Message Forum

Welcome to the Richardson High School Message Forum.

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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04/27/22 10:13 PM #24300    

 

Lowell Tuttle

I googled Globe Life Park.   Those seats behind the backstop are boxes.   They are priced 400,000 a season with a 400 a game minimum (81 x 400 = 32.400)

You get 11 seats per box.  I think they have the weird numbers so it is hard to figure out the cost per customer...

Those look like cool seats for a game.   There's one guy chirpin when the Astros bat.   Reminds me of the dugout demons the Horns used to have at Disch Faulk Field...Fun to go to games there when those guys were chirpin...


04/28/22 12:32 AM #24301    

 

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Lowell:

Keep the memories a coming.I'm visualizing Lockwood at Inge of the early to mid 60's. Do you remember the deli owned and operated by the middle aged couple? First they had their shop in the little strip mall where L&S was - their deli faced Inge and was close to the intersection of Lockwood. Then they moved east on Lockwood next to the Post office there at Custer and Lockwood. My brother was there just about every afternoon buying a slice of cheesecake. I remember the man looking sad and stressed for a few weeks and not being his usual friendly self. Next thing I knew he and his wife closed the place. I also remember when that PO opened there and riding my bike for the opening ceremony with Ralph Yarborough speaking.

04/28/22 01:04 AM #24302    

 

Steve Keene

Lowell,

if you want to sit in the third box on the first base side with the most perfect view of the whole field, call me and tell me when you will be in Dallas and you can come in on the same level as the box midway up.  The boxes are about what you described in cost so I share a portion of one with Hull and a friend of his.  There are 18 seats per box with 5 parking passes so walking is a minimum. with a $600 food allowance for each home game.  I always end up spending $400 more.  With booze it runs almost a grand with tip for beer wine and three bottles of premium hard liqour,  It has wifi and two flat screens and a bathroom in the box.  I got to go to the game you are describing and the Rangers beat the Astros 6-2.  I will let you wear your Astros gear, I don't care.  Seating will accomodate wheel chairs.

You were tougher than me.  I threw the morning news on three streets off Coit that were mostly duplexes and I had one apartment building off Alpha Road.  I did mine in my parents car.  I always started the minute the papers arrived and then headed across town to my girlfriend's house on Custer and Arapaho.  Her mother was a nurse that did not get home till 8:00.  I had some quality time with her before that, then went home and dressed for school.

My mother and sister and I delivered those heavy yellow pages in the afternoon for a week or two each year.  I think my Mom kept all the money, but I got to eat at home for free.

 

Sandra,

It sounds like Aaron has the perfect life.  I remember those days before the wife figured out that she could have half my money and not have to put up with my sorry a....  That generally takes 5 to 18 years  from my experience.  Glad to hear your mother has made friends.  That is half the battle.  I bet they have field trips where she can go out to eat and to some supervised events with her friends!  Be sure to send goodies to her on special occasions that she can share with them.


04/28/22 09:16 AM #24303    

 

Wayne Gary

Lowell, Steve and others.

I did not know of the other News carriers.  My brother and I had 2 routes between Lindale Ln and Weatherred and got the papers at the Wyatts in Heights shopping center.  We had Devonshire, Sherwood, Downing and Scottsdale along with 2 apartment complexes at Weatherred and Spring Valley.  When in Jr High one of my parents would drive us and we delivered the papers on the front porch.  Had to walk.  Once my brother got a Vespa we used it.  We would get the papers around 3:30 and I would be home by 5:00 and back in bed. My Jr and Sr years I had a driving route between bordered by Peyton, Spring Valley (later LBJ) Preston Rd and Whiterock Creek. 

The hardest time was the summer after my Jr year when I got to be a "summer electrical apprintice" I would get up a 3:30 and throw my papers then have to be at a job by 8:00.  For 2 weeks I dug ditches at St Marks School then I jot moved to a remodel at The Dallas Times Herald. The summer job was nice as I got Union Wages. One advantage of having my father as a union electriction. I decided I did not to be and electriction and ge and engineering degree.

