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	10/03/09 - NNHS Newsletter - I Think of You “Looking on the happy Autumn-fields, And thinking of the days that are no more.” - Alfred, Lord Tennyson (06 Aug 1809 - 06 Oct 1892)

Dear Friends and Schoolmates,

   I was unable to locate an abbreviated midi of the first movement of Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18 for today's Newsletter, so you have the full version - and that's a bonus in itself.

  The shortened song which I had wanted to spotlight was the Dorsey / Sinatra version, and we do have Frank Sinatra to sing it for us, and nobody does it better!

BONUS - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fziOhukjpkc - I Think of You - Frank Sinatra

~~~~~~~

   Happy Birthday tomorrow to        My Former Brother-in-Law, Rennie Dick ('54) of VA AND  Jimmy Mooney ('57) AND   Brenda Eakes Insley ('66) of VA!

   Happy Birthday this week to:

05 - George Pipkin ('57) AND    Butch Ragland ('63) of CO;

06 - Nancy McCormick Nicholson ('57) AND   Renee Helterbran Benton ('59) of VA;

07 -Dale Parsons ('69) of HA;

08 -          Wayne Stokes ('65) of VA;

09 - Norma Wilson Mitchell ('57) AND    Linda Alfrey Walker ('61) of VA !

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/Happy-Birthday.html

   Many Happy Returns, One and All!

~~~~~~~

THIS DAY IN WWII:

October 3, 1941 - Adolf Hitler stated in a speech that Russia was "broken" and they "would never rise again."

October 3, 1942 - The Office of Economic Stabilization was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He also authorized controls on rents, wages, salaries and farm prices.

October 3, 1944 - During World War II, U.S. troops broke through the Siegfried Line.

October 3, 1990 - The Berlin Wall was dismantled eleven months after the borders between East and West Germany were dissolved. The unification of Germany ended 45 years of division.

~~~~~~~

THIS DAY IN 1964:

Saturday, October 03, 1964 - Wiener Blut (Broadway Revival, 1964) closed on Broadway after 27 performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (09/11/1964 - 10/03/1964).

Saturday, October 03, 1964 - Actor Clive Owen was born in Coventry, West Midlands, England.

~~~~~~~

TODAY AND TOMORROW:

   The 179th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be held in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday and Sunday, October 3-4, 2009.  In addition to being broadcast into chapels and meetinghouses all over the world, it may be watched via satellite on BYU Television, or viewed online:

http://www.byutv.org/schedule/?v=grid - I'm choosing this option - from the viewing comfort of my own bed.

http://www.lds.org/broadcast/gc/0,5161,8870,00.html

~~~~~~~

TODAY:

From Aderon Gibbs ('66) of VA and    Chuck Jones ('66) of Northern VA - 09/30/09 and 10/02/09 - "Aderon Gibbs & Chuck Jones have invited you to a party - The Stokes Rebellion!":

In tribute to our good friend       Wayne Stokes ('65 - of VA) whose quite understandable decision to never attend another CNU football game, those of us who attend the tailgate but not the game will from this moment forward be known as members of The Stokes Rebellion. Thank you Wayne for leading the uprising!

   GIGGLES! Thanks, Guys!

     Y'all be sure to R.S.V.P.!

~~~~~~~

      From Wayne Stokes ('65) of VA - 10/02/09 - "The origins of the Rebellion":

CBD,

I had planned to remain silent regarding "The Stokes Rebellion" tailgate party, but that had less than a little chance of success. It does my heart good, as I'm sure it would my KDT friends, to see my SPD brothers have not lost their mischievous streak by using a negative event in my life as a positive reason to have fun. I congratulate them.

I am not surprised regarding the ringleaders of this expedition, my very good friends Aderon (don't call me Adrian) Gibbs and   Chuck (C. Blaine in D.C.) Jones at their best in planning an event in my "honor"?

Little is it known and never have I dwelled on the point, but I have indeed done something at CNU that can never be duplicated! I was the first ever Public Address Announcer for the   new football team, and was sought out and asked to do the job. I did not seek it, for 30 years of it had been enough.

I did the first 3 seasons, garnering many "atta boys" from the president of the university, Senator Paul Trible < who sent for me prior to every home game to inform me that we needed to win "today" and I was the guy with the "gift" of getting the fans "fired up" > and thus shouting our way to victory! It never failed, and the conversation always included that request. I got along fine with everyone there, with one exception, a jealous individual, who had absolutely no problem with nepotism - and very little to do with the program and no authority over me; that really bugged him.

