EVER WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO.....

BARBARA BRADSHAW?

I am an inveterate web-surfer. Also, I'm still curious about people in my past. Since working on our 50th Class Reunion handbook in 2007, and discovering that BARBARA was a published author, (SNAKE DANCE - Barbara Bradshaw Rogers) I have searched from time to time to see where she was. I found an old website made when she was going by Rogers - her married name at the time, but it was not current. Then there was an obituary in the Ballinger online newspaper for her brother Cecil Bradshaw, which listed her with the new surname Atherton as a survivor. Another web search turned up an email address for her. I have tried unsuccessfully to contact her. Today as I was clearing out some of my bookmarks, I saw where I saved her address in Tulsa.  A quick search turned up this little jewel. I am not certain when this was put online by the Tulsa Toastmasters' Speakers Bureau, but I have not had my email to her returned to me, so I am assuming BARBARA is still "alive and well" in Tulsa.

BARBARA was one of us girls who used to make the drag when we were Freshmen in PATI COCKRELL'S "little gray bug"! You know, the one with the steering wheel on the right? What crazy fun we had. I am hoping BARBARA reads this and feels the urge to write and fill us in with what she is doing at the present time.

BARBARA BRADSHAW ATHERTON, a humorous motivational speaker for over thirty years, is a dedicated Silver recipient in Toastmasters and a Dale Carnegie graduate. She admits each humorous speech holds a hidden serious message. She is a published author, prize winning poet and short story writer. Barbara is a lively engaging master of ceremonies (M.C.) for any occasion and will speak within a 50 mile radius of Tulsa. HOW TO WRITE YOUR LIFE STORY--- MILITARY HEROES ESPECIALLY STEP FORWARD My SECRET goal would be to have every military person that ever served our country to write, preserve, record or speak about serving our world. These heroes inspire us all. An easy way to start and finish a twenty five page life story is audience participation, fun and lively. THE SECRET COPING SKILL---WE CAN'T SHARE WITH JUST EVERYONE In speaking to groups, those in grief, for caregivers or friends, diagnosed as Barbara is, with a life altering diagnosis, she uses soft wit and sly humor built from her life experiences and empathy, the courage of coping every day. She speaks to grief counseling groups, those surviving loss and tough times with an empathy that comes from experience and caring. THE FIFTH SEASON---PHOTOGRAPHS AND PHOTO-JOURNALLING Old barns? They speak to me. Makes me see my own immortality. The old barn? Me? My mortality. Barbara shares enlarged beautiful photographs taken by her husband John Atherton and reads brief poems she and he wrote connecting to the picture. She shares how you can take your photograph and write little snippets of your own life. ****************************************** Speaking of authors, another one I've been wondering about is GLENN SMITH - his whereabouts since he moved to Mexico, and the status of his book! I got this from him a day or so ago: "I am soon returning to Ballinger. I have sold the house at 602 McCarver Drive in Ballinger, but as irony would have it, I am buying one at 608 McCarver. Guess I am not supposed to get far from the park in Ballinger. My phone number will remain the same. Flint Rock novel number 3, titled Ultimate Thirst, is finished and will be available through Amazon's Kindle book store by the time I and my three dogs leave Mexico for Ballinger in a month. Novel number 4, to be called Stolen Gold, is ready to start and will find Flint Rock operating out of a charming west Texas town called Ballinger. I suspect that Ajijic, Mexico may appear also. There is a no longer worked gold mine, owned by a Russian ballerina till her death, that is in a mountain a thousand yards from downtown Ajijic."  If I remember correctly, GLENN, you had only two dogs when you moved to Mexico! Did you by chance pick up a little Chihuahua? **************************** As I was working on this, I decided to use a much larger font than usual, as GLENN's email was in a large font. He has been having some vision problems, as we all have as we grow older. Let me know if this is better for all of you. Tell me about the good stuff happening in your life! Peace and love, Marilyn