Hollis:

I only remember the Sears catalog store in the strip center.


04/28/22 09:31 AM #24304    

 

Wayne Gary

All:

Looking at the pictures on the posts it seems that I am the only one with a current picture.  I wonder why that is?


04/28/22 10:11 AM #24305    

 

Lowell Tuttle

Hollis, you figured out it was Inge.   Very good...Do you remember the old Post Office on the East Side which later became or was next door to the Holocaust survivor's Bike and lawnmower shop?

I am trying to thiink of the deli.   Barely in my memory.

In Junior Hi there was a dance club that had dances at the community center or Masonic (?) lodge just West of the Lockwood post office.   I think I went to two of those dances...not sure...That I know of, I never danced...That was the standard.

Steve.  My dad and my agencies paid for those Yellow Pages.   My agency in Houston had a double truck for two or three years.   The SWBell Yellow Pages in Houston came in two volumes...A-L and M-Z.   A double truck was two pages.   AA-USA Insurance got pretty good listings.   The sales manager for Texas and more was a golfing buddy of my Denny Payne.   Every year I would balk at the costs with my salesman and at the deadline the salesman and Denny would come into my office and get me to sign up....When I did a double truck, I got to go to SWBell's annual outing at their facility in Broken Arrow Okla.   I think it was just called The Golf Club.  They had a super setting.   On the last night one year, we all (about 18 guys) sat and ate a massive top class steak dinner followed by an apertif cart.   Most of these guys drank Coors light and Lite (ech)   They offerred Louis IV brandy to everyone and I went around the table and drank up the leftovers...

I got a special deal on the double truck.  I think it was 80,000 a year.   Had to sell a lot of auto insurance to cover.;   It was only bad because I over spent on myself...

Still living off those policies' renewals to this day, though.  Any my last year in the book was 96, I think.

Progressive and Geico overspent me and others in this business.   A lot of folks are noticing 15-20% increases these days on auto....and the homeowners market is hard to figure.   On auto its frequency and severity causing the increase.   On homeowners, it is the exposure to large peril losses...and the subsequent reinsurance costs.

Enough on insurance.   


04/28/22 10:28 AM #24306    

 

Wayne Gary

My trigger finger is getting very ichey.  Would anyone like to go with tomorrow me to my shooting range near Seagoville?  I've speent enough time working on my house.

Lowell, I remember the bike shop and it was on Central near James Drive.  We bought bikes from him and I remember seeing the tatoo on his arm.  We knew what it ment but never asked about his experiences.
 

I could be like Lance and use this picture


04/28/22 11:01 AM #24307    

 

Lowell Tuttle

Wayne, he moved to Central, but originally was over on the East side.   Near Del's.

Posting old Richardson memories that have been posted before will often expand into other memory offshoots.   So, as I (we) tell our stories writing on the forum, it might get more good old timer thoughts working.

So, I was thinking about the East side.   I was thinking about Simpson Barnett drugstore.   The only times I went there were to get cinamon sticks (they sold them to you in a plastic tube with liquid cinamon...lip burn risk....) and I think I went there to buy my first condoms.  No one knew me there, so it was the place to go.

I thought it was David Cunningham who worked there, and that he was in our class...but I could only find a Mike Cunningham...and not sure if it was him who worked at Simpson Barnett.   

He was on our senior year football team in the RSI? private league where David Cordell was our one man team QB.   Defensive line included Cunningham, Bubba Bostic, and myself.  how could I forget Ron Forrest.

It was a formiddable defensive front four, for that league...but, our secret weapon was 4th and long, David Cordell around the end...almost always converted...

 


04/28/22 11:11 AM #24308    

 

Wayne Gary

Lowell,

I went to the drugstore and bought the cinnamon oil and made my own toothpicks.  Do you remember the dinner on Mail street where you could get root beer in frozrn mugs.  For a while my Grandparents owned a Chick Appliance store on Main which closed arount 1956.  I remember there was some type of store just to the west of their store that still had athe basket trolly from the counter to the accounting dept on the mezzaine.

