MAIL CALL
oops! NONE
WEBSITE DONATION
Mike and I received a generous donation check from Cynthia Marshall Devlin in Zavalla, TX. Thanks friend!
(a note from Cynthia included with her card and check)
“All is well with me. Another semester has ended and I will head to Pt. Neches to spend Christmas with my parents and family. I am off until Jan. 10th and need every moment before the spring semester kicks off. Life is a special occasion.”
(Cynthia is a professor at SFASU)
devlinc@sfasu.edu
cynjad@msn.com
NEWS FROM THE HOMEFRONT
I spent all Christmas day and most of the evening in bed! I woke up at 4:00 am with a bad case of vertigo that had me puking and my head spinning like “The Exorcist”! Ernie (Castaneda) & Ron Bullion came by for a little while to wish us a Merry Christmas and check on me. She brought us some nice sweets. Somehow I was able to raise my head to eat COCONUT pie! But, we missed the family Christmas lunch with Stacy's in-laws but they were nice enough to send us to-go boxes.
Santa brought me a lunch kit JUST LIKE the first and only one I had at Wm. B. Travis elementary school. I think Santa's elves found it at an antique store on Boston Ave! I have thought of my red and black plaid lunch kit many, many times over the last 55+ years since I received it. I can remember getting it and feeling soooo special. It really brings back memories. I remembered that Sara Little would trade me her ROAST BEEF sandwich for my “BALONEY” sandwich!!! (I hope her mom never found out). It is amazing what means a lot to us doesn't always have to cost a ton of money especially now that we are getting older.
Boston Red Sox Santa brought me several autographed items signed by one of their ace pitchers, Clay Buchholz. It was a special year for Boston since they won the 2013 WORLD SERIES! Thanks to Skip Buchholz, (Clay's dad), for getting my memorabilia back and signed in time to put it under the tree. Skip goes to the “beer lease” with Murphy in Wiergate (past Newton) so we have an inside track!
I came close not sending out Christmas cards for the first time ever this year. But, the more I thought of it, I changed my mind. I am glad I did. Everytime I wrote a card to someone, it brought back memories of that person or family. Something that made them “special” to me. I am pretty particular about my cards, too. When I look for boxes of cards each year, they really have to appeal to me. Once I am ready to write them I spread my boxes out on a long table and look for the one that I think goes with that person on the list. Yes, Virginia, I am glad I changed my mind!
Murphy got a new Dyson vacuum cleaner for Christmas! What? Well, it isn't MY FAULT that he is the one in this family that LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to vacuum. Who am I to disagree? He gets it from HIS mother and has passed it on to his only child, Stacy! Dad and I just watch him do his thing and pick up our feet when he gets to us sitting on the couch. Now, if I could get him to like to DUST!
REUNION PICS
I sent 40 more reunion pics of Saturday night for you all to enjoy. Don't forget to check them out. You just might find yourselves looking spiffy all decked out in Mardi Gras attire. I am having so much fun looking at them as I send each one to Mike. What a blast that we had. Now, I am looking forward to the 50th in 2018!
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL (EVOO)
I got the following note from Paul Colletti telling me about his crop of EVOO that he harvested in Sicily this fall:
Our oil has arrived! As usual, we had a great time in Sicily messing with the harvest. I think you will like it. This is our best yet. BTW..small world..this evening I delivered 50 liters of oil to the olive oil store in Fort Worth, "The Virgin Olive Oiler" Five days earlier I had delivered 50 liters. He sold 50 liters in 5 working days. The story about us in the FW magazine 360 West has given our oil a real boost. While in the store this evening, a couple walked in and the man said to the owner, "I want some Colletti olive oil". I told him who I was and he asked me if I was a Colletti from Port Arthur. It was B.J. Gralino, a radiologist in Fort Worth who was one of the Port Arthur Gralino's. His sister is Peggy Gralino and I remember her as she was a CavOILcade Queen. We had a nice long talk about all our mutual paisanos from PA.