It actually, the cool relationship, started near the end of the very first game ever played by CNU.  At the time and the next year, the press/announcers booth had not been built, so we sat under "tents" just above the last row of seats, where President Trible happened to have his seats. Near the end of the first game, he turned around to me and said that I had done a wonderful job, actually outstanding, and that CNU was "fortunate" to have someone of my "caliber"; talking about surprised! "It" was sitting near me, and I said, "I just got an atta boy from the big guy" to which he negatively responded, "I know, I heard it". His disappointment was beyond obvious.

I was fortunate to speak with people that had come over from Europe with no understanding of "our football" who stayed after the game to speak to me and tell me that the way I announced a game allowed them to understand and enjoy a game they knew nothing about; those and other "atta boys" were more than enough to satisfy me, for I had been able to help total strangers enjoy the game.

By the third year everyone seemed to know my name and extend their best wishes to me for a job well done, that was positive and sacred. Also in the 3rd year, the Press/Announcers booth had been finished and we moved inside. What happened next led to my "illness" and request that another be found to "do the job", ignoring all requests for any and all considerations, I stayed "ill" and not able to do a 4th year.

"It" was responsible for the seating in the booth and I found my spotter and I at the 35 yard line, in front of the visiting team's radio announcer and his wife sitting on the 50 yard line, doing absolutely nothing. I didn't need that, nor was I going to take it after the 3rd season. That's why I left, warded off 2 years of phone calls asking when I would be returning; they finally realized I wouldn't. That's the only negative that I had. By the way, I donated the money allotted the announcer to the school; I would not accept pay for what I did.

Now that is vented and I'm the only one that feels better! However, I am truly indebted to Gibbs and Jones for taking that negative experience and making something positive of it! That's why they are dear friends to this day.

Sorry for the novel. This is not said in a bragging way and it is not an ego trip, but a simple telling of the truth of the matter. I never asked for anything, and covered for other announcers in less popular sports, again, no charge. I'm not a saint, it was my way of trying to help.

You don't have to print this, as I am giving you some insight into what the "fun" was all about and how it came to pass. I do hope they have a good time, they deserve it. Do to recent knee surgery, I will not be able to attend the rebellion "I started"!! I would like to see the guys again (and gals for that matter), friends one and all.

TC!
"R"

   Wayne Honey, thank you so very much for sharing this - and for giving me permission to print it! Having heard you allude to it in bits and snippets for the last eight years, I really appreciate knowing the full story.  And it is fun of Aderon and Chuck to turn the lemons into lemonade!

~~~~~~~

NEXT WEEK:

Friday and Saturday, October 9 and 10, 2009 - The Class of 1964 will hold its 45-Year Reunion - http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/reunion2009-64.html

See who you'll see - http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/reunion2009-64-ATTENDING.html

~~~~~~~

THE NEWPORT NEWS WWII POW CAMPS:

       From Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 10/02/09 - "WWII POW CAMPS":

I have a two volume set of books titled, The Road To Victory: A History of Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation in World War II, edited by Major W. R. Wheeler, © 1946 Yale University Press.

There are two text chapters discussing POWs and several photographs.

After the reunion dust settles, I will scan all pertinent text and photos for the newsletter and web site.

   Oh, thank you, Brown Eyes, that will be lovely!

       From Bill Lee (Warwick HS - '54) of NC - 10/02/09 - "Italian POWs":

I think we should defer to      Dale Parsons' (June '48 - of VA) memory on this one. According to various documents, at some point the Italians (after they were no longer officially POWs) were utilized to augment local stevedores, so it sure makes sense that they would have been quartered nearby. 

... I forgot to mention, I don't know what the Italian compound on the old casino grounds was called (if anything), but Camp Hill (or at least the major part of it) was not located there. The title you included in the POW web page probably needs to be adjusted accordingly.

   Thank you, Bill! Is this closer??

Camp Patrick Henry, the German POW Camp, was located at the continuation of the James River Bridge crossover from Virginia Avenue to Jefferson Avenue, below the bridge. More were housed at Fort Eustis.

The Italian POW camp was on the Old Casino Grounds which was on the hill behind the Victory Arch.

Camp Hill. also used for the Italian POWs, was bounded to the south by the temporary wooden railroad overpass at 58th Street, the James River Bridge/Military Highway railroad overpass to the north, Jefferson Avenue to the east, and the railroad yards to the west.

    From Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 10/02/09 - "Camp Patrick Henry.":

   Thank you, Joe! BUT WAIT! I thought we had established that those two Patrick Henry-named sites were MILES apart and NOT to be confused with one another! Oh, no, now I'm really confused.....

        From Sydney Dearing ('56) of TN - 10/02/09 - "POW camps":

Hi Carol,

Congrats, Grammie. My wife is also called Grammie. Me, I'm just plain old Grandpa. Being a grandparent is really great. All the fun of parenting but you don't have to take them home every night. 

