Jack Keefe

Mel -- that's an awesome view out your window. 

Nancy -- you're not alone in wanting to sit out Christmas. Janet and I tried to do the same, but only with partial success. Maybe next year. (Hoping there is a next year for every one of us.)

Terri Baxter (Whirrett)

Happy New Year to Everyone! 
We took a trip to Florida to Dave's sister for Christmas and enjoyed being with a big family. Ours is smaller each year. Mel, love your lights and miss Chicago skyline! We still put up a tree etc, and will probably leave up until February! Who cares? Also, enjoyed the lights from Ohio! Very festive! As for Hanukkah, I have several Jewish friends and we share our faith and traditions! I actually paint with one lady who has helped me find my inner child again! So special! I pray you all find purpose is 2025 and enjoy each day no matter what! Time is so precious!Boo

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Nancy, your Christmas lights video is amazing. Hard to imagine such a display. No wonder you don't bother putting up your own when you have that.

Jack, so far so good. Every year it is a challenge to put those decorations up, but without them I would have to cancel my annual NYE party. Once everything is up, the world changes for the better.

Boo, why take your tree down in February? My plan is to change the ornaments to hearts for Valentine's Day, shamrocks for St. Pat's Day, painted eggs for Easter, flags for the 4th of July. Then comes the real dilemma...whether to take it down in August or just rotate to Halloween, Thanksgiving and next Christmas.

Hope to see you all at the next mini-reunion. Mel

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

For those of you that knew John "Jack" Waddell from choir and don't get The Pantagraph, it was reported this morning, that he passed away from cancer at his home in Normal on New Year's Day.  He was 83. There was a whole article, in the Pantagraph, about him and his life.  Not just an obituary. 

The story that came to me, through my email from The Pantagraph, was the same as the Pantagraph, but had more pictures.  One was a picture of him singing at Westminster Village.  I'm sure that was Miss Selk's doing. And several other pictures, in color, that also included one with his sister-in-law and Miss Selk.  

What a life he led!  Miss Selk was a big influence on him and all he accompolished.  

David Brock

I am sure most of you in the midwest were affected by the winter storm over the last weekend.  Some were lucky enough to get all snow, and then there were the rest of us.  We got about 2 inches of freezing rain and sleet, followed by about 4 1/2 inches of powdery snow.  We were fortunate keep power, but we did not venture out and slide down the roads.  Hope you weathered the storm--the next one is due tomorrow.

Ray Bledsoe

David, be thankful it is snow & ice and not fire.  Has anyone heard if any of our classmates in California are affected by the fires?

Linda Bristow (Elias)

California:  Has anyone heard from Vicki Keller or Teri Sue Guhlstorf?

El Paso, TX:  We received snow today?

Linda

Linda Bristow (Elias)

I just realized that I don't know who else lives in California.

Do you know who lives in the area of the fires?

Linda

Vicki Keller (Leary)

Linda, it's Vicki. I live in Livermore California which  is 40 min east of San Francisco do all ok here. Terri lives south of LA.

Marvin Theobald

The Homepage shows our classmate locations by state listing 12 in California. The class directory has current addresses on 10 of them and 2 whose current addresses are unknown. Victor Jackson is the most vulnerable being about 10-15 miles north of the Palisades Fire. The last known location for Salina Poolthong was in the same area as Victor but we lost contact with her many years ago so she could be anywhere now. Bill Longberry is about 30 miles east of LA and Teri Guhlstorf Rapp about 40 miles south of LA. Dave Gaston is about 80 miles SE of LA. The rest are 120 miles or more from the fires and should be OK. Hazel Staley Ashworth was last known to be in California but don't know where or if she is still there.

Hopefully they are all safe and not significantly affected by these tragic fires.

Marvin Theobald

Jack Waddell attended a celebration my son organized for Mel and I on our 70th birthday. He sang several songs at that event and was part of several gatherings at Judy's and other gatherings mostly associated with Mary Selk. He tried his best to coerce me into joining in on a sing along at Judy's one evening and failed to win since I so stubbornly refuse to demonstrate my lack of musical talents. He was amazingly gifted and enjoyed life as much as anyone I ever met. He had a good life and hopefully is singing with Mary and the rest of her BHS alums that have joined her. If there is a heaven I have no doubt there is a choir being directed by Mary with Jack, Pat Rosenbaum and others following her guiding hand.

Sandra Jeakins (Singletary Sizemore)

Hazel Staley was my cousin.  I know she is deceased and has been for many years, but I've not been able to learn what date she passed.  Prayers for all the people living in California.  I just heard this morning that someone started the first fire and they have him in custody.

Other prayers for people in the southern states that are having ice and snow, when they aren't used to having that kind of weather

David Brock

I know I am blessed to be where I am.  We seem to have natural (or other) disasters surfacing in recent months.  People, and their lives can't be replaced.  The best I can do for them is to pray for God's grace on them.  The California wildfires and Midwest snow storms are pretty normal for those areas.  However, Hurricane Helene and other tropical storms late in the season done sigificant damage in souther & southeastern states.  I heard a storm status report recently that indicated the infrastructure--roads, utilities, etc. were so badly damaged that the recovery would take years.  To most of us a few months ago, seems like forever, but to them it is still real.  I think we probably have some classmates that may well have been affected. Just a thought.

