KEEP THESE IN YOUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

It has been a while since I've posted here. I apologize for appearing to neglect our classmates. Especially as there have been some things happening that need our thoughts and prayers. I hope that my sending some of this information to you via email put prayers in action. Some of you let me know. I call you our "prayer warriors".

As you know, RODNEY FLANAGAN recently suffered a stroke in a doctor's office in Winters. This resulted in a brain bleed that placed him in ICU at Shannon Hospital in San Angelo. (Thanks to  BOB BURTON for this information.) As of a week ago, he was out of the ICU, walking with some help. NANCY THOMPSON BAKER told me yesterday that he is now in the rehabilitation section of Shannon Hospital for assistance with the after-effects of a stroke.

DORIS and DON WHITE'S daughter's husband died recently in Colorado where they live. He apparently was found dead in the truck he was driving. As they have children, one of which is disabled, there was a Go Fund Me page set up for them. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find out the daughter's or her husband's name.  Their last name is Marrow. If someone can get this information, I will certainly send the link to everyone.

JANETTE AMARINE BRADSHAW suffered a heart attack two or three weeks ago, but is out of the hospital and under home healthcare. 

Sadly, today is the anniversary of  NANCY THOMPSON BAKER's late husband Jake's death. We spoke yesterday and both told funny stories about Jake and their life together. The laughter felt good. Tomorrow would have been their 64th wedding anniversary. 

NANCY also told me that her grandson Rei is slowly making progress from the brain injury he suffered on a skateboard fall. He is still unsure of where he is or what happened to him. He has a Go Fund Me page for the massive amount of medical bills.  PRAYERS FOR REI

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On a lighter note, BOB HOLLIS sent me the following email and photos. Thanks, BOB!  ( And happy belated birthday!)

       

"Robert (Bob) & Margaret Hollis just returned from their 55th anniversary trip to Hawaii. Their kids and grandkids and great-granddaughter from Texas, Arizona, and California were there to enjoy the vacation also.

"Now that Covid 19 has subsided and our family members are all healthy, we traveled. I told the kids that we were spending their inheritance and trading money for memories, so they had better take good pictures."  

BOB AND MARGARET HOLLIS

"I hope youall and yours are doing well." 

Spoken like a true Texan, BOB. However, we usually shorten it to y'all!

I have been getting notices from Google that this blog is difficult to read on some devices as the print is too small. I'm experimenting with different sizes, etc. Let me know your feeling on this. Apparently, Google wants everything to be read on an iPhone - perhaps so they can get their ads in.

Hopefully, soon we will find out which medicine I've been on has caused the serious outbreaks I've been having.  Imagine having hives on your face.. As I'm only on three, two are for breathing, it should not take too much longer!

I hope everyone out there has their COVID vaccinations and are in good health. 

Praying for peace, love, and healing for those in need,

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

ANOTHER "LOST" BOY FOUND

As most of you know, BILL KING has been contacting everyone he can from the BHS Class of '57 in order to update our information, and to locate those we have thought we lost forever. Last month he located JEARL CUNNINGHAM, who kindly gave us a rundown on the years since he left Ballinger that I posted on the blog. BILL recently sent me contact information for the following smiling gentleman now known as BOB HOLLIS. He has led a full life indeed, and among his many accomplishments is his talent as a public speaker. I hope someone can convince him to give a talk to those who gather in the fall for the 60th Class Reunion. (Maybe one of those stories he mentions at the end of the first paragraph.)  

"The long-lost ROBERT HOLLIS here. (My friends call me Bob since my Navy days).

The shorter version of my long story since graduating from BHS in 1957 sounds like this:

Baylor University, BBA, 1961. Navy, 1961 to 1965. Commissioned in early 1962 and reported aboard the only LST home ported at Pearl Harbor as the Communications Officer and left as the Operations Officer (3rd in command) in 1965. Met a Missouri girl, educated at California Baptist University in Riverside, CA, who was working at the University of Hawaii. Dated her for two years in Hawaii and left her at the airport when I flew back to the mainland to get out of the Navy. I went to work for Van Camp Sea Food Company in Long Beach, CA. Margaret left Hawaii and went to work in Atlanta, Georgia. I dated that girl in seven states before she agreed to marry me in Atlanta in June, 1966. (Lots of stories in there).  

I have been a Regional Sales Manager for Van Camp Seafood Co., a Program Manager for McDonnell Douglas, A Regional Vice President for Great Western Savings, a Senior Vice President for Downey Savings and Loan, and I have run a small Real Estate Development Company in Anaheim, CA, for the last 30 years. We built properties (office buildings, apartments, condos, custom homes, shopping center, housing tracts, and even got involved in building and owning Health Clubs in Seattle). Five states from Texas to Hawaii. Oh yes, I did go back to school to get an MBA from Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, in 1973.

All of our four partners in the Real Estate business got older and didn’t care to go into debt for any more projects, so I started selling our properties several years ago. When I got the company on a comfortable financial footing, it was a small manageable size. I still go to the office on a regular basis, but I have good people who could probably run the place without me, but I don’t let them know that.

Margaret & I celebrated our 50th Anniversary last year. We have three grown, married kids: Rick and his family (four of our grandkids) in Phoenix, Bill and his family (two of our grandkids) in Dallas, and Anita and her boys in Garden Grove, CA, three blocks from us. The grandkids range in age from 24 to nine. Two of our kids went to Baylor and Margaret was Baylor’s only employee in California for 15 years. She was a Regional Admissions Counselor traveling the state of California recruiting students to go to Baylor…and she was good. She retired several years ago and still gets Baylor calls. Margaret has us involved in Operation Christmas Child (a Division of Samaritans Purse), packing shoeboxes to send to kids in over 100 countries around the world. 

I have been in Toastmasters for years. I am a DTM (a Distinguished Toastmaster; Toastmasters highest award). With thousands of Toastmaster Clubs in over 126 countries around the world, they tell me that only about 2% of all those Toastmasters ever work their way up to DTM. But look who is bragging now, so I’d better quit this email stuff. I’ll try to send you a few pictures in a separate email or two. I am sure looking forward to seeing you folks in October."

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What a wonderful life BOB has led. Congratulations on 50 years of marriage, and especially on such a large, lovely family. I have heard about Operation Christmas Child and the shoeboxes they fill to send to needy children around the world. Samaritan's Purse has one of the highest ratings for charities listed on Charity Navigator. What a great way to share the "good stuff" that happens in BOB and Margaret's lives. 

There are a few other folks that we obtained email addresses for the first time. You should receive a link to this blog. I hope reading what some of your former classmates have contributed here will prompt you to send me your own version of what you've been up to the past 60 years. And by all means, photos of yourself and family. Bragging rights are always in order here. Of course, if you scan through past postings you can see that for yourself.

JUNE HASH CURRY is recovering from knee surgery she had last week, and is supposed to be home from rehab today. I heard through the grapevine that JAMES HAYS has had back surgery, but so far I haven't heard anything else other than he is recovering. Warm wishes and prayers to these two.

An acquaintance heard me bemoaning my aches and pains a while back, and said to me, "Oh, Marilyn, once we reach 60 it's just patch, patch, patch!" I think it's great that so many of us are only now having to patch, patch, patch. After all, we are long past 60!

Take care... and remember to share the "good stuff".

Peace and love,

Marilyn