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. 

Forums work when people participate - so don't be bashful! Click the "Post Response" button to add your entry to the forum.

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

David,

I remember Father Niles from your church because I visited there with Sally Sheets several times.  I also went there with Judy Soelter one Saturday morning, along with Virginia Hooter and Cindy Turner.  Judy had to be there for, I guess, a confirmation class or something similar, so we all just went along with her as friends, having spent the night at her house on Sherwood Dr.  We had stayed awake most of the night, so we were kinda fuzzy as to what was going on in the class.  The three of us were very impressed, I remember, with the kneelers you Episcopalians enjoy!   We three didn't have those in our Methodist Church but thought we should suggest them to our minister, Rev. Middlebrooks.  We noticed that your church has quite a few of the same hymns we sing at our church, and I remember my mother telling me that there are a number of similarities in the Methodist Church that are like the Episcopalian Church.  Some of our tenets are the same too.

To me, Father Niles seemed like a Catholic priest.  I guess it was the way he spoke, his mannerisms, and his robes, but I can't say that I was really that familiar with Catholic priests on balance, so what did I know really?  Not too much!

Also, abortion is not healthcare.  Abortion is murder.  Semantics used on this issue make American women appear to be ignorant.

Each child murdered after the spark of life begins at conception, has a beautiful soul in its core, and when that soul is murdered, it goes to Heaven, where it is cherished, nurtured, and loved forever.

Sandra Spieker (Ringo)

Wayne,

No one expects these changes overnight.  It took many years for us to transition from horse and buggy to gasoline transporation methods.  I realize not all plastics can be recycled.  We will find alternate methods of packaging, parts etc.  It will take time.  Who will pay? Right now who is paying to rebuild all of the homes, and businesses destroyed by the wildfires?  Who is paying for all the hospital costs for those who chose to forgo the vaccine?  Who is paying for the cleanup in Lousiana and the Eastern states after yet another hurrincane and flooding event?  Who will pay for crop failure due to excessive heat or drought?  Who will pay to re-engineer filling stations to plug in stations?  Who will benefit from the new technology?  Who will profit from recycled materials or pay for the engineering required to come up with alternative materials for the future?  Lots of questions with no easy answers.  What is clear is that we have to start somewhere, because to stagnate where we are now will cost us billions.

Jim Bedwell

Didn't know this. Is an avocado a vegetable or a fruit? It's a fruit, a kind of berry. Just learned that on FNC (where else?).

Also just learned there, if you're ever attacked by a clown? Go for the juggggular!

Jim Bedwell

Janalu,

I like what Jack Nicholson said. He was born to his unmarried "sister", who he later in the 1970's learned was his mother after both she and his grandmother had died.

He said words to the effect that if abortion had been legal when he was born, 1937, he likely never would have been born and he's enjoyed his life so much that he's pro-life. It's not a choice, it's a person, as you well know.

And yes, ALL murdered fetuses and babies, along with all other children who die for whatever reason before they have the opportunity to choose the Savior, end up in total bliss with Jesus -  I don't like initially the evil obviously involved in those aborted humans, but that's the KIND OF DIVERSITY I DO LOVE (innocent victims of blatant sin) in the TOTALLY RIGHTEOUS end result spiritually.

David Cordell

Steve,

We stopped in Archer City/Anarene15+ years ago on the way back to Lubbock. I wandered through McMurtry's book "stores" while the rest of my family fumed in the car, and while the car fumed since the air conditioner ran full-blast in the heat.

I did tell you that I had a solo (duo?) dinner with Larry McMurty in Austin, right? I chaired the Ideas and Issues Committee and we brought him to campus to give  speech. Believe it or not, I took him to a restaurant at Dobie Center. Not sure what I was thinking. He was probably insulted that we didn't go to someplace fancy, like in Archer City.

David Cordell

Hollis,

This is way more than you asked for. Sorry.

There was a church on west side of Greenville Avenue just north of the RISD administration building, across from what later became First Baptist of Richardson. Really, it was a converted garage of a frame house. That was St. Margaret's. St. Margaret's bought the property at Custer and Greenleaf in the late fifties. The Bishop encouraged a merger of St. Margaret's with another small church -- St. Mark's -- that was completed in 1971. They were eventually renamed Church of the Epiphany, and it is now on Custer between Greenleaf and Ridgedale. (Didn't you live near there?)