There was also a gun store on the west side of the tracks that was where my Grandmother Gary was born.  I think it became the youth center for one of the churches.


04/28/22 01:14 PM #24309    

 

Jerry May

RAOK. Better known as Random Acts of Kindness! Its recently come to my attention both my guys......Matt and Mark have done a couple of things.... I find remarkable. (finding out was something which generally came up in conversation)

Matt, (the older one) has a long time friend who he ran around with at Plano Senior High. They stayed in touch for a long time until theiir lives just went in different directions. About 2-3 months ago J's Mom called Matt and informed him he had 4th stage cancer. And the outlook was poor, but bravely was going through chemo and radiation......but was weakened quite a bit each time he went. So Matt promised his Mom he would go see him. She thought it was wonderful! "You will really lift his spirits!" So Matt phoned him and saw him on a Friday about 6-8 weeks ago, (20 mile drive) J was elated! They hugged and Matt stayed for 6 hours the first time. Since then he has gone every Friday since. (sometimes on a Saturday when J was feeling well enough) Matt said he looked okay except for his color. I said "Matt I'm so proud of you for doing so.......and, renewing your friendship."

A new experimental treatment has been tried on him and oddly he feels much better Sometimes his stamina has picked up a bit. also! Through all this, he's keenly aware this may be just buying him time, but in Matt's words:. "But if a miracle happens we're both ready!"

Mark and I have had our moments in the last year or two......and haven't seen him but two or three times in the last year, but it leaves me NO less proud with love for him.

One of his very best friends going back to first grade; (now 41 years old) worked with him. "M", in the last several years has had health issues with bad habits which left him with peripheral problems such as being 100 lbs overweight! (I think perhaps he had gotten worse over the course of the last year after the family lost their/his mother due to sudden illness). "M" was very close to her, but had had a falling out with the Father for many years.

About two weeks ago Mark asked whoever would listen at work......of his whereabouts, after calling in sick the first two days........he suddenly stopped calling in. By the weekend, after asking each day.....and numerous phone calls, which went unanswered, he now was worried enough to go to his apartment. After many knocks and banging with no answer except his newly adopted dog barking and whimpering....Mark called 911. As they arrived they asked him to get the dog to a neighbor or someone temporarily while they kicked the door in .Mark could see through the entrance "M" was laying half on his bed and half on the floor. The paramedics said, "We;ll take it from here." Thankfully Mark knew a neighbor and asked if they keep the dog, while "M's" conditioned was assesed. (they obliged saying they would as long as needed!)

After working on "M" for what Mark said seemed an eternity......they emerged with "M" on a gurney and ALIVE! Just not conscious. As they loaded him up....they looked at Mark and one said, "Mr May we're going to such and such hospital. Btw, we think he has some kind of closed head injury. Good thing you called us when you did; much longer and..........so thanks for calling us."

By now, Mark  had called every family member and close friend and tried as best as he could to describe what had happened. 

After being admitted to ICU in critical condition,  "M" was not speaking and had to be put on a ventilator.(this was on a Sunday) They induced a coma to go into his head to discover massive hemorrhaging! When this was brought under control he lay there with tubes coming out everywhere! (Mark had asked a nurse who he became friends with....."have you ever seen anyone come out of these?" Her cryptic words were "Yes.....but (they) are never the same."

By Wednesday, "M" miraculously woke up.....and asked "What happened?" They even took him off the ventilator......and he stayed awake for two or three days. But not before he saw all of his friends, brother and his Father whom he had had a strained relationship with the last several years. When his Father heard Mark was the one who had arranged bringing him in.......albeit EMS, many were calling Mark a hero. He asked they not say it, because he felt it could have been anyone. "M's" Father hugged Mark and thanked him over and over.again. I think in their own way they somehow had "made-up" for their fractured relationship. He did fairly well until they had to put him back on the breathing machine late Friday. On Saturday I visited.....and I did speak....but it was evident to me he had taken a severe turn for the worse. I was grateful I saw him....and  of course spoke about all the things I could remember about them playing sports together and what a natural athlete he was. I placed my hand over his before leaving.

