James A "Jim" White

Hi Everybody. Thank you Bill Sloan for letting us know about your trip. We really appreciate it and hope others will let us know what is going on in their life. Bill and Margie celebrated their 50th Anniversary in Albuquerque a month or two ago. Sorry we could not come, Bill. As you know, we were with our USAF son in Illinois who was being promoted to full-bird Colonel. Too important for us to miss, but you were a close 2nd. :-)

Sweet Linda Henry Crowder and Brenda Henry White just lost their mom. Carol Henry, who was a real sweetie and character. Kathy and I had a blast with her a couple of times as we visited Palm Springs. In fact, Barbara Buzbee met with all of us one time. Anyway, Carol's service will be 10:00am this Thursday. If you live in Roswell and care to show your support, information is below. Today I heard from Linda and she will be there.

Here is Kathy's and my schedule in case you will be nearby. We left Nashville a couple weeks ago. Following the music trail we will go to Memphis this Wednesday (anyone love Beale Street?). This weekend, on Boyce McFarland's advice, we will be in Clarksdale, Mississippi, home of the Blues (before Memphis tried to take it over). Then we will be onto Biloxi,MS and Pass Christian, MS where we will spend some time with Bobby Allison and Ernie. A couple weeks ago we saw Johnny Rodriguez perform. Bobby Allison use to open for Johnny. Michelle Austin Kelly can tell you how much fun it is visiting with Bobby and Ernie. December 1 we move onto New Orleans for three days, then Lake Charles, Louisiana for a couple, then onto Lake Conroe, where we will most assuredly see Bob Ream and Karen Harrington Ream. We will be spending Feb-Mar-Apr at Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island where we are certain to see Herky and Mary Veach and Louis Bagwell between medical appointments and Kathy's knee replacement. Barby Mitchell Stagner, care to have lunch with Louis and me again?  Any other classmate along our path we can hookup with? I wish Johnny Allen (Houston attorney) would meet with us.

Please write, everyone. Let us know who is sick, who has died, what you are doing. We only have about 2 people per day checking the website. Also, Dennis Hunter  who helped us on the last reunion has a birthday coming up. Go look at the front page to see who else has one coming. And look at Memorial Page and write stories about your friends growing up.

-Jim White

James A "Jim" White

NEWS FIT TO PRINT: First, the renewal for our website is due in January. The credit card they have on file is, of course, mine. I love our class and this website, but few seem to share that interest. Are you interested enough to chip in $ to renew or should we drop the website?

MARDI GONYEA NICKLIN is enjoying herself with a long visit to California. She loves her hill country home in Texas but kind of likes the ocean views of California too. Tell us about your visit, Mardi.

I thought PAM BERRY DAVIS and DICKIE DAVIS had a great picture posted on Facebook (where I stole it). What do you think?

Kathy and I were lucky to spend time with ERNIE and BOBBY ALLISON in Mississippi. We certainly enjoy these two wonderful people. MICHAELE AUSTIN KELLY may visit them in January. While in Nashville, we got to see a few people Bobby use to perform with, such as Johnny Rodriguez. Bobby has really shown a lot of courage battling his Parkinson's Disease, which courage we salute. Also, it was nice watching Bobby sing along to his C.D.'s. How lucky we are.

We loved Nashville and those that follow our travel blog, know the many people we hung around with.

Joey was Alan Jackson's keyboard player for 17 years.

We did enjoy our time in New Orleans.

Finally, we were at Lake Conroe above Houston a week or so before we were pulled back by family to Washington State, where we are until about January 10th. We missed seeing BOB REAM and KAREN HARRINGTON REAM, but will try again .... along with HERKY VEACH, LOUIS BAGWELL and maybe BARBY MITCHELL STAGNER.

Now, it is time for you to write and post pictures. Thank you BILL SLOAN and CAROL NORMAN for posting yours. Can anyone answer Carol's questions as to identifying the people in her picture?

Doris Flood (Burton)

Jim, to what address would we send money for the web site renewal?

JIM'S REPLY: First, let me check with our blessed treasurer, Pam Davis, and see if we have any funds in our treasury. If we do, it will not be much. Then I will send a more accurate appeal. Thanks for the offer. I will be in touch.

William Samuel "Bill" Sloan

Jim, please let us know. 'Tis the season to be joyful!

