Ahoy, Pirates 1957!

Also, don’t forget that our “Pirate Press” page is available at:

Pirate Press: Early Spring 2010 Issue

Welcome to the fifth issue of your Pirate Press, YHS Class of 1957. No, you haven’t missed any (we have a very loose production schedule), and you can always check by going to www.azbw.com, the left menu, and click on Pirate Press.

(And, thank you, Gloria Bryson Pyszka and Gary McPherson for asking about the next issue.)

Our own family, as yours, was busy over the holidays, and then Jim and I had to play catch-up with the paper and my teaching as 2010 began. I cannot believe he is talking about adding our own radio show and another paper (Utah) to our “job descriptions.”

We did get to celebrate another honor this month: The National Water Safety Congress’ Award of Merit.

(Also, my middle daughter – a French professor in Michigan — received the all-campus Outstanding Faculty Award. I’ll see her honored at the commencement ceremony in May.)

And, my youngest daughter just bought her first house – amazing during these times, I think.

Nearly all of you have outdone me in “grandkid count,” but my one Kelsee, 13, is a delight, and I totally enjoy her. Her goal is to become a wildlife veterinarian.

Now to the news I’ve received since the holidays —

Smooth sailing, fellow Pirates,
Carol (Lemon) Allen

P.S. A suggestion or two or three:

1) As I have enjoyed reminiscing about the good old days, friends, and teachers (for me, YHS, Franklin Jr. High, and McKinley Grade School), perhaps you’d like to send a few of your memories as well.

2) Also, rather than the “Hi, Carol,” why not address your note to your former classmates (as does Gordon Dean below)? I appreciate your thanks and compliments, but this newsletter is not about me. It’s about and for you.

3) Ladies, please include your maiden with your married name, and it would be helpful if all would include an e-mail address after your name (e.g., Carol Lemon Allen, editor@azbw.com).

Thank you!

GORDON DEAN
From: Gordon Dean
To: Carol Allen
Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 3:07 AM
Subject: December "Pirate"

Hello All,
GREAT Dec. Issue. I gotta' tell ya', I like to jump out of my chair when I read the article by David Lombard. He mentioned "Space Scientist" David Dysart. I worked with David Dysart, as we were both on the launch team for the Apollo Project. We both worked for North American Rockwell and where contracted to NASA. North American Rockwell built the command capsules, the launch escape towers/rockets, and the SLA (Service Lunar Adaptor),-a big tube the held the LEM (Lunar Excursion Module).

BTW, we at "The Cape" believed that if we did not hear a new 3 letter abbreviation by noon, we had to make one up!

Our job was to assemble the spacecraft parts and then test, test, test.....until we got it RIGHT....all in coordination with NASA and the many other contractors.

Actually, my work with North American Rockwell started by launching 6 "boiler plate spacecraft" from WSMR (White Sand Missle Range in New Mexico. The task: test the "Launch Abort and Earth Landing System". Upon testing completion, the whole team moved to Florida and that is where I met Dave Dysart.

Small World.
Gordon Dean
gordon.cfii@gmail.com
Hi David and thanks Carol,

Yes, please do pass my Email address on to Dave Dysart.

"First ski day": Nice. Long story short: I started skiing in High school. Gary Pucket and I (singer) would either take a bus to White Pass or sometimes I would drive (Gary was younger). Moving to Ca. , I was absolutely positive that NO ONE would drive 3 hours to ski! No way! Never!

Then I married a skier. We began to ski almost every week-end (yes, with a 3 hour drive!). The we built a house in Truckee (near Lake Tahoe) and that has made skiing convenient. Since I am retired, I skied Northstar 51 days last season. My wife, still working, flew from the Bay Area to Reno (40 miles from Truckee) for many weekends.

Our son, now 26, is a really,really good skier, having started at age 2. As a young person he would sometimes say "Do we have to go skiing?!". Now, he skies every chance he gets and more! Skiing is a GREAT family sport.

Last I heard, Truckee had 24" of snow. No Tahoe areas are open yet.

Good talking with you.
Maholo (yes, we are in Maui today but must leave tomorrow ) gordon dean

DAVID LOMBARD
Hi Carol here is a link to our website at Sun Peaks. Let me know if you have trouble opening it as I have had some not able to. http://lombard-harding.directvacations.com/
David

Hi Carol and Gordon.
That’s a great coincidence. I have always believed those of you in the Apollo program that put people on the moon are true heroes and we can take great pride that this is the high mark of our generation. I’ll make sure Dave Dysart gets a copy which should pick him up after recent hip replacement. He and his wife Annett have retired on a very cool farm up on San Juan Island. I have some email issues up here on the mountain so Carol if you would please forward to Gordon in case this doesn’t get to him. First day skiing of the year and everything still works.
David

JERRY LOUNSBERRY
Hello Carol,

I was just talking with Gary McPherson and he mentioned you and this web site. I thought I had better get off my duff and say hello to you. I see that your talents as an editor still shine through over the decades. You always were exceptional.

Congratulations on your award from AZ Game and Fish. After stomping around the mid west (South Dakota and Minnesota), I finally returned to Washington and settled down in Mount Vernon these past 25 years. It appears your life has revolved around boating. My daughter is counting the days (some 400+) until they sail into the sunset. If you are interested here is the link to their site http://www.svbellastar.com/. They have sold their condo and are living aboard. The only boating I do is when I go duck hunting or fishing. For the past number of years, Jan and I have been going to Arizona and looking for a place to settle. Mostly around the Tucson area. We will see what happens. Geeze, I did not mean to get carried away here just wanted to say hello.

