Let's start with our forwarders, as always. They are 1949's ROBT. E. HOFFMAN; 1954's FREDA P. FLETCHER; 1955's C. ELAINE DILLARD; 1957's BETTY L. CARROLL, RALPH H. WARNER, DARELL L. TOBIAS, ERCELL P. PHILLIPS; 1958's RONALD D. "TOM" FEE, WM. R. HOWARD, W. BAILEY HAWKINS, BRUCE E. CHENOWETH, DONALD I. MCCOY; 1959's JOE E. STOMPS, SANDRA RAE KINNEY; 1960's EULE FAYE BAILEY, C. SUE MC

CLOUD, WM. E. "BUDDY" STOVER, DELORES K. "DEDE" FAHRNEY, RICHARD S. HOLT, GERALD A. FULLER, LARRY M. ;PENDLEY, WM. O. WALK

ER, STEVEN M. KOKOT; 1961's GARY R. FRANK,

P. LYNNETTE GARRETT, CONNIE K. STREETE, SALLY L. GILLETTE, SHARON K. WENDELKEN, PAUL R. BEARDSLEY, SANDRA E. BROCK, LARRY

D. GILBERT, CAROL A. MUMMA; 1962's RICHARD

C. CALL, BARBARA T. O'NEAL, JACKQUELYN S.

HAINES, THOS. J. GAULDIN ; 1963's SHIRLEY

A. RANKIN; 1964's KARL R. BURRUS, TERRY L.

WILSON; 1969's ROBT. E. THARPE, JOHN Q. KEMP; 1970's DEBRE C. "DEBBY" SPENCER; 1971's PAMELA K. SHIPLEY: JOY I. WOLFORD; 1981's D. BRIAN BRODBECK; 1985's AMY L. H

AWKINS, 1988's JAS. A. MCGUIRE.

Okay, we now proceed to our e-mail lost list,

Which is growing a bit shorter, I'm happy to report. On 1956's JOS. F. SNELL, I got another reject and I'm hoping to get an assist on this one from his sister, my classmate, LINDA J. SNELL, or his brother-in-law, also my class

-mate/class president, LONNIE M. THACKER. I'll have to call him soon, if not. Yes, it's yet another reject from 1959's CAROLYN E. EUBANK, too, telling me she has no yahoo account. Then, it's the usual reject on 1959's KEITH E. ANDERSON. We also got an over-quota on 1961's HARRIET M. BURKE, as well as a reject on LILY K. "KITTY" BURDETTE, and so far, that's it. So not so bad, this time. There was also actually one on 1960's WM. E. "BUDDY" STOVER, but it was only an over-quota, so I'd guess he eventually got it. Did you, Buddy?

It's now August 31 and I'm going to back up to August 10, which is when I got the first response to the last bulletin and it was from 1970's RITA G. JUSTICE, advising me of her 1970 classmate's death, ANTHONY F. "TONY" MARINELLI. She did not give his date of death, but did say it was due to a heart attack. I believe he lived in Miamisburg and Rita was the only one who advised me of this one, so thanks, Rita. He was but 61, according to what I found.

On that very same day, I heard from classmate, MADELEINE D. CAMPBELL, whom I've known all my life, went all the way through both school and Lutheran Catechism, and with whom I was confirmed into Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. She continues to grieve the loss of husband, Wm. D. McDaniel, in the midst of which she had a 70th birthday on Aug. 27. She also told me her mother turned 95 on Aug. 12, and can still live independently. I remember your mother, Madeleine, and I hope she does well, and I wish the same for you.

It was an eventful day for WC contacts, as I got a wonderful message from 1955's C. ELAINE DILLARD, who wrote of how sad it is when we lose people, and I know we can all agree on that one. Elaine wrote she often sees classmate CARL R. MAYS and wife Marilyn, who live nearby in The Villages, or as it's better know amongst us Pirates, "Maysville." It's always good to hear people are doing well, though, and thank you for the nice compliment on the bulletins, Elaine. That's just what keeps me typing!

