01

Do you remember what happened annually on January 6 in Newport News? I'm sure that many will remember that the
priest of Sts. Constantine and Helene Church took a bejeweled cross down to the coal piers. He was accompanied
by all the young men of the congregation. He threw the cross out into the river and the young men dived for it. The one
who came up with the cross was expected to have an excellent year full of faith, love and success. It was quite an honor
to retrieve the cross. I don't believe it is done any more and that's a shame. Today will be mostly sunny and we happen
to have a temperature of 72 degrees so it wouldn't be a bad day to go into the water. But in many years past, it was very
cold and certainly took a literal 'leap of faith' to jump in for the cross!

I know that many Christian churches now have a Sixth Night celebration that includes a dinner, entertainment and song.
The entertainment is sort of a play within a play where members of a troop act up, play tricks on each other, etc, while
the others are eating. The person in charge is called the Master of Mischief. But when dinner is over, there is a repeat
of the nativity play. Only this time, there are kings! Various appropriate carols are sung as the pageant progresses.
Dessert is a cake of some sort into which rings or tokens are baked. The persons who get the tokens become the King and
Queen of the Mardi Gras, some 2 months away. That is often cute as the King may be the congregation's oldest man while
the Queen may be a teenage girl. By finding the tokens, they are also presumed to have a year full of health and love.

Thanks, Kathy. On the very lowest level of observance, it technically means all your Christmas decorations should be taken down
and put away by midnight tonight if you don't want to suffer the consequences by bringing upon yourself some wrath. Of course, you
could always claim you are celebrating January, but you still should then alter your decorations somewhat. When I had a larger home,
I used to keep a 5' tall artificial tree displayed in my dining room year-round. It changed from a Christmas tree to a snow tree to a
Valentine tree to a Saint Patrick tree to an Easter tree to a patriotic tree to a birthday tree to a Halloween tree to a Thanksgiving tree,
and then we'd begin again. Of course, you already knew I was weird.

That's pretty much just as it sounds. I was too trusting and let down my guard too much, and turned around Sunday afternoon
to find a dagger lodged securely in my back. Ow.

Well, Carol, I personally hate January so much I get out of town! Three years ago my son suggested that we all meet
in Hawaii in January, so even though my daughter felt like she had to work, my husband and I joined my son there and
it is the most beautiful place I have ever been. While there we visited a friend of mine who had worked with me here
in RI. If y'all have never been to Hawaii, please put it on your list of places to go and do it now!

Last year my mother got sick in January so I went to Newport News and stayed three months! (not my plan but just
the way things fell into place!) The good news was that I had wonderful support from old friends and got to see many
of my mother's friends and some of my relatives and my son came and stayed with me for two weeks. He had just
returned from Japan and so it was wonderful to have him "all to myself" to catch up with lots of conversation, dinners
out, and to give me a break from hospital duty!

Two years ago we went to Texas to visit what is left of my father's family and we will be doing that again this year....
in l997 my beloved Dad passed away very suddenly on the 16th of January. The good news was that we had just had a
fabulous visit with him and he was fine. So glad for that visit. Dad's brother, my Uncle John, just celebrated his 80th
birthday and I also have two aunts and a whole mess of cousins there.

I think that there is just a very natural let-down after the holidays. After all, it is fun anticipating Christmas,
decorating, wrapping, baking, and getting ready. Looking forward to being with loves ones and friends, concerts, parties,
etc. After Christmas it is all work...clean up, put away the decorations, face the scales! Who wants to do it? Nobody!

Here is some additional information related to Dave Spriggs' ('64 of VA) postcard photo of the Chesapeake
Avenue waterfront near Hampton Roads Avenue. The postcard photo was stated to have been taken from a
Chesapeake Ferry Co. site or vessel.

The actual identity of that ferry boat landing is given in Newport News 325 Years, published 1946 by The
Newport News Golden Anniversary Corporation, which apparently was a group of prominent NN citizens who
hastily had something put together and printed for the celebration. My friend, the late Parke Rouse, was
on the team.

