News and Notes March 2009
For CHS 57
classmates
“Friday, the “Thirteenth” is her
Lucky Day, are you kidding me?”
For all of her seventy years,
Nancy and husband Charlie moved to Deltaville last year
and have been busy sorting the collection of many years of possessions and
arranging them in their new digs in the country. All of us know what fun that can be. Moving anytime is a hassle, moving when you
are in your seventies is a challenge most of us do not envy.
Happy Birthday
804-776-0126, nburch8@verizon.net
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“Work never seems to stop”
Bob Writes: I hope you are all having a real good new year in 2009.
Everything is fine here near Lambs Creek off the
I want to thank all of you who keep sending your
information into News and Notes. It is very sad when we lose a classmate or
schoolmate and it always makes me think back to the days at Cradock High and
before that in the grammar school as good days to remember.
God Bless all of you in our CHS 57 family, Bob
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Ramona Lowe Humphries
“Grandchildren are indeed Grand”
Ramona Writes: I am sorry
it has taken me so long to update fellow classmates on how things are
going. I stay busy with family, work (still fun) and church activities.
We have two daughters, Sparkle and Carry. They each
have two children, a boy and girl and they are truly “Grand” children. I feel grandchildren are a
reward for old age. Ours have truly been a blessing: Martin is 22
years old, has just finished LPN nursing school, and will continue for his RN
and BS degree. Marybeth, his sister, is a senior in high school and plans
to attend
Our older daughter, Sparkle has just come to work for us
in the floor covering business. She has been a stay-at-home mom so this
is quite a change for her. She is an excellent cook, and her life-long
dream is to have a Bed & Breakfast some day. Her husband Bryan is a
wonderful son-in-law and has his own plumbing business, so he is quite busy,
especially right now with all the frozen pipes.
Carry, our younger daughter is a teacher and so is her
husband Jeff. Carry teaches elementary school and Jeff teaches math in
high school. God bless teachers! I could not do what they do.
Things are so different from when we were in school.
Fletcher, my husband, is in good health and very
active. He is an avid hunter and loves to snow ski. In fact, he has
just gotten home from a two-week ski trip in
I am still working, in excellent health, and plan to continue
working as long as I can, after all I would not know what to do with all that
free time.
It is wonderful to hear what our classmates are doing
from reading News and Notes from CHS 57 and where they are going.
For a look at the owners of Interiors by H&W
Plastics, Fletcher and Ramona Lowe try this link. http://www.theshopper.com/gatherings.php?gid=160&mode=gallery&esi=80d140509ce25a94820d7504b9804517b09459064
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Nancy Boothe Higgins
“Hi Class of`1957, Life is still busy after partial retirement”
I have just retired from the West Goshen Township
Planning Commission. Since 1993 I have
been "Judge of Elections" and I will retire from that post after the
2009 General Election in November. I am
still singing in choir at Paoli Presbyterian Church. We are performing Schubert's Mass in G on
Palm Sunday.
Also I arrange Programs and Field Trips for our
Volunteers for the Chester County Historical Society as well as serve as a
guide three afternoons a month for our Museum and Galleries at the Society.
My grandson, Boothe is applying
for the
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Marvin Bowman
“Down under...There and back again”
Marvin
Writes: I just returned from a two-week
cruise around
The 24-hour plus trip
to get there is a bear even in the best of times but the people, animals etc.
was a treat. Check out the pictures and captions on first three albums on my
Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/marvin.bowman
You can see other public pictures from our other trips, acting etc.
I completed another
Aiken Community Playhouse in January: "Inherit the Wind". http://www.aikencommunityplayhouse.com/0809/inherit_info.php (webpage not
active)
I am still volunteering for the local museum and
doing some background work for feature films but that has slowed down, as has
much of the economy, as you very well know.
Your next "opportunity" to see me may be a few frames in
"Nailed" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1137470/
if they get the money to complete the editing.
"Dear John" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0989757/
should be released later in the year.
Look for me in one of the airport scenes. I got to wear a Hawaiian shirt I got when we
were in
Happy 70th birthday to
many of my classmates this year. Even with the aches etc. it is better than the
alternative! Marvin
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“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”
Johnny Writes: I
have enjoyed reading News and Notes from Cradock, from and about other
classmates. This monthly synopsis brings
back many good memories.
I received a laptop computer for my 70th birthday, and I
while I am slow at learning how to use it, as you can see by this email it is
in use.
I have lived in
I have seven children.
