A PROUD LEGACY FOR TWO

Bailey King

After the last post from JAMES HAYS, I received an email from BILL KING about his granddaughter Bailey King of San Angelo. Bailey is the daughter of Keith Andrew King, BILL's youngest son. She is currently a political science and communication double-major at Angelo State University. She has been selected for the ASU Political Science and Philosophy Department’s 2021 Government and Public Service Internship Program in Washington, D.C. and will spend the upcoming fall semester working as an intern for a member of the U.S. Congress. She will be placed in either a congressional or senate office. You can read about this remarkable young woman's accomplishments here: CONCHO VALLEY. BILL is a proud grandfather, and rightly so.

JAMES HAYS found the photo he mentioned in the last blog post. This was taken when he went to "promote my nephew Lance Jorgenson to Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer-4 at the same place where my picture was taken in February 1942, also in uniform that my mother made for me. It takes a senior officer to promote an officer, active or retired. The biggest surprise was that I could still get into my dress uniform." I think that is JAMES' National Guard Uniform. I know James must have been proud to participate in this ceremony.

Today I received a telephone call from NANCY THOMPSON BAKER telling me that one of her grandsons, Rei De La Cruz had an accident on a skateboard. He suffered a serious brain injury and is currently in a medically induced coma in the hospital ICU. His sister, Kara Harris, has started a Go Fund Me page for him. He is in need of our prayers and donations to assist him with his recovery. Please check this out. PRAYERS FOR REI You may also put this on your Facebook page for classmates.

I hope that this is not what is called "too much information" flowing into your email inbox. I normally don't write posts this close together. But I am happy to hear from any of you. Of course, I want to know all your "good stuff" happening, but also want to advise all of the sad things and urgent requests. The positive energy created when many are united in sending good wishes and/or prayers to one of our own can be uplifting and even life-saving at times. So please continue to let me hear from you.

Love, peace, and good health,

Marilyn

MORE GOOD STUFF FOR A CHANGE

I know all of you who live in the Ballinger area, and those who read the Ballinger Online News already know about the renovation and recent Grand Opening of the old Texas Theater in Ballinger. It is a new experience for such a small town - a dinner theater. They have their own website that I encourage you to check out. Texas Theater website. It contains pictures, menu (below), upcoming films, and a really fun video with some current Ballinger residents. I've been to one similar in the Dallas area years ago, but the food was not nearly as extravagant. My sister Jean and I order pizza! We had extremely comfortable seats that swiveled and even reclined somewhat. I thought the price was a little high, but when I see what the Texas Theater offers, and the price, ours was really rather cheap. I'll have to admit, though, that the one we attended only showed movies, and probably only had burgers, hot dogs, and pizza on their menu. Nothing like what the Texas Theater offers. If any of you have been, please share the experience (and photos if you have them) with us!

This is one of the menus on their website. A meal such as this would cost much, much more in a larger city. In 1950 dollars, this $30 for a meal and movie would have cost $3.60 plus the cost of the movie ticket. Considering the cost of the movie in Ballinger at that time was (you old-timers correct me if I'm wrong) about 25 cents, and a McDonald's hamburger could be bought for 15 cents (I know there wasn't a McDonald's in Ballinger!), $3.85 would have been a little expensive for most citizens. Especially the teenagers on dates. No one dared to go Dutch treat back then - the guys always paid. Right?

Live performances, music, standup comics, all seem like Ballinger will become a hub for entertainment. What a great place to take your sweetie for Valentine's Day, anniversary, birthday, or any special occasion.

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This photo is of Dream Lake in the Colorado National Forest, where JIM COWLISHAW and his wife Betty went last year. He sent an email describing another trip they took last fall:

"We went to Red River, New Mexico for a week. This was one of our better trips. We rented a cabin in the mountains.and just took it easy. Had to come down and go several miles into town to use the phones. (And no Walmart.)

We picked and enjoyed wild strawberries and mushrooms off the mountain. I don't know how the people survive, but it would be really tempting to try. Then I remember my banker, and what he would do - maybe come along, you think?"

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DON WHITE ? and  DORIS ?

Now for some fun photos. I check out the Ballinger Online Newspaper from time to time, and sometimes come up with tidbits of information, like the Texas Theater opening, that haven't necessarily been shared with me. (Hint, hint.) I'm not certain, but I believe these auto pictures are from the 4th of July parade. As there were no names with them, I guessed on the one above. It sure looks like DON WHITE driving, and a hint of red hair on the passenger side must be DORIS WHITE. Correct me if I am wrong. Whoever it is, I really like their wheels!