I think we started at St. Margaret's in 1955 when we moved to Richardson from Abilene. My sister was baptized Roman Catholic shortly before the move. I think the move was also a move from Catholic to Episcopalian. Clearly, my mother decided that birth control was a good idea after she finally had a girl. (I'm pretty sure they were hoping that I would be a girl!) The priest at St. Margaret's was Father Vega, a Mexican who had been a Roman Catholic. (Before anyone chastises me for "Mexican", he was born in Guanajuato and wasn't a U.S. citizen until after we left.)

I assume that my parents didn't deem St. Margaret's to provide sufficient edification because in late 1957 they began attending the mission which became the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, transferring in February 1958.

I was an acolyte, trained by Bill Hensel, father of my classmate Marsha, on whom I had a bit of a crush. Later on I became lay reader, which was a bigger deal back then. I seriously considered the priesthood. I could have handled the preaching and the comforting, but I think I would have killed someone over parish politics. 

I think Transfiguration became an official parish with the completion of the Article of Conformity on January 11, 1959. At that time, Transfiguration's sanctuary was in a converted garage of a ranch-style house on the south side of Spring Valley, near the (former) dead end, a few hundred yards west of Hillcrest. An A-frame sanctuary was built in about 1961. After the sanctuary flooded  -- over the doorway -- the church was given the current property at the corner of Hillcrest and Spring Valley by Lindsay Embrey, after whom the engineering building at SMU is named. A  temporary sanctuary was built and was succeeded by the current edifice in 1970.

Yes, I knew Father Niles and his wife Elizabeth. He was a New Englander and a good man. After the flood, there was a big article in one of the Dallas papers that showed him in front of the church, helping to clean everything. He was a man of good humor, but he was not known for the quality of his sermons. I liked him, but he did one thing in the liturgy that bothered me every week -- he pronounced the "g" in the phrase "unfeignedly thankful". Apparently, he was pushed out sometime around 1980, landing in Dalhart -- not an upgrade for him. I was disappointed. The last time I saw him was at the 25th anniversary of Transfiguration when he was brought back for the celebration.

Father Niles was succeeded by an Englishman, Terrence Roper. Father Roper eventually moved up  to Philadelphia to become rector of the very upscale Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square. Martha and I were living near Philly and attended his installation. After he retired, he moved back to Dallas, and he sits next to the center aisle on the same pew at Transfiguration every Sunday. Every once in a while, he substitutes and gives a sermon, and I always enjoy them.

Below: The Article of Conformity. It is a terrible photo, but Father Niles's signature is on the top line, along with Mrs. (Elizabeth) Niles. The close-up shows my father's name in the left column with Melinda Nelson's father immediately below. To address Wayne's comment, note that Melinda's mother and my mother signed to the right of their respective husbands, using "Mrs." followed by their respective husband's name. (Sometime after my father died I listed my mother on something as Mrs. Fran Cordell, and she bristled at the notion.) I think classmate Kathy Houzvicka's mother is also shown. Doug Shea's parents were also signatories, along with Marsha Hensel's parents and others. I'm going to make a better photo for family records. 

Jim Bedwell

Chief Toenails,

I don't know what you're talking about with David C about telling true stories & I'm too lazy to check it out, but I don't care if you're lying or telling the truth, just keep posting. And you CAN TOTALLY TRUST ME on that other item - you can resume your non-fiction at your pleasure - you can't alienate people who hate you. You must know I could never lie to you about that.

Chief Bedpost

Jim Bedwell

What's the only food that doesn't spoil? honey

Which species NEVER cares for its young? snake

I miss L.M. Boyd

reminds me of the Twain quote:

"I believe I have no prejudices whatsover. All I need to know is that a man is a member of the human race, and then I know he couldn't be worse".

Wayne Gary

Tommy,

I am not against solor power or electric cars.  Just when a politician talks about it they do not think about all of the ramifications and forseable problems.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

David: 

Yes, of course, St. Margaret's to Epiphany!!  I remember my mom being drawn to St. Margaret's at that late March baptism with the afternoo light streaming in. Small and lovely.  The Episcopal liturgy stays with us forever no matter how long we've been away.  By that time she'd been a Unitarian church member for perhaps ten years after having spent her middle childhood through her twenties as an Episcolpalian.