"Regular double-ended ferry service for the transportation of passengers and vehicles was established by the
Chesapeake Ferry Co. in 1912. When the company started it was thought that business from both Hampton
and Newport News could be secured if the Peninsula terminus was placed at a spot midway between the two
cities and accordingly a slip was built at the end of Manteo Avenue on the Boulevard. After struggling
with this location for about two years the company realized its mistake, for in hoping to get the trade from the
two cities, it actually got but little from either. So after the Municipal Boat Harbor was built in 1914 it moved
its slip to that location where it has been ever since. In 1925 another firm, the Hampton Roads Transportation
Co., instituted a ferry service from Old Point Comfort to Willoughby Spit. This company was bought out
by Chesapeake Ferry Corp. in 1929. A complete list of the Chesapeake Ferry steamers is given elsewhere
in this volume."

In the latter 1930s I was busy laying bicycle tire tracks all over the Boulevard. My grandfather told me about the
original ferry landing at the end of Manteo Avenue and the next day I was on-site to look for artifacts. Sure
enough, there were a few pier pilings still in place. But one would never have suspected that a ferry landing had
ever been there.

P.S. I haven't found an e-mail address for Dave Spriggs yet. I have so much to share with him and I often wonder
who will carry on the many historical site investigations that I have started.

WOWZERS. Thanks, Fred. You solved that long-standing mystery for us. I especially like the added twist that the former Scenic
Overlook (site of the Submarine Races Observatory) had an interesting history of its own. Now, thanks to Isabel, even the Overlook
is obliterated. Sniff-sniff.

I'm sorry; I thought that Dave's email addy was in sight on many and divers places everywhere throughout the site. You may contact
him at spriggs@att.net.

Mr. Wilson's Barber Shop was right next door to Gertrude Philbeck's beauty shop, in the same little building.
Gertrude and her first husband and son Lowell used to live upstairs from us on Maple Avenue. She was so good to me
and would polish my nails when I was about three or four years old. One day I painted one of Lowell's little metal
trucks with bright red nail polish! He was very nice about it but I got in trouble with my mother! Gertrude had her
shop on Buxton Avenue for many years. When she gave my mother a permanent I would go next door and see Mr. Wilson
and he would chat with me and entertain me if he was not too busy! Gertrude is now retired and lives in Poquoson
with her son and daughter in law. She is a lifelong friend of our family. Gertrude eventually married Frank Wilson
(son of the barber). They lived on Buxton Avenue. Frank passed away a couple of years ago and then Gertrude went
with her son. When I visit Newport News, my mother and I go out to Poquoson and visit them.

Hold on a minute.. It's coming back to me.. 'Cause he said: "That's a good line.. May the Aardvark be with you.. Catchy.
I think I'll use it in a movie..." Nerdy kid with glasses.. always wore plaid shirts.. Lucas was his name.. Yeah, that's it..
George Lucas.

You want a really good January story? Well, after last night sending you my snow pictures of Newport News, (by the way,
the guy in the orange vest is my son Chuck) with the Subject line: "Happy January...snowflakes, God's winter gift"...this
morning we woke up here in RI to find it snowing...and I had an appointment in Newport so out we went. Well, the snow was
falling in little tiny individual flakes...and on my dark grey coat I could see them each and every one for just a tiny second
until they melted. I was filled with wonder and awe for the Creator of the Universe who made such a beautiful creation as snowflakes. I cannot help but think that if God paid so much attention to such a thing as snowflakes, how much more
attention he pays to us, how awesome we really are, and have the capacity to be. This story will not make the headlines, just
a hug from God.
jb

I found me! I can type on a PC but I sure don't know how the things really work but now I have bookmarked the page and
saved the site so I will be able to access the 1966 list in the future. My hard drive crashed at work for the second time
in nine months (March and December) causing me to lose everything. I had backed up my "C" drive on a CD in May, but then
my burner died so the CD wouldn't work with the new burner. I have spent the past two days at work recreating numerous charts
and logs for my boss as he didn't want to pay $2,500 (what the shipyard has to pay a local company) to try to get my information
off of the "dead" hard drive. I am making copies of everything I am doing now on the old fashioned floppy disk! I am so glad I
keep my alumni list on a separate CD, a floppy and on the home PC or I would be up a creek.

As for a January story, I don't have one yet (except for being in the emergency room January 1 with bronchitis and a nose that
wouldn't quit bleeding until I pulled up to the emergency room door) but I am really getting excited about the gas prices finally
coming down a little. I actually paid $1.46 a gallon at Sam's Club Sunday for gas. When I left December 16 for Illinois, it was $1.94
in Newport News. Let's pray that the prices will keep falling!

