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Bushy Tales

Dedicated to all who attended London Central High School in Bushy Park, London England from 1952 to 1962

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Issue #10

January 2002

Volume #2

Gary Schroeder (55), Editor   gschroeder_uscgaux@email.msn.com

Class Representatives

1953 - Jackie (Brown) Kenny
JKYKNY@aol.com 
1954 – Betsy (Neff) Cote
JPACOTE@aol.com 
1955 – Nancie (Anderson) Weber
nanciet@inland.net 
1956 - Glenda F. Drake
gfdrake@swbell.net 
1957 – Celeste (Plitouke) Brodigan
Mbrodi1939@aol.com 
1958 – Pat (Terpening) Owen
nemoamasa@worldnet.att.net 
1959 - Jerry Sandham
Jerry.Sandham@aig.com 
1960 - Ren Briggs
renpat1671@uneedspeed.net 
1961 - Betsy (Schley) Slepetz
sbslepetz@erols.com 
1962 - Dona (Hale) Ritchie
DonaRitchi@aol.com 

Roster Changes

Gemma (Gamble) Darett (54)
New email address
darett@attbi.com 

Cynthia (Schofield) Simmons (57)
New email address
cynthia5912@msn.com 

Harold Dilley (56)
New email address 
harolddilley@gcnetmail.net 

Chris (Onufrock) Reppucci (57)
I have a new email address.
Cmreppucci@aol.com 

Bill Grable Rees (57)
My new email address is
brees01@attbi.com 

Nancy Decou Reed (56)
New email address
INDECOU@cs.com 

The following e-mail addresses are no
longer valid. Please delete from roster:

Nancy Ann Christie Carrillo (62)
RustyTopp@aol.com 

E. Cordell "Gene" Ferguson (62)
Fegg@jfa.com 

The following addresses are no longer
valid. Please delete:

Linda Fulton Julian (59)
9719 Popular Street,
Sweetwater, FL 33144

 

 

Look Who We Found

Nancy Reed DeCou (56)
Indecou@cs.com 

I am Nancy Reed DeCou (56) and I just got
a copy of the Bushy Tales from Ken Robie.
It is delightful. Please, put me on the list for
the newsletter.

Once before I had some contact with the
alumni but found so few before 60 that I just
let it slide. I need to update my email
address: INDECOU@cs.com  I live at 47371
Sunrise Terrace, Sterling, Va. 20165. I am
now retired from 27 years of teaching and
still working on my dissertation which is
getting close to defense. It has been a long
haul.

How can I find others who live in this area?
Is Jamie Musgrove (56) a found person?
Missy (55) was her sister. How about Robin
Cramm (56)? Janie (57) was her sister.

From Jerry Kelly (58)
JKelly1597@aol.com 
After reading the newsletter I see that you
are looking for Joe Miranda from the class
of 62. I did not know him and I graduated in
58 and came back to the states, but I have
had contact with Karen Cottingham also
Class of 62. She ran into him at Little Rock
AFB after she left England. Her email
address is: Ktrouvat@aol.com  she may
know, it’s a shot anyway. I really enjoy the
newsletters and hope to make a reunion in
the near future. Best of luck.

From Carolyn (Ford) Trudo (61)
Ctrudo@cox-internet.com 

Thank you so much for the newsletter. I am
Carolyn Ford-Trudo and was a junior at
Bushy Park during the '59-'60 year.

Unfortunately, I was moved to Lakenheath
and graduated there in 1961. I recently
received a copy of your wonderful Bushy
Tales and was delighted. Not only was I
delighted, but was delirious when I find the
email address of my old high school
sweetheart.......gosh, what a great day it was
for me when I emailed him and he actually
answered. We have since visited each other
and have plans in the future for more visits.
Wow.....what a find for us! I can't thank you
enough.

Yvette Vaughan Mulcahy (57)
DMulc16939@aol.com 

Judith Eaton Ventre (57)
305 Allston Way
Stockton, CA 95204
209.404.1401

Craig Sams (61)
Add e-mail address
cse@sams.demon.co.uk 

William Baldwin (62)
wabaldwin@home.com 
5701 Waldheim Street, #140
Charleston, SC 29418

John Brotbeck (62)
jhbrotbeck@ameritech.net 

Memories of Bushy

From Randy Crane (59)
RCRANE@CNAP.NAVY.MIL 

In the November issue there was mention of
the 1959 Senior Class trip to Rome. While
there, a number of the guys (maybe 4 or 5)
rented Vespa scooters, and joined by some
of the ladies of our class, set out on an
odyssey to the coast and a day at the beach.
I only know one other current reader of the

 

newsletter that remembers the trip to the
beach.

