABBARD, who had made a plea to help some old people who were about to get evicted. He thanked everyone who participated but said the drive was unfortunately a dismal failure and the people were evicted. How sad! Rod's plea, though, brought words of praise for his effort, from 1957's BERTHA J. HOERNER and from 1961's JANET L. WALTERS.

In fact, Janet sent me a nice message to say she'll be seeing us all this year and talking about how much she enjoys the bulletins. I'm happy about that, and also about seeing you, Janet. Also sending wonderful kind words of praise was 1958's JUDITH MARIE SMITH. Judy actually called me, "amazing." Oh, how I laughed, when I read that, Judy! I'm so far from being amazing, it isn't even funny, but how kind of you to say something like that! I hope to see you in October.

Now look, folks, we've got to get with it on this WC golf outing. Our own GARY E. BARNES is sitting on ready to put this thing together for everyone. But he's got to have players, hear? Don't expect to just pop out there on that same morning and be able to play. I don't know jack about golf, but I do know that you have to make some advance plans, in order to play. So please contact Gary. He's in the book (937 859-4559) and his e-mail is patgary@sbcglobal.net

By the way, thanks for that correction from the 4th of July thing, Gary. The person Bruce saw was 1958's JAMES E. KECKLER, not JAMES CLEARY, but he is also 1958.

Did you all check out the website for new photos? There's one on there of Freda's gorgeous great grand -daughter, who goes with country singer Joe Nichols. I'll bet some of you have heard of him.

Also moving into the edges of show business is none other than 1957's DARELL L. TOBLIAS! Yep, that's right! Darell has been playing guitar in his church for the past 7-8 months, he wrote. He's also done some singing (solos, that is). Now, though, he has joined the North Georgia Community Players in Dillard and is in a stage play, "Smoke On the Mountain." It's the story of the 1930s gospel-singing family, whose name is Saunders. Darell plays Stanley Saunders. He also continues to work about 3 days per week, but wants to retire soon. He'll be with us in October and is leaning toward bringing his Harley-Davidson along. He'd like to know how many WC Pirates would like to go riding together, too!

Our official, "Court Jester," 1955's NORMAN E. JACKSON, has done it again with his little, "Press 1 For English," transmittal, which brought guffaws of verbal laughter from many of us, including me, 1961's SHARON KAYE WENDELKEN and one of our lost people, 1962's DOUGLAS OTT. Why is it you can sent to me, Doug, and I'm having trouble sending to you? Am I on your approved senders list? If not, be sure and put me there. Many thanks for another big winner, Norm!

Okay, we've got a party who's searching for a person named Scott Hisey. He's a musician and we don't know if he's a WC person or not. So I wrote to the only other person I know, with that name, DONALD G. HISEY, 1958, but got no response. You just have to be related, don't you? That surname is too rare.

Again, I want to thank 1960's PHILIP H. WOLFORD and 1961's P. LYNNETTE GARRETT for their gifts to me of subscriptions to reading materials. I continue to get tons of mileage (both literally and figuratively) out of those subscriptions. Phil's, "Reflections," bi-monthly magazine is mailed to 1960's MICHAEL S. WEST, when I'm through with it. They read it and then take it to the local senior center, where it's enjoyed by all, in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Lynn's gift subscription of the Miamisburg/West Carrollton News is also sent on to Mike and Sally, where he reads it, then passes it on to another resident, who's from Farmersville. So this is working out great! Lynn and I always chat a couple of times each month and I'll be seeing her in October! Lately, Mike and I have chatted a lot, too, what with all my questions about Tennessee.

We've heard from another generation, I'm happy to report! From the Class of 1983, CRAIG A VAN DYKE has sent a wonderful report on life in his new residence in Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina. Many of you may recall that Craig relocated to that area after spending 10 years in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Now, for me, THAT place is truly a yuk! (Colorado, I mean.) I learned that Craig didn't like it there, either, and also viewed it as being dry, dead, brown, and ugly. (Yes, the view is nice when one looks up at the snow-capped mountains. But hey, they make post- cards for that!)

Anyway, Craig wrote that he misses his many fellow employees with whom he worked for so long, but that he's enjoying the refreshing, lush greenery of the area to which they have moved. He hopes to make the trip for alumni weekend this year, but has travels with his position at Hewlett-Packard, during both August and October, so he will see. Craig wrote some nice things about Woody, whose granddaughter he dated in high school (TONDRA GILEN, who is the daughter of 1960 's BEVERLY A. BOWMAN. Great report, Craig, and many thanks for sending that. We hope you will be in Ohio, next month!

Always right on top of all administrative and faculty news is our own THOMAS L. WOLF, JR., 1960. He sent me a notice that the, "teachin'est teacher in all of WC," the indefatigable MURL E. HUFFMAN, finally retired after 61 years in the system. That's just simply amazing! Even Mr. H. sent in a snippet, in which he confirmed that news, but of course, wrote that he'll be available for any sort of special projects for which old WC may need him. Was there ever any doubt? We look forward to seeing BOTH of you retired WC people, as well as Tom's charming spouse, Susan! I hope to see two more of WC's teachers , too, in the persons of DAVID E. COLLINS, and his glamorous 1961 homecoming queen spouse, CHRIS LYN COLLINS. How about you, J. DAVID MAYS , 1960, and the beautiful Annie? Long time, no hear!