No surprise to me Mark called the very next evening to reveal he was not responding, and the family had decided in his grave condition to take him off the respirator. It was not said, but "M" was basically able to say goodbye......in those days leading up. Every available organ was harvested, as he was a donor.

Before all this, Mark saw him one last time and reached over and hugged him.....and said, "I love you but go be with your Mom now; she's  waiting for her favorite!"

I've drifted long here, but I'm proud of the guys.....and think..."we should not only be grateful, but can learn from our own kids!" 

 


04/28/22 06:26 PM #24310    

 

Steve Keene

Jerry,

Makes you wonder how long one of us would lie unattended.  I bet I would die of starvation before some of my relatives would think to check on me with an actual visit.  Oh, maybe someone would show up needing to borrow money.


04/29/22 01:04 AM #24311    

 

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Lowell,I didn't know that Masonic lodge had dances. I could have attended and stared at you from across the room as my heart went boom.
You are in good company about that ruminating over memories to discover nuances and angles. William Faulkner is the king of that process.
I don't remember the Post office on the east side. I do remember the old Simpson Barnett on Greenville just north of Main. Any prescriptions needed my parents had filled there, not Sun because of a mistake the Sun pharmacist made with the prescription for sister Bluebird and Heights classmate's father. Don't have the particulars of the exact drug he was mistakenly given but remember him walking with a cane and wearing big wrap around sunglasses as a result.

Before I was old enough to babysit, I remember being paid for jobs like raking leaves.

04/29/22 01:20 AM #24312    

 

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Jerry:
That's just heartbreaking about your son's friend. Both your boys sound like they are "men for others", the Ignatian goal for students attending Jesuit high schools. They have that in spades without you having paid that hefty tuition. You, of course, played an important part in their depth of character development.

04/29/22 06:06 AM #24313    

 

David Cordell

Lowell, my son recently took a job at AAA and got his P&C licensing. I think he fields calls from people seeking auto and home insurance. I wonder what sort of sales training they are providing. Have you ever seen/heard anything by Brian Tracy? He seems to be a well regarded sales management guru.

Steve, why don't you text me every morning -- "Sill alive" ? Better yet, post a joke in this space every morning. Puns accepted. 

Hollis, awake at 1:20? Grading papers? Ahh! The good old days. NOT!

Playing golf this morning in a scholarship fundraiser for UT Dallas. Played golf with Eddy Norton in Austin last week. Had to go to UT Austin for a meeting of an "advisory board". Total misnomer. More like "donor board".

I think I have written about how someone who is 70 1/2 (not Hollis) can make charitable contributions drectly from an IRA. Most of us are taking the standard deduction so we don't get to deduct more than $300 ($600 for couples). If contribution comes from directly IRA, you never have to pay tax on the "withdrawal". We had our entire year's church pledge (plus building fund and other specific grants) paid from our Fidelity IRA. Important - the check has to be written from/by Fidelity  (or other provider) and made out to charity. The check can be sent to you if you want to send/deliver it personally to the charity, but the check can't be made out to you. We delivered the check to the church personally so we could include specific written instructions about how the money was to be allocated, i.e. among the different church accounts.


04/29/22 08:21 AM #24314    

 

Lowell Tuttle

David, AAA was (is) a national organization with franchises owned by individuals and retained.   Texas had the Dallas Auto Club and two others, Texas Motor Divison, and one I can't remember.   The Swallwell's from Highland Park owned the Dallas Auto Club.

The California franchise of AAA got into selling auto insurance big time and eventually became owner of all the franchises in Texas.   That's who owns AAA now, unless there have been changes I am unaware of.

California has vastly different insurance laws than Texas.   They migrate here because we are insurance company friendly and compliant.

It took a long time before insurance carriers moved to Texas because of Texas using their own contracts instead of ISO type legal auto and home insurance contracts, as well as confusion surrounding County Mutual existence.

AAA acts as an agent, but most of their business is written through their wholly controlled carrier AAA insurance, or in Texas probably a fronting County Mutual, as County Mutual's have vastly company favored rate rules...(they don't have to file rates in most circumstances.)

