Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Jim, I'm in full support of your idea with one exception...DO NOT PUT ME OR MARV IN THE CHOIR. As much as we love music from opera to classical, we have never been able to find the beat and are totally syncopated. And I'm not kidding. I would love to hear our classmates singing "Bloomington we love thy name, we will bring you greater fame. We're for you, yes every one till the victory is won. Rah. Rah. Rah." Wouldn't that be cool? Especially from Boo, Sandy, and Linda. Oh yeah, and if you are singing bass, it might insure that no one, as you suggested, would pay attention. LOL

Terri Baxter (Whirrett)

Boy, we opened a can of worms! Not really enthusiastic about singing high soprano where I can't hide behind a large choir!. Sandy, yes I remember you had a wonderful voice! I sang in church choir but that was it. Always regretted not getting involved in musical theatre when I was young. I guess I am blessed to still be singing. Not a soloist however!Ha! My biggest challenge is climbing up the 25 steps to the choir loft!

Terri Baxter (Whirrett)

Happy Belated Birthday Rod! Hope you had a good one!

James (Jim) Rookus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!

MARTY

RODWELL

FICELI  !!!!

Hope you have a special and 

wonderfully blessed day !!!

James (Jim) Rookus

Marty .... in addition to happy birthday ... have good memories of our home room building home coming float in your garage on Sunset Rd.  Also remember you as a very nice and kind homeroom friend as our our names are ver close alphabetically!  And now as mature seniors we live at opposite ends of the greater Grand Rapids Michigan area.  

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Boo, thank you for the compliment.  Wow 25 steps to the choir loft!  I wouldn't make it.  I don't sing in church choir, mainly because they stay up there for the whole service and stand when we sing.  I stand in the congregation to sing, but I have a pew in front of me I can hold on to.  I'm glad you can keep singing.  Looks like you enjoy it.

Jim, I don't remember going to Sunset Road to work on a homecoming float.  I did go to Denise Buffington's house to push those kleenex through chicken wire for one of the homecomings.  ha-ha   I don't remember what year that was.  She lived off of Towanda Ave.    If we sang, I'd have to be alto, maybe even tenor.  ha-ha

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Happy Birthday Marcia. Like Jim, I have many fond memories of building homecoming floats in your driveway. The photo below is from 1962 with Jerry Plummer and me as tiger tamers beside a sign reading "We'll Whip Em" over the float name. The theme "Swingin' Safari" was aimed at defeating the Urbana Tigers.

Sandy, the photo below is from 1961, also made at the Rodwell's. The parade theme was "Famous Quotations", thus the catchy title. I remember this well because I was one of two people inside the chicken flapping its wings, kind of like being an oarsman on a galley ship. Since you remember the chicken, I'm guessing you were there. For some reason I don't know or remember why, the homecoming parade did not take place in 1963. At least there is no mention of it in the Aegis or Aepix. Can anyone fill in the details? (I'm talking to you Jack.)

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Mel, do you remember going to Denise Buffington's house to work on floats?   That's the only place I remember going.  Maybe there were several places where floats were being built.  That would make sense.  They all couldn't be  made in one place.  I don't remember the names of other kids that were there with me.   I enjoyed the pictures.

James (Jim) Rookus

If memory serves me right did they combine a few home rooms together for eac float ?  I know Bill Rust along with youvtwims were at Marty's and not in same hi room !  I do remember the big chicken!

ALSO just teasing about the singing! Don't take me seriously on most of what I may suggest!

Joan Pease (Clark)

I was looking for something else in a box of memorabilia and was delighted to find this: My mom's PTA pin. It brought back sweet memories of twin John and I walking from our house on Chestnut Street through Franklin Park to Franklin School. (I tried in vain to make these images smaller; the actual pin is a little bigger than my thumbnail!)

James (Jim) Rookus

In my previous post there were a few mistakes that may have not made sence, so I corrected it !

If memory serves me right, did they combine a few home rooms together for each float ?  I know Bill RusK along with you twins (M & M) were at Marty's working on the float even though we were not in same home rooms.  I do remember the big chicken !

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Sandy, mea culpa!!! When you said "chicken wire" I was thinking chicken. Jim is right, various homerooms were brought together to make floats and you would not have been in our group. How fun to reflect on all those crazy times. Jim's mention of Bill Rusk resurrected the memory of Bill, who had a light blue Vauxhall car, coming to the Rodwell house, loading as many people as posible into it and driving in reverse around the block on Sunset Rd., Emerson St., past Ewing Castle and back to Sunset Rd. It's amazing that we all survived.