One unfortunate sole accepted a ride on the
charger I had rented. This was only the
second time I had ever piloted a two-wheeled
motor vehicle, the first was the
previous day. I was less than totally
confident in what I was doing, but still
determined to impress the lady. She was
worthy of impressing. All went reasonably
well until we were forced to contend with
trolley tracks on a curve. Well with all the
other things, and avoiding the tracks and
going around the curve at the same time, my
merger experience was overwhelmed. We
encountered a rather stout metal signpost at
the curb, which stopped the scooter rather
abruptly tossing the unfortunate lady and
myself onto the sidewalk. As we were
picking ourselves up I was bemoaning the
condition of the scooter. Judy Senn had to
remind me that my passenger was not
having fun. Being the adventurers we were,
we determined to face the music after we
came back from the beach, and off we went.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that I went solo
the rest of the day.

Mini Reunions

Sherry (Burritt) Konjura (57)
sherger@juno.com 

Bill Cooper and Celeste Plitouke Brodigan
came up to Lancaster the night of December
7th and saw the play that I wrote and am
also performing in. We got together
afterwards for drinks and had another
wonderful "mini-reunion". I've been very
happy with the reviews for the play and with
the response of those who have seen it. The
show has been sold out since day one which
has really been wonderful. I feel so blessed!

From Celeste (Plitouke) Brodigan (57)
Mbrodi1939@aol.com 

Classmates Bill Cooper and Celeste Plitouke
were invited to see "Christmas in Paradise"
written and produced by Sherry Burritt
Konjura '57 in Paradise, PA, on 12/07/01.
Sherry and her husband Gerry also were
outstanding starring actors in this sold out
hit about three yuppie couples from NYC
who take a holiday to spend Christmas in the
Pennsylvania Dutch country and get
stranded in a blizzard. They break into an
empty Amish farmhouse and are soon joined
by an Amish couple. The dialogue was
delightful and the outcome perfect for our
times. What a privilege to be invited and
what an honor to see a classmate who is so
very enthusiastic and talented. Sherry &
Bill starred years ago in the class play so for
each it was a pleasure indeed. A delightful
evening and how very nice to be able to
applaud one of our own!

Where Are They?

In this issue we are looking for those we
have not found from the Class of 61. Some
of these may have been found and we are
not aware of it. If you know where any of
them are please let us know.
This is 1/3 of the list of who we are
looking for in the Class of ’61.

Nikie Abrams
John Amato
James Bailey
Martin Baker
Jo Barrett
Leslie Benson
Rae E. Birdwell
Jeanette Bledsoe
Randall Britton
Ronald Brooks
Ann Bulgin Christensen
(She's been located
at Classmates as going
to Marymount		 rman Alm
Sharon Orff
Gary Bajenski
David Baranowski
Lois Ann Beatty
Glenda Bentley
Jacqueline Bland
James Brandon
Rosana Brodney
Vicki Brown

 

International School, but no reply to e-mails
sent). Anyone in contact with her?
Sharon Burmeister 
Neil Cannon 
Rita A. Carver
Robert Chartier
Janet Clark
John Connelly
David Cox 
Dan Crismon 
Phillip Davies
Claudia Day
Conrad Degannaro
James Dennison 
John Diehl
William Donovan
Judy Dowling
Frank Doyle
Robert Eastman
Mary Lee Ellis
Barbara Ethridge
Heather F. Spence
Michael Feeney
William Floyd
Jerry Fowler
Alfred Gabriels
Jane Garner
John Gowan
Sheila A. Gay
James Gunn
Jacqueline Haley		 Carolyn Campbell
Robert Carswell
Max Chapman
Julene Church
Doree Coleman
Gary Cotton
James Crain
Mary Crowell
Gail Davis
Lana J. Dearth
Karen E. Dempster
Stanley Allen Deuel
Linda Dodson
Karen Dougherty
Peter Dowling
Donald Dustin
Edwina Edwards
Angela Eppich
Hugh Everett
Laura Farmer
James Grassland
Barbara Folkman
Matthew French
Kathryn Gallarda
Jane Gentry
Margaret Grahame
Richard Gregory
Janice Guy