Next came a message from 1961's PAUL R. BEARDSLEY, who confirmed he'd contacted WALLACE W. ROBBINS and they'd had quite a chat. Of course, like all of us, Paul was terribly entertained by him. Who wouldn't be? That reminds me, all of you. I somehow managed to put a wrong number in here for Wally, in the last bulletin. The correct one is 937 270-8873. I'm sure you're all waiting on the correction, so dial him up, will you?

We also lost 1954's ROBT. G. "GENE" WELLER on August 2. He lived in Hillsboro and went by Bob, when in school. This one came first from his cousin, 1961's NANCY A. HALL. She also reported she and spouse, Pastor Larry W. Matthews, did attend the Illinois State Fair.

On August 11, I received a lovely e-mail from my darling of 1961, JACK L. GODBY, who informed me he hopes to spend his 70th birthday, November 7, with his brother, 1964's W. THOS. GODBY, in Florida. We all wish you a lovely birthday, Jack, and many, many more. Take good care of yourself.

Next came 1960's MICHAEL S. WEST's, "desperate message," about accidentally deleting his bulletin. No problem, Mike, I keep them for a year. So I resent it. By the way, I've just confirmed with Mike, our blogspot is working fine, all the bulletins are up to snuff and current, so if you want to go back and re-read or get current, just log on to the blogspot

( www.wchs.blogspot.com ) Everything is posted there, but for this one, and I'm betting it will soon be there. Thanks for doing that so faithfully, Mike.

Speaking of logging on, the reservations forms are out for our October extravaganza. Many thanks to our alumni committee who do such spectacular work. It's so gratifying to me how all of you send such wonderful messages about the bulletins. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. But the people on our alumni committee do the real work! All I do is type, and hit the send button. Let us also not forget my bulletins are not an official, alumni function. It's simply something I do, based on my love of writing (and all of you, of course).

So drum roll, please! Let's hear it for our alumni committee and please get those reservations in the mail, pronto! (I still have to do mine, at this writing.)If you need to download a form, go to the WC website( www.wchsalumni.org ) Click on events and follow the prompts to download the form. (Footnote: It's now Oct. 6, so may be too late, unless hand-carried,)

Next came a report from 1957's LINDA L. MCAFEE re KEITH H. CLENDENON's sudden death. She was his cousin, and I did not know that. I said I wasn't going to put this in here, but I have had so many queries about it, I'll give you all the brief version, at least. Keith was a diabetic, first of all. He and his wife were walking their dogs, and one got away. Keith went after it, but fell into a hole while in pursuit. It was a hornet's nest, and he was stung 48 times (!). That's far too much venom for the human body to withstand, even a young and healthy one. His organs began to fail, he was placed on life support, and just couldn't recover. I'm still terribly sad for his loss. Thanks, Linda.

Let's back up to August 14, when I received a welcome e-mail or two from my 1960 classmate, BEVERLY J. HAAS. Many of us will recall how ill she's been. She wrote she was happy to be back in touch and reading our news. Currently, she's residing with a daughter who lives in Indiana. She's not 100%, by any means, but she's working on it and hopes to continue to improve. We all wish that for you, too. So do

Please continue to keep in touch.

We have our second, "guest reader," who is Bill J. Iiams, of the Dayton area. He comes to us through 1969's MICHAEL J. LOTSPAIH. It seems

Mike relays all the bulletins to Bill, as Bill says he knows lots of WC people. Well, aren't you the lucky one, Bill! We welcome your readership and hope you continue to enjoy. Thanks to you, too, Mike.

By the way, it seems Bill is searching for 1968 alumnus, BRENDA LINVILLE. Is there any help out there for him? If so, please let me know, will you?

Some of you may recall 1968's ROGER D. LUCAS had been missing a few bulletins (my fault), and I'm hoping that has now been corrected. I think I told all of you we got him back on the readers list, after a brief loss on e-mail.