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Mel,  I got my 1963 yearbook out and on pages 19 and 20 there are pictures of the homecoming Queen and court and of floats. But I think you are looking at that homecoming as being in 1962, even though it is in the 1963 yearbook,  You listed the picture of the chicken float as being from 1961 and that picture is in the 1962 yearbook. Since homecomings were in October the years would be correct even though they are in the next year's yearbook.  In the 1964 yearbook, I just see a picture of the Queen and court and of the homecoming dance.  No floats were shown that I can find.  Maybe Jack can add a memory as to why there wasn't a parade that year.

Jack Keefe

Mel -- (and anyone else who might be curious) --

The way I remember it, the 1963 homecoming parade was replaced by a hootenanny in the BHS gym. The reasons for this weird substitution were never clear to me but I'd guess it had something to do with budget, or someone complaining about something, or someone else just being in a foul mood and deciding to cancel the parade. Again, that's just a guess.

I wish I knew more about it, but .... egad, Mel, that was sixty-one years ago!

I also remember stuffing colored tissue paper into chicken wire to make the floats. It seemed like an endless, tedious job at the time. 

Karen Sue (Suzi) Denton (Merritt)

I remember working on the float at the high school.  I can't remember who worked on it but I did have a good time ...considering I was really shy.  
 

Suzi

James (Jim) Rookus

Hello .. where is

everyone ?  There

have been NO 

posts for a week!

How about anyone have pics of unwanted visitors in your yard ... Lke these annual pair of ducks that appear every year on our pool cover 

Marvin Theobald

Notice on the Home Page information regarding a mini-reunion scheduled for May 14 at Windjammer Lounge. Put it on your calendar andcome out fora fun evening.

Marvin Theobald

We arrived home from our Texas/Florida winter travels last week. As always it was a fun time and gave us time with numerous friends and family along the way. A photo below is Judy with Suzi (Farlin) Barber and her husband Bruce in Key West. When my cousin was visiting in March we decided to go to the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon. It was a great demonstration of how they train the dolphins and what acrobatics they are taught. The photos below are a couple of examples of what we saw. Hope everyone had a good winter and are ready for a fun summer.

Ray Bledsoe

Note his tail.

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Marvin:

Thank you for the photos from Florida.  I love to see Sue Farlin.  Her sister Judy and husband Jack Miller used to come to our farm and ride horses.  They were just as wonderful as Sue!

Thanks again.

Linda Elias

James (Jim) Rookus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!

Dave

LONG !!!!

Hope you have a special and 

wonderfully blessed day !!!

David Long

Thanks for the birthday wishes.  Putting it into perspective, I "retired" at age 65 (13 years ago).  I am now closer to age 90 (12 years from now) than I am to the age at which I retired.  Gives one pause.

David Long

The easiest float to decorate and in which to go down Main St, was the hearse with the sign "We'll Bury 'em!"  A manna in the back with its foot hanging out the door.

David Long

Just a thought, but several years ago I threw out the idea of interesting art work we have come across in our travels. In the responses (and attache pictures) I learned several interesting things about the members of Raiders '64, i.e. while Max and I were close, I never before knew of his interest in glass sculpture.

Just for grins, how about scouring your photos for unusual places we have come across in our travels?  Unless you so desire, a long explanation is not required, but please identify where, what and when.  I'm sure we've all been to interesting locales; e.g. Mel has been to Russia, Marv has been to Siagon, Steve to Luxembourg, and many of our other classmates are also World Travelers - Julie, I don't think anyone can keep up with your world travels!

To get us started, the following is a picture of Ko'Olau Golf Course on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.  When I played the course, it had the highest slope rating in the nation at 155.  I recently learned that the slope rating has been reduced to 153, which is still as strong test for the average golfer, as the average slope rating at most local courses is under 100 - I shot a respectable 88, which was 11 over my normal handicap.  If you are ever fortunate enough to play Ko'Olau, play conservatively if it means keeping your ball in the short grass!

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Dave, you always come up with an idea to lull us out of silence. In all my conversations with Max, I not only learned about his interest in glass, but his interest in photography, which he taught for many years. If I may add Wendy (Stephens) Cullen and Terrie Troxel to your list, our classmates have travelled the world. Let's celebrate the international and national scope of that. Not everyone has been forturnate to be a global traveller, yet they have all had adventures that are unique. How can we get everyone to pull something from their scrapbook and share the results with us?

I'll start with this one:

"Moon Rising Over the Volga River" 2016 Shestakovo, Russia

This is where my friend Gennady Troshkov's dacha sat on a hillside. I visited the place many times and never grew tired of it, in the same way I enjoy looking out on Heritage Lake where Marv lives. Water is calming, but in the moonlight, it is etherial.