Earth Day and Class News

A sad bit of news again about the loss of a former classmate, FLOYE SHARP. 

NANCY BAKER first let me know the night she died, and was followed by an email from Class President JAMES HAYS. I have searched for a complete obituary for FLOYE for several days now with no success. This was on the Lange Funeral Home site:

"Floye Sharp, 80, of Ballinger, passed away on Sunday, April 19, 2020 at Ballinger Healthcare and Rehabilitation. A full obituary is to follow."

Sadly, maybe the reason there has been no complete obituary is the fact that her twin LOYE is in a nursing home. 

April 20: "Got a phone call from Janice Amarine yesterday to tell me that FLOYE SHARP passed away. She had developed advanced pancreatic cancer, went to a nursing home for hospice and didn’t last long. Cremated, so memorial service in future. LOYE is in the same N H with dementia." JAMES H.

I have had several emails from James since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. I told him I was waiting to hear from other classmates, and would post his activities then. Sadly, I didn't think it would be the loss of another classmate. Here is his enlightening correspondence from someone on the battlefront of the pandemic:

April 8: "For 7 or 8 years, I have been the Brown County Health Authority, not doing much except chasing mosquitoes and bed bugs, and now I have to work for the little stipend, basically beer money. I have had to quarantine quite a few folks, mostly cooperative, helpful people, but a few who didn’t think it should apply to them. I have had to lean on some of them heavily, but haven’t had to use the law yet, usually the mention of such creates cooperation in a hurry. As of today, we have 8 positive tests, 3 recovered, one on a ventilator, one just off of a vent, and more tests returning daily. So far, I haven’t been exposed, but I try to avoid it and take precautions. If New York turns around next week as 'predicted', then Texas should the following week and hopefully we can all breathe easier – with a mask on in public.  

"My health is fairly good, otherwise. I am dealing with some after-effects of having polio in 1949, post-polio syndrome, but it appears stable, just can't walk all that well for long. I have quit flying and have sold some airplanes, still have one left and for sale. Can't work on them anymore, and hard to crawl into them now.  

    

"My gut feeling is that we will be able to have a reunion at the projected all school reunion this fall, too early to tell if covid-19 will let us.  Hang in there, wash your hands and be safe.

April 14: "I am at the Brown County Health Unit almost daily. Mostly tracking cases and doing what I can in enforcing quarantines. I have the authority to do so as County Health Authority. We have had one death and 10 other positives, 5 have recovered so far. Most all people are trying to follow the rules here. Less so in Ballinger. Smaller counties do not have an organized health unit.

"We quarantined contacts of positive tests and a strict quarantine of the positive tests, especially if symptomatic. It is for 14 days, the incubation period of the virus. One young man was seen violating the quarantine when he was seen at a store trying to buy toilet paper. I told him to use corn cobs, and there was a long silence on the phone. Quite a generation gap. I then told him that a Sears catalogue could supply a family of 6 for 2+ months. More silence.  He was clueless. I then explained how to burn the paper. It was an educational experience for him.

"I don’t expose myself carelessly to Covid patients. I use a mask and gloves and a face shield if necessary. I haven't had to strip off on the back porch yet, but that is an option. I did that when exposed to bed bugs once in the past. We got over that without having to burn down a flophouse motel, but barely"...JBH

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Of course, it's always good to hear from DENNY HILL, especially now.  He resides most of the year in the village of Port Jefferson on Long Island, NY - an extremely hard-hit area in Suffolk County, which as of April 6 there were over 14,000 cases of COVID-19. I contacted DENNY to see if he was affected. He replied: 

"I am staying home, not having any contact with people, but I go out to the supermarket for food only once per week. And when I do, I wear a mask and gloves. My pharmacy is next door to the supermarket, so I can stop in there also."

And yesterday:

April 21: "Poland is sending a supply of equipment and a contingent of doctors to Chicago, to help out with the corona crisis there, and also for the Polish doctors to learn how best to treat corona patients. And this comes from a country of limited means, with a population of only 38 million. The first flight is to arrive in Chicago on Thursday.

"It was proposed by the president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, in a telephone conversation with Trump on Saturday, and was announced on Polish news in a press conference by the Polish Minister of Defense." Poland is DENNY'S second home. He canceled a trip there for May, just in time to miss the terrible outbreaks of the coronavirus in both Italy and Poland. ********************************************************************************

Happy Earth Day everyone! Enjoy working in your yard or garden! Digging in the earth will 

take your worries off the pandemic. And so will this cheerful song you all remember:

Stay well. Count your blessings. Share what you can with those less fortunate in the world. 

We will survive!