Ray Bledsoe

AMEN

David Long

Hey All,  I have been trying to come up with a conversation starter since it's been a while since we had one in which there was a lot of responses.  So, how does this sound to get things going?  Growing up, WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE SANDWICH?  Today, WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SANDWICH?  In your travels around the USA or Around the World (Julie) WHAT IS THE MOST UNIQUE THING YOU'VE EATEN and WHERE and UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES?  

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Dave Long:

Growing up:  Hubbard's Cupboard-Pork Tenderloin Sandwich (usually with Dianne Shaffer)She ate her's with mustard, ...me with a flood of ketchup.

Now:  NOT big on sandwiches, but I bake Syrian Spinach pies (with folded dough) to dip in salsa.

Travels, unusual food:  Not my everyday food but, Escargot.........loved them!  But they have to be properly prepared in New Orleans or France.

Good luck to everyone.  I'm sure there will be a huge diversity of selected sandwiches.

Linda

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Dave, a favorite sandwich? That's like asking an artist, "What is your favorite color?" On any given day, whatever is in my fridge is likely my top choice. But when going to a restaurant, I loved the Monte Cristo at Bennigans (now defunct), the pork tenderloin at Schooners (how many buns do you want with that?), and  the Schwartzy at my local Jewish deli (with a schmear of chopped liver). Then nostalgia sets in. The BHS cafeteria's (the treat of treats) sloppy joes and my mom's grilled cheese lunches (served with tomato soup) when we were at Oakland Grade School are unforgettable. When working in the Loop in Chicago, I would often get a Schlotsky's Original ham sandwich for lunch and sit alone by the Lorado Taft sculpture of the Great Lakes and meditate. Tonight, well I'm still thriving on my New Year's Eve special that commemorates an old neighbor...Mary's Ham Treats....that are made with poppy seeds, onion, butter, mustard, Swiss cheese and ham. If anyone wants the recipe, send me a PM and I'll forward it to you. Life is good, probably because of sandwiches!!! Oh, I almost forgot to mention one of my specialties, spinach cheese croissants. But that's another story. Thanks Dave. Who's next?

Wendy Stephens (Cullen)

My favorite sandwich as a kid was tuna salad, and now...tuna salad.  oddest thing I have eaten is probably real sharks fin soup.  When we lived in Hong Kong we had a lot of traditional special food.  Birds' nest soup also.  Really made with a specific kind of swallows nest.  Neither of these are available legally now.

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Wendy, seeing your choice of tuna salad embarrases me. It is one of the greatest sandwiches of all time. How stupid of me to have overlooked it.

James (Jim) Rookus

Today my favorite sandwich ( admittedly a simple pallet ) is a "BIGGY BEEF" from Portillo's in the Chicago area!  A huge Italian beef dipped in what they call gravy (Aa'ju) and then a bowl on the side to dip again prior to each bite, including a pile of napkins, one for each bite to wipe off my chin from the dripping to follow !  

The most unusual I recall from childhood was my mom giving me open face sandwiches made of mustard spread on bread and sprinkled with sugar.  ICK!!!!  I can't even make myself try it today to taste how bad it is!  We were not poor so wasn't a budget thing ?  Don't know why.... maybe a Polish national torture test for kids.  She was 100% Polish!

David Long

Mel, thought you would have some unusual culinary delights from your time in Russia or did you subsist on caviar and wodka?

Terri Baxter (Whirrett)

Hi Everyone, First, Teri Gulstorf Rapp is fine in Ca. Heard from her yesterday. They are far enough away that air is fine as well. 
As for sandwiches, Dave would tell you, I never eat a whole sandwich, take off half the bread. Pork tenderloin is first on my list, can't get them down here, but no bun! I know, I'm weird!

Weirdest food/drink- In Tibet, we visited a family home and they served yak butter tea and yak blood sausage !

It was everything we could do to smile and be polite!Yuk Yak!

Dianne Shaffer (Troxel)

Boy, Linda I cannot believe I made my mark on your Hubbords tenderloins... mustard only sandwich.  I still remember how good those were.  No place here makes them that good.  You drove me in your brothers Edsel there.  Was so much fun. I truly think your mom made the best after school (anything) food which was always delicious and she fed me often. Today I love homemade tamales which our kids bring from Ft. Worth for us.  Got to be home made....so good!  Happy new year everyone! 

James (Jim) Rookus

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

RON UMBRIGHT JAN 11

JIM ALTEMUS  JAN 12

MIKE CONLEY  JAN 12

WISHING YOU GUYS A VERY

SPECIAL BIRTHDAY ! ! !

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Dianne Shaffer:

Next time that I come home....I can teach you how to make 3 kinds of tamales:  Beef, chicken, and pork with red sauce or green, with mild chili or HOT!

Good old times!

Linda