Sandi Thompson (Philips)

First of all, I must apologize for my infrequency in posting on the Message Forum., I use the excuse that I have 2/3 jobs, but actually there is nothing going on.

Marcia, I am so sorry about your health problems. Ple are in my thoughts and prayers.ase know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

I would be very interested in coming back to FM for a mini reunion.As far as I am concerned, it doesn't have to be anything fancy - Meeting for dinner would be great!  The important thing is getting to see "old" friends again.  .  

Charlie LaFrenz

Aloah Everyone!

As I mentioned in an early post, Janet and I spent three weeks in August in Hawaii.  We arrived before the rest of the family because of mechanical problems in D.C. So, we had this beautiful place all to ourselves.  First thing I decided to take a swim in our infinity pool overlooking the Four Seasons golf course.  After my amazing impersonation of Johny Wisemuller, I got out and later went in and turned on TV.  Suddenly, I went totally deaf.  I could hear nothing, not the waterfall in the pool, the birds, or, worst of all, Janet.  I thought, Oh great, maybe I've had a stroke.  I found out later that that is not a sign of a stroke.  This lasted more than a day, but when Menda arrived, our consierge, sent us to a clinic.  The doctor said this happens all the time.  It seems that because the temperture of the pool water was so warm that it melted the ear wax (yucK) causing me to become deaf.  His nurse was able to fix the situation with a garden hose,(just kidding), and the results were a happy ending.  

While on the Big Island, Janet and I  were able to spend the day with Carol Kempker Allison class of 61 Aquinas, and her husband Doug.  The last time I saw Carol was about 47 years ago on the Emerald Lady.  She and Doug met in Chicago when she worked for American Airlines and he was a Stock Broaker.  They retired early, moved to Hawaii, and have never left.  We shared many wonderful memories.  Took lots of pictures, wish I knew how to stick them into this machine.  Unfortunately, our heliocopter ride over the valcano was canceled because of the weather, but the kids did take surffing lessons, and night got to snorkle with the manta reys.  I was too chicken.  Besides, I'd look rediculas in a wet suit.  

The two weeks on Kauai were  wonderful except for the last week with the approach of Hurrican Lane.  We had beautiful accomadations in Honalei whiich can be reached only by a one lane bridge, whiich, when it rains is impassable..  So Janet and I got out and rented a Condo on higher ground, and the next day the rest decided it was time to get out while they still could.  Due to the storm, we were a day late getting home, but it was a wonderful trip.  Oh, one night we were having dinner at the St Regis and at the table next to us was Pierce Brosenan and his wife and another couple.  They live on Kauai and we saw them on our last trip to the Island.  Lots more to tell, but this will do for now.  However, two weeks in paradise is enough, three is over kill.  Was great to get home.

Best regards to all,

Charlie

Sandra Buckley (Matthews)

Charlie,  It was good to hear about your trip to Hawaii with Janet and the family - since that is where Bill and I got engaged before he shipped out of Pearl Harbor for the Gulf of Tonkin, it holds special meaning for us.  We have been back for several "milestone" anniversaries - 25th, 30th , 35th, 45th (where Terry and Margaret Noonan joined us) and then, what we have said was our LAST trip - our 50th Anniversary where Jay, Joe and his wife, Tamrah, and our granddaughters (Aila and Tatum) joined us on Kauai for a week.  That time, Bill and I preceded them by a week and went to the BIG Island and stayed on the Kona Coast. Loved it every time !!!!  I never had to make a trip to a Clinic like you just did, but came quite close - this last time in 2016, while on the big island, Bill decided he found a really great picture spot for me to sit on a group of black lava boulders near the shore by our hotel.  Well, it would have been fine if the boulders hadn't been wet and I hadn't slipped and torn up my knee - bled like a stuck pig !  We managed to get me back to the room and clean out all the black scum from the lava - Bill made a quick trip to a local drug store and got enough gauze, bandages, tape, hydrogen peroxide and neosporin to stock our own drug store !!  I managed to hobble around the next few days - stairs were a real problem - but by the time we met the family on Kauai, I was able to get in the swimming pools - the only outing I didn't participate in was the 1/2 day tubing float at an old sugar cane plantation.  They had converted the irrigation canals to accommodate the large tubes and the former fields had been on a mountain slope.  Bill thought it might not be a good idea to expose my still oozing knee to that type of water !

Anyway, travel is always an adventure - glad to hear you and Janet keep yourselves busy seeing the world.  Do you two still play lots of bridge?  I can only get Bill to play in a couples club that is as much drinking and talking as cards, but I play 2-3 times a week and love it.  Between bridge and my daily Sudoku puzzles, I try to keep the old brain active.

