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Teddie Jordan

So sorry to hear of  Sandy's father's death. Meredith Hansel, Dennis Hansel's wife also lost her father this week, but I dont have any details about the service yet. Our prayers and condolences to both of them.

It was another fun night at Fudd's last night. So good to see and get to visit with Charles and Jimmie Lee and what a great attitude they both have. It was also a treat to see Sweetie Marbury, all the way from beautiful Durango, Colorado where she is a city council woman and future mayor. They couldn't have a better representative than Sweetie, who as you all know is very appropriately named.

And by the way, the class of '65 had '64 greatly out numbered last night and it was good to see every one of them.

Pat Brantley (Ross)

Sweet of you to think I could write a book about these kids but there is a problem, beau.  Some of them are on their way up in the world and don't want anyone knowing that their science project was actually growing weed in their bedroom or such nonsense.  We had no drugs or alcohol on my trips but there was discussion.  They thought I couldn't hear anything or was too dumb to know what was being talked about.  They all grew up to be responsible adults so we will just let it stay that way except for the occasional story I tell their kids when the adults are gone.  I really have an Auntie Mame streak in me.  Once I was taking two of the kids back to San Antonio when they were older (18) and they asked me to stop so they could get a six pack.  I stopped and then one of them commented after we were back on the interstate that I shouldn't speed because of the open container law that had gone into effect.  I couldn't believe I had done something so stupid as to stop for beer for them when I had worked in Austin for months to get that law passed!   I was devastated and pulled off as soon as possible and made them toss the beer.  No I won't tell on them because then they will tell about how many times they duped me.  My daughter Beth was in the front seat with me on this outing and she just laughed at me and said, "see I told you all your good works were going to bite you in the butt". 

My worst experience with teens was driving a group from houston to Dallas for a tripping daisies concert.  You never heard of these lunatics.  Well good for you.  I sat on a concrete parapet for more than two hours while these fifteen year olds jumped and danced.  I was obviously someone's mother so kids kept leaving stuff for me to watch while they threw themselves into the mosh pit.  By the end of the deafening evening I could have walked away with some good stuff.  Oh we'll.  maybe I'll supplement my retirement by playing this game in Landa park this summer.  That wasn't even the worst band I had to sit through while Beth was growing up.  Did any of you ever go to fitzgeralds in the heights?  They have not cleaned that place since I was 19.  Of course I haven't had to go there since 1994.  Maybe it burned down due to dust.

Wayne Lake

Isn’t Fitzgeralds in the old Heights Bank, my Aunt Dora had an office in there when I was a little kid and I think I saw Asleep at the Wheel there many moons ago but don’t remember the dust   

Got attacked by a grackle (sp?) the other day in a grocery parking lot – he swooped in from behind and hit me with both wings on either side of the head and pecked a hole in the back of my pumpkin - then flew to a nearby palm tree and gave me an evil look – no blood but the wife confirmed a puncture – I started looking for the profile of Alfred Hitchcock looming in the bushes but couldn’t see him anywhere.    .

Saw a Ford pickup truck the other day with a modified logo called the ‘NO BAILOUT EDITION’  - loved it.     

Went to a CCA benefit last night at Sam Houston Racetrack starring Dwight Yoakam, Robert Earl Keen, Hayes Carll & Ray Wylie Hubbard with a cameo by Lyle Lovett –we left before Dwight went on stage as it was past my bedtime as we mostly came to see Robert Earl anyway and besides he is not from Texas anway .  What a great show, venue and weather with a lot of well behaved, young beer drinkers..................

If you like the country music we grew up on try 97.1 on your FM dial.

Support Live Music and Have a Willie Nice Week,

wtl    

Teddie Jordan

Wayne,  it's probably an age thing, but 97.1 is also my favorite station. I think it may be Rockefellers that's in that old bank building on Washington. Fran and I went to a couple of forgetable concerts there back in the 90's with a customer who wanted us to join him  and his wife (and pay his way). By the way I did eventually get his order.

