01

Today's theme once again comes from one I watched on a DVD with my family over the holidays. This quotation stuck in my mind, so I planned the entire them around it. In retrospect, this was not a brilliant idea, as the music brought challenges of its own. I had thought with a sound track of 20 songs, surely I could find one acceptable midi version. I was wrong, but I did find a site with all the lyrics, and another wherein you may plays sound clips.

In the end, I opted to print the words to Hoobastanks's "Did You?", and go with a silent page. Perhaps we could all use a little peace and quiet in our lives from time to time.

WOWZERONI-RINI-ROONI!!! Would you look at the birthdays we have coming in the next few days?!? A Threefer today, another Threefer tomorrow, still another Threefer on Sunday, and a Fourfer on Monday!

05 - Carolyn McCormick Holmes ('57)
05 - Cammie Dick Gibson ('57)
05 - Leonard M. (Doc) Hudson (Warwick HS - '60) of VA - 1942
06 - Harry Covert ('57) of Northern VA
06 - Steve Veazey ('60) of VA - 1942
06 - Diane Sandler Marcus ('69) of MD - 1952
07 - Jimmy Shires ('57) of VA
07 - Bruce Smith Slama ('57)
07 - Page Smith Morahan ('57)
08 - Mrs. Wilma Salmon Robinson of VA - 1934
08 - Joan Burcher Green ('57)
08 - Sonja Settles Allen ('57)
08 - Patricia Branch Coltrane ('57)

From Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 01/05/07 - "A HOLIDAY OFFER FOR ALL TYPHOONS":

I know that there were many members of the Class of 1964 who were unable to attend the 40th Year Reunion in 2004 and who did not receive a copy of the Old Rustier Anchor (2004). I suspect that there are members of the classes which preceded and followed the Class of 1964, who may be curious about the lives of their friends. For those who may not know, The Old Rustier Anchor is the compilation of photos and remarks by members of the Class of 1964. A version has been published at every reunion (1974, 1984, 1994, 1999, and 2004.)

I am pleased to offer (at no charge) the Microsoft WORD version of the Old Rustier Anchor (2004) to anyone who requests it. This is the Master file from which the printer created the booklets we distributed at the 2004 reunion.

It is a 24 page, 9 MB file (due to images) which I would attach to an e-mail. If anyone is interested, simply send an e-mail to <nnhs64@cox.net>. Please let me know if you are unable to receive large attached files due to spam filters, etc., and I will make other arrangements.

What a wonderful opportunity you've provided for everyone, David!

Thank you so much!

So that no one will miss it, I'll carry this offer in the next several Newsletters, and I've posted it on TYPHOONMART, as well:

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http://livedigital.com/content/837687/

Kung Fu Baby-funny movie clip.

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Site stated "these are people who find normalcy frightening".

WILD GIGGLES!!! Thank you, Shari!

From Glenn Dye ('60) of TX - 01/03/07 - "Life is a gift":

There was a blind girl who hated herself because of her blindness. Not only did she hate herself but she hated everyone else, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and then she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, "Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?" The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him.

Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her that simply said. "Just take care of my eyes, dear."
________________________________

This is how the human brain changes when our status changes. Only a few remember what life was like before and even fewer remember who to thank for always being there even when times were painfully unbearable.
________________________________

Life Is A Gift

Today before you think of saying an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to God for a companion.
Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven.
Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.
Before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.
Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.
But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us is without sin and we all answer to one maker.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and thank God you're alive and still around.
Life is a gift, Live it, Enjoy it, Celebrate it, And fulfill it.

Thank you again, Shari! This is a very beautiful presentation of a concept, that for all its simplicity, seems to remain hard to grasp and even harder to fully incorporate in our lives.

I think I might have been dreaming about you and merry-go-rounds. The Buckroe one is in downtown Hampton if you ever want to come to NN, I will take you. I really hope I was just dreaming, I think we both are dizzy enough.

Honey, I ALWAYS want to come to Newport News, but as Mick Jagger once said, "You cain't always git whut you waunt!"

BUT, I did "git" to ride that lovely carousel again - quite a few times, actually!

OH, I love Weird Al, Shari!

We seem to watch his videos on a regular basis around here! This one's a winner!

From Wayne Stokes ('65) of VA (and from

Sarah Puckett Kressaty - '65 - of VA) - 01/04/06:

I do hope the story's true. I am still fulfilling my New Year's resolution to forward every chain letter that comes my way. You've been warned!

Wayne Honey, you are a hoot!

That's one of the most original resolutions I've ever heard - certainly beats mine!

You may have read this before but read it again and be in awe at the amazing power of God.

The Tablecloth

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., and on December 18th were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On December 19th a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm - hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus... She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet..

"Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?"

The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG
were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war, she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church.

The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do... She lived on the other side of Staten Island and and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike.

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison... He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

True Story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid

Who says God does not work in mysterious ways..

This has long been one of my favorite stories, Wayne Honey - and Sarah Sugah! And I don't really care if it's true or not, but just for the fun of it, I ran it through Snopes.com, and was pleased to see what they said:

"...True or not, this is one fabulous story, containing many of the elements that make glurge so compelling..."