Wow, I can't believe how many great responses there were about the POW camps on the Peninsula during WWII. Thanks to Norris, Linda May, Sheila, Dimples and Joan for their responses and special thanks to Joe, Bill, Norm and Dale for their very insightful and in-depth responses. I have since learned that in addition to the camps at the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation and Ft. Patrick Henry and Ft. Eustis already mentioned there were seven other POW camps in Virginia during the war including Camp Allen, in Norfolk, Camp Ashby near Virginia Beach which was the largest camp in the south Hampton Roads area covering 22 acres and housing 6,000 German troops, and a "special" German POW camp at Camp Peary in York County.

Wikipedia says "The POWs kept at Camp Peary were not just an ordinary sort, but rather, many came from captured German submarine and ship crews which the Germans had thought lost-at-sea with crews presumed dead. It was important for Nazi authorities to be unaware of their capture, since that also meant secret code books thought lost-at-sea may also have been compromised. Thus, extra secrecy was necessary............Many of the German prisoners-of-war who were secretly kept at Camp Peary during WWII did local farm work, and some liked the area so much that they remained and applied to become U.S. citizens afterwards."

All this talk about foreign POWs in the U.S. during the war got me wondering about any possible escape attempts they might have made. I could find nothing about any actual successful attempts but I did learn that of over 400,000 German POWs incarcerated in the U.S. during the war that there were 2,222 individual attempts made and not a single one ever made it back to Germany. 56 of them were shot to death, most by authorities, but some at the hands of trigger happy civilians.

The most noteworthy escape attempt that I could find information about was called the "Not So Great Escape." Like the Allied Great Escape which Paul wrote about, the Germans forged documents and civilian clothes, etc. They also scraped together U.S. currency not by forgery but by selling forged Nazi paraphernalia to U.S. guards. On Christmas Eve, 1944, 25 men (12 officers and 13 enlisted men) escaped through a 200 ft. tunnel from Camp Papago Park, AZ POW camp. Most were, recaptured but some just turned themselves in. The last one walked into a farmhouse and turned himself in on 1/27/45. For a complete and fascinating account of this escape check out the web site below.

http://www.historynet.com/the-not-so-great-escape-german-pows-in-the-us-during-wwii.htm  

Sydney

   Thank you so much, Sydney! I started to attach the fabulous theme song to The Great Escape (1963) to the page, but I thought it might be a bit tacky, given not only that the sides were reversed, but that it might be implying that such an escape attempt was made when we have not established any such thing.

   These last four entries have all been added to our new page:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/SITE-MAP.html 

     http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/NN-WWII-POW-CAMPS.html 

~~~~~~~

        From David Whitley ('67) of VA - 09/30/09 - "HEY, LONG TIME NO SEE":

Where ya been, how ya been, who ya been & why? Better yet, why not, asked he? And if not, what were we talking about, does anyone know?

The Archbishop of Canterburied alive

And don’t even ask – I have no idea either.

  Hey, Gorgeous! You remain the funniest man I've ever known. I wouldn't dream of asking you what on earth you're talking about, but I've missed your wacky goofiness immensely! Thanks for brightening my day!

~~~~~~~

  From Al Simms ('60) of VA - 10/02/09 - "International Space Station and Space Exploration":

Carol,

Re the discussion on the International Space Station and Space Exploration in general.  One thing that may have been left out as a reason to keep doing it is that when man loses his curiosity about the unknown we are dead and will begin to go downhill more rapidly.  Not that we are not already going that way but this one is a thing that unites all nations and all men.  We simply must keep on exploring and finding new things if we are to have a chance of survival. 

My personal opinion is also that there are other intelligent beings out there and they may well be more advanced than we are and may be able to help us solve some of our problems if we ever find each other - especially the one where we keep trying to destroy each other.  To assume that we are the only intelligent beings in the entire limitless universe would be a pretty arrogant position to take I think.  We are but a speck in it.  Have we been visited by them already - perhaps, but probably not.  Then again we could be the most intelligent ones and if that is true then maybe someday we will grow up enough to help the others - not there yet.

This, just like evolution and the creation story, in no way disputes the Bible.  It is simply another way of looking at things.  The Bible says who did it and perhaps some of the why;  Science attempts to explain the method and order in which it happened.  Science is not able to explain God's part.  God created the laws and then worked within the framework that he created, I think.

