12/02/05 - NNHS Newsletter -
Silver Bells

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/12-01-05-NNHS-I-Wonder-As-I-Wander.html

  Perhaps I can snag them over the weekend.

  Ed Nichols ('62) of VA mentioned     Joseph H. Thweatt ('61) of LA in this Newsletter. I believe Joe is living in New Orleans, or at least he was living in New Orleans.

   Thanks, Adonis!  YOWZERS - I hope he's okay!

    Thanks, Dave - and Dave!  And so I did:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/old-stomping.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/OOSG-S-Z.html

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

"I'm 99.6% sure we have a match here, Joan.  And I'm 82.7% sure that    Jimmy ('68) and   David ('67) are brothers...:and Ronnie Cutler, as well...my dad used to ride to work at the shipyard with Elmer Cutler, and when I prepared to go to Frederick College after a year of working, I got some good advice from Ronnie, who had been there.
  
"I spend most of my time now feeling overwhelmed (please...relax! We'll be here tomorrow -  I promise!) at the task before me, guilty (that's really gotta stop - nothing life shortening is allowed, y'know! :) ) for not getting it done faster (if the Good Lord had meant for us to do more, He would have given us 25 hour days - oui'?), and bewildered (My dear, what you have done so far boggles my mind, and I'll bet the minds of others, as well - not that this should be difficult for you, but because The Newsletter has taken on a life of its own, would give Bill Gates a fit, and you are really doing a great job keeping it going)...Jimmy :)

   Jimmy, you are such a Sweetie-Pie!  Thank you so much!  You know, every time I put your picture on the page it makes me smile.  What a great, happy smile you have!

   I'll try to lighten up - I promise!

Dear Carol,

I wasn’t going to write anything else this time, but I did after all, because you got me crying, too!  In the December 1, 2005 newsletter you wrote: (Okay, Lady, you got me crying again, just listening to those two!  It's amazing how readily they evoke certain memories.) I clicked on the link you included and listened to the music in both places, and then I was crying, too!  With a finger click, I was immediately transported across the years. There was my 14 year old self standing with the rest of the ninth graders in our section, singing. I agree it’s amazing how readily and how vividly the music brings back certain memories.  

   Yes, I'm not sure which version made me cry harder.  The piano version on Miss Sherman's page dropped me off in the NNHS Auditorium for assemblies, and the organ version on the Trinity Methodist Church page took me back to the Junior Department of the Sunday School as a child.  That in itself is strange, because we sang that song as it was played on an old upright piano.  I can't even remember who the pianist was.  But Alice Reedy with her white hair shining like an angel, and her beautiful pale blue eyes sparkling, and love emanating all around her, led us in song.  We sang it in closing every week because she loved it so, just as we loved her.

In the Dec. 1 newsletter you wrote that although you visited in    Pietie Haan’s ('67) home often, being totally directionless you could not begin to tell me where it was located, except somewhere downtown in the Daniel School district. My goodness, Carol, you were right there in my old neighborhood! You were on the very street where I roller skated and played paper dolls on the brick steps. You walked on the sidewalks we marked with chalk to play hopscotch and where we played ‘Giant Steps” and “Red Light.” You went past the alleys that had such great places to hide for “Hide and Seek.”  You walked under the sycamore trees that lined the street toward the same river that was in our sight every afternoon as we walked home all through elementary and high school.   

   Oh, my goodness - I had no idea!  It is so strange to think how intricately our lives were woven together, even in ways we never knew.

Pietie and    Katie ('64) lived down the street from me. Our house was in the middle of the block. His family lived in a big, three story apartment building that faced the James River between thirty-second and thirty-first street.  The shipyard had not yet expanded that far south down the riverfront. There was a sidewalk between the apartment building and a beautiful garden area that I believe his grandmother tended. We used to walk down to the end of thirty-second street, then left onto the sidewalk that paralleled the river, then left again up thirty-first street. I’m not sure, but I think the name of the street connecting 32^nd and 31^st and running parallel to the river was River Road. We thought it was a pretty neat way to go around the block. I think Pietie’s grandmother owned the building and I’m pretty sure she had an apartment there, too. Do you remember which floor Pietie lived on? Was it the first floor on the 31^st street side of the building?