    Classmates Who Have Transferred
To The Eternal Duty Station

Our love and prayers go out to the family
and friends of our classmates who have gone
on before us. We will miss them, yet we can
find comfort in knowing that one-day we
will all join them for the greatest of all
reunions

From Anita (Hardy) Johnson (60)
anita42phil@msn.com      

 In regards to the "Where Are They" section
of the December newsletter, I have an
update for Sandy Pitt (Class of 1960). Sandy
Pitt (her married name was Sandy Gaines)
died July 21, 1973. She was an editor for TV
Guide Magazine. She died from a brain
tumor and is buried in Clarksboro, NJ.
We were room mates in the dorm at Bushy
and our dads were stationed at Brize Norton
near Oxford. I kept in contact with her by
mail until shortly before her death. I still
miss her.

Do You Remember

In the last issue I listed the last three of the
original five (two replied and were shown in
that issue) of addresses in England of our
classmates. We have received two more
replies and here they are.

From John W. Hoberg (61)
jhoberg@columbus.rr.com 

My sister Susan Hoberg (Central, Class of
'64), and I lived at 138 Fir Tree Road in
Banstead, Surrey from the spring of 1957
until 1959.
We were civilians, my dad having been
transferred to England in 1956 by Swift &
Company to start an adhesives business.
Banstead was on the chalk downs just a few
miles from the town of Epsom and its Derby
horse race. We were at the end line of our
school bus and, as civilians, lived primarily
in the "English economy." I became best
friends with two English chaps up the road,
Mike and Martin. We still correspond, and
visit when we're in each others' countries.
Martin sent me some heartfelt thoughts
about September 11. Our family moved to
Hinchley Wood near Esher, about 5 miles
from Bushy Park, in 1959.

After graduation, I attended Ohio Wesleyan
University in Delaware, Ohio. After my

 

freshman year I returned home to England
and in September 1962 I visited the new
school at Bushey Hall to see friends and
teachers. Near the end of a wonderful day, I
visited with Miss Clark, our counselor who
had counseled my attending OWU. She
asked how I liked it (I didn't) and I, not
liking to give bad news, lied and said "Miss
Clark, it's great." About 20 minutes later,
senior Judy Kirtley (Central, Class of 1963)
visited Miss Clark and said she was looking
for a college in the Midwest. Miss Clark
said "Do you remember John Hoberg? He's
at Ohio Wesleyan, and he loves it." So Judy
attended OWU the next year, I met her and
was knocked out, and we've been very
happily married for 34+ years. So my life is
really based on a lie. Peculiar!

Following law school at the University of
Michigan, I practiced law in Columbus,
Ohio for 30 years before retiring nearly 3
years ago. Our daughter Leigh Anne is a
pre-school teacher here in Columbus. Our
son John and his wife live in Pasadena,
where they are a TV writing team. They've
just sold a pilot for a series to ABC! We're
all excited. I now make digital video
programming for worthy causes and as
training films, serve on several community
boards, and love golf. I have now clawed
my way to a 17 handicap, and hope for
improvement. Judy is an artist and has an
art studio/shop in Columbus where she
makes and sells whimsical ceramic animal
caricatures, and has 15 other artists in her
studio. Her web page is
http://home.columbus.rr.com/judyscritters/ 
So far everything for us has been wonderful!

Thanks Gary and everyone else for putting
this newsletter together. I hadn't thought
much about Bushy for a long time, but your
newsletters and e-mails are a lot of fun.
Keep up the good work!!

From Fred Buhler (58)
ddinmont@oro.net 

A couple of months ago in the newsletter
you asked who lived at 11 Kingston
House South. I wondered at the time how
you came up with that address. In fact my
family lived there from 1956 to 1960,
although I left for university in 1958.

We are finally getting rain in California.
Until recently, we were running about 40%
of normal. We need a wet winter. Last
week our well dried up. Fortunately we
have a 5,000 gallon emergency tank. We
are using that for showers, etc.. With the
rain we have had in the last week or two, I'm
hoping our well will start producing again.

Now that only leaves the following
address unidentified, was it yours?

Brooke house
37 Chislehurst Road
Bickley, Kent, Imperial 4574

Now, do any of you know who this girl is?

 

 

 

Mini Bios.

From Clifford Gunderson (Faculty)
cliffordg9@home.com 
Thanks for the December Issue. The
writings do bring back memories of those
times.