When I saw this photo, I couldn't make out the face of the driver, but I thought I had seen the car before. Sure 'nuff, the next photograph confirmed my suspicions:

Yep, it's BILL KING, the silver-haired fox, with a young cutie at his side that I assume is his granddaughter. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.

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As you've read about before, DENNY HILL has a flat (apartment to us) in Warsaw, Poland that he returns to during breaks from school and in the summer. He was there during the Christmas vacation. I had inquired about how he was faring in NY when the first big Polar Vortex hit the east coast, and he wrote he was in Warsaw and sent me some interesting replies.

"I have been following the extreme cold in the USA. And as I think you know, here in Warsaw it has been correspondingly very mild. It is as if the 'atmosphere' of the earth has slipped, like a cloth covering a globe of the earth, in which the North Pole has slid down towards Minnesota, bringing another part of the cloth up from warmer regions, so that here we are in something like early spring or late fall. Bizarre! Don't know what to think of it, except that it might just be the beginning of another 'little ice age'. Some scientists think that 'global warming' might in fact trigger another little ice age. It is complicated, but it might have to do with the famous loop (the conveyor belt in the Atlantic, from the Gulf of Mexico to northern Europe). If that collapses, or reverses course, or even weakens a little, we could see the top half of the USA freeze over in an ice sheet."

Every time I hear from DENNY, no matter what the topic, he gets my brain to stirring. I end up having to look up a lot of things on the Internet. There are some interesting articles on what scientists are saying about the possibility of a "new little ice age". Whatever happened to global warming? The extreme cold we've been having -- even as far south as Austin -- makes me hope they are wrong about an ice age. DENNY got home just in time to experience this second round of ice age type weather! Two days ago he said it was 19 degrees there, and he had about a foot of snow in his yard! Brrrr.

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NEIL BROUSSARD has moved his family to Wimberley, Texas from Houston. (I will email his new address for you all to place in the back of your handbook.) When I asked if there were a reason for the move, he promptly replied, "To get out of Houston"! Having lived there many years ago, and hearing how much more congested it is today, I can't say I blame him. Shortly after that, I was watching one of the Today news shows on NBC, and they were spotlighting romantic getaways all over the U.S. Lo and behold! Wimberley, Texas was the first one they showed. It was a beautiful inn or bed and breakfast. Of course, I had to go to my favorite source, the Internet, and look up Wimberley. I couldn't believe there were so many inns, hotels, and bed and breakfasts in and around Wimberley. The Hill Country is beautiful some of the time, but the photos of these places really made it appealing no matter the mesquite or cedar trees that abound down here.

Blair House Inn, Wimberley, Texas

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One more photo before I go. JUNE CURRY HASH and I frequently communicate. We've talked a bit lately due to the extremely frigid conditions in which she lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. JUNE and her son Chris are loving pet owners. Chris has a cat named Sydney, and JUNE has two little rescue dogs that have become like members of her family. She sent me this adorable photograph of  them:

Now, do those look like pampered, loved pets or what? The one on the right is named Dori, but I have forgotten the other. JUNE will have to clue me in. 

I think DOTTIE BISHOP ROGERS is the only one of us who lives where the cold and ice hasn't hit. To the rest of you

Love, peace, and warm fuzzies,

Marilyn

MORE FROM OUR CLASSMATES

NOTE: I should have mentioned this before now, but if you will click on any photo, you will be shown an enlargement of it and all of the others in the post.

If any of you guessed that the other "adventurer" I mentioned in the last blog was DENNY HILL, you were right. However, I also heard from another classmate that must be added to the list as well. His update follows this one from DENNY.

"What is up is basically that I just keep on trucking.                                         

This summer I spent my usual month in Berlin, and two months in Warsaw. In Berlin I wound up making friends with the bartender and the cook at my favorite Kneipe (tavern or pub), which is "Zosch". Many nights I stayed until after they closed around 3am, and hung out, drinking free beers with the bartender and his friends after hours, usually until 4am or later, speaking only German, joking, telling stories, etc. It is amazing how fluent one becomes after enough beers. (The picture at right is the Zosch he speaks of, and Denny is the one on the end in a blue shirt next to the red candle.)

In Warsaw I made a breakthrough. For several years I had noticed that on my Rynek (my "market square) there was a compact group of 6 or 7 degenerates who seemed to be the "regulars" at the local "watering hole" (pub). I wrongly thought they must be a snobbish group, and I wrongly thought they spoke only Polish. But this summer somehow I managed to be inducted into this group, and now we are all friends.

