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Bad News From Florida – Mary Yarberry Parrish suffered a “freak mishap”, according to word from husband Worth, which resulted in a broken right wrist and hip; she was hospitalized, tho may be home by the time you read this, but the doctors think she’ll be incapacitated for maybe six months, so Worth says this means a temporary interruption in the appearance of Yarberries and Worth While. Ruby Neese understood the mishap occurred in church. Needless to say, but we will say It, we are all hoping she will soon be feeling well, and we know Worth will take good care of her.
Better News From R.I. We had failed to receive a report from Eleanor Crum, as expected (perhaps another case of missed mail, as she said she did write) so she repeats, as of June 9th: “The second hip operation was in mid-March; it took 6 hours & 3 hours in the Recovery Room. Doctor put in a new plate and pin and did some bone graft. Had 3 blood transfusions, many I.V.’s and oxygen for a week or more. Was returned to Summit Medical Center from hospital March 31st, and have been resting, and sitting in a wheelchair, waiting for my bones to heal.
“The X-rays the end of April and May showed continued healing. I am hoping that those at end of June will show them all healed. If so, I will then have physical therapy in July. If not, I may go home for the month because daughter Carol will come to stay with me; then I will (hopefully) have physical therapy at home in August. I don’t seem to have time to write – they get me up late of mornings and I squeeze in necessary business items, then lunch, then guests, followed by supper, paper reading and bed.”
It sounds hopeful and we pray the healing continues. She added: “My grandson, Mark, aged 20, is staying at my home this summer; he takes care of my cats and fish, and brings me my mail and newspaper. He trained in Providence for A. T. & T. then the union members went on strike and he was told not to cross the picket line. He has a day job in Pawtucket. I love having him here.”
But No Better from Etheree Armstrong who is quite discouraged by her eye condition and is resigning since even with the bifocals she can no longer read the papers. And Louise Rayle is also having eye trouble; she is going to see another doctor to find if he can learn what happened to her right eye; the doctor who gave her laser treatment for that eye says she is legally blind in that eye – altho she could see before the treatment, but can’t now.
On the Other Hand: Bonnie Green reports her check-up in May has her doctors pleased and they say it was 100% successful; she needs to wear the metal shield over her eye only when sleeping; other times she wears dark glasses. Her vision is 20/30, but they predict it will be 20/20 when healing is complete.
She keeps in touch with Smitty (Mrs. C. U. Smith) by phone and reports that Smitty has family members living there now. Her last surgery still has her in much pain, and Bonnie says “I know from experience that the stress of emotional pain intensifies physical pain.”
Pleasant Items include word that Claire Reilly was named “Mother of the Year” by the Ocotillo Bible Church; and that Emil and Julia Lengle, having found that Julia’s hospitalization did not portend a life-threatening situation, decided to make their California trip while they could; and even as I type this they are enjoying a ferry trip during their visit to a Lengle nephew at San Francisco; she calls it “a jolly push, from jet lag to sea legs!” And the Newfoundland trip is still planned for.
Lenore Hughes is home safely from her Alaskan cruise – at its beginning the temp. ran below 35º; on the return trip she spent 4 pleasant days at the Expo in Vancouver with 70° temp. then visited briefly in Sun City with 104º temp. I’m eager for her account of her experiences. I love to write them when we go, and especially enjoy reading others’ – & Lenore’s are always tops.
On a visit to Disneyland in 1972, we went through an attraction, whose name I’ve forgotten, tho I will never forget the raucous accompanying music: “It’s A Small, Small World” because I asked the young attendant how he could endure the sound all day, and he yelled “Yes, it’s pretty loud.” I was inclined, however, to agree with the sentiment of the song as it did seem small, and one was always encountering people who knew people we knew. Since that time, however, it seems that if the world is not getting any larger, it is getting more packed!