My oldest is 50 and my youngest is to 17. I have been married a few times. I enjoy life, play golf occasionally, bowl
once a week, and follow my youngest son's activities in school. I have been blessed with good health.
I was saddened by the passing of Sandra Willis, love of
my life and best friend for many years who passed away January 11, 2008. I miss her a lot. I look forward to hearing from CHS 57
classmates.
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Jay W. Walton
“Once was lost but now am found...one
Jay none the worse for wear”
In early February News and Notes posted the names of the
57 classmates who remained lost to our list on the Cradock website. http://www.cradock.org/ Wonder of wonders, Nancy Henderson Stokes CHS
’56, read the information and realized that Jay’s first wife was the sister of
Floyd Vaughn CHS ’56.
We asked Kat Leary Smith, CHS ’62 to use her sleuthing tactics
that she employed so well for CHS’57 when we were preparing for our 50th
reunion and within a day she had located our Jay Walton contentedly residing in
sunny
Jay Writes: What a
pleasant surprise when I received the call from Katherine Smith looking for a
Jay Walton who went to
I left Cradock to join the Air Force and was fortunate
enough to continue playing sports, football, baseball, track, etc., while in
the service. After being discharged, I
moved to
I remarried here in
Over the years I worked for Frieden,
Singer, TRW and Fujitsu, mostly in the electronic equipment field. I retired in 1996, but continued working
part-time at a golf course. The benefits
are terrific! I only work 4 to 5 hours a
week and enjoy free golf. I normally
play three or four times a week, but recently had a detached retina and will
have to wait a while before getting back on the course.
I have had good health over the years, but had a
hemorrhage in my right eye two years ago.
Since then, that eye has had other problems, but I am hoping to regain
some sight in that eye.
It was good to hear from you all. Mac, Gloria, and I had a long talk on the
telephone after I was found again. I
look forward to catching up on old times. Jay
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Gary Hayes
“Managing life at a young sixty-nine, younger than you old-timers”
But enough of that.
Shoot, our family has managed to make it through. We still have a place to sit down, food to
eat, bed to sleep in, "one-eyed monster" to watch, a PC or two to
occupy some slack time and a car to drive.
We are lucky. We have our home,
each other, even with all the 'character lines’, and reasonable health and our
family. The rest is gravy!
Cynthia, our oldest daughter is single, living in
Mark, our son, also lives in
Becky, our youngest, is single again and living with
Leona and I along with her 14 year old daughter...Good grief, another teenager
yet! Becky is doing well and has a
decent job with a manufacturing firm here in
Our two oldest grandchildren, Garron
who is 16 and a junior in High School, and his sister, Jasmine, 19 a freshman
at
As for Leona and me, we are doing okay. Our health, while
nothing to shout about is on level ground at least for now. It seems we are not active enough to keep our
bodies from becoming more pear shaped, but we manage to keep fit enough to bowl
from time to time. Leona bowls one
evening a week in a ladies bowling league, and I usually bowl two to three
times a week with the senior men's club and once a week in the Senior Stars
league. The frequency of my bowling is
largely determined by two factors, cost and arthritis. My bowling is a daytime activity, which makes
it easier to get around without, evening traffic and crowded bowling alleys and
not being out at night.
Keep News and Notes from Cradock coming. We enjoy hearing about our classmates.
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“Giggles and the ever expanded family”
Elsie Writes: Life is
great for us here in
Some days now I will have as many as 6 grandchildren and
1 great grand child in the house at one time. Oh, and by the way I still
work 4 days a week at the Church, it is good to get out of the house those 4
days. Coming home at night after work is great with dinner cooking (my
daughter-in-law is a great cook) and what fun to hear the children talk around
the dinner table.
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Deanna Decker Hester
“Happy Birthday to all of you seventy year olds”
Deanna Writes: I enjoy
reading about everyone in our class, but rarely get around to writing about
us. Right now, I am thinking about 20 years ago when our class had a 50th
birthday celebration at “The Max” in downtown
This past year has been a difficult one for us.
Carl and I lost both of our fathers and two of my favorite relatives.