Michaele Austin (Kelly)

I would be willing to help pay for the renewal also. This is one of the only ways to keep up with our classmates and hear what they are doing. I read whatever is posted as I get the emails as I'm sure others do.

MERRY CHRISTAMS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Robin E. Lostetter

Yes, Jim, please let us know what is due and how to send a contribution.  If several of us contribute, it will be easy on everyone -- including YOU!  We appreciate your faithful work!

Charlotte Howell (Nix)

Hi Jim,

Please let me know how to contribute.  I'd be happy to!!  Merry Christmas!  Blessings to all.

Robert "Rob" Newport

Jim,

I will contribute, too.

Rob

Terry Michael Boone

....and me too!  Jim, you and I had already talked about me contributing-so don't forget.

James A "Jim" White

First, thank you to all who volunteered to help our treasury keep this website functioning. I have not spoken with our treasurer, PAM BERRY DAVIS, yet, but will. I am not certain of all the charges. So far they have only hit my credit card with one charge. Sometimes, there are up to three ... like the website, then the security of it, then the extra storage for the many pictures and video's we have, and so on. I will let you know soon, or maybe after Christmas when the full charges start to hit.

UPCOMING 2023 BIRTHDAYS

LAURIE SHUEY ANDERSEN appreciates this class website and hearing from classmates. Laurie is thinking over some pending, or possible, surgeries (aren't we all?). Right now, Laurie is really working on trying to figure out a cruise out of Galveston. If anyone has access to Handicapped (wheelchair) Van they know for sale, let Laurie know. You can tell her in the Christmas card you send: :-)  6817 Glen Meadow Drive  Ft. Worth, Texas 76132

BARBARA BUZBEE is doing fine, still the yoga master, swimmer and more. We should all work to be as fit as Barbara. MARDI GONYEA NICKLIN, quit having so much fun in California, you party animal. KAREN McCARTY MESSINA remarried some time after her husband died. It seems to be a good fit but they never stop going to concerts, on trips, out dancing, whatever. Hooray for you, Karen.

I/we need classmates to report passings to me. I do not think I have had one in two years told to the class memorial page. As our age group, we lose about two a month. Please read obituaries and check on your classmate friends and post in memorial page, or report to me and I will.

BOB and KAREN REAM, hope to see you end of January. One thing I wonder about are those that we know are very active, MARY HUSEMOLLER, JUDI ADAMS MORRIS, ELIZABETH GWARTNEY LOWNEY (in her New 55-Plus AZ community) and others, why are they (you) so quiet? When everyone does not chip into the conversations, it comes out looking like a Jim White blog ...which is is not!

Where are you spending Christmas? Kathy and I are in Washington State for 40 days then back towards the sun at Jamaica Beach on Galveston Island. Our pictures are from Palm Springs a couple years ago. Will you please post some pictures, so I am not the only one who embarrasses themselves, and let us know what you are up to? Have a very Merry Christmas.

~Jim White

Gilbert "Butch" Colbert

And a Merry Christmas said The Grinch.  No, that's not me, just one of the many costumes worn this year at the Texas Renaissance Festival this past season.  Jim said that other people should post something on the website, so here is my contribution just for the Holidays.  Mele Kalikimaka to all.

Gilbert "Butch" Colbert

Just because I posted a picture of The Grinch earlier, don't think I don't love Christmas.  Here in the photo I have on one of my favorite Christmas shirts showcasing my fictional (?) hero - Godzilla - as he celebrates the season in his indomitable fashion.

James A "Jim" White

As Christmas approaches, way too fast, we think of at least two classmates, MARY MAULDIN GARCIA and CAROL NORMAL CONOWAY who will be spending their first Christmas in 50+ years without their lifelong mates. Blessings to you two classmates and the others who lost their spouses this year but I am not aware.

Happy Birthday to MARLA GIBSON FREY today. Marla, why don't you share with us how many presents you lost out on during your life because your birthday was so close to Christmas?

Special thanks to BUTCH COLBERT who shared a couple thoughts about Christmas with us. They do make one think. Godzilla? Really? ha ha Why don't some of you follow his good example and post something?

Did I mention I took my granddaughters to the VFW for a Santa visit? Share your Christmas with us.

James A "Jim" White

James (Jim) H. Sanders

2023 Year End Summary (My sincere apologies for being a reader of, but mostly non-contributing member of our group for several years now.)

It’s been a very interesting/eventful year for Janet (Las Cruces Mayfield ’76) & me.