Their rates are competetive with Progressive, GEICO, and St. Farm/Nationwide/Allstate/Farmers etc...

A lot of the administrative jobs at these companies upper levels have employees who have worked at Progressive...as they are the technology leaders who have advanced most of the processes over the past 40-50 years.


04/29/22 08:42 AM #24315    

 

Steve Keene

David.

What kind of lighting did Noah use on the ark?  

 

Flood lights.


04/29/22 11:40 AM #24316    

 

Jerry May

Hollis,

Thank you for those very kind words. I can't take all the credit for sure; since their Mom did quite a bit of work along the way with raising them! I will see her very soon for a "celebration of life memorial" for M. 

And the guys did have their issues in Jr high and High School years. (my Dad used to say...."teenage boys can be wild!) 

But I'm glad at least some of the values we tried to instill in them; stuck. 

They recently reminded me of taking them to South Dallas to see a poor black family who had boys around their age. Since it was very close to Christmas, I had instructed them to take 4 toys each; with one being the one they least wanted to give away. But they did, and saw the elation on those boys' faces. Course Mark was quick to add......."I hope Santa sees this Dad, cause that was kinda hard." Inside I was dying laughing! I assured him he was, and they would have an great Christmas!

Anyway off track here, but when I heard about these acts of kindness, I thought....."Well we did something right!" 

Plus they both remembered me telling them about consequences for everything they did. And I remembered saying, "Well right now youre thinking of the bad kind. I'm speaking of the good things you do too!

In the Bible it says in James I think, "Words without action are meaningless." Actually this might be found in many places.

Theyre good guys.......and I'm proud of them! And I'm quite sure their Mom is, as well~j


04/29/22 04:51 PM #24317    

 

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Biden and his supporters think "disinformation and conspiracy theories" are the number one problem we face currently, while over 2 million people have been let into this country, with 600,000 'got-aways' wandering somewhere in our midst, and a food shortage coming our way worldwide, predictions say.  Also, 42 known terrorist suspects are here as well, and Mayorkas can't tell us where they are. 

Mayorkas should be removed from his position, as his management skills are nonexistent and his lack of skill is very dangerous to this country.

By the way, the "disinformation" that Dems profess to be obsessed about is simply known as "others' opinions that are different from theirs," which, they believe, needs to be silenced, in a society that highly values free speech for all.


04/29/22 05:21 PM #24318    

 

David Cordell

My wife Martha volunteers with our church, serving meals at the Austin Street Shelter, which is south of Deep Ellum in Dallas, sort of southeast of the intersection of I-30 and I-45. I readily acknowledge that I am much, much more comfortable writing checks for charity than doing the face-to-face work. Last week she shamed me into going with her and the rest of the church group.

Volunteers buy and prepare food for 250 residents of the facility. I copied a photo from the internet below. You will see that it is like an empty warehouse (hence, warehousing people). It differs from the current configuration. Now it is full of blue tarps, hung vertically to create cubicals that contain beds. It is a single-adults-only facility. No drugs or alcohol.

We were serving chili-cheese dogs with lots of add-ons, plus fruit, dessert, drinks, etc. My job was to dish out sauerkraut to those who wanted it. (Keep your jokes to yourself!)

I would guess that the group was probably 70% minority and about the same percentage male. Many have jobs, but don't make enough to get by. A few seemed to be a bit mentally and/or socially challenged. As a group, they were very respectful and appreciative. I asked one man about the small silver eagle on the necklace he was wearing. He just said he had had it for a long time. About twenty minutes later, he came back to me and quoted most of this passage from Isaiah:

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I responded that that passage is featured in one of my very favorite movies -- Chariots of Fire -- and that I hoped that he would be able to see it some day. (In the movie the Eric Liddell character reads the passage from a church pulpit, but the movie simultaneously shows runners struggling in competition.)

It saddens me to see people who are down on their luck. I know that "there, but for the grace of God, go I," and it makes me feel guilty. Why do I have so much when they have so little? I also feel guilty that, although I have so much, I am still envious of those who have more.