And I think that Grackle probably had some little ones in a nest nearby and had taken parenting classes from a Mockingbird.

We were down Aransas way with our two youngest  grand offspring this weekend and I always think of you when I'm down in our mutually beloved waters. Grandson James Theodore, who is 11, has caught quite a few trout but had never caught a redfish and we remedied that. This one was 27 1/2 inches long and I thought it was going to drag him into the water at first, and you know how powerful they are, but he hung in there and with a lot of coaching and encouragement he ultimately landed the fish. He later caught one 28 1/2 and even ol' Pop caught a 28, so they were solid fish. The first was around Hog Island and the later ones were in south Estes Flats. We love them blackened and on the half shell and if anyone wants a recipe we have a good one.

I should add that while James and I were fishing Fran and Jordan went fishing in the shops in Port Aransas and I think they got their limit too. Later Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday morning we went beach combing,  collected shells, checked out the beautiful sand castles someone had built, and fed the sea gulls an old loaf of bread. We stayed on the island this trip and it is safe to say that we wore the kids out and they defintely wore us out, but made some good memories along the way.

Well I thought I could rotate this brag picture after I uploaded it but in my tech ignorance I was not able to do that so please just tilt your head to the left a little..

Pat Brantley (Ross)

Teddie,  I love music.  I listen to everything but rap.  I love Italian opera, rock, pop, country.  My sweet husband doesn't like most of my music so I only crank up the volume in the car now.  I had a wonderful sound system at my office and kept my door closed.  Waylon was my favorite good ole boy.  Almost got to meet him once, but never did.  Ron likes talk radio. It raises my blood pressure so we compromise and listen to books on cd.  I listen to my iPod with headphones sometimes, but I miss my subwoofer and speakers.  I mentioned fitzgeralds because the worst band I ever heard was there when Beth was about 15.  Best group I have ever seen in person was bare naked ladies in woodlands.  They were not naked or female but very talented musicians.  We saw them when she was about 21.  

John Burgess Webb

i remember fitzgeralds from the time i was just a kid.the only way from our house in oak forest  to my grandparents house on spring at goliad was down shepard then over to heights blv. to washington ave.;then over to to whiteoak blv. then houston ave.they lived in the part of houston known as first ward but before that it was the steven f. austin survey. that was one of the first cut out and was the street one over from crocket st.i think back then that old grey building that became fitzgerals was a dance hall that was for polka;cant remember the name but it was a fire trap back then in1950.the old heights bank is still esconched on washington ave. at heights blvd.it was still pretty fancy the last time i was there about 13 years ago.i went to see doug kershaw and i guess he and clarance "gatemouth "brown are the best fiddle players ,bar none.i also saw "gate" perform there and for a 70 year old,he was 'on fire.friends of friends introduced me during a 'break' in the parking lot.my neice trish was married to charley nief at the time and he ran the sound system.they knew most of the acts that performed there.the acustics at the old bank was good and the old archetecture was preserved;not so at fitzgeralds,it was like a big barn.oh well,a lot of good bands played at both places and washington ave was quite a scene in the late 90's. 

burge

Jimmie Lee Smith (Brawner)

We attended a wedding reception at Rockefeller's - beautiful venue.

Teddie, hope your grandson gets his gorgeous fish mounted - what a memory for him.  You are creating so many great memories for your family - what a great Dad and Granddad you are.

Pat, I'm with you about the radio.  Charles is into those Sirius "old, old radio programs" like Johnny Dollar and many others I don't even remember.  I finally made a deal - whoever is the driver controls the radio.  Sometimes the deal actually works.

Fortunately, the only concert I attended with my kids because I had to drive them, was RICK SPRINGFIELD - not a bad deal at all for me.

Jimmie Lee Smith (Brawner)

Just wanted to clear up the news about Baptist Temple - my home church.  Below is the news release.  It confused me, so I asked a current member of BT (she's been a member her whole life) and she clarified the situation.  Her response follows the news release.