They are very friendly, extremely funny, making jokes all the time, and quite helpful to teach me raunchy expressions in Polish. Here is the composition of the group (aside from me, the math prof.):

1.  A garage mechanic (speaks Polish and English)
2.  A taxi driver (speaks only Polish, except when drunk, at which point he speaks any language)
3.  A Polish couple (he speaks only Polish, but she speaks Polish and Italian)
4.  A Japanese who is in Poland because he represents some big company from Tokyo which plans to build power stations in Poland to make electric power. (He speaks Japanese and English)
5.  Another Polish couple (he speaks fluent Polish, German and English), she is the lead dancer in the Warsaw version of a "Moulin Rouge" type of "Review" (she speaks Polish, English, and can do a 180 degree split standing on one leg)
6.  Another Japanese who is the CEO of all of Mitsubishi in Poland. (He speaks Japanese, Polish, and strangely, Arabic)

Now I am in Shreveport, Louisiana, visiting my mother. But on Friday I have to return home in Port Jefferson, NY, to resume teaching, etc." Best regards, DENNY

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Another candidate for our daring senior citizen list is BILL KING. He wrote the following and sent photos of what might be described as his hobbies:

"I have attached some pictures that depict the aging process for me. The red Harley was at one time my most enjoyable and relaxing mode of transportation. Then after I became a little older and not so confident in riding the Harley, I had to resort to a little more manageable mode of 

two wheel transportation, my red 1954 Cushman Eagle. The Harley had to find a new home, but the Cushman is still with me, easier to handle and fun to ride. Now I am becoming a little more comfortable with four wheels under me so I have discovered my 1957 Ford Thunderbird is a little easier to keep upright, besides 1957 was a great year. I have never gotten flying totally out of my system and will take a ride anytime one is available so a couple of shots of my ride in a hot air balloon in Albuquerque, NM that was fantastic.

Hope everyone is having fun."..BILL

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Class President JAMES HAYS sent the following (and is also on our daring senior citizen list):

"I still work for a living supplemented by some retirement which I re-invest, mostly in old guns. I still fly and just made a trip in my 1941 Culver Cadet airplane to Iowa for the Antique Airplane fly-in this past weekend. I also am the Brown County Health Officer 'counting cockroaches' in restaurants. Lots of fun. I am also active in the Texas State Guard (hurricanes, homeland defense, NON-FEDERAL) from which I plan to retire this year, getting too old!!!  Lost my ex-sister-in-law to cancer, Judith Hampton Martin, last month - a sad year. (So sorry for your loss, James.)

(I know this is not your Culver Cadet, JAMES, but that's you in the cockpit.)

NYDAH ELLET is still in a nursing home and really enjoys getting and answering cards and brief letters. Address: Kensington Care Center, Rm 11, 849 N. Aurora Rd., Aurora, Ohio 44202. She can't handle a telephone well since her accident but writes well.  Drop her a note."..JAMES                                         

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I hear from JUNE HASH CURRY frequently. She says she doesn't do anything exciting. Most of us don't, June. However, she does play bridge twice a week. Keeps those brain cells growing! She also has two rescue dogs. I forget both of their names, but below is the cutest picture of the last one she got. This was not long after she and her son Chris brought the little one home, and it was terrified of men. Hiding behind the pillow! I think her name is Tracie.

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A good friend of mine in Ballinger who has been a realtor for 30 years wrote me that a millionaire from out of town had moved there and bought quite a few of the buildings in downtown. These buildings were the old Lynn Building, the old Western Auto, the old First National Bank next to Ballinger Florist, and the Texas Theater. Dot said he is restoring all of them and plans to have a water purification system put in. She also said that the EPA keeps fining the City for not complying with regulations, so they (the City?) are putting in a "reverse osmosis" water system. She then went on to say that the City is in compliance with the EPA -- surprise! As someone who has lived all over the U.S. in my lifetime, I have to say I never experienced worse municipal water anywhere! I hope this rumor is true.

8th St. & Hutchins Avenue

This was back in March, and I haven't heard more since then. NANCY THOMPSON BAKER was aware of some work being done on downtown businesses, but not much more. If anyone knows anything about these renovations, etc., how about letting me know?

That's it for now. If anyone thinks of something to share with all of us, just send it to me. I have not started volunteer work here yet, so I have more time on my hands.

Peace and love,

Marilyn