The Message Forum is an ongoing dialogue among classmates. The goal is to encourage friendly interaction, including interaction among classmates who really didn't know each other. Experience on the site has revealed that certain topics tend to cause friction and hard feelings, especially politics and religion. 

Although politics and religion are not completely off-limits, classmates are asked to be positive in their posts and not to be too repetitive or allow a dialog to degenerate into an argument. 

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Jim Bedwell

Just spotted in Portland (I don't know; should I reconsider my having another relationship? after all she doesn't look her age....maybe it could work....at least it wouldn't be dogs like my last one!):

Lowell Tuttle

After Bedwell asked about Hollis, I went back to page 1, 2, and 3 of RHS 69 forum posts...I've done it a few times.

It is easy to do at the top of the page.   

It was and still is amazing to me to read those 8 year old posts and the different persons making the forum scene.

Kurt Fischer

At the risk of over sharing, this last week has been difficult.

Last Thursday morning my son-in-law's father suffered what turned out to be a fatal fall within his house.  He broke most of his ribs (including several compound fractures), he punctured his lungs, he broke multiple bones in his neck, he suffered several skull fractures, and encountered bleeding on both sides of his brain.

For the longest time I couldn't figure out how he did that much damage, but we've concluded he fell down the stairs.  Being the kind of guy he was, after returning from his weekly poker game with his buddies, he must have mistakenly taken two items upstairs and then woke up to return them downstairs.  So he fell carrying a bowl of queso and his poker winnings.  These were scattered on the floor.  His wife found him sitting on his bedside around 5:00 in the morning, a trail of blood through the house.  He was still somewhat lucid and had two requests:  an aspirin and a Dr Pepper.  My son-in-law took him to Baylor in Plano and he was transferred the next day to Baylor on Gaston.  He was soon declared brain dead, but continued on while medicated until this morning when he passed.

One lesson from this is something my wife has insisted on as we have aged.  It is not good for older people to live in homes with stairs.  Too much risk of falling.

The other lesson is how unexpectedly life can be taken from us.  Although Larry was in his late 70s, there was no thought he would pass away.  Yes, he has the normal heart and back problems, but these were being managed.   And then, in a moment, his life was taken away.  This is a reminder to cherish the time you have with your loved ones and make the most of it.  

Sorry for the bummer news, but something like this always reminds us to value our relationships while we can.

Sandra Spieker (Ringo)

Lowell, 

I see the storm is headed Houston way and hope you and your family do not get flooded or any other damage. You will be in my thoughts for the next few days!  Stay safe my friend!

My son is getting married in a couple of weeks. My dilemma of getting my mom at the wedding and seeing to her needs has been solved today!  I found a neighbor willing to wheel her around, see to her personal needs (no easy task, can be messy).  She volunteered after I put out a plea for a caregiver on NextDoor forum. The bonus, which is incredible, she was born in Begium and speaks Dutch!  It is meant to be and I am so grateful I am at a loss for words. This young forty something lady came to my rescue!   

Wayne Gary

Today I saw a Big Boy statue in front of a store on Hwy75 North of Wylie  just South of the WalMart. It is in front of 1001 Bargans and you can see it on the street view of Googlemaps.

Didn't think to take a picture.

Lowell Tuttle

i am in good shape with a generator ready to go now.   Some of you will remember my issues with that last February.

Who we need to watch out for is Fleming and Deb Dupre Green as she lives on the water in Sante Fe...(That is Galveston Bay.)

Just now, 11:16 pm, we live about 5 miles or so South of IAH airport flight pattern, and unbelievably there are still passenger jets flying in.   The winds are gusting to 20 mph, which means they are about 60 -70 up at 3000 feet.   How do tnose flights make it?   I would be a freaked passenger....

Jim Bedwell

Is it just me or is anybody else wondering if there's another one on the other side of the face of my potential beautiful girlfriend? In any case, that might be kinda weird to be kissing her and having a rodent gnawing on your chin simultaneously. Maybe I should NOT reconsider restarting any future love life after all?

Wayne Gary

Steve,

Last night I watched the movie "Lillies of the Field" The Mother Superior would not thank Homer  for all he was doing, She would say she was Thanking God  because she prayed and God sent her Homer.  At the very end she did say "thank you" to Homer.  We all need to be thanked but at the same time thank God for all he has done for us. Thank you for takinging me to the Rangers game.

Steve Keene

Wayne

Thank God for sending Ranger Suites that can be used to witness and set examples.  I won't complain that they are not New York Yankee team Suites.

Bob Davidson

Hollis -- I don't remember knowing you, but your recent post was somehow deeply touching and I'm glad you post here.  Thank you.

I enjoy reading everyone's experiences and opinions even though there are a bunch of people I don't remember or vaguely know their names or look at their old pictures and they seem familiar ( like Hull Barbee and Jimmy Baker, for example, and others ) but I don't remember them from fifty years ago.  Others like David Cordell I knew in high school and/or college ( for several classes in high school I think of the back of his head as my major memory -- thanks to alphabetical seating ) and remember well.  Some people I remember a little, others I should have known, like Wayne, because we would have been doing the same activities, but don't remember.

