Hallelujah!
I received enough mail to write a NEWSLETTER
on schedule.
By the way, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY this weekend. Hope you have a safe and
fun one. I'll be on the road traveling.
from
Billy Jordan
in Decatur, AL
Okay, I got the message!! Send an
update.
The
discussions on the Hussars brought back old memories. My
sister, who was nine years older then me, was determined to be a
Hussar.
You would have to know my sister to understand how big a challenge
this was for her. She was not real good with the books and had
to study more then she ever had to make the grades for the Hussars.
We did not have a lot of money and she found second hand boots,
bugle and hat. She was not musical and I remember her blowing
that bugle learning how to play it and we got complaints from the
neighbors, not to mention a few barking dogs. Our dog would go
and hide when she played it. One time I took the bugle and
tried to blow it and was surprised how hard it was to just get any
type of sound from it. She was very proud of being a Hussar.
She passed away at 57 years old and one of the memorial pictures at
her visitation was her Hussar picture.
My
family has been in fairly good health the past year. My wife
had out-patient surgery for a prolapsed bladder a couple of weeks
ago and all went well. My grandson continues to grow and is
healthy after the
autoimmune disease he had
last summer. He went to Gatlinburg with us back in March for a
few days. While we were there, they were having a
Santa Claus
convention. There were Santa Clauses all over the place and he
was in awe. We go to Gatlinburg once or twice a year as it is
only about five hours from where we live. He will be with us
for a week on the beach in
Destin,
FL the last week in July.
I
am off to the
Boundary Waters Canoe area in a few days for a week
long fishing trip. Six of us will be camping, canoeing and
fishing just over the border in
Canada
from
Minnesota. Last
year we did not have very good weather and hope to have better this
time. We are going a week later to try and stay away from the
cold weather.
When I get back I will be spending a week leading a crew of kids at
our church's VBS. This has become a huge event for us every
year with 200 kids and 40 to 50 staff. Out of the 200 kids
less then 50 of them attend our church so this is really a community
event. The program this year is "Crocodile Dock". Many
of you probably have heard of it and may be doing the same this
summer.
My
health continues to be good although I can feel a little arthritis
in a few joints. I continue to be free of any reoccurrence of
my prostate
cancer.
from
Carolyn Bigler
Hebert '58 (wife
of faculty member
Alfred Hebert)
Alfred will be leaving the last part of July to attend the National
Senior Games in
California. He will be
competing in the Triathlon. This is his second time to compete on
the National level. I may not be going with him this time, not sure.
Currently I am working on getting my book about Princess, my service
dog, published. It's titled Princess and The Caterfly. I am toying
with the idea of adding Hebert in the title since we call her
Princess Hebert. Feedback would be appreciated since I have not
uploaded my files yet and I am having to add a chapter about her
being blind.
Alfred is back home tending to hurricane
Ike damage repairs to our home and Princess and I are in
Tyler. I have too many allergies to the area
and it's best we are out of the way while the workers get things
done. My son is one of the contractors. He did the fence repairs,
the storage shed repairs and will be the painter for the inside
caulking and painting. My son lives in
Carthage and goes down
and has room and board and some of his meals there plus some meals
at my sister's (his aunt Molly class of '69). So he has it pretty
good.
Red Hussars, Red Hussars, Dreams will never
die. We'll do our best to always keep our colors soaring high. For
the school we love so well we'll play with all our might. We'll love
you forever, forsake you never, dear ol' red and white.
I remember every song we sang and our yells
too. I still double tongue and tiple tongue. My son played a cornet
in high school and I taught him how to double tongue and triple
tongue. I purchased two cow horns, one of which I still have.
Believe it or not on New Year's I used to get it out and play Here
We Come on it. I still play it every now and then. When I bought the
cow horns I tried them out. The preacher man who was selling them
thought I was crazy. He said they were all the same. I told him no
they were not. When I started playing Taps, Here We Come and Dizzy
Bugler he was shocked out of his gourd. LOL.
from
Leah Conner Shields
in
Fredericksburg,
TX
Just a quick hello from
Fredericksburg. While most classmates are
retiring, I'm still enjoying working - a career I accidentally
found after I retired to
Fredericksburg 10 years ago. I'm headed to NYC
to the Fancy Food Show later this month, travel frequently to
Boston.