Speaking of corrections, I think I've solved the multiple sending problem. It seems it was once again my fault. I had entire lists of alpha readers duplicated in other lists. It was our alumni treasurer, GARY E. JOHNSON, who uncovered this for me. Thanks, Gary.

Earlier in the month, FREDA P. FLETCHER of 1954, flunked her pop quiz on the info in the last bulletin. Ha! But I passed her, anyway, as I've gotten to the point where I forget a few things from time to time, too.

Didn't I get a vote of support from 1970's INDY JO SUMNER (she of the name I love) about how we celebrate 4th of July? She also hates it, just like me (noise, smoke, debris, injuries, accidents, etc.), so I guess I'm not the only one. Thanks, Indy.

Okay, MICHAEL S. WEST, I'm going to spill the beans on you! Guess what, folks? On August 15, dear friend, 1958's BRUCE E. CHENOWETH put in an appearance at my house again. We had a great visit, as always, then proceeded to the hometown of Mike and wife Sally, where we spent several delightful hours at a terrific Italian place in Gatlinburg, having a very early supper.

During our repartee, Bruce and I learned Mike had had a stent put into this heart, the night before! He hadn't planned on telling us, but thanks to Sally, we were told, anyway. Now, Mike, you should know we'd all have been in your corner and pulling for you. We sure do hope you're back up to par and feeling great. In the past year or so, Sally has also had a time with her health, but she seemed to be doing really well, too. Both of you be sure to stay safe and healthy. It's Mike who does the spectacular job with our blogspot and he's got it up to date and current, right to this bulletin, as previously written. But if you've missed something, or if you want to check any info, please access the blog, as I wrote, few para-graphs ago, but it bears repeating. It's ( www.wchs.blogspot.com ) He must have 7-8 years' worth of bulletins there, and I've been doing them only since October of 2000.

As I'm on the topic of the bulletins, I'm going to take this opportunity to recap something I have written in here, just about every year I've done them (now 12, in fact), at least once a year. I don't include, discuss, demean, offer support, endorse, decry, insult, or otherwise mention anything political and, only guardedly and with caveats, anything religious, either. I never will. In addition, I'm going to make my, "annual true confession," and make all of you aware of the fact I do not ever even open, much less actually read, a single, forwarded item, regardless of the source or the topic or the reason for sending it. I do, however, use the senders' names in my forwarders list. I'm making all of you aware of this because I want you to know I cannot discuss the topics which are contained in such sendings, as I haven't read them. I have many reasons for this, but one of the main ones is the fact I get at least 50 of them per day, and could get nothing done at all, if I began reading them. I don't mind receiving them, due to using the names, just don't ask me follow-up questions, okay? Thanks to all.

Time is slipping away so rapidly and I'm behind on my self-imposed deadline, as you've all doubtless noticed by now. As I type, the date is Oct. 5 and I have to leave here in a few days, headed for Ohio. As I head toward 71 years old, I'm hoping I'll be resilient and well enough to continue the annual migration. So far, so good.

Every so often, I have a lovely exchange with 1960's JUDITH A SLIFE. It always makes me wish I'd known you better in high school, Judy, but we all had our circle of friends, back then, and each with their own interests. So I'll just enjoy it now, and say thanks.

Similar exchanges periodically occur with 1960 classmate, JO ANN K. STEMLEY, but with her, it's a different story, as we spent a good deal of time together, during our school years.

Cousin JUDITH L. SAMUELS and I continue our daily banter, and sometimes, we have several a day. It simply depends on what happens to be, "the crisis of the day." Ha!

From 1961's RICHARD L. DOLL came favorable comment on the background color, saying it's easier on the eyes. Thank you, Richard, I very much appreciate that, especially since I don't even know how to change it. Ha!

Way back on Aug. 16, I received e-mail from 1965's DANIEL L. MINIX, in which he outlined a similar situation to that of 1960's HARRIET Z. RICE, who lost her home in the Colorado wildfires. He underwent a similar experience, but fared considerably better, with his home surviving, when he returned. We just never know, do we?

