03/03/06 - NNHS Newsletter
The Star Spangled Banner

"'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

- Francis Scott Key, 1814
(1 Aug 1779 - 11 Jan 1843)

   I'll never forget the day I first encountered the "real" Star Spangled Banner face to face.  I was 14 years old.  It was on our band trip to Washington, DC the first weekend in May, 1962 (in conjunction with our trip to Winchester, where we won first place in the marching band competition at the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival).

   (How many of you band students remember singing it on Bus #2 while    Kenny Lipscomb - 63 - of VA directed us?  We each hummed our own parts, so it was fully orchestrated.  To this day, whenever I'm in a group - and not leading it myself and thus needing to sing the melody - I will sing Kenny's rich trombone part in place of the usual alto.)

   But back to my story......

   I had no idea The Star Spangled Banner still survived.  When I walked into the Smithsonian and saw it hanging there, huge and tattered and faded and incredible in its majesty, and I realized what it was, my knees buckled underneath me.  Rarely have I experienced such unbridled awe.

   You're most welcome, Cookie!  Y'all have a super 60th Birthday Party!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/reunion-page.html

     http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/60-BIRTHDAY-1964-B.html

This is fun!  

This will really make you feel old.......

Put your birth date in the pop up window after you click on the below link. What happens is pretty interesting. It's also amazing how quickly it computes!! Very cool. (I thought) you might like a bit of trivia!!

Click here:  or copy and paste in address bar

              http://www.frontiernet.net/%7Ecdm/age1.html

   Oh, goody - just what I wanted - another opportunity to feel old! 

   Thanks, Anica!  This is fun! 

   Oh, why do I have this uncomfortable feeling that it was??????

   Perhaps it was this inscription in my '62 Anchor, "You sure can think up some good answers for Miss Allen."

   YIKES!!!  Thanks, Dee!

   I added your remarks to Linda's page, and redesigned it a slight bit in the process:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/faculty.html

     http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teachers.html

          http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-allen-powell.html

  Dave (Arnold - '65 - of VA, that cushion you saw, it didn't have a hole, sorta like a doughnut, did it?  Did you come to the Troopers' funeral last week?  I'll have to give you a call soon, if I can find your number.
 

Reading    Dale Lucado's ('68 - of VA) Burma Shave signs brought back some OLD memories for me also.  Somewhere out in west, possibly in Montana or Wyoming, they still have some on the side of the road.  When we were coming from British Columbia into Alberta, I think it was into the town of Banff, there were four signs that got everyone's attention. 

#1 All those not wanting/
#2 a speeding ticket/
#3 raise your right foot/
#4 NOW, everyone's brake lights came on. 

   GIGGLES - yeah, that oughta do it!
 

Seems like    Fred (Eubank - '64 - of TX) likes trains, or computations.  Fred, what is the speed of dark?
 

Carol, you and the website are a huge breath of fresh air, keep it up, I think I'm becoming addicted.
 

Type atcha later

Jay Styles, '68

   Oh, I certainly hope so!  Thanks, Jay! 

   Wasn't that just fabulous?!?  Thanks, Jean! 

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/faculty.html

     http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teachers.html

          http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-Diamonstein.html

Carol,

I'm delighted to see the great stuff about Barbra Lee.  She was my favorite teacher at NNHS.  She was working on her masters degree when I had her as a sophomore.  That would have been 1960.  She was so glamorous!  Her (first) husband, Alan Diamonstein, obviously had $$.  Maybe there was some in her family as well.  Her maiden name was something like Dorcus.  I remember many of her clothes were monogrammed "BLDD".  I think that's probably the first time I ever saw monogrammed clothes.  

