10/18/05 - NNHS Newsletter -
It's Been a Long, Long Time
 

   That would be fun, Brownie!  And after I build up this "THEN" file a bit more, it shouldn't really be that much work, either - perhaps in time for the holidays.

   You, of course, still look as gorgeous as ever,    lo, those forty-eleven years later, and I still wake up every morning hoping to see your face looking back at me from my mirror.  Sigh.  Maybe I need new mirrors! 

   Thanks, Brownie!

   I simply ran out of time yesterday before I finished everything.  I did manage to keep my promise to the also everlastingly-gorgeous    Dale Mueller ('64) of VA to post his new images on the News page before the evening was over.  That would, I suppose, depend upon your definition of evening.  I had them finished by 2130. 

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

     http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/news-2005.html

   Thanks again, Dale!

   But I became so rushed as I was trying to finish yesterday's Newsletter before my company arrived for dinner, I simply completely forgot to scan Anita Morgan Becker's ('66 - of VA) senior portrait.  I am so sorry, Anita!  Here it is now: 

To   Kathy Pilgrim Clark ('63 - of VA), thank you so much for the information on Sandy Paxson Price.  I had no idea she was 47 when she died.  For some reason, I thought she was much, much younger.  How sad for her family that she died on her birthday.  I'm not blood-related to the Prices, but growing up with them and being at their house so much makes me feel they're family.  Their parents and mine were very close friends, even after they moved to Ivy Home Road.

   Memories sometimes pull funny tricks on us, Gloria.  That's why it's so nice we can all help one another!

   Thanks again!

Dear Carol,

Is that   THE Ronnie Miller that I remember from John Daniel School and later NNHS? (October 15 newsletter) I guess I did learn “The Look” from Miss Gildersleeve and Miss Suttle, too. And Miss Free! Why, they were all masters of “The Look!” I was on the receiving end of one of those looks myself from time to time. (Usually because I loved to gab in class when I wasn’t supposed to)  Remember Verna Graves, our English teacher in eighth and ninth grade? She could do it, too. Since I am retired now, I substitute, just to be able to keep practicing “The Look” to silence a class! Ha, ha.

   Yes, ma'am, that is indeed the very same Ronnie Miller.  He's been with us for some time, and in addition to being a great help to me personally in many ways, it is he who is responsible back on 06/13/04 for the idea of having all the Newsletters permanently posted on the site itself.  Previously, the length would clog email inboxes, and letters would be lost, and all sorts of problems began.  Once we began keeping them, many such problems were eliminated.  And once they were posted, there was nothing to keep us from embellishing them with sound and images, so we did.  And as they have developed to this day, missing an issue is equivalent to missing an episode of a soap opera, so the good news is you can always back up and see what the thread of the conversation has been without ever fearing that something is lost forever.  Thanks again, Ronnie - for everything!

I’m glad    Curtis Overman joined the pages! What a load of memories I have of classes with Curtis… Hey, Curtis, remember Mrs. Baker’s Chemistry lab? Miss Suttle’s Senior English class? And memories of our classes together at John Daniel, too…. Especially the day the clock struck ten in sixth grade (or was it seventh?)  I have a picture in my seventh grade autograph book of Curtis. Ah, what memories.   Renee Helterbran and I were in Miss Suttle’s English class with your sister,    Eleanor, and Curtis.

I enjoyed seeing    Evelyn Casey’s name and picture in the newsletter. Oh, how I remember seeing her with the cheerleaders at the pep rallies at NNHS!  How I admired those girls! Where is Evelyn living now?

   Ah, now, there you have me!  I said she was living in Virginia, but that's probably because I think all the best people should live in Virginia.  When I checked back, it appears I have no idea where she is living!