A big surge of sadness swept over me when

I got e-mail from 1961's FRANCES E. DAYSPRING

, who informed me of the death of her lifelong best friend, DOROTHY L. BOYD, who died on April 10. She resided in Bradenton, Florida, at the time of her death. No one ever told me of this one, but for you, Fran, so I've no idea if your classmates were aware or not.

Dorothy and I attended church together for many years through school and went to lots of church outings and functions together. I knew her mother and her brother, Bobby, too. I was sorry to hear of her passing. Thank you, Fran.

On Aug. 25, I heard from 1961's LARRY D. GILBERT, who reminded me of the Trail of Tears Remembrance ride for motorcyclists. I have been on this ride, yes. It's fun and scenic, like everything in Tennessee!

As we often do, 1961's PAUL R. BEARDSLEY and I had our discussion about one of WC's most unforgettable characters, WALLACE W. ROBBINS. We sure can agree on that point.

Sadly, we learned of the Aug. 27 death of 1959's HOWARD MELZONI, JR. This was sent to me by 1958's WM. R. HOWARD. Fittingly, Howard's funeral was held in Miami Shores. I recall him vividly. Thanks, Bill. This was also reported by another Miami Shores Kid, 1958's DAVID L. HOWARD, as well as 1959's GARY E. BARNES, so thanks to you, too, Dave & Gary.

Back on Sept. 3, I received e-mail from 1961's PAUL R. BEARDSLEY, who advised me of the recent death of his brother, Gerald,who had attended Roosevelt High School and was six years Paul's senior. We all extend sincerest condolences for your loss, Paul, and thank you for letting us know.

On September 8, as all are now aware, we lost 1955's DONNA G. TUDOR, younger sibling of the late 1955's DORIS D. TUDOR, elder sibling of both the late 1957's DEANA C. TUDOR, and 1960's SHIRLEY J. TUDOR. Shirley is now the sole survivor of the 4 Tudor girls. We extend condolences to Shirley, as well as to Donna's children and close friends and other family. A request for Shirley's address arrived promptly, from GERALD A. FULLER, and an expression of sadness from 1957's DARELL L. TOBIAS, as well as 1961's SALLY L. GILLETTE.

On Sept. 18, the 1959 class lost yet another member, LARRY P. ACUFF. This was sent to me by 1959's GARY E. BARNES, and also by 1960's RICHARD S. HOLT, so thanks to both.

On Sept. 6, from 1961's NANCY A. HALL, came word of the death of KEVIN RANDALL CASEY on Sept. 4. He was but 58 years old and was the younger sibling of SANDRA J. CASEY, 1961. I've no idea of a class year and I don't really even know if he was WC, but bet he was. Sandy, I apologize for not having this info, but it didn't appear in the obit, so feel free to let me know, if you wish. We all send sincerest condolences to you. Thanks, Nancy.

There was much assistance with this next one, with e-mail arriving first from 1959's SANDRA R. KINNEY, reporting the Sept. 6 death of 1952's SUE B. MARSH, also her cousin, as well as the cousin of 1959's PATRICK B. HOLLAN. I also had notice on this one from 1959'S GARY E. BARNES, as well as a bit of extra info from 1965's STEVEN F. SHADE. Thanks to all.

As sad and devastating as they all are, this last one---finally, and aren't we all glad?---really did break my heart in two. I got notice from 1961's EDNA L. GRAY of the death on Sept. 28 of the son of 1961's P. LYNNETTE GARRETT. His name was Wm. R. "Richie" McLain, and he was but 47. He lived in WC. I spoke with Lynn and naturally she was/is devastated. Who wouldn't be? My heart goes out to you, Lynn, and we all share your terrible grief. Thank you, Edna.

Since we were on this dismal topic, I decided to get through it, in a single swoop. As you all know, I hate reporting the deaths, and we've had far too many in recent years. But after many queries to many of you, I learned you want to know about them. So I'll continue.