We were so blessed getting through Hurricane Florence, but many of our nearby North Carolina residents have been devastated.  We had 3 solid days of rain but never lost power, although 50-60 mph winds here did bring down some good size trees.  We had a screen blow off and that was it.  Plus, because we live in a Methodist Continuing Care Community, we didn't have to do any of the yard clean-up - the contracted landscape people were here yesterday and the whole campus looks great !  We are about 20 miles from our former home in Cypress Landing, on Chocowinity Bay at the top of the Pamlico Sound, and they had a pretty good storm surge at the Marina, with lots of debris from that, trees down at the golf course, some trees fell on roofs, and they didn't get their power back until yesterday - out 6 days !  We are 55 miles from New Bern, NC which has been all over the TV - those poor people are still cut off with flooded roads!  We are 2 1/2 hours northwest of Wilmington, NC, where the hurricane made landfall.  All in all, we dodged a bullet !!!

Marcia Conley (Davis)

Kauai is the only place I have ever been able to fully relax.  For many years it was the place I headed to immediately after the April 15th tax filing deadline but the past few years, there has always been something keeping me from going.  I hope to make it after the 2019 filing season in the Spring.  My favorite place to stay  was the Princeville Resort which now is the St Regis.  The view from the Lounge Deck is priceless.  Beautiful sunsets!  I believe I have stayed at all the major resorts on Kauai in the past 20 plus years.  Because of all the rain they get, it is a very green and lush island.

I have visted all the other Hawaiian Islands but Kauai is my favorite. 

I am very glad to hear Bill and Sandra are okay after Hurricane Florence.  Such devastation!  I am so fortunate to live in beautiful sunny southern CA.

Linda Kirchner (Schrader)

                                                HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS                     

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.....May you all be blessed with JOY in your hearts & good health. Our lives are on the down hill side whether we like it or not. Praying you know the answer to that old question...is there a heaven & hell. 

Missing a white Christmas, but we can't have everything.....Linda Lu

Joyce Casady (Sheumaker)

Yes, Linda, I know there is a heaven and hell!!  Also, I know what you need to do to be able to go there!

Joyce

Linda Kirchner (Schrader)

Thanks Joyce.....

Sharon Tincher (Scholl-Nabulsi)

Thank you Linda and Joyce for your comments on the message forum! Happy New Year to all and my New Years resolution is to STOP ASKING PEOPLE TO POST ON THE MESSAGE FORUM! IT IS FUTULE!😂🤣🎉

Charlie LaFrenz

Sharon, you can't do that!  I just turned 76 and I can't remember to ...where was I going with this?

Linda Kirchner (Schrader)

Sharon is correct...people need to write on the MESSAGE FORUM, not the HOME PAGE. I read & keep up with the class of 1960...& they are on page 360 as we are on page 38. I know they started their site a year ahead of us but that's redicuous. When someone has a birthday, it's the same few who write something & wish people Happy Bithday. Beginning to think not many care...that's my two cents worth.

ME

Sandra Buckley (Matthews)

Okay, I thought I was posting in the right place, but thanks to Linda Kirchner, I found out I wasn't - rather than writing my thoughts all over again, just go to my Class Mate Profile Page (I think !!!) and you will see what I wrote in response to Sharon Nabulsi's comments.  I'm not meaning to cause any hard feelings, but either people are interested or they are not - if they don't want to post something, I respect that and hope they might enjoy reading the posts of those who do enjoy staying up to date with everyone. 

Sharon Tincher (Scholl-Nabulsi)

Hi Classmates:  Just a quick note to all of you that the Message Forum is here for our class to communicate with each other. I have noticed that we only have 38 pages of messages to one another on our forum and the Class of 1960 has over 320 pages of messages. Now this website has been up and running since 2011 and I just bought us another 5 years from Class Creator which takes us until 2023 which will get us through our 60th class reunion. Please please try to talk to one another through Message Forum. Thanks, Sharon

Nan Nelson (Hays)

Happy to know we will have another 5years to communicate with each other.  Thank you Sharon for taking this action.  Hope to see more get involved ( I sure plan on it )  and look forward to our 60th reunion.  It will be here before you know it!  Staying in touch regularly will surely help us in looking forward to it!  Nothing wrong with just plain " chit chat".

In the future...I will be posting dates of our class luncheons that we are doing every month.  We met in Nov. & Dec. 2018 and plan on meeting every month of 2019.  We will meet the  FIRST FRIDAY at the Palms restaurant in Fort Madison at 11:30.  Please check the forum every month for confirmation. If you have questions...send me an e-mail at:  n.hays@mchsi.com OR call me 319-372-2086. I also can be reached by cell :  319-370-9086. If you are able to come, please do!  We have a good time catching up & reminiscing.

Sincerely,

Nancy Hays 

Brad Wiedmann

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all!  I certainly plan on attending our 60th reunion.  I may even try and attend one of the monthly luncheons at the Palms in Ft. Madison during 2019.

I'm still residing in northern Wisconsin where the locals start driving their pickup trucks on the lakes in November.  I still don't do it even though the ice may be 2 to 3 foot thick by January/February.  I live in Rice Lake, WI where I had a home built a year ago.  I am blessed with great neighbors here, but, do miss living next to a lake. Am involved in three choirs at church, will be serving on the church council for the next three years, participate in a group where we raise $ for our youth in the area and hold a kid's fishing derby every June, and, volunteer in food collection for a shelter.  Try and play golf weekly during the summer.  My goal is to lower my cost per shot and I seem to do that very well.  Try and visit my brother quarterly in the Oskaloosa, Iowa, area.  He is turning 80 next month.  I certainly plan on reaching the 80's.