Even our old dog, Vinny died! We also were able
to enjoy some wonderful times together with our children. Michelle, our
older daughter, lives in
My mother lives here at an assisted-living facility about
5 minutes from us, so we are able to get together daily. I retired from
teaching in 2002, and Carl retired from Randolph-Macon Woman's College three
years ago. He has had Parkinson's disease for 16 years. His walking
has become more difficult, but he keeps his wonderful sense of humor and
continues working on his scholarship in German. We have been going back
to
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Caroline Sands Smith
“Life is a beach...and a mountaintop”
Caroline Writes: Life is
different without a beloved spouse. I am blessed to live at
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Suzie Oliver Trefny
“Laughing in the face of adversity... Suzie is a 70-pound champion”
On March 1st Jimmy Trefny told
us that Suzie is getting more tired as each day passes. He picked her up on Friday, February 27th
and headed to the Outer Banks and they laughed and joked all the way from
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Potpourri from CHS 57
Pat and Deadri
Horan horanhome@cox.net headed to
Curt Spear cspear4@cox.net and Don Powell
dosank@mindspring.com
have been having a good time this past
month, working together via email,
identifying athletes from the 1926 Cradock baseball team. Curt’s dad was a player and Don’s uncle was
on the team. You can trace some of their
email correspondence as well as the original photograph on the Cradock
website. Also Curt is looking for help
identifying pictures from 1950 of the Cub Scouts taken in front of The
Presbyterian Church on
If you know a classmate who does not receive “News
and Notes” and would like to receive it, do everyone a favor, make a copy then
send it to them. It costs your time, an
envelope and $0.42. It will make them
feel good, and you l too. Carolyn Gerald Collins received one
from Ellen Tillery
Trammel and Mac and Gloria Kincaid
picked one up from
Here are a few folks who do
not use email: Kenny Bass,
2108 Iowa Street, Chesapeake, VA 23323,
757-487-2145; William (Bobby) Allen; 1620
Maple Street; Smithfield, NC 27577;
919-934-3289; Duncan Buchanan, 2816
Anderson Hwy, Powhatan, VA 23139, 804-598-8005; Juanita Gift Cotton, 219 Jacquelyn Drive, Portsmouth, VA 23701,
757-488-8533; Nathan Capps, 112
Lariat Trail, Moyock, NC 27958, 252-435-1078; Carolyn Gerald Collins, 4503 Leeward Drive, Chesapeake, VA 23321;
757-465-0461; Kenny Combs,3340
Golden Oaks Lane, Chesapeake, VA 23321, 757-484-9414; Shelvy Drew
Donaldson; 602 Kent Drive, Portsmouth,
VA 23702, 757-487-4458; Judy Allman
Eanes,5 Warren Dr. Portsmouth,
VA 23701,757-488-2749; Alfred E. Fry,2511 Bugle Dr W; Chesapeake, VA 23321,757-488-8441; Ronald W. Griffin,10 S Colin Dr, Portsmouth, VA 23701; 757-465-7406;
Gene Hoggard,
1512 City Park Ave, Portsmouth, VA 23701, 757- 488-8575; Leon Hemmings, 1404 Fox Trail, Edenton,
NC 27932-9142, (252) 221-8926; Juanita Jefferies Killman,
4904 Gardner Lane, Suffolk, VA 23434, 757-925-0961; Mac Kincaid, 30 Early Drive, Portsmouth, VA 23701, 757-465-0349; Gloria Bass Kincaid, 30 Early Drive, Portsmouth, VA 23701,
757-465-0349;
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The Cradock
Website
“Nobody does it better”
Janie Norris Evans is the webmaster of the Cradock
website. http://www.cradock.org/ Janie, a Cradock Class of 1960-graduate is a
dedicated helper, who is creating a treasure for every one of us. She collects Cradock memorabilia, and
displays it on her version of olden days Cradock reality, the wonderful
website.
We recommend to all of you who grew up in Cradock is
Janie’s first website which has many delightful bits of information about your
past http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vancgenealogyrecords/
Janie has linked this site to the Cradock site so you can also reach it from
there. Do not miss this. It is worth the
time you spend. It will lower your pulse
rate and blood pressure. It is cathartic.
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“A sop to patriots”
Monroe Duncan, CHS 58 Sends:
The American National Anthem is sung by five young ladies (ages 6-8). You have
never heard it performed better than this!
An entire arena remains silent throughout the song. You could hear a pin
drop. Take a moment to listen to this.
The two young ladies on the right are six years
old. The two in the middle are seven and the one on the left is eight.
http://entertainment.webshots.com/video/3042224670102158872qaiDAx
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And Finally... now that you have come this far in March’s edition of News and Notes, the editors have selected a treat for all of you who are the least bit sentimental. Don’t click on the next website link unless you can stand a sweet, maybe maudlin web links to brighten your day. (bk)
http://www.inspirationline.com/images/Companions.pps