We have an illness to report and a surgery. I got word from 1961's NANCY A. HALL she just had cataract surgery recently. All goes well and she's coming along nicely. You're going to be fine, Nancy, and we all wish you well.

From 1954's FREDA P. FLETCHER came word of her classmate, LOWELL R. RANDOLPH, being in an ICU ward somewhere, I'm assuming it's in the Dayton area. Does anyone have any further info on Lowell or his condition? Thanks, Freda.

Let's move to a more cheerful topic, after all that. We thank 1988's JAS. A MCGUIRE for all the info on the WC Alumni Football functions, and hope all went well with that event, which occurred on Sept. 21.

BRUCE E. CHENOWETH, 1958, is looking better and better each time WM. R. HOWARD sees him

, says Bill. Well, that's good news, Bruce, and I thought you were looking well, too, in August. I hope things are moving along well on your lovely old Oldsmobile.

Still receiving multiple sendings, he reported, is 1960's T. BARRY RUSSELLO. Well, we'll see how it goes this time, Barry, and hopefully, it will be an improvement. While I'm on here, I'll wish you a happy 70th birthday on Oct. 11, and many more.

Good news came from 1967's MARIAN K. HUSSEY and spouse, 1960's PHILLIP D. HOWARD, who will both be present at alumni functions. I'll look forward to seeing you, Phil and Kay.

JANET L. WALTERS wrote she'll be back at Ron's Pizza on Thursday evening, something which was begun by her class, and then most of us, "horned in on them," and liked it so much, we've done it for years. I'm sure many more will be there, yet again.

Reporting from the road was 1963's SHIRLEY A. HELMAN, who wrote she and Terry will not be at the weekend festivities. They're in Florida and will be working at Disney until around April 15. She also said they've both had a few problems with health, this past year, but are faring well now, and she does intend to be at her 50th, in 2013, of course.

Two nights ago, I got a call from 1960's Judge CHAS. A. "BUD" LOWMAN III, Ret. We spoke for 30-45 minutes and he's attending a wedding on the night of the dinner/dance, but plans to be in attendance at Ron's Pizza on Thursday. Bud's 70th birthday was on Sept. 30.

Speaking of ages and vital information, I had a long, windy chat with EULA FAYE BAILEY and we discussed how it's impossible to maintain a low profile or have a secret in this age of techno-wonders. All you have to do is enter a person's name and nearly every vital piece of info is right there, in nano-seconds---full address, telephone number, age, a list of your relatives, and even a map to your house. Yep, the secrecy is forever gone, isn't it?

Alumni treasurer, GARY E. JOHNSON, is on the ball and already sent the attendee list. I wasn't so efficient, submitting mine at the last minute, praying it would get there in time, knowing it wouldn't, and then notifying Gary it's on the way and I'm sorry, Gary. I need someone to prod me on getting that done!

But here we are again, on the brink of another alumni weekend. Let's review. On Thursday, we go to the aforementioned Ron's Pizza, founded by the 1961 class. Friday brings the gathering at the Moraine City Frisch's, founded by 1960's MICHAEL S. WEST. Saturday at 1 p.m., brings the Miami Shores Memories Picnic, founded by 1958's RONALD D. "TOM" FEE and WM. R. HOWARD. Is that right, BETTY LEE CARROLL, 1957? That evening, I'm hoping we'll all be attending the big function, the dinner/dance.

So do we have all together? I apologize for the tardiness of this bulletin. I think it was about August 10, when I sent the last one, so it's not too bad. Now that I've succeeded in finishing this one, I've got to do my newspaper column for next Sunday. It's sure a good thing I enjoy the writing, isn't it? Let's all travel safely.

Let's all stay in touch with those WC pals. We're losing far too many of us, and far too rapidly. I leave you all with my usual wish for glowing health, great happiness, personal safety, peaceful serenity, spiritual harmony, and boundless prosperity. Ciao!