| First Edition Our First Issue This is the first of what I hope will be many newsletters for our Bushy Park Family. We will start out with an issue every two months and see what happens. At the suggestion of Pat Owen I am dedicating this first issue to Charlie Andrews without whom none of this would be happening. It was finding Charlie’s site on the web that got all this started. He and his Bushy Park page on his web site were the driving force in my starting the roster and everything that has happened since then. We miss you Charlie. The first big test of this newsletter will be to see how many of you have trouble opening it when you receive it. I am doing it in Microsoft Word. If I save it in a Generic Word Format as I do the Roster you should all be able to open it with little trouble. Let me know. The next test will be to see how well I can format everything (text and pictures) that I put into it. Is it readable, or is it too big a file to send email. Guess I will not know until I finish the first one and see what happens. Any help any of you can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Remember this is for you but it won’t exist without you. Lets have a good time with this. Ok, now it is your turn. What will the next issue look like? That is up to you.
Class Representatives These are the ones who have volunteered so far: 1954 - Betsy Neff Cote JAPCOTE@aol.com 1955 - Nancie Anderson Weber
nanciet@inland.net 1957 - Celeste Plitouke Brodigan
Mbrodi1939@aol.com 1958 - Pat Terpening Owen That leaves ’53, ’56, ’59, ’60, ’61 and ’62 classes without representative - any one want to take care of your class?
Where are they? Does anyone remember Angela May? Avery attractive blonde girl who, I believe would have been in the class of ’54. She was rumored to have been up for a Hollywood screen test. There was also another tall, blonde girl named "Kris" whose father worked at the embassy downtown. She was in the ’55 class. In each new Newsletter I will take one Class and list all the names of those we have not found yet. This might turn out to be quite a chore but we will give it a try. The first Class is 1953. Where are they now? Bobbie Brewer Jacqueline Brown Eugene Cain Constance Carpenter Kevin Carroll Ruth Davis Patricia D’Arcy Cecile Erichs Harold Granata Sherry Gregory Barbara Hiers Celia Johnson Anne Jones Dick Leavell Henry Mason Mitzi Jo McCurdy Richard Musgrave Pauline Nieman Kay Owen Patricia Piety Atha Robinson Lola Sersain Georgia Sue Talbot Look Who We Found The following are recent finds and have been added to the roster I am keeping. Jerry Ellis (55) Joyce (Ford) Williams (55) Gene Hibbeler (55) Jerry Hunsicker (56) Carol Cameron Rogers (58) Paul Westin (58) Barbara (Cameron) Squires (59) Some interesting facts about Barbara and Carol: They and their husbands will be celebrating their 41st wedding anniversaries in May. They had a double wedding in 1960. Way to go guys!!! Carol and Barbara, and their families, will be attending the baseball game between the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners in April. Carol’s son, Kenny Rogers, is the starting pitcher for the Rangers. Kenny pitched a perfect game for the Rangers in July 1994. He was the first left-handed pitcher in 100 years to do this. All you baseball fans, and particularly Ranger fans, watch for Kenny.
Deep Dark Secrets of Bushy From Diane (Lathrop) Zumwalt: Some funny memories that I have of life in the freshman girls dorm when it was located behind the boy’s dorm: The school administration in 1953 decided that the freshman girls needed a place of their own - actually, I think they were afraid that the upper-class girls would kill us! I remember that the English supervisors at the freshman dorm did not know what to make of us "Yankee Brats". And they had good reason - example: one night "us girls" decided it would be way fun to put pennies in the light sockets. Of course it shorted out all the lights in the place. When the poor janitor came to check out the lights and put in a new bulb, it darn near electrocuted him, which we thought most hilarious! We also had some great toothpaste fights and water fights! We really all had some high old times, but pretty wild ones, at that. My parents refused to let me go back to Bushy the second year.
From Anne (Jones) Weber: I'd like to hear from any of the other first ever graduates from BP, especially the girls of St Mary's. I found an old copy of "The Cheerio Edition" of the school paper, which mentioned the pub sign Adelaide briefly sported a beard, mustache, and freckles. Seems to me I also recall a late night raid on the base and the hoisting of a black lace item on the flagpole. There's no picture of me, as I remember, in the 53 yearbook because my family chose the time pictures were taken for the Grand Tour, but I have a 54 yearbook and there are a couple of snaps with BJ and MJ Grinell. I attended school in London while staying at the dorm for a few months in 54 before my family returned stateside.
