Dennis Morgan (Denny) Brown

Ain't it the truth!!

Edwin H. (Ned) Brubeck

This gettin old stuff ain't for sissies!

John Robert (Jack) Stackman

Yep Ned, but getting old is better than the alternative - not getting old.

James William (Jim) Bauer

"Older".....my ass........we are all getting better.

Dennis Morgan (Denny) Brown

Ned,

Good to hear from you!!  I hope all is well with you and yours in W. Illinois!  All we can do is "keep on keepin' on".

Dennis Morgan (Denny) Brown

BTW..... we share the same birthday!

Gayle Laurene Thomas (Reed)

5/19

Most days I am good...well...maybe not good good.  Ha.  I mean I am feeling alright.  Yesterday during the tornado warning, I pushed the office chair into the bathroom, took my Bible study materials, Pepsi and chocolate and set up at the sink counter.  I was a happy camper.

Do you think this retirement thing is getting old?  Nahhh.

Blessings and peace to us all!  We will get through this.

Edwin H. (Ned) Brubeck

Retirement has not been at all boring for me either. There are days when I wonder how I ever had the time to go to work. We are currently staying at home, getting all we need delivered, and I am getting A LOT of little projects done.  Stay safe everyone!

Zoe Shoop (Shade)

I am enjoying hearing from fellow classmates.  Poor Dianne in the Caymens, hopefully by this point in time things have begun to open up.  Thanks for the pics of AZ, Lee, gotta love the 24/7 sunshine.  We in Ohio had freezing cold weather for first part of stay-at-home mandate in March and April.  Now as we are looking at July in less that two weeks the weather has been unseasonabley hot (for us anyway) with rain showers in the evenings to cool it down and water the garden. Things began to open up in Ohio in mid-May with social distancing restrictions.  Pretty much back to some normalcy now (so glad to get my hair cut and have a pedicure...)  A lot of folks are not wearing masks while grocery shopping, etc. but I for one am following the directions.  After all we are in the targeted age!!  Now just this week Fairborn and Xenia zip codes have been designated as Hot Spots! for the virus while here to fore we went unscathed.  Not sure why or where the outbreak is occuring but I am playing it safe.  Doing a lot of Zoom meetings and get-togethers with frineds.  Lots of gardening and enjoying the weather.  Base pool finally opened with resrvations required, limited to 30 people, and restricted hours but the water is great. As they are saying, this is the "new normal" and will be for awhile.  Kings Island is to open with socail distancing (not sure how that is going to work??)  Dayton Air Show has been cancelled, Fairborn 4th of July parade, carnaval and fireworks cancelled.  But I did hear the Annual Corn Festival at Community Park in August is still a go.  USAF Marathon is going to be "virtual".  I will walk the 5K (cannot run because of my two hip replacements) sometime in September and will walk the actual course around WSU.  Not sure what the 26/13/10 milers will do but just need to reprot your progress to get your t-shirt, patch , and medal and reprot it in.  Interesting times.  Stay safe and stay well.

James William (Jim) Bauer

Refreshing message Zoe......we are all making adjustments as we see fit. Recovery will be a slow process until a vaccine can be found and then it might take months or years to get it perfected.  The mask isn't sooo bad and "social distancing" I kinda prefer. (Don't have to shower but once every 3 days now)  But life goes on. As long as we are still getting better instead of older is all that matters.

Michael H. Hart

Thurman - couldn't reply to all on Kathy's email system from my email system.

Wishing you the best outcome in your upcoming surgery and positive thoughts your way.  Communicate when you can.  Best regards.

Mike

Michael H. Hart

Keep the faith, sooner or later we'll be able to meet up again in our love shacks (YouTube not my production).

Kathy Lynn Goodman

WHAT A HOOT!!!!!

Mary Priscilla Poling (Sheehan)

Dennis Morgan (Denny) Brown

Tooooooo funny, Mike!  Keep 'em coming!

Dianne M. Hood (Siebens)

Hi Everyone!  Good news from the Cayman Islands.  We have not had one case of the virus here for the last few feeks.  Cayman is Covid free.  So, we are able to go to our friends' homes for dinners and go out to restaurants with groups of our friends.  We still have to wear masks in any indooor public building like our grocery store and shops.  Also, we are still isolated.  Our borders are closed until Oct. 1st. No tourists can get in.   We can fly out, but would have to go into a gov't quarantine for two weeks if we could get back in.  It's not so bad because we can get together with our friends and neighbors.  I am now the official wateer aerobics instructor, and my girlfriends come every day at 3:30 for our exercises in our pool.  I have also learned a poker game called Texas Hold-em, and we play that every weekednd. Stay safe and well! 😷

Kathy Lynn Goodman

LET'S SHARE SOME MEMORIES!

It is strange but when I think of those childhood days the thing that is foremost in the picture is bicycles.  For me it is the 36", blue, one speed Schwinn with a white whicker basket I got for my 9th birthday.  It was too big for me and Dad had to put blocks on the pedals so I could reach them but I grew into it fast.  It was my transportaion, my freind, for a while my horse, my gateway to the world.  I remember putting multicolored streamers on the handle grips, playing cards in the spokes, and saddlebags on the back fender.  And most of all I remember waiting for David at the end of Van Tress so we could join a kalidiscope of friends who were constant and constantly changing as we made our way down School Dr to school.

