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Teddie Jordan

I guess it was Coach Burton's passing away last week and some of the comments about how much we appreciate our teachers and administrators now, but I've been thinking alot about some of our old teachers.

I've written on my profile about one of my favorite Waltrip memories involving Mr. Hunkler, and what a great teacher and motivator he was. He went on the be the President of Slippery Rock College up in Pennsylvania and I'm sure he was a good one.

Another of my favorites was Mr. Vann, who I had for Algebra and who was also my homeroom teacher for four years. He was a very good man. A few years after we got out he quit teaching and started selling life insurance and Fran and I bought a small policy from him after we got married.

Probably my favorite teacher was Ms. Mary Barden for English. In my senior year I got her for creative writing. I had never before really tried to write about anything other than just responding to a test question or a short report. About two weeks after we started the semester she called me up after class one day and told me she wanted to pull me out of the day to day class assignments and just have me write. The next day she set me up by myself at a table in the empty cafeteria, directly across the hall from her classroom, and gave me a topic and told me to develop it. I would do that for a few days and turn it in. She would grade it and make suggestions on how I could improve it and give me another topic. I can honestly say that she gave me confidence and taught me techniques  to use in writing. The first 15 years of my sales career selling technical equipment were in the days before computers when you wrote out your proposal long hang and a secretary typed it on an IBM Selectric typewriter. You then turned it in with 8-10 copies and many times people who were very important to your success or failure on the project but not always available to make  your pitch to would form their first impression of  your offering based on your written proposal. Thanks to Ms. Barden I was able to do it.

One last favorite memory is one that Fran and I have laughed about alot through the years. Shortly after we started dating we ended up in the same class for Spanish, Mrs. Bates was the teacher. I made sure I was seated the first day right behind Francine. Fran says Ms. Bates treated me as her pet, and maybe so because during class I would tap Fran on the shoulder and when she would turn around to see what I wanted Mrs. Bates would see her and in Spanish say, " Francine, turn around and leave Teodoro alone". It's been fifty years and Fran still gets mad when I tell that story.

Jimmie Lee Smith (Brawner)

I told Charles I had just looked at the details about our April 14 "mini" reunion and was surprised to see it begins @ 4pm.  Johnny, are we getting the "SENIOR TWILIGHT" special rates?  (just kidding)

Charles is wondering whether we'll last until 10pm.  We're looking forward to seeing everyone.  Thanks, Johnny, for getting us all together.

Wayne Lake

If you can read this, thank a teacher.

Beau Wann, Jr.

If you can read this in English, thank a MARINE...

Good Morrow Mine Waltrithespians..."Hi, I'm a thespian"..."well hello there, I'm a vegetarian...dont know which month that is, I think Septober, which month is a thespian"...Octember fer shure bro...

Read with interest, Alan Hales column, one day this week or end...tried to find it to read it again, but like mah glasses, "theys around heah somers"...It was about not being able to, "just do" the things we've allus done and taken for granite...etched in stone so to speak...like tie your shoes! Good thing I dont wear shoes! Boots are easy to tie, providing they have no laces...I have boot puller oners and boot puller offers...I have two pair that have zippers on the sides, one pair on the inside, and one pair on the outside, my frankenstein boots and a new pair of work boots...sometimes I have to have let my beloved zip em up, just so she feels like she's helped me, not that I need any help of course...wonder why one pair of boots has the zipper on the inside, and the other on the outside...hmmmm...

Other things I cant do anymore...hmmm...where do I start, "let me count the ways"! ! ! ! !
Like Mr Hale, I wanted to replace the fence in several places, never got around to that, although, with the help of my sweety, we did build a fence to keep fric and frac from runnin wild, and I couldnt have finished the deck without my beloved...see there, it does take two to tangle...in the bobware...

Wanted to plow up the south pasture, but that would have entailed removing a few stumps, and that my fine fellow friends, IS HARD WORK...got a few done, but not near enough...was gonna join the north two meadows together and build a bridge over the crick...bout 36 feet across...it was gonna be a grand bridge...and I was gonna dam up the south end of the crick and create a lake up in the north meadow..."if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, what a merry christmas we would have", sayeth Dandy Don...

I find that not only can I NOT do all that great stuff, I have a hard time putting on my boots and getting in and out of the truck...some days are better than others though, which I am internally graceful...