NEWS RELEASE

105-Year Old Heights Church Set to Renovate

HOUSTON — Baptist Temple Church in the Heights finalized a sale of property on Friday, May 10 that will facilitate a $3 million renovation to its premises at 230 West 20th Street.

Renovations will impact nearly all of the 65,000 square feet of worship, classroom, and office space in the T.C. Jester building. Plans call for a new 300-seat sanctuary, a new entrance and foyer, new learning and play areas for infants and children, and numerous modifications that will bring the entire building up to Americans With Disabilities (ADA) standards and other city codes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes. The church voted to stay at the Heights location and renovate the TC Jester building to comply with city code and with the fire marshall. You might recall that the building is the strongest one we have, actually built to be a bomb shelter after WWII had ended. After the T.C. Jester building is totally restored, we will move back in and continue a Baptist presence where the church started 105 years ago.  I hope you will pray for us while we are meeting elsewhere for about a year. Thanks for asking about the BT ministry.
 

Teddie Jordan

Spring has sprung, fall has fell, summer's here and it's hot as hell!

Wayne Lake

Beau,

First of all, most vehicles newer than 2007 are equipped with a USB connector for iPODs/iPADs etc direct to radio. If not, you will need to use either a FM transmitter or cassette device for playing music. Some newer vehicles can display the info wrt recording artist, etc. You can also listen through your home system with connectors or they make all kinds of players for same.

The advantage of the iPOD over the iPAD would be portability both come with plenty of memory.   Last I looked the max memory on iPOD was 80 gigs which will hold enough music for a lifetime of listening.

Of course, the digital music fidelity is incredible. Go for it and get one of your grandkids to load your music on your new device, you will never look back.

Jimmie Lee, do you remember my aunt, Dora Williams at BT? – she was good friends with Scotty Groom’s mom as well as Walter Shaver’s.

Teddie, you spoil that boy – he will be hooked for sure, what a trip, I am going to guess all caught on croakers but where were you fishing?

wtl   

John Burgess Webb

beau,dont you remember smoking the mandan peace pipe with all those secret ingredients in it?sacagawea saw a ufo and they gave her a gps.lewis and clark stayed in the astral plane for three days and saw the whole thing.true storey.its a wonder they made it home.the mandan chiefs were very happy.

unknown

Jimmie Lee Smith (Brawner)

Wayne, yes everyone knew Dora Fay Williams (think Fay was middle name).  What a wonderful lady and what a character.  Always into and up to something.  Brings a smile to my face to remember her and all the other wonderful Baptist Temple people who "helped raise us." 

Wayne Lake

With Memorial Day coming up, I somberly reflect………………………..

I attended a wake for Sandy Schlesinger’s Dad last week and come to find out that this man, Rudy Green that I knew my entire life was a WWII war hero that even his children didn’t realize.  Born in 1923 in the back woods of Mississippi into a family of 8 kids, he hunted and fished to put food in the table during the depression.  So when the war broke out he was 18 years old and he went into the Army Air Corp and learned to fly. Commissioned as 2^nd Lt. at 19 years old and earned pilot wings flying the infamous B24 Liberator long range heavy bomber in 1943 in the South Pacific campaign at 20 years old. This in itself may not sound like anything out of the ordinary until you begin to understand this plane, it’s size, weight and capacity, difficulty to fly with resulting dangers for all on board.  Remember, he was pilot of this beast sitting in the left seat at 20 years old…………..

In the book Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (a great read about a B24 Bombadier/POW in Japan for a few years and then befriends his capturer’s/torturer’s years later), also author of Sea Biscuit another great read but I digress, she recounts the problems with the B24, not only was it extremely hard to fly (“you could  always tell a B24 pilot because his forearms were like Pop Eyes due to the strength it took to control”), cold not ditch it because of design of the bomb bay doors and a statistic I can’t forget that 9 out of 10 planes/lives lost were NOT combat related.          