I leave for
Venezuela
in July - headed to the office in
Caracas, the
chocolate factory in
Barquisimeto and visiting different
cacao farms. You know, this is a great job for a chocoholic!
from
Cherlyn Hebert
in
Houston,
TX
Shame on us for not living up to our end of this wonderful
bargain and providing you with enough news to do a bimonthly
newsletter. I have definitely been remiss, so here's
hoping I can make up for some lost time.
First: I am really truly retiring
June 30. If you remember, I backed out
last year due to the economy. But this time it's a
done deal; all papers signed, sealed and delivered.
Everyone wants to know what I'm going to do. All I
know to say is: nothing. I am making no grand
proclamations of cleaning out my garage or closets or
anything. I'm being coached by my retired friends, who
assure me, if it doesn't get done today, there's always
tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next.
All I know is that I'm looking forward to not being under
the pressure of deadlines and always feeling like
something's hanging over my head.
Mother is still living in a wonderful Alzheimer's assisted
living residence near me. Sometimes she knows my name;
sometimes she calls me by my sister's name; sometimes I get
no response. But she still knows she loves me, and
that's what counts.
Memorial Day weekend I took my new Infiniti M35 for a road
trip to visit Linda
Smith
Webber and her husband Wayne in
Mesquite. Linda twisted my arm and
"forced" me to go gambling with them in
Shreveport. For the first time in
practically forever, I actually won money. Not enough
to fund my retirement, by any means; but it sure beats
leaving my hard-earned money at the casino like I usually
do. LOL As Linda reported in a recent
newsletter, she has made great strides in recovering from
her stroke; and it was nice to see that for myself.
The only big thing I have planned for the rest of the year
is a trip to
Greece
with friends in October. We fly into
Athens
for a few days and then get on a boat to cruise the
Greek
Isles for a week, then back to
Athens for a day
before fl ying back home. I've made a few forays into
trying Greek food; some successful; some not so much.
Last week I eagerly bit into a stuffed grape leaf, only to
find that it tasted like it had been soaked in pickle juice.
Yikes...
Okay, now I'm going to take
Janette Light's
challenge from the last newsletter and give a shout-out to
her and
Sharon Lewis,
asking to be invited to join them for lunch sometime after
July 1.
Janette and I go back to
Sam Houston, while
Sharon and I hung around together at
Woodrow
Wilson. It would be so nice to share in
the fun. So, girls, how about it? Can I come
play with you?
Well, I guess I've run on enough for now. I promise to
be more diligent in sharing news in the future. Thanks
again, Linda, to you and Mike for all you do for the TJ
Class of '68.
from
Sherry Clingan
Armentor in Groves
There has been so much devastation and
turmoil in everyone's lives over the past
year and it breaks our hearts to see loved
ones suffering so, it makes it most
difficult to look at the bright side of
things and report news of good times and
blessings in our own life , it feels
self-centered or unfeeling to do so. But, my
prayers and heartfelt sincere concern for
all our classmates that are facing illness,
disease, financial difficulty, loss of their
home, death is always on my lips. As time
passes and lives return to a more
normal situation, we will probably be more
able to be joyous with expressing our own
situations and not feel we are not thinking
of others in time of such despair. But, we
must try to remember, WE ARE FAMILY! And
there is nothing more cozy than the love and
acceptance of FAMILY.
Take Care and Know You All Are Loved
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(contributed by
Debbie Borres)
1979: Long hair
2009: Longing for hair
1979: KEG
2009: EKG
1979: Acid rock
2009: Acid reflux
1979: Seeds and stems
2009: Roughage
1979: Hoping for a BMW
2009: Hoping for a BM
1979: Going to a new, hip joint
2009: Getting a new hip joint
1979: Rolling Stones
2009: Kidney stones
1979: Screw the system
2009: Upgrade the system
1979: Disco
2009: Costco
1979: Whatever
2009: Depend
*************************************************************************
Things are going pretty well. The heat is stifling and we
sure are having trouble keeping our grass green. My
parents are settled in at their apartment and things have been
going okay. I ran into
Cathy Melancon
while visiting my parents one day. Her mom lives three doors
down from them. It has been ages since I have seen Cathy.
She is still as beautiful as ever. I wish we could have
talked longer.
We have been spending the last couple of weeks dealing with ICU
for a very close relative in
Loreauville,
LA and then her death. So, that has
really been taxing with the driving and taking my parents and
rest of the family back and forth for the 2 3/4 hour trip one
way. The heat was a factor in how tiring it was.