Mr Hale is 90 !!!!! If I'm having problems now, just think how it wil be when we are 90...or me anyway!!!!

These are not really complaints, just observations started by Mr Hale, and expounded on in furtherance...

Was gonna start caulking the new siding yesterday, but had to go down to Richmond to get tags for my lowboy trailer...seems the old ones expired...tags cost 6 dollars American money, wasted several gallons of gas, and several hours...howsomever, the Richmond tax office runs smoother than any I have ever seen...
I tried two of em in Harris/hell county, and the lines were several hours long...took only 10 minutes to get waited on in Richmond/Ft Bend, and about 2 minutes to actually conduct bidness...wonder why all gov entities dont conduct bidness so it is BENEFICIAL and EASY for us, the people that pay their salary?????

Was worn out by the time I got home, so I just had to nap, well duh!!! Thats what gives me that youteful glow and all the hair on me head...naps dont seem to work for that...I had heard that if you hung your head off the side of the bed, it would grow...nope, not here...besides, it was hard to go to sleep with all the blood rushing to my head...tried to stand up, and fell down, once again disproving that stupid axiom of " a body in motion tends to stay in motion nonsense...I got my body in motion, and it quit...which seemed to amuse my critters a tad...and thats what I'm here for...or so it seems...

Was gonna start caulking today, again, and by the time I got through with all the everyday stuff, feeding critters, making DWs lunch, and breakfast and getting her off to work, and then cleaning up after the critters, and vacuuming, changing the sheets, washing three loads of clothes and working on the cement pond, replacing old worn out stereo speakers with ones that actually work and dont buzz and hum, watering the plants etc etc...well, maybe I'll start caulking later today, or early tomorrow or how about Friday??? I will have to check my dance card...

Ok, back hurtin, gotta go lay down for a spell, so I might as well take a nap while I'm at it...I'd hate for a "good lay down" go to waste...ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Richard Meek '65

Afternoon Waltripians, I have had a request for an emergency WABEC meeting. So it is officially set for 11:30 on April 4th at Gabby's Bar-B-Que on N. Shepherd between Loop 610 and 34th St. So come on out and visit with some of your frens from HS days. This isn't a guys only gathering. Nary a cigar has been lit nor any foul language uttered.  Even with all that said I think Barbara Porter Raines is the only female to brave this questionable gathering. If I left some other female person out I apologize in advance. We will consider Whirld Affairs and solve as many problems as possible in 45 seconds. So we can focus on the subject of most interest, , ,lunch!!! Come on out and join us. You'll be glad you did and so will we!

Wayne Lake

Play on Words……………………………

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

 2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

 3. She was only a whisky maker but he loved her still.

 4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

 5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

 6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

 7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

 8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

 9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

 10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

 11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

 12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

 13. I wondered why the cricket ball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

 14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

 15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

 16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

 17. A backward poet writes inverse.

 18. In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that votes.

 19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

 20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you'd be in Seine .

 21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger'.

 22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!'

 23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

 24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The other says 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'

 25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

 26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

 wtl

Teddie Jordan

Good stuff Wayne, good stuff.

Beau Wann, Jr.

THANKS WAYNE, I NEEDED THAT LAUGH..."a small medium at large" ...great stuff. Hey, maybe you should be a standup comedian...keep em coming...I'm still chuckling...

this ought to make you laugh, or cry...this is a sign at walmart...

John Burgess Webb

ah yes,there are still some clever minds at work;there is hope after all.

p.s.

yes!---transcend dental medication. ill keep that in mind ;just in case.

Scotty Croom

please keep skeeter's family in your prayers...daughter ,lindsey, is in hospice care...no medical treatments seem to help her  condition....

Susan Howard (Bowman)

I just read Lindsey's caring bridge journal post.  I can't even imagine what this family has gone through and is now going through realizing hospice care is needed.  As Scotty said,  let us please keep them all in our thoughts and prayers.  

Kay Watters '65 (Greene)

It is never easy to know your loved one has to leave the world and all the love and need to keep this person in whatever shape or form and to fight to the end has expired.  My heart weighs heavy knowing your pain and sorrow.

There is a very popular song that was sang at my loved one's funeral.....I Can Only Imagine...you can bring it up on the internet and listen....very heartfelt and beautiful

Skeeter and family my prayers and condolences are with you and Lindsey, we all were wishing for better news.