Also, the weather here has been fantastic. My husband called from Illinois today to tell me they were expecting an ice storm
in Great Lakes tomorrow. I fly out Friday and he flies back here Saturday. I do not like to fly so I had to resort to pill taking going
out and back in December and will do the same this week. I am already worried about taking such a small plane to Chicago but it
is a direct flight this time. Where did all the jets go? Why can't you get a DIRECT flight from Patrick Henry or even Norfolk on a jet
instead of these 3 seaters? All the jets have to stop at a "hub" that makes you circle 20 minutes before landing and then you have
to wait in line to find a terminal to accommodate you. After all that you miss your flight and your luggage ends up in Neverland. Gosh,
I am going off the deep end dreading this trip back out - can you tell? My boss asked me why I didn't have my daughter and the boys
fly home with Larry, my husband, this weekend and stay here for a couple of weeks until she was safely over the hernia surgery - now
why didn't I think of that?? Guess that is why he gets paid the big bucks!

NEWPORT NEWS - It is so very fitting that on the dawn of a new year, Jan. 1, 2005, Agnes T. Liakos was rewarded with a brand
new life, void of pain, suffering and confusion, as she slipped away peacefully in her sleep, in the comfort of her home where
she had resided for the past 40 years. Agnes was born in Staten Island, N.Y., and was a resident of Newport News, Va., for the
past 51 years. She was a devoted parishioner of St. Vincent de Paul Church, where she was a member of the Gospel Choir, the
Seniors Group, the Backdoor Ministry, the Social Action Center & the Sanctuary Committee. She was a member of Church Women
United and was a past president of Woodrow Wilson Elementary School PTA. She was preceded in death by her parents,
William H. and Mary K. Hillis; brothers, Edward and William Hillis; brother-in-law, Steve Liakos; her sister, Marie Carey; and her
son-in-law, Kenneth Amburgey. She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Mr. George S. Liakos and their 13 children: George F.
Liakos (Gayle), Mary L. Joyner (Tom), Patricia L. Amburgey, Barbara L. Langley (Larry), Kathleen L. Ames (Bill), Janet L. Krupkowski,
Thomas E. Liakos (Roxanne), Susie L. Ellis (Joe), Margie L. Manus (T.G.), Louis Liakos, Aggie L. Criner (Robert), Virginia L. Staley
(David) and Christopher P. Liakos; 28 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; brothers, James J. Hillis (Kathy), John J. Hillis,
Francis X. Hillis (Sheila); sisters, Rita Hillis, Patricia H. Balentine, and sisters-in-law, Helen Hillis and Ann Marie Liakos; and many
dear nieces and nephews. Visitation will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005, at Peninsula Funeral Home. A Funeral
Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005, at St. Vincent de Paul Church with interment to follow at the Albert G.
Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery, Suffolk, Va. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Vincent de Paul Building Fund
or St. Vincent de Paul Backdoor Ministry, 230 33rd St., Newport News, VA 23607. Our family wishes to acknowledge our 'earth angels,'
Beulah Williams and Belinda Gardner, who have helped us nurse and care for her with love, compassion and dignity throughout the
last year of our 'long goodbye.'.

Published in the Daily Press from 1/2/2005 - 1/3/2005.

I was distressed to learn of the death of Frances Raine ('53). She was my homeroom teacher at NNHS
for three years. She left in our Senior year (1962) to go to work for NASA. Our homeroom was split up
among 3 or 4 other teachers. That was tough. She was truly a kind and gentle woman. She took a real
interest in each of us. In fact, she kept one of my dearest friends from dropping out of school due to some
personal tragedies. I have thought about her often over the years. I wish I could have told her how much
she meant to me.

Fred Fields ('45) of CA has sure brightened up the recent Newsletters as he recalls some of the great characters
from NNHS like Coach Julie Conn. He cracked me up reminding me that Coach Conn had Elmo Stephenson (-?) cover
his tattoo during basketball games in his senior year, after having served in the U.S. Navy. By now, I hope Fred has found
the page of the World War II Memorial Recreation Center linked to Our Old Stomping Grounds for he may not be
aware that Elmo Stephenson was one of the original Bankwalkers, forerunners of the Naked Boys of NNHS.

While on the subject of the Naked Boys of NNHS, I have been encouraging Nancy Keesee Barr ('57) of TX and Nancy
Timberlake Spencer ('57) of VA to share some of their stories and photos about the World War II Memorial
Swimming Pool. They have loads of very funny incidents, if they will only share them with us. I just learned that Nancy
Timberlake Spencer is quite ill and receiving medical attention, and our class is pulling for her for a speedy recovery.