Peace and love,

Marilyn

MORE NEWS FROM THE CLASS

This will be the fourth post I've written since March 6th that mentions the Coronavirus and the C0VID-19 cases that might affect the members of our class. The city of Austin as well as many of the areas where you all live has gone on a lockdown since then. Personally, I am going into my third month of isolation. It has now been three weeks since any of my children have visited. Not that they have neglected me, but all think it wiser not to have physical contact with me. They are all sheltering in place, working and studying from home, but some still are shopping for groceries. They take turns coming to my house to take my trash to the dumpster down the road, and to bring me my mail. They talk to me briefly from the porch or front yard. I miss the hugs and occasional games we used to play. 

(Foggy morning view from porch.)

There are seven people staying with my daughter Carajean for whom she shops. They all pitch in and share the cooking and chores while staying there. Since the virus is known to be asymptomatic in some cases, no one wants to inadvertently pass it on to me. Carajean says she orders groceries online now about every other day at different stores. Then she drives to pick them up. I am still ordering online, but now to be delivered. I ordered a fairly large amount last week only to have them say the soonest they could deliver is April 9th! Since HEB is overwhelmed with orders they said many of the items on my list will not be available, but they will substitute if I wish.

That started a small pity party I held for myself when the thought that now I likely must do without my favorite coffee and creamer. And eggs! How many recipes call for eggs? My "brunch" most often consists of eggs and toast. That made me immediately feel guilty and ashamed. I feel inordinately grateful that I have a cozy cottage to live in, children nearby to assist me when I need help, plentiful food (if not my favorite), internet, TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Roku (gifts from my son Matthew), and electricity to run them all as well as my oxygen concentrator. Even here in affluent Austin, poverty is plentiful, and the homeless are in danger of becoming the next victims of the pandemic. And then there are the third world countries.. 

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I breathe a sigh of relief when I hear from one of you or my other friends during this stressful time. Most of us are in the "vulnerable" stage. And some of you live in the hardest hit areas. I fear that Texas is going to be the next Number One center for the outbreak. Our Republican Governor has dragged his heels issuing stay-in-place orders. He still doesn't see the necessity of a full state lockdown. At the current time there are twelve (12) states that have yet to issue them... all with Republican Governors. They all seem to be following Trump's lead, and more concerned with leaving businesses open than saving lives. 

I received the following from a few of you this past week:

Since the last time I heard from him, Garden Grove, CA, where BOB HOLLIS lives, has had a stay-at-home order issued. He wrote: "Margaret is cooped up at home.. in lockdown mode. I am avoiding people left and right, but still going to work. There are only two of us in the office and our offices are 30 feet apart. The Hollises are all ok. Thanks for asking. I hope you and yours are well also." Bob 

DOTTIE BISHOP ROGERS sent an update as well: "I'm doing well. We only have 4-cases in Cochise County. Yes, our church is closed, but we are blessed with a pastor who is a pro with technology and he preaches online and teaches a class later. Our little Dollar General store is open. The only cafe has set up tables outside and gives our coffee clatches a place to eat. We have no gas station or grocery store. I'm so blessed to have my children close when so many have no one. I hope you are doing well." Isn't technology wonderful, DOTTIE? For years I have watched church services on TV. I'm happy to see so many are now offering online church as well. If we ever needed spirituality, we need it now.

GENE ROUTH always sends such beautiful photographs of their snowy landscape. Here's what he has to say currently: "We are doing well so far. Close to 400 cases of Covid-19 in our county and some deaths. I haven’t left home since Monday and don’t plan to for a few more days. About 5-inches of snow overnight, looks beautiful but things are not so great outside our gates. Our kids and grands are okay, all are still working so we worry about them. They check in daily, we are well looked after. I hope you are all safe and well. Best wishes and prayers." Gene

JERRI PIEL STEEL didn't mention the virus, but she has had another difficulty to deal with. She sent the following to me this week. "Am in isolation but for other reasons ~ 2-weeks ago my dog knocked me down, broke my hip - surgery, rehab, now at my son’s house in Weatherford for therapy ~ hope to be home soon. Love you."

Love you, too, JERRI. As I wrote this now, I realized that Weatherford is close to Fort Worth and located in Parker County. I noticed that Weatherford has instituted some lockdown features, too, but don't know if the city itself has any cases of COVID-19. In any case, JERRI, I hope you are careful before you venture out to go home. And watch out for your dog. It will probably be excited to see you up and around as usual.

Everyone please take good care of yourselves. Why not share some of your experiences with isolation. What you do to pass the time. Your memories of past "disasters". 

In the meantime, anyone remember him?

 Peace, y'all,

Marilyn