Of course, my time goes back much farther.
Here is part of my story:

I grew up in Western Nebraska (closer to
Cheyenne than Lincoln) in a village called
Dix (I thought DIX referred to Roman
Numerals as 509 miles? from, say, Nebraska
City along the Oregon Trail). After
graduating from Dix Rural High School in
1940 and farming for a year, I enrolled in
Hastings College, NE, a small Presbyterian
college. I remember the announcement of
Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941, by car
radio as several of us were returning from a
small town where we had conducted the
church service that morning.

In January I took the Civilian Pilot Training
offered through the college and passed
Primary which included Meteorology,
Navigation, and FLYING! June of 1942 I
enlisted at Cheyenne for the Army Air
Corps. After Basic Training at Jefferson
Barracks, NE. St. Louis, MO, I was assigned
to a College Training Detachment at Beloit,
WI. It was there I had the misfortune of
dislocating my right knee a week before the
Flight Training, resulting in 8 months in
military hospitals, and not being eligible for
flight crew. I was sent to Radio Code
School at Scott Field, IL, but spent two
weeks filling sand bags on the Mississippi
Levee and not able to complete the course,
so on to the Overseas Replacement Depot to
receive an assignment to England with the
325th Ferrying and Transport Squadron of
the 302nd Transport Wing.

 

I had arrived at Heston Air Station in August
1944 shortly after Glen Miller was reported
missing with one of the Squadron's pilots in
a C-64 Norseman. During my tour of service
at Watton, Northolt, and Grove Air Stations
as a driver I made my first visit to Bushy
Park to Eisenhower's Office where the D-Day
"Overlord" had been planned.
I remember the tidy circle and a pleasant
feeling on that first visit. I did not visualize
the possibility of returning twelve years later
to take my daughter, Diane, to her first grade
room in the "Eisenhower" room and to be a
member of the faculty at Bushy Park High
School.
From Lyn (Peterson) Stinnett (58)
roverlyn@yahoo.com 
Sorry I missed the reunion, I have been
going to my old Freshman year get-togethers
in Arizona.

I am a mother of six and have been working
overseas these past ten years. I was in
London two weeks ago! My job is the
medical officer for Peace Corps, working
temporary duty in a territory of 26 countries.
I just got back from the Kyrgyz Republic
where we evacuated the Volunteers. My
married life of 17 years was to a policeman!
I only have three weeks in America and
have to keep moving. My six children all
live here in Arizona so it is a different night
in each home most of the time, plus seeing
the seven grandchildren.

My "home" post is Slovakia, however
because I travel all the time, I have only
been to my apartment for a total of 25 days
in the last two years...the cleaning lady sees
more of it than I do!
My next assignment is in the Ukraine to
train and mentor the new medical officer (I

 

am a Physician Assistant/Family Nurse
Practitioner) so she can take over. The time
will be for a month, mid December to mid
January, then to DC for a medical
conference for a week, then back to Soviet
Georgia for three weeks to cover that office
until the PA there comes back from his
home leave. By then it will be mid March,
then who knows!

This and That


Dick Ackerman (59)
acker1@earthlink.net 
(This is an update on the article from
Dick in the October issue concerning the
movie being made about his unit)

Just finished our veteran's day activities.
Guest speaker at the banquet was Randall
Wallace--the movie director. Sam Elliott
was also there. Plus 500 other people (Vets
and families). They showed some clips of
the movie--WOW!

Powerful. Movie opens Mar 1, 2002. Next
update on website I will post some pics.
Attaching 1 pic---My sister Jean, Sam Elliott
& Kay. Pictures from the movie visit can be
posted when they start advertising the
movie. All in all--it was a GREAT weekend.



 

From Rick Schroeder (55)
SSchroe273@aol.com

The following newspaper article was found
among some of my Mothers papers. I think
it may be from an issue of the Stars and
Stripes – not sure of the date.


Britons Get Chilblains and Colds,
But No Central Heating Sickness


LONDON, Jan, 21 19?? (AP) – This is the
time of year that the British, chunks of ice
cluttering up their landscape, explain at
length what is wrong with central heating.

They don’t have much of it, and seem jolly
well determined no to have any more.

There are icicles in the bathroom. That
perverse water pipe on the outside wall of
the house has burst again, and when the
faucet is turned in the kitchen nothing
happens. No water anyway.

Despite all this the British householder
argues that central heating isn’t necessary
because Britain has a temperate climate. It
doesn’t get very cold, he says – except in the
wintertime. Why make an engine room out
of the basement just on account of one
season?

Besides, it is only an exceptional winter that
gets cold. When it is pointed out that every
winter since the Norman Conquest back in
1066 has been exceptional, he replies but of
course next year will get back to normal.
There are many reasons why central is
wicked.