I have a story to share about Miss Suttle’s Senior English class. We were required to do a term paper. I did mine on Thomas Hardy. We got two grades on our papers, one for mechanics and one for content. Well, I got an A on the content and a big fat F for mechanics. It was the first F I ever got and I just about died and there was not anything I could do about it. Several of my sources were published by Macmillan Publishing Company. Only every time I cited the source in a footnote and in the bibliography, I spelled it McMillan. I lost a point every time I misspelled it and it cost me! Since then I have never misspelled Macmillan Publishing again, but more importantly, as you so aptly expressed it in the October 10 newsletter about your English teacher, too, Miss Suttle taught me “exactness in all things.” Ron Miller put it quite well, too, when he wrote in the October 11 newsletter that they “made sure we used the language correctly.” Ron is right that they made us learn enough so that it stuck with us, whether we wanted it to or not.

   I surrender.  I've been meaning to make Miss Suttle's page for several years now.  As Head of the English Department, and simply by the force of her personality, she was a major figure in the history of NNHS, and the site has been woefully incomplete without her.

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

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

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/teach-Suttle.html - brand new page

   Thanks, Aretie! 

   Soooo, you and John are coming down to the Reunion to see Eleanor and the rest of us, right?!?

   Now, Captain Arnold, you know I am far too dignified and sedate an individual to ever become excited.

   No, wait!  That must be somebody else!  'Cause I'm WILDLY EXCITED!!!  

   I've almost finished packing, and I have two pairs of dancing shoes packed - Bass Weejuns (of course!) for Friday night, and 3-1/2" heels for Saturday night!  LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!

   Thanks for all your hard work!  See y'all soon!!!

   THAT'S IT!!!  That's the one I was trying to remember - the one I was always trying to coax my mama into patronizing!  And that's where they sold Poll Parrot Shoes, too!  Thank you once again, Adonis, for imparting of your legendary memory!  You are my hero!

   I really will start on those shoe store pages soon..... not this week, but soon......

Greetings,

Congratulations to Ron Miller ('59 - of NC)! He guessed correctly – that is one of those records (recordings) produced at Buckroe Beach. It was around 1950 or 51 – our whole family was there (except my father) My mother & I (4 or 5 at the time) are on the recording. “It begins, “Hi Daddy, I’M AT BUCKROE, wish you were here,” then goes on to sing “Ole King Cole” plus a few other statements. Just wish I had the means to get it on the NNHS site so you all could hear it. Need a 78 player and a tape recorder or something more sophisticated to preserve it. Just haven’t gotten around to that yet.

So, it we come to the reunion, I will bring the record – if anyone has anything that will play a 78 record, bring it – then you all can listen to it – it’s Sooooo cute! Giggles!!

I see that Ron is not coming to the reunion, so I will send the prize to him when I find out where to send it?

Carol, where did you get my senior picture – did I give you one back then or is on the internet somewhere???? 

   I thought that might surprise you, Lady!!!  I scanned that from the actual wallet-size copy you gave me back during your senior year!  I carried it around in my billfold for years, then switched it to my album which is one of three  12" x 12" scrapbooks I'll be bringing to the reunion - chock full of images, memorabilia, and historical background.

Hope to meet many of you Friday!!

Take care,

Cheryl

P.S. Just curious, did anyone else know what the record was??

   It's beginning to come back to me, but without Ron's help, I never would have guessed it myself.  I've not heard from anyone else yet.

   "Anyone?  Anyone?"

   See you Friday, Cheryl - and thanks!!!

Carol....It is with great sadness that I inform you of the passing of    Sharon Leila Cook ('69) on 10/17/05. She had a courageous 3 year battle with lung cancer .

   Oh, noooo, Donnie!  I am so sorry to hear that!  There has been so much sadness lately.  I didn't see her obituary published in the Daily Press today, so I'll look for it tomorrow, and write her Memorial Newsletter then.

   Meanwhile, we extend our deepest sympathies to Sharon's family and friends.

   Thank you for relating this to us, Donnie. 

   (Maybe I'm looking right at it, but I couldn't locate an image of you in either the '65 or the '66 Anchor.  Sorry about that.)