MAIL CALL
from Donnie DeLee in San Antonio
I'm sitting here on a dialysis chair getting teary eyed (happy tears) reading your newsletter and recalling how glad I was to able to make it to the reunion (my first one). So many memories as I reunited with old friends and talked about the band I was in, ( the free soil), & times running around with Calvin Hankins and Skip Underwood. I , could go on and on, and I missed saying hi to everyone. I'll make sure to meet more fellow graduates next time. Yes, I'll be there at the next reunion. My thumbs getting tired (LOL) and the dialysis machine keeps beeping since I'm moving the arm with the needles in it. See everyone at the next one.
from Loretta LaLonde Myers in League City
I just finished reading your latest newsletter and looking at the reunion pictures! I enjoyed it so much.
from Jenny Rhodes Hamilton in Lumberton
Thanks again for the great job you guys did for our reunion. That was a lot of WORK!! You all are totally awesome to give so much of yourselves. THANKS!!
I am looking forward to seeing Wayne Taylor’s photos.. I have been looking forward to seeing more of the photos, especially the group shots of Hussars and the other groups that got called together. I suppose all of the photos may have not turned out or they may have not been enough time to load them all. The ones that are on the website are very good! Thanks again for all you guys did to provide us the venue to have a GREAT TIME!!(and we did!!!)
PS: I love my little pill box! Wish I had a dozen of them. Great for traveling. Thanks for that, too!
from Sara Little Herman in Alpine, TX
Oh, what a wonderful newsletter! Reading all my classmates reunion comments made my heart hurt because I had to miss the fun. I enjoyed our 40th so much, and I am so sad that I had to miss this one. I am already looking forward to the 50th! (oh goodness, will it really be 50 years since graduation??)
from David Salter in Oklahoma City, OK
Thanks to you and everyone who worked so hard to organize the reunion and make it a success. What a job well done!! It was truly a memorable event. My only regret of the reunion was that Lana was not there with me. She would have met some of the world's best people, and they would have met my best friend and precious wife of 40 years.
I had an enjoyable time visiting with our T.J. family! It was so good to recall memories with such great friends from school, neighborhood, church and little league and get caught up on the years gone by. What a blessing to grow up in P. A.!
This past weekend we were in the Fort Worth area with family celebrating upcoming birthdays for Dad (90) and Mom (91). They, and my sister Beverly (TJ '66), enjoyed seeing my reunion pictures and hearing updates on my classmates...many of whom they knew very well. They also enjoyed the P. A. picture collection on the website which you and Mike manage so well. Thanks so much for your efforts and dedication.
from Linda Olivier Meyer in Fulshear, TX
Well, we didn't make the reunion. We had planned to and were looking forward to it. This is our life lately:
Our daughter and her husband finally found a house they love and have been renovating it for about 5 months. They moved out of here and into their new house about three weeks ago. (All in all they have been living with us for about a year, waiting for their home in Lubbock to sell and then remodeling their current home.) Meanwhile, our youngest son put his house on the market and it sold in a matter of a few days. They had been looking at homes but have now decided to build. So..... now THEY have moved in with us.
They say Mother Nature deplores a void (or something like that) and I guess so because Melissa, her husband and their one year old son along with their two cats moved out. By the way, they named their son Louis Olivier McCall. My Dad would have been so touched! A week later Josh, (our youngest son), his wife and their two dogs have moved in. It was actually the weekend of the reunion. I miss not being able to catch up with everyone.
from Betty Steck Cleboski in Houston
You and the committee did an awesome job. It was a great weekend.
from Cheryl Robinson Jones in Vidor
We missed a golden opportunity at our Sunday morning breakfast! We should have spread ourselves around that dining room and on cue, stood up one at a time and ended up singing our Thomas Jefferson school song AND the fight song. We could have had our own flash mob right there in Port Arthur, Texas!
WHY do these things always occur to me 3 days later and at 1:30 in the morning? (That doesn’t make them bad ideas, does it)?
Jan Russell even taught choir for several years. Now, who better to lead us? We could have gone viral!
REUNION
I still have mixed feelings about the reunion being over. I guess I know that some that might have attended, didn't. They might not be able in five years. In fact, Joe Pinell planned on coming to the reunion and couldn't because his dad was in the hospital from Thursday to Sunday of that weekend. Now, a month later, Joe has passed away from a heart attack. Sad. We lost another classmate, Jerry Nicholson, the week of the reunion. At our 40th reunion in 2008, we knew of 70 classmates who were deceased. At our 45th, 96 classmates had passed away. Now, a month later, 97!