Christmas Break of 2022 we flew to Ft. Worth to visit with Janet’s mother (now 94 years young), her younger sister Karen, her daughter Hana and her daughter Hayley; 4 generations all living in one house.

I managed to connect with H.D. Reed and set up a visit with him and JILL WEBSTER REED at her memory care facility. Jill & I were 3^rd grade classmates in Mrs. French’s 3^rd grade class at Parkview Elementary School, and might have been in Mrs. Riley’s second grade class or Mrs. Little’s 1^st grade class as well. Jill was looking great and in good spirits; we had a good time talking and reliving some memories.

Janet and I were also fortunate to connect with LAURIE SHUEY ANDERSEN for lunch at Olive Garden, then drove over to her then new digs at The Vantage, a very nice looking (spiffy 😊) assisted living community. Laurie had kept her husband’s wheelchair after his passing, and had it modified to fit her needs.  What a courageous lady!  Not sure that I could deal with the physical challenges she’s been dealt these past few years.

Moving back to this year’s events:

March – Janet turns 65 (finally) Medicare Part A enrollment and files retirement pension paperwork. (She survived 23 years in Oregon & 5 in Idaho teaching middle schoolers math & algebra!)

June – Janet retires at end of school year; we immediately head out for a week at a Wallowa Lake campground with The Cascade Prime Timers, a 55++ hiking, skiing, etc. club.

July - We put the ‘kids’ in their cages, load up the 5^th wheel and head up to the Olympic Peninsula (Olympic National Park) for 10 days of bicycling with The Bike Bunch, a Portland based bicycling club. (Janet is an avid biker, and the recent purchase of an e-bike has enabled me to get back on one).  We had 3 base camps (Forks, WA; Port Angeles / Sequim, WA; and Port Townsend, WA. Thoroughly enjoyable trip.  The ‘kids’, btw are Amy, a 26 year-old Congo Grey parrot and Rainbow, aka Bo, a 2 year-old parakeet)

August – We pack up the trailer again and head to the Oregon Coast at Bandon for 3 or 4 days of bicycling with The Bike Bunch.  This time, however, we’re pulling the old trailer with a one ton crew cab pickup we acquired when we got back to Portland from the Olympic Peninsula.

September – We are beginning to execute our plan to downsize the house and use net proceeds to acquire a newer. larger trailer that’s more suitable for extended travelling and longer stays, i.e. part-timing on the road, though not to the extent that JIM and KATHY WHITE are doing.  Our 5-year plan/goal is to visit as many of our National Parks as possible.  I’d like to connect with as many classmates as possible, as well.

October – At the end of September, we set off on a 3-week trip down Hwy 101 in California to see The Redwoods National Park followed by a couple of days at Pinnacles N.P., then on to Las Vegas for Jim’s 4-day bowling camp. (We saw ‘The Beatles Love’ again while there, and it did not disappoint.)  We left Las Vegas and drove northeast, heading for Zion N.P., as I had spotted a listing for a 5^th wheel on consignment at a dealership in Jerome, Idaho. After a 3-night stay near Zion, we headed north through Salt Lake City & stopped in Ogden for the night. (BTW, the FARR Better Ice Cream shop in Ogden is a MUST.) We drove to Jerome the next morning, looked at the 5^th wheel, cut a deal on it, then spent the night camped out in the dealership’s parking lot. We drove back to Portland over the next few days, then returned to Jerome the next Friday and bought the new trailer Saturday morning.  Back to Boise that evening, then on home to Portland that Sunday.

November-December – RECOVERY MODE  Do you realize how much paper and how many books a math teacher can accumulate in 28 years of teaching ?!?  It could start quite a bonfire. Downsizing all out ‘stuff’ is going to take quite a while; we’ve been in the same house for nearly 24 years now!

We’re hitting the airways again (but now don’t have to travel when everyone else in the USA is travelling…..YAY!)  We are planning to spend January 6^th-13^th in Ft. Worth with Jan’s family and the 13^th-20^th in Las Cruces with my mother (she celebrates 95 on the 16th) & sister.   Off to the Daytona Beach area in February to visit our daughter’s family; our granddaughter (Regina Louise Jackson – aka Reggie Jackson; yes, Grampa is a Yankee fan) is a first grader this year. 