Wayne Gary

Steve,

I do thank God for granting you the ability to afford the suites and other things and thank you for showing his grace and letting people experience his bounty and grace.

Wayne Gary

Bod d.

What activities were you in.  I tried to look you up in the  69 RHS Eagle and you were not there.

I was in Industrial Arts club, Explores at TI, took a lot of wood shop, and speach class.  I see you lived behind Buckey Grimes and we were good friends from elementary and I had a car and would pick him up from time to time.

I lived on Alpha Rd near Preston.

David Cordell

For grammarians --

I like old movies. This clip is from The Affairs of Dobie Gillis from 1953. Dobie, played by Bobby Van, clashes with Professor Pomfritt, played by Hans Conried, regarding whether grammar should be based on traditional rules, or common usage. Near Dobie are Debbie Reynolds and someone known more for choreography, Bob Fosse.

You may have to crank up the volume.

Jim Bedwell

Now Secretary of State in Name Only Tony Blinken has said they inherited from Trump "a deadline, and no plan" in Afghanistan. Do the people on the left really not see through THAT BLATANT LIE?!?!?!? TALK ABOUT PROJECTION - THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT BIDEN'S "PLAN" WAS. No wonder we and the world are in such trouble.

Steve Keene

Lance

Wayne and I were thankful  to be able to fellowship in a Godly way without your input.  We only had one argument.  Wayne thinks Jesus attends Texas A & M and I know he goes to Texas Tech.  We agreed that Satan attends U. T. Austin.

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Walking on eggshells, as we thought, but a worthy posture to take, considering.

It's good to have honesty and a 'new leaf a'turning' effort!

The applause is growing......

It's great to have class unity and civility.

Kurt Fischer

Although a lifetime fan of the LA Dodgers since I grew up there, my best baseball memories were at The Ballpark.

Mobil Oil was working with EDS at the time and our account managers found multiple ways for us to make use of the EDS suite at The Ballpark.  The suite was next door to the City of Arlington suite.  In essence, these were the two best suites at The Ballpark.  I would typically go out to The Ballpark about two hours before the game started in order to first watch batting practice from the outfield stands and then move to the suite to watch the grounds crew raking, dragging and sprinkling the infield.  By then others would show up and we would have a feast in the inside room.  We'd then move outside to the seats.  Somewhere around the fifth inning they would bring out the chocolate coated ice cream bars.  What a way to watch a baseball game. 

And EDS had similar suite rights at Texas Stadium.  We were across the field from the owners suite.  But I enjoyed my time at The Ballpark much more.

Wayne Gary

Here is the Big Boy on Hwy 78 in Wylie.  I cannot get it image uprite.

Jim Bedwell

Chief Toenails,

I had thought Satan RAN UT-Austin. But then he wouldn't have allowed Fussell to be chairman of the Computer Science department, correct? So that does make sense that the spiritual leader of the Dem Party is rather "learning" there as a student. THANKS FOR CLEARING UP MY OFTEN FUZZY THINKING!!!

An EVER grateful Chief Bedpost

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

I just heard an intriguing YouTube discourse from a man from Great Neck, NY,  Andrew Klavan, who was born into a Jewish family there, and eventually became a writer of novels, but he confessed in this YouTube talk, that when he was a boy growing up going to a Jewish school and taking Jewish courses, he never felt much connection to the subject matter and didn't really like taking the courses.  He said he almost flunked every course he took and was barely able to learn the passages of the Torah he was supposed to recite during his Bar Mitzvah.  He also said that he really didn't even want to HAVE a Bar Mitzvah, but his father, who constantly berated his ne'er-do-well son, told him he HAD to go through with it, so he did.  The whole meaning of his Jewish religion just made no real sense to him, and he wanted to simply 'chuck it' and write exciting he-man novels, like Dashiell Hammett.  Klavan eventually enrolled at Berkeley far from NY.

Klavan goes on with his story, which is quite an interesting one, I think, and he tells how he thought of committing suicide one awful night of intense depression, with gnawing feelings of worthlessness bringing him down, but was inspired by the words of a baseball player ( a radio, playing barely perceptably, was announcing a baseball game over to the side of Klavan as Klavan sat in a desk's chair)..... who spoke to an interviewer after the game's end.  It was a game where the baseball player was able to make it to first base before the ball was caught by the first baseman, even though this particular, running player struggled with tremendous pain, because of his bad knees caused by being a "catcher" for many years.  The player who made it to base, was asked by the interviewer how he was able to run so well with his bad knees, and the player explained that "Sometimes you just have to play through the pain."

When Klavan heard those words, his whole life began anew, as that player was a guy Klavan had been following throughout the baseball season; a player Klavan admired.

