Milan Jackson

If this site becomes nothing more than be a support system for it's members, it would be a huge success. Sort of a Hands Across America thing. Reach out and touch........somebody's hand.....make this world a better place...........

We are all in this together. Hearing stories about beating the Big C is awesome.

Victor Jackson

Milan I am part Indian I can make you a blood brother if you want. While I am here do any of you fly rc airplane?

Milan Jackson

Royal Crown has an airplane?????????????  :)

Milan Jackson

I have some bad news from a very dear friend of both classes. Susie Buckler has problems and I am letting you all know about it. This is much of what we have just talked about. Her words:

We will be having a benefit for Kristi my daughter on June 11, at the old Castle Theater. I have flyers etc. We will be having entertainment, food, drink, several bands. Kristi had worked at State Farm for about 15 years. She's used all her time and benefits, so they termed her out. Now were are trying to figure out all the bills and mortgage payments etc. She was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last September. It has spread to other places which is common with lung cancer. We are just praying for a miracle. I will be thinking about you guys Saturday, tell everyone hello for me.

Time for prayers or whatever you do to hope for better things for our friend.

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

Milan,  That was a test about the

Terry (Max) Maxwell

Rod Hayes...  Welcome to the class of '64 website!  Not sure if you remember me, but I certainly remember you.  I thought you were one of the coolest people in our class (not that the rest of you aren't.)  Not sure why, but that was how you came across to me.  I read this site pretty much daily, but usually refrain from comment most of the time.  I leave that to the experts!  You might also want to check out the class of '63 site.  More interesting characters.  I scan that one daily also.  Hope to hear more from you.     .......Max.......

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

Milan, not sure what happened to my pc a minute ago.  Anyway, that was a test about the Sheriff and you passed.  You know how a Sr. moment can be.  When I saw Sheriff Sid, a bell went off, but it was the wrong one.  I do believe it was Salty Sam.  That name fits better anyway.

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

Jack, my good man, and you are the man.  I knew that I seen that fighter.  I loved watching him.  That picture with Holt was when he was younger, but he was a real brawler.  Much better fighter than he got credit for.  I'm with you on this one.  Funny thing about that one statement.  I met a guy here and we got to be really good friends.  I can't tell you his name.  I'm not it really is his name.  But he really is well connected.  He lives in New Jersey and fliess to Carolina once a month to see his Grandfather, so he has told me.  I had a situation once and he actually ask me if I wanted him to take care of  it.  That got to be just a litte scary.  Yes Jack, we'll have some fun.

Jack Habich

Rod, big George Foreman called Quarry the best heavyweight ever to not win a title.  Said he avoided him like the plague throughout his entire career.  Unfortunately, Quarry was around in the era of Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Norton etc.....probably the best concentration of heavyweights in history.

I suspect your friend from Jersey is probably more fun than run of the mill people, but try to stay out of trouble.  I'm clean with you since I promptly sent you that 50 bucks. :)

Seems like you went underground after the '94 reunion, which just didn't fit your profile.  Good to see you front and center again.

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

I agree 100% with you on Jerry Quarry, and he was around during a big run of great heavyweights.  Yes, my friend in Jersey was quite different.  He was one of those people that if he didn't like you, he let you know and you were best to just stay away.  If he liked you, thank god for me, he did, he would and could do just about anything he could for you.  We get in touch about once a year.  I never ask  questions like, how's the family, or what's up.  As far as going under after "94', I guess that is true.  It seemed like I really worked a lot, and I built another house.  Then my son got married and that is a story for another time.  My wife had her sickness and then came the Grand Kids.  Late in life for my daughter and her husband.  I love those kids more than life itself.  They call me Pops and Pops can do no wrong.  I'm like a Toys R Us and a Playground rolled into one.  I know more than anyone in the world and I can do anything.  Just ask them.  Ha!  Whenever I got back to B/N I had so many relatives and a short time to do things that I never seem to get around.  But now I have this addictive web-site and I know about all these meeting places, so hopefully, I'll have some fun with all this.  Oh, and Jack, even if yo still owed me, we would be square.  You were always a great Bud.

Milan, yes, yes I remember the Creature Feature.  I think it was actually the Acre Creature Feature.  When they went away from the show, this guy would give his sales pitch on Acre Home Siding.  He always dressed up in some goofy outfit like the theme of the show.  Then once during the show he would say:  There's a skeleton in your closet.  He has a bone to pick with you.  Then he would laugh it up.

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

Vic, I was an only child, so I'm giving some thought to that Blood Brother thing you mentioned.  But for now, you need to rest and take care of yourself.  You may not like all those things the Dr. tells you, but it reallly is for the best.

Mel, Yes I most certainly do remember those days of Oakland School.  I think Oakland School, at least for those of us around there, it was our AMX, or MotorCross so to speak.  I sure I will leave someone out, but there was You, Marvin, Jerry Nafziger, Tim Schmidt, Larry Elliot, Tom Prescher, Jerry Gilbert, Jim Hastings, Jimmy and Danny Smith, Chuck Massie, and I know a bunch of others.  We would go find empty bottles, get that 2 cents per bottle, go to DeMent's and spend that money.  Remember all those baseball games we had.  Every single night in the summer.  Those were good days.  I was sorry to hear of your Mother's passing.  As I said before, I still get the Pantagraph.  Sometimes it's 2, 3 day late or even a week.  My Mother lives down here now since th passing of my Dad in "09".  So she comes over very often and always reads the paper.  As kids we don't always connect with other kids parents that much at the time.  But my Mother was reading the paper and saw the obit on your Mother.  Her and I had a conversation about those days and she mentioned how much she enjoyed her visits with your Mother at school and when she came into Roland's downtown.  She thought your Mother was so pleasant to talk with and that she was a wonderful Mother.  I thought you might like to know that about your Mother, and you can pass that on to your siblings.

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Rod, it astonishes me how we could all grow to this age and still remember the things you describe in such detail. You certainly have the names down. Maybe you also remember Bob Bower, Jerry Gurgin, Greg Holly, Dave Hardin, Ron Runge, Don Cravens, Chuck Jenkins, Bob Campbell, Dick Harwood and a host of others. No matter the season or the time of day, there was a snowball exchange, baseball game, tag football or basketball thing happening. When Oakland School was being expanded, the excavated mounds of clay were a natural setting for dirt clod battles and King of the Mountain. Then in 5th grade we were all back together and there was Ron Bess. Nobody could ever beat him at anything. He was a natural. Probably made all of us more competitive. Do you remember the huge Catalpa tree with the beans behind the school? And how we abused old man DeMent and his wife. Penny candy, 2 cent bottle deposits, Classic comics and 16 oz. RC's. What a life!!! And the girls, Holly R., Wendy S., Alida F., Janice K., Cathy Q., so many great people. Of course the girls were all smarter than the guys in those days. As far as I can tell, they still are. I am sure we will have a lot more of these ideas flying around here. Just thinking of the Laesch Dairy truck, the school yard bonfires and the Hod Carrier Little League team. Whew..........enough for now.

Thanks for sharing your mother's wonderful thoughts. Hearing those words is most gratifying. This will be the first Mother's Day without mine and it feels really odd just thinking of it. I am so glad for you that yours is still with you. Treasure every moment, she is unbelievably special.

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

 Mel

Yes I remember all those people.  And that bean tree.  How pathetic.  We really did drive Old Man DeMent crazy.  Especially when ths store got really full.  Do you remember when all the soda in the machine was 8 cents and the Royal Crown was 10 cents.  Nobody really liked the Crown that well, but it was 16 oz. and he had to keep in the cooler, which made it way colder.  Every once in a while he would let us drink outside with out the deposit, and then he would watch us like a Hawk to make sure we didn't run off.  However, he did sponser us in the Jr. Legion Baseball Program.  I knew his daughter and my son was a ring bearer at her daughters wedding.  She married Dr. Cunninghams son, who is a Dentist.  Small world. I remember Jerry Pummer was a really good swimmer in school.  Do you remember Lloyd Doenitz?  Now there was a strange case.  Lloyd was a great guy and good baseball player.  His brother was evil, bad, and just plain mean.  In fact I think he spent some time in the pen off and on.  I think one of times ever at Oakland was playing Dodge Ball before school on the playground.  I remember one time Ronnie Bess broke or cracked his wrist playing, and his Dad had a fit.  And yes, Ronnie was in a class by himself with athletics.  He was great at what he worked at and he was really good, at what he didn't work at.  You and I will have a lot to talk about over time and I look forward to it.  Out for now.

Rodney (Rod) Hayes

 Terry Maxwell.

Those were very gracious words to say about me, but I think the whole "64" class was a really cool bunch of people.  It was a class of goin on and happ'nin.  As a class we were sort of a "Git r Done" group.  Just having fun and living life.   At least I saw it that way.  But, just to let you know, I remember you well.  I have become quite the story teller, because I just remember so much about back then.  And you are in several of them.  I was always a big fan of yours in the track world.  Like me, you were short, not real big, but, you could really fly.  I mean, I could run pretty fast, but in your class.  I used to love the InterCity meet and The Normal Relays.  In the short sprints, it would always be Ronnie, Dan Hale, and he was fast, and you, to see who would be the best that day.  Everyone at Normal used to say Danny was the fastest always, but I used to say, he's not always the fastest but he may be the quickest out.  Do you remember a guy named Doug Harford from Piper City.  He came to the relays one year.  I'll never forget.  He looked like a bowling ball, a mass of muscle.  I couldn't figure how he could even beat me.  But, oh my, he could run like the wind.  He was actually scary to watch.  He went on and played football somewhere.  Whenever I get to talking to these youngins about track, I always bring in the names of Ronnie Bess, Terry Maxwell, Wayne Kearney, Smokey Walton, and a lot of others.  Can't let the youngsters think the old timers couldn't turn it on.  You know Walton always said he just wanted to shot put and disc, because everybody else had to run too much.  Then right near the end of the season, the coach saw him messin with the runners and giving them a lot of smack talk about his speed.  Sooo, he got talked into running the last lag of the 880 or the mile.  I don't remember the other team, but after three runners we had just a slight lead.  Smokey got the baton and he flat got it on.  He absolutely flew.  It was unreal.  Everybody was yelling and going nuts.  Anyway Max, great to hear from you and get on here more often.

Milan Jackson

Helen Nicolaysen (Thompson)

 Ragusa's Pizza's were extremely unhealthy.  That's the reason they were so good!

Milan Jackson

Not like those healty ones we ate at Casella's? Wasn't it great when we were young and never worried about our heath?   (laugh)

Jack Habich

Rod, I presume you didn't see this picture.  I had it up for a while.  Prom 1963 at Georgia Wiley's.

Jack Habich

That Ragusa's ad is really bad.  Looks like Craig King is the only one that got sucked in by the "tantalizing aroma".  What it really reminds me of is a Twilight Zone episode, where after a disaster, a guy is walking around town looking for signs of life........and it doesn't look like he'll get lucky at Ragusa's.

Ed Stanfield

Rod,

I am indeed "that" Ed Stanfield. I was a skinny transplant from Houston who was certain that he would  be machine gunned by Al Capone ( remember The Untouchables on TV) .. that was my impression of Illinois when we moved here. Atlernately, I thought my ears might actually freeze off the first winter I spent in Yankeeland..

My hat was used in the BHS production of L'il Abner. Ed Evans used it when he played Marrin Sam.  Intrestingly enough, his little brother Mike married my sister,Amy. They have 2 sons and live in Ky.

The football advice was dead on, and probably some of the best I ever received. I was a decent defensive halfback (cornerback now) coming off an injured knee and in a strange school I would have worn splinters on my butt from warming the bench. I also ran track in Houston and was a pretty good short distance runner. I was really fast when an angry father with a shotgun was chasin me! I had started smokin that year and of course got caught. My stepfather in his bes t command voice declared 'BOY, YOU ARE GONNA STOP THAT AND PLAY SPORTS" Well, the only sport about ready to get started was baseball.. I had not played baseball since I was 10 and really didn't want to play then. My interest was inclined more towards females, or at least one female, but a decree was a decree, and if I wanted to eat, I had to play ball.  I think the coaches recognized my enthusiasm, and reacted accordingly. My uniform was at least 3 sizes too big. I had to be careful not to get my pants rolled up so they didn't get caught in my spikes..  I looked like the saddest of sacks..Happiest day of my life to that point was gettin cut!

Malinda and I are gong thru some rough times right now, but she is doing very well as of late. She has had 9 of 12 treatments this go round, and yes she has a "go home bag" as well. for the uniniated, a "go home bag" is one final drug that is infused over a 48 hour period by a pump worn in a bag a-la  fanny pack. Her side effects are minimal this time, and we remain hopeful, even tho liver cancer is incurable. I am glad your bout with that damned monster came out well and I pray it will continue..

At any rate, it is good to read your comments and I look forward to more ..

Ed

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Jack, maybe you're on to something. A night at Casella's was often followed by a zombie-like desire for something more. That photo of Ragusa's is really scary.

Helen, the health factor was pushed to the wall when anchovies were popular on pizza. Were you an anchovy lover or hater? Had to be one or the other. The salty power of those little critters seemed to divide the living from the dead. Whoa, that was some nasty stuff!!! And, we were only allowed to wash the swill down with Coke. In retrospect, a couple of beers would have been much healthier. Maybe that reinforces the idea that wisdom comes with age. MMMMMMM....there is still something nostalgic about those slippery little fish.

Milan Jackson

Fish on Pizza??????? Ewwwwwwwwwww. I hated them.

Milan Jackson

I just got home from Miss Selk's 90th birthday gathering. She is still sharp. Pat, Judy, and Marvin did a fantastic job of arranging it. Great turn-out. Best time I've had in years. I thank the people involved it the work behind the scenes. Fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!

Ed Stanfield

Mel,

Anchovies on pizza..dunno as I never had one, but...

an anchovie wrapped olive (or 2) resting in a glass of Absolut or Grey Goose with just a hint of Vermouth makes for one fine martini. Blue chees stuffed olives with a little juice is as good!

Adult pleasures

Helen Nicolaysen (Thompson)

Mel...........ANCHOVIES?  EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Nasty!  Guess it would be ok with enough alcohol as long as you had several drinks first, but the next day or even that same night might not be as pleasant????  I'd probably spend the entire night in the bathroom since I'm not much of a drinker anyway and also hate Anchovies!  Caviar is right up there with Anchovies in my book!  ICK NASTY!

Such a very nice gesture to help Ms. Selk celebrate her 90th Birthday!  You GO RAIDERS!