There is the prevalent conviction that central
heating is unhealthy. The Briton in his icy
home sneezes and sniffles, rubs his chest
with ointments and comes down with
chilblains and fibrosis and gets a chill.

 

"Dries the air, you know, and takes all the
vital out of it."

Then there is something sinful about having
the whole house warm when you live in only
one room at a time. Soft, self-indulgence,
that’s what it is.

And what is pleasanter or more romantic
than the glow of a coal fire in an open grate?
The open coal fire may make as much
smudge as glow, and it roasts a gentleman
on one side and permits him to get goose
bumps on the other. So the Englishman
wanting his surface uniformly has developed
a technique of rotating slowly before the
fire, as if he were on a vertical spit.

There is one well established form of central
heating in Britain. It is in greenhouses.
Fireplaces were tried but tomato plants
refused to thrive hot on one side and cold on
the other. Tomatoes have to be warm all
over, like Americans and Swedes.

There has been some revolt against the
notion that Britain has no winter to speak of.
The News Chronicle said sarcastically:
"Over the sea far away, there are
understood to be unfortunate foreign peoples
who are denied our climate and are obliged
to provide themselves with such quaint
devices as central heating and air cooling.
They, poor fellows, have to think of ways of
holding back flood waters or of keeping
their railway points (switches) from freezing
up, or of artificially raising or lowering the
temperature inside their homes."

"Not for us. We have equable and temperate
climate."

From Celeste (Plitouke) Brodigan (57)
 Mbrodi1939@aol.com 

 Actually this from her daughter Chrissie but
it may interest some of you.

I was wondering if I could recruit your help
for a project that I'm working on in school. I
work for George Mason University's Center
for History and New Media on ECHO
project team: Exploring and Collecting
History Online.

Our mission is to capture real life
perspectives from people to use to record
history. One of our leading projects is
"Remembering the Moonwalk." We have
created a three-question survey to collect
personal memories of Neil Armstrong's first
steps. I was wondering if you would be able
to put a short plug in your newsletter to your
classmates, who were a part of the
generation that made walking on the moon
possible. The survey itself is online at
http://echo.gmu.edu/moonwalk/survey

From Ron Crowe (64)
roncrowe@pacbell.net

In early December he sent this out to the
group that he's trying to keep up with (think
it's the Bushy group from about 63-66/67).
"The third attachment is a newsletter from
Gary Schroeder '55 which I hope will inspire
you to send me some fun reading about you
and your family. Take a look at what Gary
has done and how gals 'n guys from '52-'62
are keeping their group entertained and
informed."

Paul Wiater (62)
Whiferdill@aol.com

I'm Paul Wiater and I enjoyed reading your
Bushy newsletter. I went to Bushy my
sophomore year 1959-60. I live at 3837
Farrcroft Dr. Fairfax, VA. I saw names in
the newsletter I haven't heard for over forty 

 

years, brought back some great memories I
have of my year at Bushy. Especially
remember the Long Lounge! I transferred to
Lakenheath for my last two years,
graduating in 1962. My high school loyalties
are with LAHS but it is great to hear about
the Bushy bunch.

Merry Christmas and thanks for the hard
work in keeping this site current.


Look Who's Looking for Who


From Steve Warner (58)
WarnerS@HQ.7ATC.ARMY.MIL

Just a note to say how much I continue to
enjoy Bushy Tales, the Branson Reunion
recaps & pictures et al..

One person in the Class of 1958, whom I
have seen nothing on, was a person by the
name of Chris, or Christiana, Boex. She was
the daughter of a German diplomat or
perhaps a German businessman. Not sure if
she graduated in '58. (I did not, I returned to
VA for my senior year in HS). I had a huge
crush on Chris, and we dated for several
months. She was not a dorm student, but a
day student.
Chris gave me a framed charcoal drawing
of herself and on the back there was some
additional information about her family. The
problem is the portrait is in storage back in
the States.

I will be retiring this coming March (to St
Pete, FL), so I'll check it then. BTW,
because of your collective effort, I have had
some great email exchanges with Celeste
Plitouke Brodigan, another 'girl' I had a
crush on. I think I can say these things,
because I am divorced (but remain close
friends with my ex). So thanks again.

Cheers from Germany,

 

Don’t’ forget to check the Guest Book on the Bushy Park web site at:
http://www.bushypark.org/

 Contact the Editor

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