I think some of you who enjoy baseball stories, as well as authors who have reached The Best Seller Book List, will enjoy listening to the YouTube's offering.  It's easy to listen to and rather short.  Also, it's NOT a "preachy" kind of irritating story that guys dislike.  It's very matter-of-fact from an author who is a macho-ish personality, sort of; not what you likely suspect him to be.  When I began listening to this story, I was thinking "Okay, what does this ordinary, bald, Brooklyn Jew have to say that will interest me?"  I was skeptical, but the title of the YouTube caught my eye.

YouTube; Andrew Klavan (I Met Messiah)      Just watching the face of this obviously Jewish man as he speaks during the YouTube, is an interesting study in and of itself.

Steve Keene

David,

I went to Custer State Park in South Dakota last year to a town called Hill City.  They had an interesting mural painted on the brick on the side of a hardware store downtown.  It was a picture with cows wearing halos in the sky.  On a field of grass below the sky was the Taj Mahal surrounded by couples in various sexual positions.  I stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and asked sbout the unusual painting.  The information guide said it was a mural depicting General Custer's Last Words.  I had to ask.  "Holy Cow! Look at all the fucking Indians!"

Bob Davidson

Wayne -- I figure I should know you from our Boy Scout days.  I was in troop and post 897, which met at the church at Spring Valley and Hillcrest -- directly across from Bucky's house after it moved from further west on Spring Valley.  I was active in OA, Golden Acorn as an instructor, worked on camp staff at Texoma, and did a number of service projects with guys from other troops and posts.  I thought I knew all of the Richardson guys who were active in those things.  I remember doing things with Doug Shea, Art Lavergne, Doug Odom, a big guy with dark hair named Dean, and several others by face but not name from other units.  One year I was part of the Scout group that raised the flag at RHS every morning -- I don't distinctly remember the other guys except Steve Bryant and Keith Kendall from my troop. 

At the nightmare politically correct summer camp two years ago that drove me out of scouting, I ran into a guy who was the scoutmaster of a troop in Mesquite who'd gone to RHS a couple of years before us.  When we were talking, we figured out that we were taking Scout Lifeguard together in 1965 at Camp Constantin.  I accidentally pinned the instructor's head under water when I did my in-water rescue demonstration and was surprised that he didn't fight me to get loose like he did everyone else -- when I pulled him up on the dock, he was red-faced, choking and spitting out water.  He was also furious.  [The waterfront director I almost drowned was also an RHS grad from 1963 or 64 -- he and I met at Constantin a few years ago as leaders and he remembered me and we shared a laugh.  I was relieved that he wasn't still mad.] 

We lived on Meadowcreek Drive, on the corner with Brookcrest, a couple of blocks east of Hillcrest.  My Times Herald paper route was in the general area where you lived. 
 

David Cordell

Hey, Bob, you could have mentioned the name of the church that sponsored your troop! Doug Shea's parents, Melinda Nelson's parents, and my parents were among the signatories when Church of the Transfiguration was founded.

Bob and Wayne, was classmate Bill Scott in your troop?

Steve, when I start reading your posts, should I just assume that whatever you are about to say, like the Custer bit, is fictional?? On the other hand, you might be right about Satan.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Hey Janalu,

Know what I've been watching on YouTube?  Say Yes to the Dress!  Bridal salons in Atlanta, NYC, Ireland, and England spotlight brides trying on bridal gowns.  The owners and consultants frequently have their hands full with mothers who won't agree to the daughters' choices.  Jealous sisters and troublesome bridemaids.  Drama that mostly seems real.  Some of those damn dresses are over the top ugly while others are the overused adjective "stunning".  I don't know why I spend so much time watching junk like this.  My other guilty pleasure is watching family vlogs, most specifically several Utah big families living large in some beautiful places like St. George and Provo and Logan as Church of the Latter Day Saints members.  Monogamy.  No Big Love like storylines.  No compound craziness although they do have some survivalist like habits perhaps passed down from their fore peoples.  Food and supplies storage big time.  

Also been watching a crapload of 9-11 survivor stories - one was from a fireman from the station or ladder company closest to the WTC.  His story is riveting.  That he survived is miraculous.  

Jim Bedwell

Slimy Gavin Newsom survived and is still governor of California. After having lived here for almost 13 years, no surprise to me. Like H.L. Mencken said, "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."

I just wish that, like Andrew Cuomo, the guy had sexually harassed women since it's obvious now that our (Dem only) politicians can take a state totally into the toilet or like Cuomo, be responsible for 10's of thousands of Americans' deaths, or for that matter, do an Afghanistan like Biden the Abandoner, and the negative consequences? NONE. Just don't act inappropriately with females! Or if you're as high up as Joe (as in critically important in the implementation of the Satanic Agenda), NONE. Forget UT-Austin, you'd think Satan was running the country! No, that would be George Soros, his number 2 in more ways than one. Again, SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE!