Greetings this week

Greetings from
Kent Langworthy
Kevin Ftich
Kirsten Mackey Fleisher
Sandy Jackson Epoch
Dan Sheedy
Mike Krall
Tim Kress

Kevin Fitch

Like Larry English said, it is incredible to be working this hard at our age.We are lucky to be in good health. I am on the building committee at church and we are building a rectory, office building and new school for 8oo students , so that is pretty rewarding. I was involved in a similar project with Saint Charles Schools ten years ago. This evening my family is driving to Syracuse for my nieces birthday at Lemoyne Chapel on Saturday; David and Daryll Wheeler are hosting a gathering before, so it looks like I will see my four brothers and five sisters all together for the first time in three years. I cannot believe Sheila and I have 5 grandchildren. Our younger son is not dating anyone seriously; but there is always a chance he could marry. He is twenty five.
Thank you for keeping up with everyone and nicely enticing us be involved. Hope your family is well.
Best regards
Kevin

Back in Austin

Hi Debbie,

I am back in Austin and loving every minute with my grandson. Austin has some great places to have fun with a two year old. Yesterday the Austin Children's Museum, today Volente Beach waterpark and next weekend Camp Grady YMCA camp in Dallas. We are having a son/daughter, moms and grandmothers getaway. I am sweating out the heat here in Austin for a couple of weeks before I head home to Syracuse for three weeks. It has been so dry here with temps over 100 degrees for weeks, except for the short showers we received after the hurricane last week. I hope your weather is getting better. I like your articles and adorable dogs. I also hope that the vibes you send out find a few more classmates to tap into the blog. It is such a great site. Thanks again and again for bringing some of us together.

Sandy Jackson Epoch from Austin Today

Baby Boomer Retirement Tips

Baby Boomers are becoming aware that they are experiencing a different type of retirement than the previous generation.
Compared to other generations, these confident and independent Baby Boomers admit that:
+ They need more money than their parents' generation to live comfortably.
+ Their generation is more self-indulgent than their parents'.
+ They will be healthier and live longer.
Most Baby Boomers (the cohort of Americans born between 1946 and 1964) believe that they will still be working during their retirement years. The oldest, born in 1946, will reach 62 in 2008 as they begin retirement age over the next 20 years.

Click here for CoachThee.com website and complete article:
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Tips for Enjoying Summer Heat

Tips For Enjoying Summer Heat

Written byKeith C. Heidorn, PhD, THE WEATHER DOCTOR

To best enjoy the heat of summer:
Avoid excess activity during periods of hot temperatures and high humidity.
Drink plenty of fluids and replace lost electrolytes (potassium, sodium, chloride, etc.) with foods or supplements.
Avoid the direct sun.
Avoid sunburn: the skin cannot loose heat effectively when burned.
Wear loose-fitting clothing.
Eat "light" foods such as fruit and vegetables and avoid heavy foods such as proteins which increase body heat.
Give the body time to adjust to warmer temperatures during the first hot days.
If necessary, seek areas with cooler temperatures: air-conditioned buildings, forests, lake or sea shores.

Big Storm

I used to love thunder storms in the summer. Not anymore. We seem to lose power when there is a storm. Sunday night we had a whopper. The power went off at 11pm. The house is quiet with no air movement. It's so humid out that you don't want to open the windows. You manage to sleep until it's light out. Then it's off to the store for ice to save the food. And coffee too. Then you wait. I waited until noon until the power was back on. That was yesterday.
Tuesday, today, is supposed to be record breaking heat and humidity. This is usually followed by a storm. And guess what. The process could start all over again. (:

Mavis Graduates

Mavis is 16 weeks old and she completed 4 weeks of puppy training.

Flip Benham

Flip and Monique and her little daughter Daneesha: taken at our Memorial Service for the unborn held in downtown Atlanta, on Thursday, July 17, 2008.

Larry English

Deb,

Just returned from our wonderful 7 day trip to Paris with my son and daughter. It was a great experience. I think we walked about 100 miles during the stay. Attached is a photo of us on a very nice dinner cruise ship. Live entertainment, floor to ceiling windows. You can’t look out windows here and see the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Napoleon’s Paris home all in one night! From left to right, that is me, my daughter Lindsey (20), my son’s fiancée Michelle, my son Justin (23) and our friend from Paris Antoine. Antoine stayed with us for the summer of 2001 and 2002 at our home in Chittenango. We had not seen him for 6 years. He is now a nuclear engineer working on France’s next generation of nuclear reactors.
My son Justin has been going out with Michelle since the 7th grade and he proposed to her while we in Paris, so that was another exciting development. Burned through a lot of cell phone time notifying all of the family and friends about that. The engagement was a long time in the planning and our family kept the secret well. Everyone had a camera and we took hundreds of digital photos and a few rolls of 35 mm, those however are in question because the security guard at the Paris airport refused to hand inspect them and insisted on x-raying the lot. My daughter was near tears over that.
Our rented home in Paris was stunning, one block from the Louvre, very large (by Paris standards) and exquisitely decorated with antiques and very beautiful tapestries. Based on the number of decorating shops that we saw I would say that the French are into home decorating in a major way. Certainly based on what we saw at Versailles the Kings and Queens were!! We had a private tour guide for the Versailles tour so we were able to gain access to some areas not normally open to the public which was fun. Since we were there on Sunday we also got to experience the classical music and fountain display. Hard to believe that they folks were living like this when we were still living in log cabins. No wonder that did not take us very seriously.
The weather was mostly great, a few cloudy days, some light sprinkles, in the 70’s almost the entire time. As you will see in the Versailles picture that I attached, the sky looked very menacing, but an hour later it was bright sun.
We ended our visit with a great dinner at the ultra modern Georges Restaurant atop the Pompidou center. From the terrace where we ate we experienced a sweeping view of Paris. On the way back home in the Metro we ran into a very talented string ensemble from the Paris fine arts school playing some Vivaldi, not something that you see every day.
One final thing. We watched the most impressive fireworks display that I have ever seen from a bridge over the Seine River. This was in celebration of Bastille Day on Monday July 14th. It must have costs millions to put on.

All in all it was a simply spectacular vacation.

Kirsten Mackey Fleisher

A new addition to Kirsten's family of puppies.

Dan Sheedy

We visited our eldest son Ben at the Sterling Renaissance Festival (near Oswego, NY) yesterday (July 20). Despite the torrential rains, 100% humidity and mud everywhere, I'd estimate that there were a few thousand people there. The festival really has grown and matured into a cultural event well beyond it's humble origins.
Ben performed in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and sang with a quartet. Setting aside the less than ideal weather conditions, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day.
Our 17 year old, Jonathan, was surprisingly enthralled by the spectacle.

My best to you and all classmates of '66.

Dan

TOO Hot

It's too hot here today in the Midwest. The temp got over 100 degrees with high humidity. You feel sick when you hit the blast furnace going from your air conditioned car to the store and back. We keep our house like a meat locker. It's wonderful. Most people can't stand it that cool, but we keep the temp around 70.
The best way I've found to beat the heat, without a pool, is to drink iced coffee with a little coffee ice cream in it. It's wonderful. My favorite drink from the St. Louis Bread Co. is an iced latte usually with a cinnamon scone.

Greetings from the following Classmates

Camilla Zankowski Daniels
Dan McCabe
Dan Sheedy
Sue Bon Walden
Pamela Lipe Revercomb
Dave Eckerson

OASIS

The OASIS Mission

OASIS is a national nonprofit educational organization designed to enhance the quality of life for mature adults. Offering challenging programs in the arts, humanities, wellness, technology and volunteer service, OASIS creates opportunities for older adults to continue their personal growth and provide meaningful service to the community.

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Sue Bon Walden

Hey Debby: I have so enjoyed reading current news of fellow classmates from '66. It looks like you have devoted a lot of time to keeping everything going and I'm sure all your efforts are greatly appreciated.
Things here in VA are going well. Steve still continues to work with a private contractor for the FAA in the DC area and still commutes from there to Williamsburg. My dog (Lucy) and I keep things semi-organized at the house.
I have taken a few steps back from my volunteering at the hospital. I declined our president's request to continue my position on the board as a sign of protest - not that many people noticed. I was having trouble from our president to obtain funding for a Pediatric Gift Bag project that I worked for a year on. This project wasn't even my idea but I was willing to implement it. Things seem to get so political, especially when money is involved. They voted to spend $100,000 on a small "Healing Garden" a few years ago to be paid for over five years, but our president had a lot of heartburn about an annual sum of $1,000 to purchase coloring books, crayons, etc. (from the Dollar Store no less) to keep little kids entertained when they were admitted. After nearly seven years working on every fund-raiser (president for one year-and had no clue what was involved) I had had enough. Steve and I still sold tickets for the annual 4th of July Ice Cream Social held in the Wren Yard and the College of William & Mary, right next to Colonial Williamsburg. This is one of the major fund-raisers and by all accounts quite successful despite the heat and light drizzle.
Steve and I have rented an ocean front house on the Outer Banks, NC in September for a weeks vacation. We like to go down there at that time of year because all the kids are back to school, the eateries are less crowded, and the rent is less. However, it is hurricane season and we were forced to evacuate when Floyd blew through. Steve, a meteorologist, of course knows the timing is risky so we pay extra for insurance in the event of evacuation. So, if there are any of you out there who enjoy 'fun in the sun' and sand in your suit and can pack your stuff in 30 minutes or less, let us know and we can give you more details.
Debby, we have kept an eye on all the flooding in and around St. Louis. (Steve's family all lives there.) I hope you have not had to worry about it. Thanks again for all you have done. Sue (Bon) Walden
PS: (July 14) I don't know what happened but I ended up sending the above message to myself. Since then I have been reading more about classmates. Some of them are doing amazing things. I'm guessing Cheryl Albig is at VA Tech? She must have been there last year during the shootings on campus. I have several friends whose grandkids attend Tech or who have kids who have. What a horrible, shocking event that was.
Congratulations upon your 18th anniversary! I enjoyed the pictures of your dogs-especially the one where they're looking out the window. Have you been able to get your mother settled in near you-in your area? As difficult as it is to care for an ailing parent having them close by makes it a little easier. We were living in Hawaii when my dad died and here in VA when my mother was ill/dying in FL. Having been an only child It was up to me to make all the decisions. None of it is easy.
We may end up in the St. Louis area sooner than we planned. One of Steve's younger sisters was diagnosed with a brain tumor last November. We talked to her oldest daughter last night and apparently she isn't doing well. The tumor (and subsequent surgery), affected the part of the brain that controls speech, motor skills, etc. Cancer is such an insidious disease.
Well, I must go for now. I look forward to reading more about others. Have a safe summer.

Dave Eckerson

To those who matter:I get on a plane to Kampala tomorrow, and have just been informed that my Comcast account will no longer work when I don't subscribe to Comcast. Who would have thought.So not only will I lose my all-access Mariners baseball package, I will also lose my personal email address. I can't tell which I'll miss most. From now on you can contact me at davesbirthday@gmail.com. I'm working out a deal with the M's for access in Kampala. See you when I see you,Dave

Debby Larus Doolittle

Many of you have emailed me about my mother. Happily we've made the move and she is a comfortable 7 1/2 miles close by in an assisted living facility. She has a nice one bedroom apartment.
I have been going to see her everyday sometimes 2 to 3 times. She has dementia so she definitely needs assistance. I just called her to tell her to go to dinner. She missed lunch so I don't want her to miss dinner too.
We went for an outing together to a wonderful lily farm and had lunch.
She seems happy and is adjusting to MO from NC.

Debby Larus Doolittle

My mother over for a visit holds Mavis while she sleeps.
Savana and Mavis
Bailey and Mavis
Mavis. She turns 16 weeks old tomorrow.

Debby Larus Doolittle

My husband John Butler and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary on July 12th. He gave me a dozen roses and I gave him M&M's and some shorts for skeet shooting in hot weather.

Sandy Crothers Jacobson

Hi Debby,

I have been reading the blog off and on for a while and I've finally decided to take the time and send my information. First, thanks for all the work you have put in to this blog. You've done a wonderful job! I'm living in Palatine, Il. which is a northwest suburb of Chicago. I am very busy working as a K-6 ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher in our local school district and doing private tutoring. My three sons are grown - two are high school teachers and one is an accountant. As far as F-M classmates are concerned, I managed to get together with Sue Bassett Doolittle and Patti Bailey Burge over spring break at Patti's home in Florida. We had a great time pulling out the old yearbooks and catching up on the news. As soon as school was over, 6/6, I went to Boston for some family events as my sister, Cindy, and both brothers live in the Boston area. Currently, I've just returned from a two week stay in Japan as part of an educational/cultural exchange sponsored by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Chicago. Along with 4 other educators, I visited 5 cities, 8 schools, and many cultural sights. It was a wonderful experience and gave me new insight into the lives of my many Japanese students. I have to say that I've never eaten so much fish in my life and I like fish. I learned to like seaweed, pickled vegetables, buckwheat wine, and various other foods. The only thing I couldn't eat was the baby octopus I found in my soup one day. I had trouble eating something that was looking back at me! One of the best parts of the trip was the opportunity to spend time with two families of former students whose fathers had been transferred back to Japan during the past few years. So it's been a busy summer so far. Hopefully the next 5 weeks will see an addition to the house completed and some landscaping started before school starts and I again head to Boston for a family wedding.Thanks again for all the effort you've put into this blog.

Sandy

Lynne Gibson Lovett

It's been such a busy, crazy time in my life... I'm packing up to head to NJ for a few days with my husband (who's living there while working on a 3 year project). We're leading this crazy commuter life with most of the burden of travel resting on me. The upside is that our apartment in Jersey City is only 55 miles from our daughter and her family in Norwalk CT, so we see lots more of them and our grand baby than we would otherwise.
How have you been? I haven't looked at the blog in a very long time, are you still updating that? It is really nice of you to put the effort into keeping everyone connected through that site. I'm sure everyone appreciates it. I'll take a stab at it next week after I return home again.
I hope you're well and have some interesting summer vacation plans. Thanks for keeping in touch.
Lynne

Ralph Braun

It's been busy, this summer as always. We have had serious flooding issues in this part of the mid-west. I hope you are far enough away from that problem down there.
June brought about a foot of rain and lots of local areas under water. The western part of the state got more than two feet and is still flooded. Just north of here (near a property I have) most of the roads were under water and video was all over the national news with a lake that suddenly washed out one of it's banks and carried homes into the new river. The lake drained completely and the area is just devastated . We have done pretty well with all the rain right here, having little damage except some downed trees BUT the mosquito population is the worst ever seen. I know they were not this bad in south east Asia. They are so thick that going out requires a gallon of insect repellent and heavy clothing no matter what time of day or what temperature it is.
I never thought I would look forward to snow or at least drought but the little blood suckers are unbelivable. The dog has to be dragged kicking and screaming outside and I swear I saw a gang of mosquitos carry a crow off, the other day. The lakes around here are heavily polluted now since the treatment plants were overloaded with all the run-off. I think I saw some pythons and alligators for sure. The "water" is a bubbling mat of green and perfect habitat for them. Ha Ha, just wait until it turns to green ice this winter ! that will fix them. Other news of the real variety , I just came back from vacation, didn't really do anything special, just worked around the house doing things I've threatened to do for some time. We did go up to Carol's cottage in northern Wisconsin for a few days. The fishing and swimming was great with cooler temperatures and clear water and very few bugs. Carol's daughter and husband, three children (one new born) and their dog will be here tomorrow , for a month, oh boy ! Another daughter is coming for a week this month too so we will have a house full, to be sure. What have I got myself into ? I may have to take up residence out in the garage.Work just keeps getting tougher all the time, as the saying goes. The pace has become more intense as the economy worsens. We are in the emissions/ fuel economy research end of the spectrum and there is a frantic push for more results in a shorter time period. Oh well, it's job security.I've gone on too long, hope you are well and happy. Talk to you soon.
Ralph

Sylvia Billings Brown

Had a wonderful surprise call from Sylvia Billings Brown. Slyvia and Bud had the great good fortune to sell their home in Camillus in one day. They are now in the process of relocating to another property in Hamilton, NY. Sylvia will be retiring from her job next month. So she and her husband have their hands full.It was great that she took the time to call her old, as in former, school friend.

Dave Milan

Hi Debby,

Sorry about the lack of emails. It seems that I've been on the move every second with work and home improvements and car repair. I guess being able to do all this stuff myself is both a blessing and a curse. Not much happening other than that. I went down to La Grande, Oregon, two weekends ago to see my two sons participate in an off-road triathlon. My older son, Joey (age 30), has been working out forever but my younger son, Jesse (age 27), is just getting into it. Joey can't run anymore because he has a bad back, so he talked Jesse into doing the run leg. It gave Jesse a reason to train and he's been really motivated to get in shape. Joey did the open water swim (at 1K or 0.6 mile) and the mountain bike leg (about 15 miles) and Jesse did the 10K (6.2 miles) run. They did great and I was really happy that I was there to see them working so well together. I'm very proud of both of them. Then I went down to Boise for my grandson's first birthday. He's a real cutie and, of course, brilliant, as is my 3-year-old granddaughter. It was a whirlwind trip with me flying down on Sat morning for the birthday party on Sat night and coming back on Sun afternoon, but Joey and I managed to do a little father/son bonding on Sun morning with an open water swim. This weekend Joey and I were planning to go up into the mountains for a long weekend backpacking trip, but there's still so much snow that we wouldn't have even been able to get to the trail head. So it's a weekend of working on the house, yard and cars. I'll try to get a couple of bike rides in and maybe a walk in the woods, too. We'll see. Hope all is well with you. From the news accounts, it looks like you've had lots of water in your area.

Hope you've managed to stay high and dry.

Dave

Cheryl Albig

Hi Debby,

Pretty routine here, just keeping up with maintenance doctor appointments like a recent colonoscopy and an eye exam that will restrict my driving to daylight hours only. Next week, the periodontist. It seems like doctor appointments are interfering with my life!

With Virginia Tech in town, I quite often edit journal articles and dissertations (& a few books) for professors and graduate students. But I'll soon begin work on my first fiction. It should be fun to deal with something with a plot. At least I hope it has a plot or it will need more editing than I'd like to do. I was once asked to edit a book of poetry and wisely chose to turn that offer down. Poetry never was my gig, and I can't edit what I can't understand.

Happy Independence Day. Only 10 more days 'til I turn 60. Oh, the horror of it all!

I think of you often--whenever I see the weather report. Looks like Missouri weather leaves a little to be desired.

I hope your mother is doing well.

Cheryl

News and Information about the Class of 1965

Dave Homer was good enough to send me some information on his classmates from 1965.

"Thank you for writing. It's good to hear from Tim, even if indirectly, and where he is. I'm sending this back to you so that you can send it on to Tim in whatever form you think best since he's not computer oriented. (Dave Homer)
I can fill Tim in on myself and a few people who I saw at the 40th reunion two years ago. I live outside Albany, Nerw York with my wife. Our three kids are up and out. I'm a judge here in federal court and have lived in Albany since 1979. I last saw Tim at Syracuse U. sitnning in the Varsity restaurant with a couple very pretty friends but haven't seen or heard from him since. I hope all is well.
Jeff Smith lives in Bradenton, Florida with his wife and three kids, two still in ocllege. He is an oral surgeon, lives on a golf course where he plays constantly, and has season tickets to every pro sport event in Tampa.
Rob Sylvester lives in Fayetteville with his wife, Lucy, whom Tim may remember. Rob is now a fianancial consultant at a business located in Manlius. He plays golf every week with Gary Revercomb, who married Pam Lipe and is a dentist in Manlius.
Peter Myer lives here in Albany with his wife. Their two boys are now working as a middle school teacher here in Albnay and a policeman in Rhode Island. Peter took a mid-life tunr and became drug counselor a few years ago and works a t a facility here in Albany.
Neither Bob Sudmyer nor Frank Perkins were at the reunion, but Sudsy is a real estate lawyer in Worcester, Mass. (Doug Perkins works in a support position at his law firm) and Frank is in the real estate business with his other brother in Utah where he still skis a lot.
Dale Drypolcher lives in Syracuse, teaches classes in television at F-M, and has worked for over 20 years as a sports broadcaster doing SU football on radio and all manner of lacrosse games. I even heard him here in Albany one time as the color commentator on a high school basketball game.
Tim Atseff was at the reunion. tim has just remarried (his first wife died a few years earlier from cancer). He had progressed from the Syrqacuse Herald-Journal's editorial cartoonist to become the paper's managing editor.
I don't know if you or Tim know about this website, buth the F-M school districtis website has an alumni section which includes and "Alumni Search" conncection. There, you can get information on the 10-15 people in each class who have completed the site's questionnaire. My sis ter told me about it. It's at http://www.fmschools.org/ and click on "Alumni & Community" and then "Alumni Site" and then the Search prompt. There are 14 entries for our 1965 class and 18 for your 1966 class. Tim and you might find it interesting to catch up on a few others.
From the reunion, it seemed that Dale Drypolcher somehow had informatgion on everyone whoever attended F-M. If you or Tim can connect with Dale (I think his e-mail address is available on the F-M Alumni website above), I know that he would have a lot more information.
Thanks again for writing. I hope things are well with you and please give Tim my best.