 Following is an excerpt from Wikipedia about the B 24:

The B-24 ended World War II as the most produced heavy bomber in history. At over 18,400 units,^[6] half by Ford Motor Company, it still holds the distinction as the most-produced American military aircraft.

General characteristics

• Crew: 11 (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, radio operator, nose turret, top turret, 2 waist gunners, ball turret, tail gunner)
• Length: 67 ft 8 in (20.6 m)
• Wingspan: 110 ft 0 in (33.5 m)
• Height: 18 ft 0 in (5.5 m)
• Wing area: 1,048 ft² (97.4 m²)
• Empty weight: 36,500 lb (16,590 kg)
• Loaded weight: 55,000 lb (25,000 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 65,000 lb (29,500 kg)
• Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830-35 or -41 turbosupercharged radial engines, 1,200 hp (900 kW) each
• Zero-lift drag coefficient: 0.0406
• Drag area: 42.54 ft² (3.95 m²)
• Aspect ratio: 11.55

Performance

• Maximum speed: 290 mph (250 kn, 470 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 215 mph (187 kn, 346 km/h)
• Stall speed: 95 mph (83 kn, 153 km/h)
• Range: 2,100 mi (1,800 nmi, 3,400 km)
• Ferry range: 3,700 mi (3,200 nmi, 6,000 km)
• Service ceiling: 28,000 ft (8,500 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,025 ft/min (5.2 m/s)
• Wing loading: 52.5 lb/ft² (256 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.0873 hp/lb (144 W/kg)

• Lift-to-drag ratio: 12.9

Armament

• Guns: 10 × .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in 4 turrets and two waist positions
• Bombs:
  • Short range (˜400 mi): 8,000 lb (3,600 kg)
  • Long range (˜800 mi): 5,000 lb (2,300 kg)
  • Very long range (˜1,200 mi): 2,700 lb (1,200 kg)

All these great WWII hero’s must be about all gone by now as Lt. Rudy Green was about as young as one could be and died at nearly 90 so if you know one, say thanks for me as I never did.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

wtl   

Pat Brantley (Ross)

Thank you Wayne for reminding us about what Memorial Day in about.  One of my friends lost his dad last year.  His father had the most wonderful testimony I have ever heard.  He was the highest ranking military officer held during the Vietnam war.  He was shot down and tortured for almost seven years.  He told us that being in solitary confinement with Jesus wasn't a problem although he was there for over one year.  Being with other men was the work in progress.  He also said that the captors couldn't break him because he wouldn't hate them.  Dave was not a saint, but he was one of the most wonderful men I have ever met.  I sent him a book I found about that group of men.  All of his grandchildren are in the service.  

John Burgess Webb

pat,thank you for your account of the pow who survived and gained strength through a horrable existance at the hands of the north vietnamese.forget my attempts to be silly with some of my comments and know that i feel thepain and grief of those that fought,those who were killed and especially those who were captured and tortured to the breaking point.on this memorial day remember those who were in such bad shape that both governments were ashamed to present them in public and were returned secretly to an existance beyond what any of us can imagine.to those who were broken in body and mind;abandoned beyond hope and for those who did survive until today who wander in a spiritual limbo pressed by pain and drugs that only god in his mercy can relieve.a curse to the communist and thier minions who perpertrated unimaginable evil on the lower ranks who held no value to them in the political game of the devil's chess that continues today as witnessed by the treatment of the british soldier who was murdered and mutilated in broad daylight in full public view for another falsehood in a present time where only the name of the machination has changed.we live in wicked times when the lesser become venerated and the deception and violence become the norm.

pray for our world and for those who cant see how far we have fallen;its our only hope and i pray that this memorial day goes beyond the superficial and people realise that we are all participants in this greater war that will determine the survival of the human race on so many levels.the physical war has its casualties but the spiritual war has the soul lost or saved for eternity.as we grow older,the trancience of this live becomes clearer by necessity as we battle our imfirmities.we are nearer the end than the begining so honor those that gave it all in the bloom of youth and gave thier lives and freedoms in what was for the most part a hope for the better with the full strength we can only remember as a faded past.