Murphy and I are heading out this weekend to the Dripping
Springs/Wimberly area for classmate
Jim
Andrus' son's wedding. I'll
tell you more about the weekend in the next NEWSLETTER. We
should be meeting up with
Lynn Eldridge, David Williams,
and Paul Colletti
who will also be
attending.
I hope to get to visit with
Charles Cramer
in August. He lives in
Downingtown,
PA and will be down for his son's graduation
in August. He contacted
Debbie Borres
about his planned trip to the area. He was wonderful
sending many boxes of items for me and my extended family after
the Hurricane last September. I would love to see him
and extend my THANKS in person.
I am wondering if
Donnie DeLee
will be coming down to this area from
Sacramento,
CA. He mentioned several months ago in
MAIL CALL that he might be able to come this spring. Well,
spring will be over June 20 and I haven't heard hide nor hair
from him! What's up with that? Hmmm
I cried today! I was taking my father to get his ID
renewed on
Lakeshore Drive on the curvy seawall road
when we passed
Woodrow Wilson JR HIGH.
They were tearing down the left side of the building (closest to
the football field). I didn't have the heart to stay and see
what else they would tear down. The building was heavily
damaged during Hurricane Rita and I know that it wasn't cost
effective to repair it all.
I LOVED
WOODROW!!! I have such
wonderful memories of it and the lasting friendships that were
made there.
With my dad 93 years old, I wonder how many more FATHER'S DAYS
will come and go with him here. I know that many of you
have already lost your dad. I have been so very lucky to
have mine here this long. His physical being is great, his
mind not so good. But, even with dementia being diagnosed
in 2000, he is still pretty alert.
Here is a shout-out to my very close friends and classmates:
Jody Barbin, Janice Hebert
and Barry Boudreaux. I met Jody
in Mrs. Barry's 10th grade English class. We became
best friends and she and I stood as Maid and Matron of Honor
in each other's weddings. Happy 59th birthday this
weekend, Jody. Give a hug to that precious
classmate/husband of yours, Gary
Barbin!
I've known Janice since we were wee tots and we were also in
the same classes at Travis together, attended church and CYO
at St. Joseph's,
and have stayed family friends all this time. Her
mom is a close friend of my mom. Happy Birthday to you
this weekend. She is also celebrating her anniversary
this weekend with her classmate/husband, Barry Boudreaux.
We might be dear friends, BUT I saw Barry
naked
before she ever did! You see, Barry was born one day
after me and our moms were room mates at St. Mary's Hospital
and I was in the incubator NEXT to him! He was a cutie
even back then and still is! Woo Woo.
*************************************************************************
Mel "Cooter" Shaun Simmons
(death of his mother)
5401 Baird
Groves,
TX
77619
I received this note from
Pete Lippincott '63,
classmate
Jane Lippincott's
brother. Even though this faculty member was not listed
during our tenure at TJHS, I thought you might be interested in
the e-mail:
Isabella Olga Bjerring
I imagine some of you read in the
Houston
Chronicle
last Sunday
that Mrs. Bjerring passed away at the age of 106 in
Houston. She
was my senior
English teacher
in 1963.
She taught many of us English at T.J. and the article states
she retired from teaching in 1968. I don't know when she
left and moved
from
Port Arthur
to
Houston.
She was the Chairman of the University
of
Houston's English laboratory for a while.
She was born in
Beaumont,
Texas
on Dec. 31, 1902 and was married twice
and out lived both husbands. Sadly, one of her daughters
passed away
two days before she.
On
her 100th birthday, the family had a big party for Mrs. Bjerring
and
relatives as far away as
Norway
attended. I was not aware she lived in
Houston.
If
anyone can fill me in on the events after she left T.J., please
let
me
know. She was a very special teacher for many of us and an
outstanding
person. She was teacher of the year in 1957 at T.J.
God Bless you Mrs. Bjerring......Pete Lippincott, class of 1963
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If you enjoyed even the tiniest bit of this NEWSLETTER, then
please help me continue writing it by contributing news.
Be it MAIL, tidbits, sad news, good news, questions about other
classmates, photos, memorabilia, items to I REMEMBER WHEN,
military news, or updates on health conditions. It really
doesn't take much to get me going. Don't forget to tell
others about our website. We love hearing from different
classes.
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