Happy 4th to all

Hi Debbie,

I am still in San Diego and hope I get to see some fireworks tonight but with the dry weather the fireworks better be over water. My brother, Ted and his wife left Wednesday traveling up the coast to the State of Washington. They got as far as Big Sur and were turned away. 1400 fires and more dry lightening threatening northern California. I saw Tom Weller last week and he has been trying to find a nice weekend to enjoy his boat but the very HOT weather has kept him home in San Diego. Wayne is still traveling and hopefully the fires will stay north so that Wayne and Sue and others who lost their homes last year can rebuild. I am housesitting for my brother and am looking forward to returning to Austin to see my grandson in three weeks. I may be working at the Mini State Park during the NYS Fair this year. So if anyone is visiting the fair, look me up in the information booth around the pool in front of the Horticulture building.

Here's to some great Fourth of July celebration picnics. Have a good one and thanks again for all the work you do on the blog. You are certainly are a very caring person to bring so many of us together this way. AND I wish you the best in caring for your mom. Take care yourself

Sandy Jackson Epoch from San Diego Today

Bil Schai

Happy 4th of July Debby,

I have been following your '66 blog since your email last May. As I said to you then, by age I should be in the Class of '66, but due to lack of focus, I finally graduated a couple years later. Not a bad thing, as it
kept me out of going to Vietnam.
Since Dave Eckerson is turning 60 on Monday July 7th and myself on the 10th, I thought I should fill in my blanks...
Lived in Cazenovia, NY since 1982 . In the midst of divorce. 1 son, Tyler, 22, senior at RIT with one more year for Engineering Degree. Thank God, as I agreed to pay for his college education....
Have been employed at Jaquith Industries in Syracuse, NY since leaving Home Fair hardware store in F'ville back in 1975. The same Jaquith's that lived in F'ville. Son Scott, is the CEO of the company. Jaquith is a custom steel fabricator. Main product is airport lighting equipment. As VP of the company,
I have been blessed with being able to travel & see the world on their dime for 30+ yrs. For MANY years I was on the road a lot, but as Tyler got into high school sports, I hired someone to do the traveling, so I could catch his
ball games... Places such as Hong Kong, Bangkok,Thailand, Melbourne/Sydney Australia, all over Europe, Clark AFB & Subic Bay, Philippines, and most recently Delhi, India. The main thread here is these places all have built
new airports with new runways or upgraded existing ones and that means our products. Every light on a runway or taxiway are installed on our products. Domestically, it seems I have been to just about every major hub airport in the States.... For fun, I was introduced to snowmobiling 5 yrs ago, but the CNY winters have let us "biliers" down with minimal snow. I have a bass boat moored on Cazenovia Lake and fish as often as I can. Troll past the Revercomb's all the time... never see Pam or Gary out. That's about it.... a couple pixs.. one of our Dalmatian, Sasha with Tyler yrs ago, and me on the runway in Texas and one in the shop.

All the best.

Bill

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!

Greetings this week

Lynne Gibson Lovett
Bill Schai
Mike Krall
Jim Carroll
Dan Sheedy
Kerry Rose
Flip Benham
Glenn Prestwich
Pamela Lipe Revercomb
Barb Belton Robertson