What else can I say?  Yes, I’m a ‘cradle-robber’, and we got off to a late start with kids. At the RHS-GHS 20^th reunion, we had to find a baby sitter for our oldest, who was only 6 months old.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

Terry Michael Boone

HI Jim,

Thanks for posting this very interesting update.  That fifth wheel looks pretty nice, but you are going to have to log a lot of miles to catch up with Jim and Kathy. 

Best wishes to all for a great 2024!

Gilbert "Butch" Colbert

The photo below is a blast from the past.  My mother bought a car from Massey Auto Sales in the sixties or early seventies.  Upon purchasing the vehicle, they gave her a pie server (in the photo) and an ice cream scoop.  I inherited both of them and still use the ice cream scoop.  Does anyone else have any old, labeled kitchen utensils from Roswell?

Dennis R. Hunter

Hi all ....

Just a bit of information on the website and the costs associated with them.  Normally you would be getting information from Jim, but Kathy just had surgery and I have taken a bit of the load off Jim so he can concentrate on Kathy's recovery.

The website cost are broken down into two areas ... SSI certificate and Website hosting.  What has come due (and I paid last week) is the SSI cost of $35/yr.  I paid this for two years.  The second part is the webiste hosting cost which is coming due in April 2024)..  That is a cost of $220/yr. 

Now the big question is how to get these cost paid for.  After talking with Pam Berry (treasurer) she indicated that we have sufficient fund to cover both cost, so NO CONTRIBUTIONS are needed at this time.  I will renew the hosting in April and then get Pam to send me a check to cover that cost (she is forwarding me the $70 to cover cost already expensed).

So website is covered for another year/two year timeframe out of available fund.

On another note, Pam had back surgery in Nov and just started back to work this past week. 

So please keep both of these individuals in your prayers and toughts until they recover (which at our ages ... takes a lot more time to get back on our feet).

Denny

William Samuel "Bill" Sloan

Denny, Thank you for the updates as they are much appreciated.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Kathy and Pam for swift recoveries. And for those who are keeping their challenges and frailties closely held.

Bill

James A "Jim" White

A special "thank you' to DENNY HUNTER for making the effort to make certain the class website stays active. He did this on his own whereas he could just have been riding around or polishing his classic car.

We are sorry to learn of PAM BERRY DAVIS' recent back surgery. Best wishes for a quick recovery, Pam. Along that line, PEGGY WARE KOGER will have serious back surgery herself on the 27th of this month. If you prayer warriors care to pray or just send best wishes, please do so. Peggy will appreciate it. Kathy and I are.praying.

Speaking of my wife, KATHY, she just had Total Knee Replacement a week ago. Of course, we have learned from experience, meaning TERRY BOONE, that it will be worth it once it is healed. Poor Kathy. She is stuck with me waiting on her in our RV ... pretty limiting.  :-)

I failed to catch up with BUTCH COLBERT my trip to Lake Conroe. My apologies, Butch. We did manage to hook up with BOB and KAREN HARRINGTON REAM in a small window of time. They are toying with moving back to Oklahoma but we will see what the future holds for them.

HERKY VEATCH and MARY met with Kathy and me for dinner. Thanks, Herky, and we will see you again before we leave the Island. Now, I need to track down LOUIS BAGWELL. He loves coming the Galveston Island.

The next three birthdays, according to our front page, are CHAROLETTE RUFFIN McKAY, DR. JIM BAIRD and MARY HUSEMOLLER. Happy birthday, folks.

William Samuel "Bill" Sloan

Saw a meme I thought I would pass along.

Doris Flood (Burton)

So true, Bill!

William Samuel "Bill" Sloan

I am saddened to tell you all my very good friend Jim (James F.) Gill passed away today, March 16th. He was medevaced to the New Mexico Heart Hospital, Albuquerque on Friday March 15th from Roswell. His wife Shirley, children and family have not yet made funeral or memorial arrangements.  As soon as I learn the arrangements I will post them here. Jim and Shirley just celebrated the birth of their 1st grandchild Henry in late December 2023. I will be adding "In Memory" comments within the week. Please keep his family in your prayers.

Bill Sloan

Roger Price

James A "Jim" White

JIM GILL'S obituary has now been posted on his memorial page in our "In Memory" section. Thank you, MARIANNE COONS McCULLOUGH for letting me know one had been posted. Jim Gill represents the outright "Class" our class of '66 has, as does BILL SLOAN for traveling from Florida to Roswell to be a pallbearer. Yes, friendship truly lasts a lifetime. I wish all knew and felt it.