Thanks, Adonis. I changed the masthead to read "WITH EXPANDED COVERAGE FOR THE CLASSES OF 1955 TO 1972 -
AND PRACTICALLY EVERYONE ELSE AS WELL". I originally emphasized the years for which I had Anchors, because I would
be able to illustrate those classes better than others. The word paintings and photo contributions are fast making that distinction
unnecessary, and the inclusion of alumni from other schools has blurred our boundaries even further. The earlier limits which I had
imposed were primarily due to space considerations anyway, which no longer exist since we now have a paid server. Perhaps my
# 6 son Dale had it right after all. A year ago - before it doubled in size - he dubbed this site "The Internet, Minus the Porn". We do
try to be exhaustive in our coverage.

WOWZERONI! The snow is gorgeous, the gazebo is beautiful, and the image is absolutely superb! Thanks, Johnnie!

By the way, the fact that you wrote used to entitle you (subject you???) to automatic enrollment to our (hidden) mailing list and a
spot on our Alumni List, but we now have an Opt-In List for the protection of us all - especially me. So if you'd like to be our latest
Newbie, drop me another line and I'll sign you up.

I selected Downtown in Our Old Stomping Grounds for that is where The Daily Press and The Times-Herald were
located during the time that I learned a great lesson in life while delivering newspapers in East End. Within the boundaries
of my assigned paper route for home delivery when I started delivering newspapers were 15 customers who only subscribed
to the Sunday Edition of The Daily Press.

Being an enterprising entrepreneur at that young age, I solicited home delivery for the week days and Saturday from these
special customers when I made my rounds collecting on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. After quite a few rejections,
I suppose it must have shown on my face and one of my "Sunday Only" customers was a shipyard worker who followed me
out to the sidewalk where I was mounting my trusty J.C. Higgins bicycle. He told me that he enjoyed reading The Times-Herald
on the way home while riding on the CRT buses used to express workers to their homes after the day shift ended. But the real
reason he purchased the newspaper at the main gate of the shipyard was the newspaper boy who had a stand selling papers
at the main gate. It was a wooden crate, rather than a typical news stand, that this young man used to sell his newspapers.

He explained that this particular newspaper boy was the one who rode on a skateboard to get around, and I knew immediately
the person he was talking about that day. This shipyard worker had compassion and loyalty. I was fairly certain the other 14
shipyard workers were motivated the same way, so I stopped wasting their time soliciting week day delivery, for I understood
what was more important to them. That was the way many people in Newport News looked at things back then.

While I admired the football running backs like Dennis Ilish ('56) and other athletes at NNHS it was this young man that
demonstrated the most courage of them all in our high school. This young man had a serious birth defect that prevented him
from walking, but it did not stop him for working and getting around, using a skate board long before skateboards were as
popular as they are today.

He used to move about the halls of NNHS on that skateboard changing classes. He had blonde hair, but I do not know his
name. He had more courage than most of us, and he did not rely upon welfare to take care of him. His mother also sold
newspapers on Washington Avenue. She wore her hair in a "Dutch Boy" style and I used to see her paying her bill at the
Newspaper Office and picking up her papers to get a jump on other "paper boys" as we were known back then. She could
"flick" a cigarette butt further than any man, and I doubt anyone tried to steal a paper from her news stand. I am certain that
some of your subscribers will know the name of this courageous young man.

Joe

Thanks so much, Gail. I've been meaning to write you (of course, I've been meaning to do a lot of things....).

I don't want you feeling as though you're intruding on someone else's territory. You certainly have just as much right to be here
with us as anyone else. In fact, if Jim is reading the Newsletters, we've no objection whatsoever to placing him on both the Alumni
List and the Birthday Page. We've long since popped one set of boundaries after another, and we like it that way. We are family -
united by one thing or another, but we are - all of us - family.

I've been searching what's left of my mind all morning, and have moved from 57 % to 82 % sure that I myself was in attendance
at that basketball game when Steve's contact lens became the object of a massive search. I'll delay elaborating until we've heard
from more voices with memories more intact than mine.

Let There Be Peace on Earth

Words and Music by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller, Circa 1955

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step i take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With god as our father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.

Swirling Blue Snowflakes Divider Line clip art courtesy of http://www.bravenet.com - 08/12/04


Sunday, December 26, 2004 - Roanoke Avenue, Newport News, VA