Hope you all have a healthy 2019 where every night is a Friday night and every day is a Saturday.

And, David Kutcher, if  you are reading this, I really do hope to get to Des Moines for a visit.

PS.  Thank you Sharon for continuing to prod us into using our Message Forum.  As you do know, several of our class members still see each other at times and do communicate through other means.  However, I do appreciate reading what classmates are doing with their lives, especially an abridged version.  :)

Sharon Tincher (Scholl-Nabulsi)

Linda Kirchner (Schrader)

I am hoping to make it to the January luncheon at the PALMS...but can honestlysay I'd rather be having lunch with you Sharon, looking at your PALMS on Marco Island!!! Guess I'll just have to dream there's a beach in Ft. Madison. Have missed seeing the classmates monthly. I missed November & December because I was traveling.

Marcia Conley (Davis)

Happy New Year to everyone.  I am so glad 2018 is almost over.  It has been a bad year for me.  It started out in Feburary with my oldest grandson (26 yrs old) killed in a motorcycle accident.  I had 2 back procedures for degenative disc dease (arthritis) and both failed so I continue in a pain management program.  I had a blood clot in my right leg in September but it was dissolved immediately and all is well.  A month later, I was incorrectly diagnosed with cellulitis on my left leg.  After 3 weeks I was referred to a wound care doctor who got me with the right doctors.  I have venous skin ulcers caused by a circulation problem in my left leg.  I will be having surgery the first of February to correct the problem.  In the meantime, I have daily home care visits from a nurse changing the bandage over the ulcers.  I had minor surgery on my leg last Thursday.  I don't know when I ever had the pain I am experiencing.  

Inspite of the above, I am continuing my fast pace of maintaining a busy tax firm and educational seminars to other tax professionals.  I have done 35 seminars since May and have 13 to do in January.  It has been very difficult traveling since I have the bandaged leg with the ulcers.  When traveling, I have to change my bandage, which isn't easy for klutsy me.  I am not Suzy Q Nurse!

Tax Season 2019 kicks off February 1 but my type of clients don't start coming in until later in the month.  My clients are upper income investors, landlords, small businesses, trusts and estates.  That is how I can have the surgery and be able to be on schedule for my clients.  The doctor says it is a 2 week normal recovery.

The doctors find it hard to believe that at 75 I am going at such a fast pace.  My tax firm is my life and I love everything I do.  I love helping others and I think I do a pretty good job of it.  2019 I will begin 53 years in the tax professional business and 33 years owning my tax firm, MKD Business Services, in Costa Mesa, CA.

Wishing good health and happiness to all my fellow classmates.  I am looking forward to our next reunion!

Nan Nelson (Hays)

😊. Hello class...weather forecast for this Friday,4th is a wonderful sunny day with temp at 47 degrees! Can't be any better than that for SE Iowa In January!  So, please come to our luncheon if you can...same time-same place!    Nancy

 

 

 

 

Charlie LaFrenz

Hello everyone!

The other day I had an errand to run at the mall here in Keokue, and encountered a man walking for exercise and we greeted eachother.  As I was leaving he was sitting on a bench, and as I was passing he asked,"Is your name Charlie, Charlie La Frenz?"  I said yes, "Who are you?"  He replied, "I'm Ted Holland."  We chated for awhile he said he dropped out of school after sophmore year, had worked at Shaffers and other places and lives here in Keokuk.  We exchanged pleasntries and spoke of our military history and I left.  Wasn't he a member of the class of 61?

Linda Kirchner (Schrader)

Charlie.....I remember Ted Holland being in our class. I also remembr his brother 2 yrs.ahead of us, Bob Holland. Ted had blond hair & Bob had dark hair. Ironic you would run into him in Keokuk, IA. Glad he recognized you & you chatted & reconnected. Small world, isn't it?? Wonder if he'd like to join the class for the monthly luncheons at he Palm's the first Friday of the month. That would be nice to catch up with old friends.

Cyndy Day (Savage)

I didn't remember until Linda mentioned Bob too, leave it to Charlie. Wherever he goes or Janet and him together, they find someone don't they

Sharon Tincher (Scholl-Nabulsi)

Then post on the messsge forum!I thought Ted Holland was in the class of 1960! Linda look up our sophomore year in year book! 

Brad Wiedmann

Ted Holland was in our class and Robert Holland was class of 1959

Sharon Tincher (Scholl-Nabulsi)

way to go Brad!  Thanks for posting! I see the little 13 year old Wisconsin girl missing since October when her parents were murdered has been found! Thank the good Lird! What a traumatic she must have had!

Have a great day up there in the frozen north! 

Sharon Tincher (Scholl-Nabulsi)

That was supposed to be LORD NOT Lird! Fat fingers on the key pad!