Johnny Sheffield

sketter

my prayers go out to you and your wonderful family.

from what i have read from lindseys journal,she is a very strong young lady.

becky and i will say a special prayer for her.

god bless

johnny

.

Beau Wann, Jr.

Kay! ! ! ! !     You are so amazing ! ! ! ! 

John Burgess Webb

its inspiring to read linsey's journal;what a grasp she has on her condition.sometimes hope is all there is but we cant give up.still in thoughts and prayers;skeeter,god bless you and ease your sorrow.

Beau Wann, Jr.

Dear classmates,
I found this picture of skeeter and lindsey and her mom among my photos. This is from sometime between 1987 and 89...methinks...this was at tully stadium where one son was a varsity cheerleader, and the other a varsity running back for Northbrook HS...thats why I was  there, dont know why the Apostolo family was there...since skeeter was a referee, he may have been there to critique the refs on the field... I fancied myself a "photographer" way back then, and just snapped that which caught my eye. Glad I got this one...I asked Skeeters permission before I posted this, and in his most gracious manner, as is always his, said it was ok to post...

This is the beautiful family we are praying for...

Lindsey is a teacher at one of my beloved, Dianes schools, the staff and children of that school miss Lindsey something awful....I can only imagine what the Apostolo family is suffering....If any of youse youtes have time, send skeeter a note via the waltrip website...I know they can use, and totally appreciate any and all supporting correspondence...

Beau Wann, Jr.

Hey Richard the LH??? and other wabec members...I might not be able to make it tomorrow to the called emergency session luncheon getogether meeting...power company is scheduled to change the power pole out that is in the corner of my back yard. Dont have a clue how they are going to manage it, because 4 garages are in the way as well as fences. I moved everything out of their way, almost.  This should be interesting. you just might be reading where the cement pond swallowed one or all of their trucks and equipment. Dont see how they are "gonna git er done"...but we shall see what we shall see...

I almost won that half billion dollars...and would have too, if I'd had the right numbers...kind of like algabra, I had numbers, just not the ones I needed...oh well, maybe next time...

Richard Meek '65

WABEC meeting at 11:30 today. Gabby's Bar-B-Que on N. Shepherd between Loop 610 and 34th St. Hope to see you there. Since Don Beau Wann probalby won't be there it is a perfect time to form a committee to do work and put him in charge of it. See you at Gabby's!

Kay Watters '65 (Greene)

great pic of Skeeter and family and of Lindsey, glad you came up with it...our hearts and prayers are with Lindsey!

Susan Howard (Bowman)

Good morning, everyone!  Another one of our classmates needs our prayers, Terry (Jones) Gallemore and her husband.  Terry's husband, John, has just been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  He is supposed to start chemo on Monday, but they have decided to seek a second opinion first.  

I have known Terry since (high) seventh grade.  She was my first friend at Black Junior High when my family moved into Ella Lee Forest in 1958.  I was walking to school and we crossed paths at Oak Forest Blvd. and Candlelight - she lived on Candlelight and was walking to school, too.  We have been friends ever since!  Her husband, John, is a great guy! They still live in the area, about 2 blocks from my mom off Bethlehem.  (We actually managed to live next door to each other on Candlelight in the early 70's.)

She said she would covet our prayers!  So - here we go.....

Jimmie Lee Smith (Brawner)

Barbara Porter Raines just let me know Jackie Crowe is in the hospital.  She is having high blood pressure and they are running lots of tests.  Barbara didn't say where she is.  Say prayers.

Jimmie Lee Smith (Brawner)

This is from Barbara just a short while ago:

Jackie was sent home with several pill prescriptions. 

She is scheduled to see the Drs. again Tues.  Bed rest, I would think.
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Wayne Lake

Jackie,

Get well soon and stay out of hospitals as there are too many sick people in there. 

wtl   

Scotty Croom

yes,jackie back home.......visted boo-tiques this pm...what a big place....nice variety of booths...see all tues. at fudds...and sat. pm at clays....

Teddie Jordan

We had a good family Easter get together today and hope that everyone else had a good day too. The weather was perfect..

Here's a picture of Fran's mom, Margy Webster, with four of her seven great grandkids.

I'll never be hungry again!