From Gary Schroeder: We all know the English have many great artists and are aware of their work. Those of us who were lucky enough to spend time in England had the advantage of seeing some of their work first hand. One of the artists displayed his/her work, and appreciation for all the U. S. did for the English people during the war, on a brick wall along our bus route from South Ruislip to Bushy Park. There, for all to see he/she had painted "Yanks Go Home". After passing this artwork twice a day for many months there were some on our bus who felt we should show our appreciation to this artist. A committee was formed and appropriate form of recognition was decided upon. A few days later as we rode by the wall on the way to school we were happy to see that the appropriate recognition had been given to this great artist. There for all to see was printed the original "Yanks Go Home" followed by "and let Britton Starve". Apparently the artist did not appreciate our form of gratitude. When we passed that same wall on the way home that afternoon there was only the wall - all of the artwork had been removed. I wonder why?
Other Memories of Bushy From Pat (Terpening) Owen: The year I graduated from Bushy -
Reunion News
See pages 6 and 7 of this Newsletter for news about a reunion.
A Mini Reunion From Bob Lyle: "While traveling through Phoenix in late February, Lois and I enjoyed a breakfast visit with Pete (1953) and Diane Garrison and Ted (1955) and Dawn Hopkins. This was great fun as we touched on our experiences at Busy Park, our present day activities, and everything in between. We realized that Pete, Ted and I are all charter members at Busy Park, Pete was there 1 year, I was there 2 years and Ted was there for 3 years. It would be interesting to know if there were any charter members who were there 4 years (or even longer!)? Any ideas? I wish it were possible to see more of you on a regular basis. If any of you are traveling to New England be sure to give us a call. Bob Lyle, 1954" 109 Hop Brook Road Simsbury, CT 06070 Tel. 860 651 0852
Travel Plans Betsy Neff Cote’ is planning a trip to the Knoxville, TN and Savannah, GA area over Memorial Day for a family reunion of her husband’s family. They plan to make a week of it so - If any of you live in or around that area please let her know. Please use the email address for her on the first page as the class rep for the 54 class. Also if any of you do get together please write up a short article about it and send it to me for our Mini Reunion column.
Good News We Would Like To Share Tony (58) and Gitta Taylor became proud Grandparents to twin girls this past summer. They’ve moved to Washington State to be near the new family additions. Linda Berry (wife of Jerry Berry (55)) has published two books -"Death and the
Easter Bunny", and "Death and the Hubcap". Scheduled for early next year is
"Death and the Icebox". First chapters are at <www.ogeechee.avigne.org>
with links to her publisher. I know she has some copies that she can send -signed! and
Amazon also has them. Barnes and Noble had them, at least in Denver, but I think each
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. (In this first issue I am only listing the ones who have gone on before us in the last two years and the others that I know of. In future issues I will list all the names of the others if you will let me know who they are. I don’t have a list so; the information will have to come from you.) Roger N. Burr (58) James Goodeve (55) Lynn Pinneo (55) Charlie Andrews (56) Ronald "Dusty" Bowers (54) Mary Lou DeCoursey Wood (55) Celia "Kelle" Johnson Ashley (53) Harper Keeler (53) Henry reed Muller (53) Henry Peterson "Pete" Rumble (55) Cari Williams Sellers (56)
Mini Bios. CHARLES (CHUCK) CLEMENS CLASS OF 1954 My departure from Bushy Park was at the end of the ‘52-‘53 school year when my family returned to the States. I graduated from FORT HAMILTON HS in Brooklyn, NY. I attended Pennsylvania Military College in Chester Pa. from ’54 - ’58 where I received my BSEE and was Commissioned in the US Army. Janet Kelley and I were married after graduation and we welcomed a daughter to our family in 1959. After spending 6 ½ years on active duty, I went to work for Dupont in Camden, South Carolina. We then moved to Florence, S.C. where I worked for Union Carbide until 1977. While in Florence I also taught at Florence/Darlington Tech College and received my MBA from the University of S.C. In 1977 I went to work for Exxon in Libya. Due to Janet’s health, we returned from overseas to Baytown, Texas in 1979. Janet pasted away in Oct 1980. Judy Blakeney (Class of 1956 Bushy Park) and I were married in 1981. Judy and I have 5 children between us, 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild. We have lived in Baytown for some 20 years. I retired from Exxon in 1996 and now work as an Engineering Consultant.