 

One day in class, she was dressed more than usual and told us that she was giving her oral defense for her thesis that afternoon.  Well. as she lectured, she walked.  And if you remember the heels of 1960, they were extremely high and very pointed.  Well, as she walked back and forth, she somehow pivoted on one foot and lost her balance momentarily.  She recovered it by planting her other foot down firmly - and straddled the trash can that sat beside her desk!  I particularly remember    Skip Smith (OJ) ('63 - of VA) trying hard not to laugh and getting all red in the face.  Someone, though I don't remember who, got up, stepped to the front of the room and gave her his hand.  She took it, leaned on it and dis-entangled her leg from the far side of the trash can.  She was immediately composed.

 

She was such a great teacher.  She spoke well, challenging our vocabularies to keep up with her.  She also challenged our minds to stretch and learn.  I always looked forward to her class and to her.

 

Some time in the 1980s, I was watching a program on PBS and when the credits ran, I saw her name listed as the producer.  I wrote to WGBH, the Boston PBS affiliate that had produced the program.  I asked them to forward my letter to her, which they did.  She wrote back to me.  She sent a note saying that she was glad I had enjoyed the program, complemented me on working in engineering, etc.  I knew when I saw the envelope that it was from her because she had a very distinctive hand writing and I remembered it from all those years before.  There was no return addy so I took that to mean that she didn't want to correspond.  But that hasn't dampened my memories of her.  

 

Here again, we have evidence of how fortunate we were to have had the faculty we did at NNHS.  Somebody knew what they were doing in NN in those days, at least at the school board.    

   Amen to that!  Thanks, Kathy! 

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/faculty.html

     http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teachers.html

          http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-Diamonstein.html

Oh, WOWZERS!!!

   When I have the individual pages made, I'll be back to bug you for the other couple of pages.  Meanwhile, I'll just link this image to the cover page:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/BASEBALL.html

   Thanks so much, Bill! 

Not to worry, I did not feel that you implied my article ended abruptly.  You would never do that.....it's just that when I looked at it from your prospective, it looked like there could have been more that didn't get through, so I understood your making sure it was all there. 

   WHEW!!!  That's a relief - thanks for letting me know, Jennie!

You are so special and you do such a fabulous job keeping us Typhoons connected.   We appreciate the work you do so much.  Please know that we are grateful for all you do.  I think you're a super lady and I've never met you!  I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you one of these days. 

All is well......take care.

   Thanks again, Jennie!  I have a great plan.  Come to the Open Reunion sponsored by the Class of 1966 on the weekend of September 30, and we'll ALL meet! 

     http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/reunion-class-of-1966.html

Please tell    Jennifer Sheppard ('62 - of NC), I too, am very interested in the show about the lost colony and would like to know those 117 names. I do not have cable so UPN is out. Maybe I could get a copy of the program.

 Second, I've thought about the infamous "Northern" Virginia and have determined it is not East, West, South or logically North. It's    UP!

Thanks for the great work,
Linda May Bond Crayton

   Oh, MY - that's it!  That's it, exactly - it's UP!!!   WILD GIGGLES!!!  Thanks, Linda May! 

Just a quick note to share a mini-reunion among the TYPHOON.    Patricia Ann Bloxom Meider ('57) of NC and her husband of forty-eleven years, Chuck Meider stopped by for a brief visit and brought me great joy. I recognized Chuck, but hardly recognized Patsy since she got serious about her health and weight loss program. She has done a tremendous job of slimming down to the point I hardly recognized her, except for her sweet southern voice.

   SUPER-DE-DUPER!!!  I love hearing about reunions - of any size - among our own! 

   And how marvelous for Patricia!  I know from personal experience what a thrill it is to be unrecognized after the shedding of unwanted pounds.  Way to go, Lady! 
 

    EXCELLENT!!!  We'll look forward to it!

   Thanks, Adonis! 

   Y'all will be pleased to know that we still have 13 or 14 more of these images to go.  The remainder are inexplicably untitled.  I suppose some things just defy description.........

   Thanks, David! 

   Have a good weekend - and y'all take care of each other!  TYPHOONS FOREVER!