   Yes, it was definitely on the first floor, and if it faced the river, it was just as definitely 31st Street.  I remember standing and talking with Mrs. Haan in the doorway one day.  We were waiting for Katie to finish whatever she was doing in her bedroom so we could go somewhere or other, and she was telling me stories about when Katie was a baby.  She had the softest, gentlest voice I ever heard.  Even her laughter was soft.  Her maiden name was Groome, and I understood even then that they had been quite a prominent family.  I didn't realize that they owned the building, but I'm not surprised to learn it.

There were three other apartment buildings on thirty-second street.    Elliott Finkle ('58 - of CA) lived in one of them at 94-32^nd Street and the superintendent of schools, Dr. R. O. Nelson lived in another located at 88-32^nd Street. Those apartment buildings were of a grand style! Each building had three floors and each apartment occupied an entire floor and had its own big screened-in back porch. Why, each one had at least as much space as a one story house!  And the rooms were large! The apartments must have been at least 1500 square feet.

I remember when Pietie was killed. I was teaching at NNHS then. Another time I’ll share with you a special memory of Pietie.

   Then I'll save my stories of Pietie for then, too.

Reading what others remember brings back memories of my old neighborhood that I’d forgotten. The only sad thing is that the neighborhood has been completely obliterated. All the old houses have been torn down.

You may be right about the pep rallies before every game, home and away. I just couldn’t remember for sure. I just remembered we had a lot of them and they were such a great experience.

   Well, I wouldn't trust my memory over anyone else's!  It's totally fractured, with only bits and snippets remaining to me.

Take care. We are off to Newport News for a long weekend at my father’s.

   I hope you have a great and memorable one!  Thanks - again, Aretie!

The collaboration between    you ('65 - of NC) and    Fred Eubank ('64) of TX with respect to his Briarfield website really caused me to become very excited when I read your Newsletter. It will not be long until many TYPHOON are in retirement status and they will have plenty of time to collaborate with you and others to create some very interesting links on the Internet. Congratulations, this is a fine way to share a common goal of like minds.

Speaking of collaboration, one of the sheer delights of the Class Reunions for the NNHS Class of 1957 for me has been to become reacquainted with    William Brewer ('57) of NC. He is a retired school teacher, with plenty of time on his hands for reading books. Of course, he has to tend to his farm animals, but that does not stop him from reading interesting books and passing along the names of the better books to his TYPHOON buddies. His letters always contain one or two recommendations, and he has not let me down so far. It strikes me as a wonderful idea to share such information with your subscribers so we can exchange information regarding books we find of interest.

   SUPER!!!  Thanks, Joe!

   Thanks so much, Adonis!  It's always a joy to hear from you!

WOWZERONI, Tim!

This is waaay cool!

If you simply ignore that hideous monstrosity in the center, you can make out all kinds of goodies here!  There's NNHS and Saunders Stadium, and Coca-Cola Bottling, and Trinity Methodist Church, and - well, y'all can probably identify far more than I can.  What fun!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/old-stomping.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/OOSG-C-G.html

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

   Thanks so much, Tim!

   (There's still more to come from Tim's files, but I'm still working on them......)

Meet Miss Mermaid, my first attempt creating a folk art piece. She is on a spike tapped through a wood base. My next piece will be a fish.... it's fun!
 

  How delightful, Brownie!!!  Are you starting a new career??
   Send us the pics of your fish, Lady, and let's hope it won't take me weeks before I post them. 

   These shots are now posted on the News link - chronologically, just as if I had posted them when I was supposed to have done so:

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

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

   Thanks, Brownie!