Do any of you remember to summer the police department held a bicycle safety class in the parking lot of the high school?  We got lessons on bike safety, rules of the road, and etiquette.  At the end of the week we had a test and a skill course.  If we passed (we all did) we got a certificate and a license plate for our bike.  I was so excited.  And then in the afternoon we had a bike rodeo.

Robert S. (Bob) Olive

Gayle Laurene Thomas (Reed)

I'm going through the Lessons in Retirement I started in 2013.  I was keeping up with it until 2015 and by then I was way too busy!  But today, I am reading back through and found a couple I would like to share.  My goal is  to write so that the reader can share a laugh with me.  These are from 2015.

If you live near your family: As I was leaving Trader Joe's, a woman on my left ahead of me was putting her groceries in her van so she had her back to me.  As I drew near I said out loud how much her baby looked like my grandson.  My daughter-in-law, Amy, turned around and said "maybe because it IS your grandson!"  That was so kool! And so great that I did recognize him because he made no indication he recognized who I was.  Whew!  That could have gone really wrong!

If you have trouble getting around in the dark: I set my 'special alarm' and when it rang, I stumbled out of bed, but didn't put my glasses on.  I punched the round button and it stopped ringing.  When I came out of the bathroom, it was ringing again so I went to the wall and yanked out the cord.  AHA!  I got you that time.  I'm probably strange (no comments, please), but I thought the whole experience was a hoot!

From a classmate: I sent out an email about retirement questions and answers. This was his reaction...I like all of them. I would have answered sooner, but I was taking my nap.  I didn't record who you were so your secret is safe with me!

Body products: I walked through the bedroom and saw all the body support products I have.  There are 2 knee braces, 2 back braces, an elbow brace and as of today, an ankle brace.  I am not sure how many more body parts I can support...!!!  Hahaha...I think it is funny getting old, but not easy.  Right?

Michael H. Hart

A very good September day with crystal clear sky and quiet weather.  I was in a non-descript and unused parking lot between Broad and Second street in Fairborn.  This parking lot was once the house I grew up in and I was parked where my bedroom once stood in an abstract ritual.

The date was September 5th and the 70th Anniversary of Fairborn, Ohio when the villages of Fairfield and Osborn merged.  Osborn once occupied the field beside the now abandoned Skyborn Drive-in and after the 1913 Flood the houses of Osborn were physically moved and set back down beside Fairfield.  Railroad tracks and the old electric tramway delineated the boundary.

From my old home location I retraced the path I walked for eight years to and from Central School.  A lot of the older homes along the way are still in place.  This path was where I pondered my first life crises occurring in the First Grade . . . Many times walking home I kept thinking, "I don't think I can do this for twelve more years" . . .

I retraced where my buds and I walked to the old high school for the first couple years of high school before we started driving or hitching rides to school.  Most of the stately old homes on Xenia Avenue are still in place and where visitors to Fairborn remark on a bucolic feeling to the old neighborhood.

It's said one can never go home again but there are emotional highlights, good and bad, that never goes away.  They are kept in a box and once in a while the lid is reopened, and yep, they're still there.

Anita Joan Thornhill (Funsch)

Thank you Michael.  My dad got stationed at Wright Pat inn1960 and I never knew the history of the area.  Your post was very informing.

Anita Joan Thornhill Funsch

Mary Priscilla Poling (Sheehan)

James William (Jim) Bauer

Hey Dianne, here in South Texas, we play "Texas Hold-em" the Texas way.........stop in some time and I'll show you our Texas Hold-em the original way.........  He, he, he.........LOL, keep smiling thru the pandemic.

You know Dianne, Omaha Steaks still delivers and that with your local wine "home delivery"  you should be getting along nicely.  I feel your pain as I spent some time in Grenada a while back and the locals were great as we had endless delivery of Pizza but getting thru Cuban Customs was a real B--ch. 

Gayle Laurene Thomas (Reed)

What a great memory, Mike!  The house where I grew up has been a parking lot since 1973 after my Dad died.  I walked from the corner of Cedar Dr and Broad St, down Xenia Dr to the driveway to the elementary school (Miller Ave ?).  Then from there to the high school was a trek!  it wasn't uphill both ways, but close!

Some of those memories are so vivid! But I can't remember what I did yesterday! Ugh! But hey, for being almost 75, I am in pretty good shape.  And that is what I told the Physical Therapist today. And that's the truth!

Michael H. Hart

Gayle, I remember you and I crossing paths walking to and from Central School.  Bobby Newton lived down the street from me on the corner of Second and Xenia and we also crossed paths.  John Michael LLoyd lived a street over and at times he'd be singing out loud as he walked to school. 

About 5th grade Dale Smith, Walter Potts and I came together as buds and we'd meet at Wright Avenue to and from school.  During summers when we got out of sight of our mothers we were the typical "feral" children running from Wright to Broad Street.and twixt in between.  .