Maybe a handful of times my mom and I would walk over to Epiphany for Christmas Eve service.  And I attended by myself during my summer visits home.  Nicely organized and at that time from the 80's to the early 2000's it wasn't an overwhelmingly large parish. 

Thanks for all the info on Transfig. I see Mrs. Dempsey's name on the section you've enlarged.  She was a sweet lady.  My mom worked with her at Heights PTA.  Wish I could read the portion with all the names. 

 My aunt, a cradle Episcopalian and from Wisconsin, moved to Dallas to become a Braniff stewardess in the late 50's and attended Incarnation (my parents were married there in 1947 but left when I was several months old) and then when she and my uncle moved to Preston Hollow, she transferred to St. Luke's just off Preston (my mom was Father McLyea's wife Mary Lou's maid of honor and Mary Lou was my mom's matron of honor.  Father Mac or GC - Grover Clevland McLyea as my parents knew him before his ordination- was the priest at St. Luke's for probaby at least 15 or 20 years).  My aunt transferred to Transfiguration when they moved nearby on Gateridge in the late 60's - she remained there until maybe three years ago when she transferred back to St. Luke's because it's smaller and she felt she was really needed there.  

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Sandra:

Where on Hughes Lane did Cathy live?  I have visited 13958 Hughes twice now as the current owner Pete Peabody contacted me wanting more information about my dad's work.  Around 1967 the house was designed by architect Neal Lacey with my father as the landscape architect.  Pete took me on a house tour, and thankfully even though Pete is the third owner of the home, the integrity of Lacey's design (and my father's also) is intact.  Pete visited UT's architecture library where all my father's plans and papers are archived.  I haven't even been there yet for pity's sake.  What a beautiful area.  I will admit that the original owners insisted my dad include a front of the property circular drive that had to be on a slope.  It is dangerous to navigate.  If that was the same block as Cathy's, you two would have seen the house being built as you drove or walked by.  

Guess I'm on a bit of a tear here with details that are probably tedious/boring.  But not to me.  Wish I had listened to my parents more about what downtown Big D looked like.  My dad grieved over the Big D tendency of destroying rather than renovating old buildings downtown.  I remember him describing in detail what Commerce and Main looked like back in the 30's and 40's but, of course, didn't listen closely enough to now remember.  

Jim Bedwell

Tommy,

So you know that God couldn't have made that "mistake" to create imperfectly behaving humans in need of correction & forgiveness, huh? Are you sure about that? And your proof is "basic common sense"? WOW, you really ARE smart - that kind of eternal perspicacity, where you know as much or more than God about God and everything, I think would be very UNCOMMON! Still, I'm unsure whom I'm going to trust on this fallen-nature business...

So if all of us aren't flawed at least a little, then sooner or later I guess somebody is going to notice the perfection, albeit infrequently, of the perfect behavers. I bet documentation of that would be better proof than your basic common sense - see, here's a perfect human with provably no behavior flaws - therefore, God doesn't necessarily ALWAYS create flawed man. A la Lance, I will now direct you to get back to me on that after you've researched all that thoroughly for the rest of us. I may be able to save you some time, however, since somebody told me that there was only one perfect man who's ever lived. Plus they wrote a book about him; my advice to you would be to START ("fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom") your spiritual journey of understanding with that book, called the Bible - you should start with the New Testament, optimally the Gospel of Matthew, like my Alaska lawyer did - that would be ideal really. Plus if you have any close friends that are born again, like Steve or Janalu, they would be an excellent resource as well; I can vouch for them. They really know what they're talking about, even though, yes, it's SO hard to reasonably expect much help from Steve. And prayer is always central to all beneficial spiritual life. I can quote tons of Scripture to aid you, but that's never helped with you in the past, so what's the point? Probably better if you just go read it for yourself with an open spiritual mind.