try to project love this memorial day and whatever our varried perception of fairness is;remember that those who shed blood in our wars had thier hopes and dreams too and were cut off too soon to be denegrated or despised as fools or pawns.show respect in some way,no matter how humble for our warriors still fight and die in our place.

semper fidelis

Teddie Jordan

God Bless the souls of our servicemen who have fought and died for the freedom we hold so dear. God Bless the hearts of those we are fortunate and honored to still have with us. Sincere thanks to all of you for your service and your sacrifice.

Please go to the Military Salute section of this website and honor each of them with your thoughts and prayers.

Beau Wann, Jr.

And for those of us that are still serving...at this very moment, I am standing guard over the old "hood", armed to the teeth! Guess I went to bed too early. I tried to stay awake, but "Doc Martin" just couldnt hold my attention. Try as I might, I just dont like any of the characters in that series, and in order for a story to be good, really good, is the fact that at least one of the characters has to be likeable!

Watched John Wayne in a Submarine picture made in 1951, and now for the life of me I cant recollect the name of it. All the regulars were in it, Ward Bond, Patricia Neal, Martin Milner, J.C. Flippen etc.

That Martin Milner must be one of those ageless souls that has been in the movin picture bidness for centuries. He and Richard Jaekel (sp) have been in almost every war movie and western for the last 80 years it seems!

This was a pretty good movie, cept I have seen it 700 times. Good ol "pop" Ward Bond gets killed off in this movie bout half way through, as he usually does in a John Wayne venue. Must be in his contract to get killed off early so he can go home and be with the wife and kiddies.

He didnt get killed off in "The Searchers" though. I'll bet the Duke employed just about every character actor in Hollywood,  over and over again. I do believe that if memory serves me correctly, and no reason it should start now, is that Ward Bond got the Duke his first acting gigs, and he repaid him a thousand times! ! !

That was one thing about the Duke, he was loyal to cast and crew! Oh, in this 1951 Submariner movie, he played a character named, what else...DUKE...Also just saw "The High and the Mighty" with the Duke. I remember seeing it at the Garden Oaks Theatre, and just about every other movie I have ever seen! ! ! Isnt it amazing how one place, one venue, has had such a profound effect on a body.  

There's a couple of pretty funny things on channel 8 PBS from the BBC in England, one called "As Time Goes By", and the theme song is the one from "Casablanca"....The other show is "Keeping up Apperances"...It's gotten to where all dialogue and conversation sounds like a foreign language. Thank goodness for closed captioning! ! !

Hmmm, what time is it now? Ah yes, this day is very young, only 3 hours old!

Got to see our next door neighbor/unofficial grandaughter, Lucy, graduate yesterday. Valdictorian, number one in her class! Every award imaginable bestowed on this deserving child. She seems to receive scholarships daily. One in particular, and I dont know the name of it, came from the parents of her mentor from early schooling. Not exactly sure of the time frame, or the age of her mentor, but here is some irony for you, not necessarily all good, but her mentor was run down and killed by a drunk driver some years ago, not sure when. The parents of Lucys mentor, selected Lucys essay as the winner of the scholarship, not knowing it was Lucy that submitted it!

Ok, I erased about 4 paragraphs on my feelings on drunk drivers...There is a parent in our class that lost a child to a drunk driver...I've known this classmate since 7th grade, and this has stayed with me since they told me some 15 or 20 years ago...pretty hard to forget something like that...just think how they feel! ! ok, I will get off that subject...

Whenever I get to feeling bad about whatever hand I've been dealt, I think of this person and the loss, and  burden of pain they carry, and the pain of others of our classmates that have lost children and/or grandchildren...or the lady here in Houston, or Conroe, that went in the hospital to have a baby, contracted SARS, and came out without her arms and legs...how does that happen in a hospital??? Well, once I think of those folks, then I dont feel so bad, cept I feel bad for feeling bad! And round and round I go!