I hope you took the time to view the beautiful MEMORIAL presentation that Sandra Garsea Broussard made for the reunion weekend. I will list the deceased and then you can hopefully spend some time viewing our MEMORIAL section on our website. May they Rest In Peace.
Kelly Adams
Toni Adams
Clifford Antone
Galen Bailey
Steve Baker
Mike Becker
Steven Bertrand
Phillip Bodin
Linda Broussard
Jerry Brown
Rachel Burton
Pat Byrd
Pam Clary
Mike Coats
Carmela Collida
George Comeaux
Terry Cook
Jerry Crochet
John DeCluitt
Phillip Dickman
Jeanne Duplantis
Janis Dupont
Terry Durham
Cynthia Elizondo
Linda Estrada
Charles Gill
Dale Girouard
Colene Goodman
Arthur Gracia
James Granger
Pete Guerrero
Phil Hall
Calvin Hankins
Mona Hatch
Lynn Henderson
John Hickson
Wilford Hightower
Mike Hilton
Donnie Hollier
Ronnie Hollier
Arthur Eugene Hufstetler
David James
Annetta Johnson
Frankie Johnson
Charles Juneau
Tim Kennedy
Kitty Killebrew
Peggy Landry
Jullie Lee
Pam Lopez
Francis Maltese
Edrice Malveaux
Myra McConathy
Tommy McFadden
Felix Mendoza
Eloy Montalvo
Ralph Moore
Kenneth Morrell
Bob Mullin
Jerry Nicholson
Doug Norwood
Kenneth Odneal
Edwin “Skeet” Osborn
Leon Oville
Kirk Pandella
Tom Phillips
Patricia Pickard
Joe Pinell
Mike Quebedeaux
Wayne Ransonette
Betty Sue Ratley
Earnest Reed
Jerry Reynolds
Eldridge Larry Robinson
Bonnie Romero
Ricky Romero
Rex Rowley
Ronnie Sarver
Bill Satterfield
Claudia Scalph
Randy Schneider
Donnie Semien
Larry Speake
Arthur Stout
Vera Taylor
David Theriot
Gary Toups
Narrie Travis
Joseph Vidalier
Tommie Voight
Donnie Wade
Albert Jack Weldon
Richard Wheeler
Doug Wilson
David Wolf
Karen Woods
Please send me information of any classmates that might have passed away and we aren't aware of it.
NEWS FROM THE HOMEFRONT
My sister will be seeing a specialist for an opinion about surgery for her bladder. Keep her in your prayers. We found out my dad had a stroke that affected his right eye recently. He has very little vision in it. It didn't affect anything else. I was teasing him recently and told him to go make his own supper. Of course, he wasn't so sure and pretended he wasn't hungry. When I continued to pick with him, he decided to go into the kitchen and see what he could fix. He came up with a PERFECT MEAL.....two left over Christmas candy canes and a Nabisco chocolate chip cookie. My kind of meal!
Murphy and I went camping at Lake Livingston for the Labor Day weekend. It was fun except still too hot. It was 100 degrees the first day there. We are going to try again the third weekend of September at Dam B and hope it has cooled off at least a little.
PHOTOS from Wayne Taylor (the official PHOTOGRAPHER)
Wayne called me this week to come pick up the first half of the reunion pics that he put on a CD. He will finish the Saturday night one soon. It will take awhile for me to figure out how to put names for each picture for Mike before he puts them on the website. Give us time. Now that I don't have the grandkids to keep I have more time to myself. We haven't decided what to do about burning extra CD's for the classmates that are interested. We will keep you posted.
SUPPORT
Sharon Lewis Forrest's great-granddaughter, Isla Edwards, was born this week. She is in Neonatal care in Houston and is getting better. Please pray for continued good health. She is the daughter of Sharon's granddaughter, Jac.
Betty Steck Cleboski's husband, Ron, has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Prostate Cancer. Please keep him in your prayers.
Steve Landry is having more tests at M.D. Anderson. He is the husband of classmate, Darlene Turner.
CONDOLENCES
Greig Placette '67 was shot and killed at a Denny's restaurant in Houston last week. He stood up to cover some children that the robbers were pointing their guns at. He was shot twice.
Diane Johnson Faulk
(death of her mother, Alice Adeline Johnson)
3305 Avalon
Groves, TX 77619
Mike will send information about Joe Pinell's funeral services when we receive them.
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Okay, I need photos that individuals took at the reunion. Don't forget.
Stay in touch and contact a classmate,
Linda DeCuir McFadden
lindadmcfadden@yahoo.com
www.tjhs1968.com