Sandra Spieker (Ringo)

Hollis,

Cathy lived on the other side of Hughes Lane very close to LBJ Freeway.  Her house was the last home that backed up to the golf course.  I don't remember the address number, unfortunately, however I looked up the address you supplied on Realtor.com and saw photos of that home!  Wow what a beauty it is!  If you want to see the inside of it, just put the address into that website and take a look!  Cathy's house was directly across the street from Hughes Circle.  There is a pool and cabana house in the back.  What sweet parties we had there!  Her mother decorated that home in a style she called "Chinese Modern".  I remember Cathy hated the Christmas tree her mother picked out.  It was one of those aluminum ones that turned with the changing lights.  We did have spectacular trick or treat times there.  Those neighbors on Hughes and surrounding streets had some very nice treats!

Lowell Tuttle

Tommy, also on the forefront of solar energy are Exxon and BP.

Jim, the Aztec's named the Avacado from their word for "testicle."

David, I always remembered that was a Methodist Church, but you must know better.   The grounds of the church there were the site of Richardson YMCA's first two summer Day Camps.   It was my first payroll job as a 7th grade Jr. Counselor along with Roberto Fleming.   During two week session there was the shootings from The Tower of Texas.

The problem with plastics is not the dump the size of Texas in the Pacific, or re cycling, or un checked use of disposable plastics.   It is the microscopic breakdown whicih gets through even cheese cloth and clogs up everything in nature.   We need it, but it needs to be properly resourced and engineered.   I actually golfed with a BP plastics engineer the other day.   He is a plus .5 GHIN handicap.

Steve Keene

David and Sandra,

Just so you know that I am not totally opposed to recycling and reclaiming waste products and energy, I have a new project that I am trying to get some traction on.  It involves taking waste poisonous flare gas from atop refinery flume stacks and harnessing the energy in a trailer sized module to create energy to power bitcoin, etherium and defi mining on a bank of computers using the flare gas for energy rather than electricity.  Electricity is the largest cost factor of any crypto mining operation. I have a basic module design and am working on a sharing agreement with a large Panhandle midstream/downstream operator.

Steve Keene

Wayne,

I made an astute observation yesterday that might interest you.  I was wearing my Double T dress shirt with a pair of khaki slacks when I realized that most companies like Fanside and Underarmour put Texas Tech logos only on the shirts and not the pants in the XL, 2XL and 3XL sizes.  Why would this be?, I wondered.  Then it dawned on me.  At 71 years of age and my frequent bathroom trips that seem to accompany my aging bladder problems, I get enough tee tee on my pants without the additional reminder of a TT label to help identify such.

David Cordell

Steve, thanks so much for sharing that thought. Now, please advise how I can remove it from my memory banks.

Meanwhile, I have a question of all.

Do you find this aspect of our president's behavior annoying -- when he tries to explain something by leaning forward, displaying a mocking expression, speaking very slowly, and articulating uber-clearly as if to say, "You're a dumb-ass"? 

There's something disturbing about seeing bumbling, senile idiot with a double-digit IQ trying to explain something in a condescending way.

Steve Keene

Chief Bedpost,

Tommy made the statement: if the human race was eradicated, life would spread and flourish on earth

What a hypocrit.  How long ago was he touting the fact that humans created global warming and climate change so we need to fix it by stopping the use of fossil fuels?  If humans were eradicated then, without undoing the damage, how is life going to flourish? How long ago was he touting his approval of government mandates on vaccinations to save people from dying of Covid-19 and its variants?  If he wants the human race to be eradicated so life can flourish, he should be taking the opposite position.  How long ago did we hear him soaking up the credit for taking care of one human being who might be more likely to perish without his help?  With his statement it would mean he should go ahead and help him meet his demise and then look for the next one to send to the afterlife as quickly as possible.  How long ago did we hear his diatribe on gun ownership because people might be killed en masse by White Supremacists and crazies?  He should be taking the opposite position.  The only position he has taken that backs up the statement he has made is that he wants all Trump supporters executed.  That would take out more than half the people in this country in one fell swoop.  He failed to make the distinction that liberals should be the last ones to be eradicated. However, they are next.

I don't see a lot of difference in his postion than Adolph Hitler, Charles Manson or Pol Pot.  He may be worse in that he wants everybody dead so insects like ants can form armies and attack other species.  Maybe he will reconsider and go for an entirely scorched earth policy, so the Earth looks like the Moon.