Al Simms
Class of 1960

   WOWZERS! Well said, Al! Thanks so much for sharing that!

~~~~~~~

    From Paul Dobie ('66) of CO - 10/02/09, 4:00 PM - "American Samoa":

Hi Carol:

Just wanted you to know that     Tony Koskinas ('68 - of NC) and I are still in correspondence regarding my house issue…

On another note, I am sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Honolulu this afternoon to where I will catch a Military Airlift hop into American Samoa to assist in the recovery effort from the tsunami…  Please wish me luck and keep all the responders as well as those citizens impacted in your prayers…  Some of my other Corps of Engineer colleagues are also enroot to Guam and the Marianna islands in anticipation of a typhoon landfall…

Here is a little prosperity  I have been praying in reference to my situation and thus not the bottom line…

Take care…. 

Dear God —

I surrender my financial affairs and concerns about money to your Divine care and love.

I ask that you remove my worries, anxieties and fears about money, and replace them with faith.

I know and trust that my debts will be paid and money will flow into my life.

I have only to look to nature to see proof of the abundance you provide.

I release all negative thoughts about money, and know that prosperity is my true state.

I commit to being grateful for all that I now have in my life.

I learn to manage my finances wisely, seeking help where needed.

And finally, I ask you to help me understand my purpose in life and to act on that purpose with courage and strength. I know that prosperity will come, in part, by doing work I love. Please help me use my skills and knowledge to be of service in the world.

Thank you, God.

Amen

    Paul, you are an absolutely amazing man! I am just overwhelmed and flabbergasted that in the midst of your own personal crisis, you are able to stop everything to help other people with theirs!

   Thank you for that and for this beautiful prayer of faith! Please keep us posted on both situations; there are still many of your friends who are ready and willing to help you! 

~~~~~~~

ABBREVIATED ALERTS:

2.        From Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 07/02/09 - "NNHS 64/45 REUNION PAGE UPDATES":

From ArcaMax Jokes - 10/02/09:

Car Dreams

A man went into his shrink's office and says, "Doc, you have got to help me! Every night I keep dreaming that I'm a sports car.

"The other night I dreamed I was a Ferrari. Another night I dreamed I was a BMW. Last night I dreamed I was a Porsche. What does this mean?"

"Relax", says the doctor, "You're just having an auto-body experience."

*************

Crazy with Confusion

A psychiatrist visited a California mental institution and asked a patient, "How did you get here? What was the nature of your illness?" He got the following reply.

"Well, it all started when I got married and I guess I should never have done it. I married a widow with a grown daughter who then became my stepdaughter.

"My dad came to visit us, fell in love with my lovely stepdaughter, then married her. And so my stepdaughter was now my stepmother. Soon, my wife had a son who was, of course, my daddy's brother-in-law since he is the half-brother of my stepdaughter, who is now, of course, my daddy's wife.

"So, as I told you, when my stepdaughter married my daddy, she was at once my stepmother! Now, since my new son is brother to my stepmother, he also became my uncle. As you know, my wife is my step-grandmother since she is my stepmother's mother. Don't forget that my stepmother is my stepdaughter. Remember, too, that I am my wife's grandson.

"But hold on just a few minutes more. You see, since I'm married to my step-grandmother, I am not only the wife's grandson and her hubby, but I am also my own grandfather. Now can you understand how I got put in this place?"

After staring blankly with a dizzy look on his face, the psychiatrist replied: "Move over!"

~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~

 Y'all take good care of each other!  TYPHOONS FOREVER!  We'll Always Have Buckroe!

    To donate, click on the Donate Button on the left,  or just mail it directly to my home (address available upon request). Thanks! nnhs65@gmail.com
 

I Think of You

Original Music (Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18) by Sergei Rachmaninoff, 1900
(01 Apr 1873 – 28 Mar 1943)

Words by Jack Elliott
(06 Aug 1927 - 18 Aug 2001)

and

Don Marcotte

Tommy Dorsey & his Orchestra (vocal: Frank Sinatra)


In the hush of evening,
As shadows steal across my lonely room
I think of you, of lovely you.

From afar the music
Of violins comes softly through the gloom
All I can do is think of you.

Oh I can see you standing there before me
And I can hear you whisper you adore me

So when dusk is falling
I live again the loveliness we knew
I think of you, I think of you.

(Musical Interlude)

Oh I can see you standing there before me
And I can hear you whisper you adore me

So when dusk is falling
I live again the loveliness we knew
I think of you, I think of you.

Midi of Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, op. 18 (sequenced by Dario Galimberti) courtesy of http://www.kunstderfuge.com/rachmaninov.htm - 10/02/09

"I Think of You" lyrics (transcribed by Bill Huntley) courtesy of http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/i/ithinkofyou.shtml - 10/02/09

Image of Butterfly courtesy of http://www.whenwegetthere.com/tourist_attraction/land_tourist_attractions/butterfly_watching/4_162/butterfly_watching.jsp - 10/02/09

Animated Tiny Birthday Cake clip art courtesy of Sarah Puckett Kressaty ('65) of VA - 08/31/05
Thanks, Sarah Sugah!

Marine Corps Seal clip art courtesy of the late Herbert Hice of MI - one of my Famous Marines who served in the South Pacific during WWII.
Thanks again, Herbie!!

Back to NNHS Newsletters - 2009