From Joe Madagan ('57) of FL - 01/04/06 - "Reflections on Basketball by Conroy.":

"An Honest Confession by an American Coward
by Pat Conroy
--------------------
Pat Conroy's novels include "The Prince of Tides", "The Great Santini", "The Lords of Discipline", and "Beach Music". He lives on Fripp Island, South Carolina. This essay is from his forthcoming book, "My Losing Season".
-------------------------------------------------
The true things always ambush me on the road and take me by surprise when I am drifting down the light of placid days, careless about flanks and rearguard actions. I was not looking for a true thing to come upon me in the state of New Jersey. Nothing has ever happened to me in New Jersey. But came it did, and it came to stay.

In the past four years I have been interviewing my teammates on the 1966-67 basketball team at the Citadel for a book I'm writing. For the most part, this has been like buying back a part of my past that I had mislaid or shut out of my life. At first I thought I was writing about being young and frisky and able to run up and down a court all day long, but lately I realized I came to this book because I needed to come to grips with being middle-aged and having ripened into a gray-haired man you could not trust to handle the ball on a fast break.

When I visited my old teammate, Al Kroboth's house in New Jersey, I spent the first hours quizzing him about his memories of games and practices and the screams of coaches that had echoed in field houses more than 30 years before. Al had been a splendid forward-center for the Citadel; at 6 feet 5 inches and carrying 220 pounds, he played with indefatigable energy and enthusiasm. For most of his senior year, he led the nation in field-goal percentage, with UCLA center Lew Alcindor hot on his trail. Al was a battler and a brawler and a scrapper from the day he first stepped in as a Green Weenie as a sophomore to the day he graduated. After we talked basketball, we came to a subject I dreaded to bring up with Al, but which lay between us and would not lie still.

"Al, you know I was a draft dodger and antiwar demonstrator."

"That's what I heard, Conroy," Al said. "I have nothing against what you did, but I did what I thought was right."

"Tell me about Vietnam, big Al. Tell me what happened to you," I said."

WOWZERS!!! I do believe you're right, Major Madagan! That certainly will touch a few nerves - for a variety of reasons! Thanks, Adonis - and enjoy your book!

From One of my Famous Marines - Herb Hice of MI, who served in the Pacific Theater during WWII - 12/31/06 - "Dear Carol, Looks just like you !!!"

Sometimes you must look up from your Newsletter, Lean back, Kick off your shoes, Take time to SMELL the ROSES ~~~ NOW ~~~ Don't you feel better ?????

Sometimes, When I feel like
nobody understands me,
it helps to think of YOU!
Nobody Understands You EITHER!!

__._,_.___
Have an awesome day,
and Know that someone
Who thinks you're great
has thought of you today.

Herbie Darlin', I cannot begin to tell you what a day-brightener this was!

She DOES look just like me, doesn't she?!? Thank you so much, Sweetie!

Reunion information is ALWAYS posted very near the top on the front page, and on the Reunion Page section:

Henceforth, it will be repeated here, lest you forget:

The NNHS Class of 1962
will hold its 45-Year Reunion on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, September 21, 22 and 23, 2007
at the Point Plaza Suites, 950 J. Clyde Morris Boulevard, Newport News, VA 23601.

Suites will be available that will include breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.

Visit Brenda's 1962 Web Page:
http://geocities.com/typhoonmom1/

AND CHECK THIS WEB PAGE FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION - 11/27/06:

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/reunion-62-planning-mtgs.html

The NNHS Class of 1957
is planning its 50-Year Class Reunion,
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday,
September 7, 8 and 9, 2007
at the Omni Hotel in Newport News, VA.

More details to follow!

The NNHS Class of 1958
is planning its 50th Anniversary Reunion,
Friday and Saturday, May 16 -17, 2008.

The Noble Gathering

More details to follow!

From My Niece, Shari, of VA - 01/02/06 - "Why People Move South" (#2 in a series of 11):

Y'all take care of each other! TYPHOONS FOREVER! We'll Always Have Buckroe!

Did You?

(Hoobastank)

Did you say everything you could?
Do the things that you thought you would?
Did it ever occur to you that this could be your final day?

Did you go where you wanted to go?
Learn about what you wanted to know?
Did you ever really give something back instead of always taking it?

Did you find what your looking for?
Did you get your foot in the door?
Can you look at yourself and feel proud of all the things you've done?

Did you inspire the ones that you knew?
Make a difference to those who knew you?
Did you finally figure out what it is that makes us who we are today?

(Chorus)
Don't waste another day
You know I know where you get one
Don't waste another day
To do anything you haven't done

(Did you?)
Did you always give it your best?
(Did you?)
Is there anything you regret?
(Did you?)
If you could have another shot at it all would you do it just the same?

(Did you?)
Was it all you thought it could be?
(Did you?)
Are you the person you thought you would be?
(Did you?)
Or did it feel like you were spinning your wheels instead of moving forward everday?

Chorus(x2)

Did you?(x4)

Chorus(x2)

Did you?(x8)