From Grover (Coach) Cannon I got all the highlights from the Las Vegas reunion and really enjoyed reading about all the happenings & the pictures. Hope I can make the next one. I have been in email contact with Doris & John Billington & they feel the same. My retired life is not all that exciting. I live in a condominium complex with about 3,500 other people. We have an executive golf course that is rated in the top 10 west of the Mississippi so I play lots of golf. I have lived here since 1975. I keep busy otherwise serving on comm. & boards. I've served my time on those so am slowing down on that volunteer service. Some of the most fun memories of my 5 years at Bushy Park were the trips to Germany for the B.B. tournaments with the team & cheerleaders. The games of Hearts we played on the train for blood. The time we chartered an English coach for the trip to Frankfurt & the driver started to drive down the left side of the road when we got off the ferry in Belgium. He had an accident a little later & we had to go by train on to Frankfurt. Luckily Volney Farned was along on that trip & had the money to get train tickets. The whole ex- perience of teaching & coaching all the students I had at Bushy Park was really great . I believe all of you were above average in every way Best of luck to you. Coach Cannon .
Editors Note I have had so much fun doing this first issue I think I will try to put one out next month also. If you liked this one and want another one next month I will need your help. You will need to send me items to put in the next issue. Deadline for articles for the next issue will be 15 April - same deadline for your contributions to Uncle Sam. How about Mini Bios from the class reps for the next issue. After that I will take mini bios from anyone who wants to send me one. Lets hear from you. Don’t’ forget to check the Guest Book on the Bushy Park web site at:
http://www.bushypark.org/ That is a great place to see if anyone that we are missing has checked in. If you find someone new, on the site or any other way, please let me know. We need to add them to the roster. On another note: If any of you know some of your classmates that have email address and are not receiving the newsletter please let me know. I will add them to the Group list BUT, if they want to be on the list they will not only get the newsletter, they will also get everything else I send out to the Group. If they don’t want to get all the other stuff the only suggestion I have is that you email them the newsletter yourself.
Reunion News From Ted Hopkins: Dear Bushy Park Students, The Class of "55" is looking for encouragement to hold a Reunion this fall in Branson, MO. The plans to date are to stay at the Radisson Hotel (middle of the strip) for $81 a night, including tax. We chose Monday October 1st for check-in because of the availability of the ballroom and the fall colors around Branson. Tuesday we plan for Class meetings leading up to the reunion dinner on Tuesday night. The Reunion dinner is estimated at $25- 30 per person (cash bar) depending on the size of the group. Additional dates (rooms) can be added on 3 before and/or 3 after (same rate) in order to take advantage of the many Branson attractions. The Reunion is planned for one day Tuesday 10/2/01, however we anticipate most attendees will extend in order to visit longer in smaller groups. After check in on Monday (after 3:00) we recommend the Jim Stafford Show as great entertainment and a way to ease into greeting arrivals. If you have visited Branson before we hope you feel as we do that it is a wonderful heartland destination, that makes you feel good about our traditions and culture (except for tee shirts). If you have thought about visiting Branson and never got around to it, here's a great opportunity to contact a few classmates and stay an extra couple of days. All classes are welcome. Our goal is to continue and expand the bonding we achieved in Las Vegas with the Class of "54". We have also added many new contacts since Vegas. Branson is located: 42 mi. from Springfield MO, 252 mi. from St Louis MO, 177 mi. from Little Rock AR, 118 mi. from Joplin MO and 227 mi. from Tulsa OK. By air it takes a connection. Not necessarily easy to get to but the scenery and surrounding attractions are worth the effort. Check out the Branson web site. We need your input. We know this may be sudden given only six months away. We feel, however, there may be a motivation to do a reunion this year. What do you think? Name _________________________________________ Phone _________________ Fax ______________________ E-Mail __________________ Yes, I will come Oct 1st / 2nd _____ Tentative Yes ______ Depends on who is coming ______ Sorry, can't make it. Dates _____ Location ______ Travel too difficult _____ Don't even like "55" _____ Starting on Monday night with a music and comedy show is a good way to start _____ I would rather just meet and talk _____ The person with me would rather see four shows _____ This Bushy Reunions is on time ______ Too Soon ______ Should be next Spring _____ Next Fall _____ Once every 3 yrs ______ Once every 4 yrs ______ Once every 5 yrs ______ Heck, let's have it anyway and see who comes! _______ Responses are requested by April 10th in order to reserve a block of rooms and the ballroom. If response is spotty we can still meet but without block reservations ( anticipating a smaller group). Everyone who responds will receive a tabulation of responses and a tentative list of attendees. Please respond to Ted Hopkins by April 10th EMail, MrTeddyboy@msn.com Fax, 480-488-2219 Phone, 480-488-2219
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