Is everyone giving it their best effort in assisting 1966 's DAVID C. SCHRADER, who has been toiling hard to locate his classmates for the 40th? If you know of anyone in that class, be sure to advise Dave. Let's all help, all we can. I think he's gotten help from 1965's STEVEN F. SHADE, and from 1960's MICHAEL S. WEST, also.

Also searching diligently for classmates for his 25th is 1981's SCOTT A. BARNES, son of 1959's GARY E. BARNES. If anyone has info on 1981 people, please get it to Scott. I referred him to the very capable M. CYTHEA POTEET and 1965's STEVEN F. SHADE. How are things coming along, Scott? Having half the genes of Gary, you're going to be a roaring success at this stuff!

Speaking of finding alumni, Mike (West) made such a good point about these new alumni directories. This year's edition was somewhat like a Chinese fire drill, in many ways, apparently. I've talked with many who said they were never contacted at all, many who said their info is all wrong, and many whose orders were never filled. Mine was originally one of them. I sent in my postcard around April and never heard another word, even though lots of people told me they'd gotten theirs. I called and they said I had placed no order. I had to wait until the second go-round, finally did get one, and this year, had to pay $100. The quality of the book, itself, is just lousy, for such an exorbitant price. However, I've NEVER bought that book for it's quality, just for its information. On yet another note, though, I went through it and found many a dead person listed, and dozens of errors with basic info, spellings, etc. So I have resolved to use the good info and try hard to overlook the bad.

Here's a for-instance: I went clear through school with 1960's SHARON SUE REYNOLDS, whom I know we all remember. She was a lovely girl. We were in girl scouts together and were both Miami Shores Kids. I had a request for her whereabouts. Since I'd been so well-acquainted with her through elementary school, I thought I'd try to bring her back into the WC circle. I'd seen her listing in the alumni directory for 10 years. It was time to contact her, so I did.

When I called, I asked if it was Sharon. She said yes. Then I asked if she was a 1960 grad of WC. As it turned out, she'd never left her hometown of London, Ohio, Reynolds was her married name, not a maiden name, and her middle initial was D, not S. Yet, this woman has been in every directory as, "our" Sharon. Pardon the pun, but some researcher didn't do his/her homework very well, on that one! This woman said she was glad I called because she keeps getting all this alumni stuff from an Ohio school which she didn't attend! The book is filled with this sort of thing!

In new sign-ons for this bulletin period, we have a few of those. There's 1958's JAMES A. MOSSBARGER, who lives in Georgia now. Jim is in the market for a 1957 and 1958 Piratan. He says his were burned in a house fire. I don't have either of those, at this time. We can also add to our list the name of 1956's BETTY L. CULPEPPER, who currently lives in Nixa, Missouri. Betty contacted me to get a 1956 Piratan and she was in luck. For some reason, I've got more of those than any other year. I've sold several of that year, but still have 4 with which I can part. Anyway, we all welcome Jim and Betty!

Did everyone hear the news about the Dayton home (mansion) of Orville Wright being returned to his family by NCR? They had bought it after his death in 1948 and are now returning it to them. I'm sure it was an economic decision. This piece of news was sent to us by 1960's FRED L. DOOLEY. Thanks, Fred. Those little hometown tidbits are always interesting reading.

It is my intent to end this bulletin on an upbeat note and that's why I've saved this news for the final paragraphs. Does everyone remember the annual gathering in August, for the girls of the Class of 1961 at the waterfront retreat of CAROLE J. LEWIS, in Kentucky? Well, it just occurred on August 17, 18, 19, and 20. According to my reporters, who included Lynn, of course, and Donna Richards, a good time was had by all, which is always the case. Lynn said attendees included SANDRA CASEY, JANET L. WALTERS. SALLY L. GILLETTE, JANET WITHAM, and I know there are probably others whose names were overlooked in the gleeful excitement. But it was a great event, as always. Over the years, I've been honored by an invitation to that, several times. If all goes well with my eventual move to Tennessee, I'm going to finally make it!

Now, for my final great announcement, I want to offer my heartiest congratulations and fondest best wishes to WC's latest newlyweds, 1960's Honorable Judge CHARLES A. "BUD" LOWMAN III and his bride, SALLY LYNNE GILLETTE. They were married on August 26, after a lengthy courtship. I hear their reception was wonderful, and I'm sure we'll be seeing them both next month. I know we all wish them the very best and a long and happy life together.

Finally, I have amassed every tidbit of info which came into my WC folder this time. I'm going to write that I don't belive there will be another bulletin prior to our alumni weekend. But you all know how much I lie about that. Ha! This time, though, I'm doing all the reaming-out of my house, in preparation for my eventual long-distance move, so I' pretty busy. We'll see how it goes.

If you didn't get your reservation form yet, be sure to go to the website and download one and send it to 1958's K. JUNE CRUTCHFIELD. as instructions dictate. She's now the spouse of 1958's JAMES E. RICHARDSON, another WC alumni workhorse! Thanks to you both. The website is as follows:
( www.wchsalumni.org ) Click on Events, then click on Printable reservation form. You must the Adobe Reader Program. Eddie Kelly and CHARLES A. HIGH, JR., your forms are on the way. I printed them today and mailed them. Alumni weekend is nearly here again! YEEEEEEHAAAAAA!!! I can scarcely wait!

As always, I leave each of you with my usual wish for glowing health, great happiness, peaceful serentity, spiritual harmony, and boundless prosperity. Ciao!
---And there you have it! More at 11--- B
- posted by Mikey @ 7:24 PM