Take care,
Jerry Lounsberry
360.428.2725
jlouns@hotmail.com

ADELLE RICHEY MCMURRY

Breast cancer awareness from a friend. A contribution is promised from the maker of the pink gloves to St. Vincent for massive visits to this site! You will probably need to copy the url into your address line as the forward seems to have wiped out the link function. Sorry. Thanks for helping the cause.
Adele

Emily (MacInnes) Somers, created, directed and choreographed this in Portland last week for her Medline glove division as a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. This was all her idea to help promote their new pink gloves. I don't know how she got so many employees, doctors and patients to participate, but it started to really catch on and they all had a lot of fun doing it.

When the video gets 1 million hits, Medline will be making a huge contribution to the hospital, as well as offering free mammograms for the community. Please check it out. It's an easy and great way to donate to a wonderful cause, and who hasn't been touched by breast cancer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdVfyt-mLw

GARY MCPHERSON
Just a couple items Carol. 11-26-09

Most of my family and I just returned from a week in Cabo San Lucas,Mexico.Had a ball.Had my two daughters and 3 of the grand kids with us.

Also: another friend and I are working on plans for a small group reunion for people station on The Greek Island of Crete.My family and I will be there for a family reunion with her folks so it was a good time to do both next summer.

Some of the military people I do not know and others I have not seen since 1967. One good friend I located about 3 years ago after losing contact with him in 67 will be there.

Some of you may know the name.Adrian Cronauer (of Good Morning Viet-Nam fame) If some of you wondered what he looked like while in Nam attached are two photos of him.

GARY MCPHERSON
USMC,USAF-RET
FAIRFIELD,CA
IN GOD WE TRUST

JEAN HOEGLUND MEISS
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 6:38 PM

This was a great susprise. I got a call out of the blue from Linda Bruce and she told me about the Pirate Press and the next thing I know you sent the back copies to me. I won't send you a Christmas card but hope you have a happy Christmas season. My only new news is that I have another granddaughter. Three sons and four granddaughters. Our last grandchild was a premie but all is fine now.

Thank you again for sending me all the news.
Jean Meiss

ED NOLAN
Our thanks to Ed Nolan for sending relevant notices from Washington, some not such good news in the form of obituaries (see below).

However, we have had a chance to reminisce about favorite teachers (e.g., Leona Conor, Miss Murray, Miss Klise, Cecil Zylstra, the Van Eatons, Mrs. May, Anna Strasse, Hazel Leland, and more).

And, believe it or not, some of us still remember times and teachers from Franklin Junior High and McKinley Grade School!

It is nice to share these old memories; I have asked Ed, though, about the quality of our “short-term” memories at 70! ?

TERRY SIEGFRIED
Good job Carol have had to go back to work for a short while the old 401 just gave out. I will be selling appliances at Sears for the next couple of years . Hope to be back on the road in three years or so.........Terry Siegfried

NANCY REIMENSCHNEIDER STRAIN
Hi Carol. Been busy traveling. Attended the AARP convention in Las Vegas. I try to go every yr or so. This yr they outdid themselves. Didn't gamble, spent my money of shows instead.. Headed to Long Beach,Ca for thanksgiving and to celebrate my oldest daughter's 50th birthday. We spent 2 days aboard a beautiful 1940"s vintage Stevens 54 ft yachet[sp]. That was a real treat. All my grandchildren and a great-grandson were there for turkey day. Having a wonderful time in my senior yrs.
Nancy Riemenschneider Strain.

Now a word about Sharon Chard. She took a trip to Chirchill, Canada to personally see the polar bears. It turned out to be a trip of a lifetime. She was up close and personal with a few of those big hairy beasts. Out on the tundra, she was introduced to other critters. Also said the country side was beautiful. Knowing Sharon, she will be truckin til she drops.

J. ANDY THOMPSON
Andy sent this link for the holidays: http://www.cherokee.org/flash/christmas/

J. Andy Thompson
Yakima, Washington
ayeee@charter.net

SUE UTTERBACK WOODRUFF
Carol, I don't have an email address for Ted Keeler, just a home address.
12491 Patricia Lane
Burlington WA 98233-2745
360-757-8011

This is the address for Ann Collins and I have it without the numbers in front.
Try bbreed@bendbroadband.com

IN MEMORY

AARGH

First, from my niece in Scotland —
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WERE BORN IN THE —
1930s, 1940s, ‘50s, ‘60s and early ‘70s !

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright, colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take-away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos.

Even though all the shops closed at 6 p.m. and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubbleand Clove/Beaman’s/Blackjack gum, Walnettos, and other really good stuff.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in them, but we weren't overweight because.......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY ,
no video/dvd films,
no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mom didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

Football and baseball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on
MERIT

Our teachers used to discipline us and not get suspended or worse for “child abuse.”

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL !

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the”others” our lives for “our own good.”

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids/grandkids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Second, from Sue Woodruff
Story of a Challenged Senior Citizen!

I thought about the 30 year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a Blackberry that played music, took videos, pictures and communicated with Facebook and Twitter.

I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way.. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife as everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. Seems I have to take my hearing aid out to use it and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Re-cal-cu-lating" You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then when I would make a right turn instead, it was not good.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop.

I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused but I never remember to take them in with me. Now, I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?"

I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual."

THEN... it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look.