(Paul's olive oil is known as FRATELLI COLLETTI. This oil is a single varietal, made from Buscionetta olives grown, harvested and pressed in Caltabellotta, Sicily. The oil won a SILVER at the New York International Olive Oil competition in 2013. He and a few family members fly to Sicily to personally pick the olives and bring them to the Oleificio”Mariano Falco” di Falco Giuseppa in Caltabellotta, Sicily to be processed. Paul doesn't know that I am adding this to the NEWSLETTER. I am such a fan that I wanted you all to know about this exceptional product from such a sweet and kind classmate. He doesn't always have time to read my NEWSLETTER so he might not even see this glowing endorsement! His e-mail is paul.colletti@gmail.com )
SUPPORT
Ernie Castaneda Bullion's brother, Frank is very ill in a hospital near his home in Broken Arrow, OK. He has pneumonia and congestive heart failure. He is on a ventilator at this point. Prayers go their way as they travel to check on his welfare.
tbull50@sbcglobal.net
from David Lapham in Sunset Valley, TX
(MY APOLOGIES! I just recently found this letter again after he sent it to me on November 27th.)
Bette Davis reportedly once said "Old age ain't for sissies!" My father-in-law, who died in January, 2013 at the age of 96 sometimes quoted her, and lately I'm thinking more and more that she knew what she spoke. Presently I'm recovering from a mild shoulder injury that I incurred in mid-October breaking up a dog fight. What a way to go . . .
The good news is that it's likely something that a little exercise and physical therapy will cure. The MRI report was initially kind of scary, mentioning "a multi-quandrant labral tear is present". The doctor explained, however, that one does not do that much damage all at once, and that I obviously had previous, unnoticed, cartilage damage. Uh, perhaps that would have been the motorcycle wreck 40 years ago when I shattered my clavicle. Either that or the car wreck about three years ago where I slammed my shoulder against the driver's side door pillar. Possibly it was that time in Vietnam when I fell after jumping down ten feet from the top of a bunker in the dark during a rocket attack, or maybe it was something else. Who knows? At least it's my left shoulder, which means I can still go hunting and shoot hogs. Goodness knows they're a scourge of agriculture, like modern-day locusts, and it's my personal mission to eliminate as many as I can in the days I have left on earth. Besides, it's fun and they're tasty!
So overall, I'm doing well and enjoying hearing what goes on with everyone else these days. Sorry to be adding to the list of folks with health issues, but thankfully mine are pretty mild so I'm not complaining. I hope everyone is having a pleasant holiday season. Keep up the good work on the newsletter.
davel@lapham.us
from Carolyn Hebert (wife of Alfred Hebert, biology teacher)
You might add Alfred to your prayer list. He is having cardiac surgery on Monday, Dec. 23rd. He apparently has had Atrial Fibrillation for a few years and was only recently diagnosed. God really watched over him in Sept. in London (World Triathlon Championship Finals - came in 18th) and in Aug. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (National Championships - came in 6th missed 5th by 2 seconds). The tests were done the week before London and the results told two days after we got back. If we had known the results before going to London we would have been spectators. The only other surgery he has had was his tonsils as a child.
I have compression fractures on my cervical and thoracic spine. This was due to an accident on the airplane coming back to the states. The arm rest was not movable and I fell backwards onto my seat causing my body to be in a crunched position. There will not be a Christmas celebration at our house. My son and his wife will be here sometime during the holidays and we will have pot luck and play games. I am in communication with the airline. Where are the golden years?
Since Alfred can no longer compete in triathlons he has taken to helping me with genealogy.
hawaiistomnd@hotmail.com
Adela Cantu Martinez's mother is in very serious health. Prayers to her and her family.
mimiacts@hotmail.com
CONDOLENCES
Gloria Faye Burks Scott
(death of her brother, Marty)
3022 Meadow Lark Circle
Bryan, TX 77808
fscott@cstx.gov
Jim Wright
(death of his father, Dr. James Wright, Jr.)
14340 Torrey Chase Blvd.
Houston, TX 77014
PLEASE pray for all those who are lost a family member this holiday season and ALSO for those spending their first holiday season without a loved one that has passed away this year!
May you all have the HAPPIEST OF NEW YEARS! One that is full of good health, happiness and love.
Stay in touch and contact a classmate,
Linda DeCuir McFadden
lindadmcfadden@yahoo.com
www.tjhs1968.com