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Sandra:

Those 13958 photos must have been taken before Pete Peabody purchased the home.  He has improved the landscaping.  That must be why he wanted access to my dad's plans.  One thing Pete didn't restore is a pool that ran just outside the front door.  The walk led up to a bridge over the pool for entry into the house.  Pete hasn't restored that feature. 

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Steve,

Are you about to leave soon on your African safari?

Hope your trip is super wonderful for you!

Send us pics if possible!    We surely enjoyed seeing you on that camel a while back!

Jim Bedwell

Chief Toenails,

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can you return that spell-checker you borrowed from Wayne? You're embarrassing us SO MUCH that they're going to think we're a bunch of firewater-addicted, irreversibly foolish subhumans!!

Chief Bedpost

P.S. After having viewed Wayne's next post, if you return it, you may want to suggest to Wayne that he get ANOTHER spell-checker to replace the one he leased, you know, the one he rented to replace the one he let you borrow!!

P.P.S. Aw, shoot! Now Wayne has corrected his "teh" to "the"!!! RATS!!!!

Wayne Gary

Steve,

Did I see some yellow stains on your boots when we went to see the Rangers?

Jim Bedwell

Chief Toenails,

Which reminds me of Twain's view of the French. He must have run into some really OBNOXIOUS Parisian shopkeepers like I did once but here's what he had to say, and I can repeat all this since I'm an eighth Cajun & about 14% French overall (only blacks can say the N-word, right?). Also I'm thinking Paris & the rest of France, although my experience is limited, could be sorta like New York & the rest of the US - you may not get a good idea of Americans if you only are in New York City when here. So here goes:

France is miserable because it is filled with Frenchmen and Frenchmen are miserable because they live in France.

There is nothing lower than the human race except the French.

Somewhere between the angels and the French lies the rest of humanity.

Joe is a liar. So is Kamala. So is Nancy. So is Chuck. So are they all.

In Marseille they make half the toilet soap we consume in America, but the Marseillaise only have a vague theoretical idea of its use, which they have obtained from books of travel.

Wayne Gary

Sandra,

I don't know why I did not know you or Cathy in HS.  I lived on Alpha Rd in the 3rd house east of Preston. I threw the Dallas Morning News in the neighborhood but for some reason I didn't know most of the kids in the neighborhood. Most of the time my older brother or I drove to HS in our car instead of riding the bus.

Jim Bedwell

Now the Pentagon is confirming the bungled drone killing of 10 Afghani people this past week, 7 children. They thought it was ISIS-K, relying on no intel since that's how they left the country so completely in disgrace.

My first thought was my CHRONIC thought about Joe - he can NOT think properly EVER and he CANNOT make a proper decision EVER EITHER. Just like whenever I see some young 20-year-old's death in the Anchorage, AK obits or any obits, I think "I wonder if Fentanyl was involved?", that's my thought whenever I observe ANY results of Joe's actions.

Also on FNC (where else?) they're saying over the 20 years in Afghanistan, we ruled the night due to our WAY superior night-vision technology. Now with our taxpayer funded militarization (similar to our domestic militarization of State, Justice, FBI, ad nauseum), of the Taliban, they will be our equal from now on to Armaggedon. More blood on Joe's hands - there will be A LOT more.

Finally now the FAA is similarly being Marxist militarized - they're saying FNC's drones won't be allowed to film the 10,000+ (85% Haitian) illegal aliens now under the underpass in Del Rio, Texas, currently awaiting resettlement into your neighborhoods since the "system" is SO CLOGGED up right now - WE NEED MORE BORDER CONTROL TO AID THE DEMS IN TAKING TOTAL CONTROL FOREVER - YEE HAW!!

I like what OUTSTANDING Louisiana Senator John Kennedy (our age; interesting name) said today:

Trusting the Biden Administration with the border is like trusting Harvey Weinstein with your daughter.

hahahahahahaw - that guy is BRILLIANT!! He's always coming up with all kinds of witty stuff and wordplay, etc.

And yet there are people that are TODAY still listening to Don Lemon, the View, Stelter, the Morning Joke, Chris Cuomo, Rachel Maddow, etc. GO FIGURE!!! Well, Marxist is as Marxist does. Pretty simple.