Hmmm, almost 4...I tried a little experiment, from computer science lab 101, and it failed miserably...lost about half a dozen forum entries...no matter, nothing earth shattering in those ramblings anyway. maybe I should just stick to washing the dishes, or washing clothes etc and fishing items out of the black lagoon, the drink, the cement pond! Lost an entire pot and plant in that bad boy! Finally fished it out...of course my beloved was looking on curiously at my shenanigans. After I fished said plant out of the coldy brine, she says..."you know, there is an eaiser way to water them"! ! ! all I can say is SMARTALECK! ! !

Course, I had to clean the dirt out of the pool...again! ! ! Got it nice and sparkling for Lucy tomorrow, er today for her graduation party! She asked if it would be ok if they swam later...like I would refuse! ! !

"The many loves of Doby Gillis" is on right now...Who played Doby Gillis??? His TV dad was Frank Faylen, and of course his beatnik friend, Maynard G Krebs was Bob Denver...Why cant I think of Doby Gillis actors name??? I remember one of the girls in it was Tuesday Weld...I was so in love with her...Ok, guess I will shut er down...just ramblin on....of course it's not like anyone HAS to read this, and probably a good thing too huh!

Keep the sun at your six, and ride boldly ride...
your frien and brother Olbeauwannkanobie...

Beau Wann, Jr.

Hey wake up! ! ! It's me again! !! DWAYNE HICKMAN...Thats who played Dobie Gillis! !! Now arent you glad I woke you up and gave that information to you? There were so many well know "faces" character actors that would couldnt put a name to...such as John Banner was in Dobie Gillis and later became ...sgt shultz in hogens heros...Michael J Pollard...Jack Albertson...Ron Howard...Mel Blanc...Jo Ann Worley of Laugh in...Howard McNear, Floyd the barber on Andy Griffin show...Raymond Baily who later became Mr Drysdale on the Beverly Hillbillies...lots of faces you would recognize...Just thought I'd share all that with you...Now Phil Silvers show is on...Oh, dont worry, I wont go into who played in that show...

Kay Watters '65 (Greene)

it must have been a John Wayne weekend...back to back....did watch the Searchers ...wow, 5 yrs. searching for a lost girl and it turned out to be Natalie Wood....one of my fav. actresses, who could get past those eyes (on your advise, Beau) enjoyed it as not much really was going on this weekend.  Was surprised to learn that we lost more military in WWII than any war...

Thankful for our military, but as most moms, hate the loss of all our young, but feel their patrotism for us all. But if called we would have given our all as well. I just feel us women would have responded much the same. Patrotism is of the heart. Sometime it is harder to be in the backgound in our roles as society deemed us.  Proud of our women going forward as well.

Teddie Jordan

A sixty seven year old classmate, a 20-25 year old Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, and a pretty new Ruger 10-22 rifle.

Shot last Thursday, while doing the moonwalk, backwards!

Tastes like chicken.

Wayne Lake

Who said ol' dogs can't hunt.

wtl

Jackie Crowe (Finch)

Class of '64 - Save the Date for Our 50th Class Reunion

Next Year - 2014

Jimmie Lee Smith (Brawner)

Kay Watters '65 (Greene)

Thank  you Jimmie for your message, one we want to hear from...so good to hear you have an personal assist there at MDA, and glad to see you all were able to go home to be with family..that is what it all about!  Family is what it is all about, but also keep up the fight...I enjoy hearing about the dewrag...Charles has "the look now..."tuff Bruce Willis look.

Please keep us informed ....kisses, prayers and looking forward to all the news and yall being back at Fudds, sorry I missed that one. I promise to come this summer.  Charles has a jewel to have you as his troll master. Keep it up Jimmie.

Teddie Jordan

Hey Wayne, I know I'm gonna hate myself for asking this but what's the low going to be tonight up in Lake Wobegone, Minnesota?