I don't like feeling those emotions, but maybe I need to feel them more often. I guess I'll accompany Martha the next time she volunteers at the Austin Street Shelter.


04/29/22 07:44 PM #24319    

 

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

David,

You are human, and are sinful in this fallen world, as we ALL are.

You have been taught to actively fight against those feelings, just like other Christians who adhere to Biblical teachings.

The fact that you admit to your gnawing thoughts and realize that those thoughts are wrong, speaks to your faith's meaning in your life.

Don't be ashamed of being human.   You were created in His image, as you have learned. You are forgiven, I'm sure, because you acknowledge your frailties, and seek forgiveness in His promise, as you feel His presence before you daily.

I do the same nutty things, but I have come to know my blessings of which I am eternally grateful, just as so many others around me and you.

I know that you already have this message in you heart and mind, but I repeat it for some who still seek to find truth and meaning of life.

 

Do you remember that Mrs. Fagg used to have Biblical quotes on the chalkboard each Monday morning, and would ask us to respond in whatever way we wished, by writing a brief paragraph after reading those words?

What do you think would happen to her in this day and age, were some educational " higher-up" to notice what she had written before our eyes, and then asked us to write a response to what meaning we thought applied to the chalkboard's message, each Monday morn?

She was the only teacher who did that, as far as I remember, and as far as I know, no parent ever complained.

Do you think she might be put on "the medieval rack" today?    (HA!)

 

 

 


04/29/22 08:44 PM #24320    

 

Hollis Carolyn Heyn

Janalu: In a public school classroom I wouldn't have any trouble with biblical quotes on the chalkboard/smartboard with the opportunity to write a response just as long as students had the freedom not to respond and that the teacher included passages from other great world literature and religions.

David C: I love how you connect with people everywhere.

04/30/22 02:00 AM #24321    

 

Janalu Jeanes (Parchman)

Hollis,

I'll bet you are a great teacher!  You strike me as being a lady of good common sense and fairness.

Tell me what it is that makes you say that Claire McCaskill is good for Missouri and the Democrats?  What do you agree with that she professes?

 

 

One other little thought:  Do you remember one time you noted that you wore those little cotton panties when you were a young student at Heights, that had cotton eyelet ruffles on its edges of the leg openings?  Don't know why you mentioned those sturdy, snow white undies, but when you did, I immediately remembered mine too!  My mother bought those all the time for my sister and me, probably at Sears, where she bought so many items for us kids in those days.  Those fancy pants were SO comfy, weren't they?   Ha, ha!  The memories we dig up in our nostalgic moments!

Also, you and Lowell mentioned the little strip center beside the 1st Methodist Church on Belt Line a few days ago, and that mention brought to mind the times Paulette and I walked down there to buy sour pickles and Snicker bars, during the summer months.  We thought our walks to the Rieff's grocery store (is that the store you called L&S?) were such fun, as we saved up our quarters for our special treats, each week.  Those were some truly exciting adventures for summer days of silly 'whiling away our hours!'


04/30/22 05:48 AM #24322    

 

Steve Keene

David,

Who was the smallest guy in the Bible?

 

Nehi Miah


04/30/22 05:50 AM #24323    

 

Steve Keene

Hollis you should have seen David at the Chicken Ranch in 1969-70..


04/30/22 09:59 AM #24324    

 

Lowell Tuttle

Speaking of guilt, my sister tells me that one of the victims of Chemimir's murder trial detailied in court this week was Mary Sue Brooks, 88 years old in 2018, widow of Quentin Brooks, dentist...

I think she is the mother of Sue Brooks and Tom Brooks, who were younger than us and members of our church back in our HS days.  They lived on a street just off or cornered on Waterview between Belt Line and Northhill.

One summer I was charged with staying in their home while they went on vacation and supervising their son, Tom, who stayed behind for school. 

I remember feeling guilty for years as when they returned, the daughter's pet parakeet had died...I don't remember if it was my job to care for it or not...But, felt guilty anyway.


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