CLASSMATES IN NEED OF PRAYERS

Jake and Nancy - Aug. 8, 2020 - 60th Anniversary

By now, most of you know about NANCY THOMPSON BAKER'S husband Jake (BHS '54). This past Monday he fell off a ladder at their home in Ballinger. The hospital in Ballinger was unable to care for him as he broke seven (7) ribs and two (2) vertebrae in his fall. He was taken to Abilene where, due to COVID-19, there were no ICU beds available. The same was true for the San Angelo hospitals. The weather was extremely cloudy that night, preventing them from airlifting him by Careflight, so he was taken by plane to John Peter Smith Hospital in Ft. Worth. NANCY and their son Russ followed and are staying in a local motel. The ICU unit Jake is in does not allow visitors. That is for the best considering all of the coronavirus cases. However, that makes it very hard on the family. They depend on updates from the nurses and doctors.

Thursday Russ sent me the following that I forwarded to the class: "(Jake) has a chest tube to drain internal bleeding and is currently on a ventilator. He's resting comfortably and responding to nurses' voices." Last night: "Jake still critical but stable, resting comfortably, only had one dose of pain meds. Not on continuous drip anymore. Giving him mild sedative to control anxiety and keep him calm. Getting high doses of meds to keep his blood pressure up. He is still responding to nurses voices by squeezing their hands etc. He is still on ventilator. May need surgery to 'plate' the ribs where they are broken."

Friday morning  Russ sent the following: "This morning Jake is stable. They are doing a CT scan on chest and abdomen to check for problems. Went down a bit on blood pressure meds. He has a chronic abdominal aneurysm that is being treated with meds. Still on ventilator. Nurse said he will be in hospital at least another week."

NANCY and Russ will remain in Ft. Worth for now.

ROSALYN URBANTKE HOELSCHER sent the following:

"I don’t know what’s going on in this crazy world but the virus has now hit our family. My 17-year-old granddaughter has the virus right now. She is not in the hospital and not really, really sick. Yeah, she’s running a fever and doesn’t feel good but she could breathe. I was with her on July 4 and definitely was very close to her and now I know I am fully exposed. At my age that’s going to be very, very hard if I get it. Our son was over there too, but he was not real close to Annalise. Please pray for our family."

I have received many prayers and well wishes from the class, which I've forwarded to NANCY. If you wish to send your thoughts and prayers as well, please send them to me. I will be sure to let their family know. Personally, I have seen what some would call "miracles" as a result of prayer. I believe "good thoughts" contain as much energy as prayers. So whatever your belief, think loving, healing thoughts for all of us. If you wish to send a message to NANCY, please send them to me. I will forward them to her. And of course, if anyone else needs prayers, please let me know.

May we all remain in good health during this trying time.

Love and Peace,
Marilyn 

For greater assistance: 
The Silent Unity prayer vigil, which has been ongoing since the early 1900s, continues to be staffed 24/7. Team members are holding vigil in their homes.  (Before COVID-19, prayer requests were prayed over in the Chapel at Unity Village for 30 days.)

Prayer line in U.S. 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. (CT), 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. (PT)
1-816-969-2000

Online prayer request form can be found at https://www.unity.org/prayer

Where have the years gone?

It is hard to believe we now have grandchildren grown enough to graduate from college.. and get married! Some of them have even made us great-grandparents. Ahh, but it is wonderful to brag on them. Here's the latest shared with us.

NANCY THOMPSON and Jake BAKER have more reasons to brag. Not only is their 61st wedding anniversary next week (August 31), but two of their grandchildren got significant promotions recently. Their daughter Melissa and husband Bryan Jones have two sons, Spencer and Kendall - both graduates of Ballinger High School.

Spencer has lived in Reno, Nevada for quite some time, and works for Grifols Plasma Donation Center. Recently, he received his Master's Degree in Business Administration, and was also promoted to "Continuous Process Improvement Manager" at Grifols' plasma collection office. He is engaged to be married next year. His fiancee, Nikki, has one year to go before finishing medical school at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine.

Nikki and Spencer

Kelsey and Kendall 

Kendall is in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, Arizona. He was recently promoted to Staff Sergeant in the  United States Air Force Civil Engineer Squadron. Kendall's specialty is EOD (Explosive Ordinance disposal). NANCY's younger son, Rodger, was in the same field (EOD) until his retirement from the U.S. Navy in 2015. Kendall is pictured with his wife of two years, Kelsey.

(As a side note, when researching this AF base, I noted that it contains the "largest aircraft boneyard in the world". An interesting article about this, with pictures for all of you airplane buffs, is located here: AIRPLANE BONEYARDS.)

(by Amber Porter - 2015)

Let me hear from all of you grandparents out there so we can brag on your progeny as well. In the meantime...

Count the "good stuff" occurring in your lives!

Peace,
Marilyn

Urgent Prayers Needed

Jake and Nancy Thompson Baker

NANCY just called to inform me that her husband Jake (BHS Class of '54) has been in the ICU (422) at Shannon Hospital in San Angelo for the past week. She is staying in a motel there, but was home briefly. Jake has multiple problems going on, but a blood infection is what caused him to need hospitalization in a hurry. He has been upgraded from "critical" to "serious", but needs lots of care right now. 

Please hold NANCY as well as Jake in your prayers, and share this with anyone you know who doesn't have email.

Peace and love,

Marilyn