Recently two incidents are combining to shrink it for me. Some UAP members may recall when after the UAP convention at Sharee Mission (KS) in 1979, I sent a convention report to the Branns for the Official Organ, ending it with the statement that we were going to Russell, Kansas, and that I wished I had a bumper sticker which read “Russell, Kansas: Home of Robert Dole and me.” No author’s name was given, so when he was queried, John Brann remarked that I talked so much about Russell that he did not think one was needed. A few months ago I enjoyed a Booklet of Months, issued by pair of amateur journalists of NAPA, so I wrote a fan letter; evidently I included an LN concerning the Memory Contest mentioning m memories of Kansas, and in reply Dorothy (Mrs. Willis) Hutchison wrote that she had been born in Paradise (Kansas) and lived for a time in Russell!
Then this week a connection which surprised and pleased me, came to light when I received The Point, put out by new member, Pauline Lundell, for June. In it she announced the appointment of an East Coast representative who turns out to be a long time acquaintance from the rolls of the Lone Scouts. Ernest “Long Eagle” Hack who puts out a handset printed paper, The Connecticut Yankee (altho he moved to Florida a few years ago). I feel through my own Lone Scout, I know all of them, but I had the pleasure of meeting Ernie and his late, lovely wife, Evelyn, at a Reunion in No. Carolina a few years ago. Ernie wrote to ask permission to reprint a few stories from the UAP Early Memory Contest, and of course, I gave it, and will report which he chooses to use when he does. As one who has done a lot of hand-setting of type, I suspect the shorter ones will be his choice, but the issue I’d sent him (and he praised our writers highly!) had mostly rather long ones. Since he felt that as his circulation includes only a few UAP members, the stories would be new to his readers. Martin and I enjoy his paper which has much the quality of a UAP publication.
Bob and Pauline Lundell, by the way, had flown to New Orleans for the Gemini Convention in late April, and thoroughly enjoyed it; in fact, Pauline almost bubbled in describing the marvelous hotel accommodations, and the sights. Pauline stated she had had “oysters on the half-shell every day!” They visited the French Quarter, had a ride in surrey, and seemed not to have missed a thing. This June issue had contributions by Rosabel Boyd (“Favorite Sentences”) and Eleanore-Melissa Barker, (“Confusing and Amusing“) (verse), and Lenore H. Hughes on the Love Stamp, who uses cancelled stamps on stationery.
Layoffs and businesses closing down, seem to be prevalent everywhere, Janet Ashmore reports husband David was warned in November that his job would be redundant in December. He had six years’ service which entitled him to a month’s salary for each year, but by March had had another; now is at British Telegram as a General Assistant. She sent a picture folder of Widemouth Bay at Bude, Cornwall, where they have vacationed several times. Another of her favorite places is Bocastle where there is the biggest second-hand & used-book shops she’s seen and she spent ages browsing. She added, “There were all sorts of wild flowers on the cliffs, even roses. And wonderful rock pools, but beware of big waves. Some children were drowned last year at Land’s End.”
Gerald Bradish reported they got their crop all seeded and half harrowed when rain (and some snow) came. The rain soaked in, no run off as it came slowly; quite a change from last year. Speaking of weather he wrote, “We get occasional tornadoes near here, and some earthquake shocks. The worst, they say, was in 1910 when pictures and dishes fell to the floor. I remember one in 1925; it shook our new house and cracked the cement foundation in places. My mother’s hanging plants had a two foot swing! We were eating supper at the time. These shocks are from earthquakes which occur in Montana, adjoining state on Border 24 miles south of here.” I was surprised last month when Bessie Brann sent me reports of earthquakes in Kansas as I do not recall my folks ever mentioning any: only one I recall feeling was in Ohio, quite early one morning, and my folks teased me about it for months as I leaped from bed and called, “Mother! Dad! It’s an earthquake! Isn’t it exciting!”
Helen Penner was asked to be a model in a Fashion Show the E.C.S, is putting on; she said she was so surprised that she said “Sure” before she stopped to think, but she said “I’m sure if it can be ‘flubbed’, I’ll be the one to do it.”
Ruby Neese writes that her doctor told her she should wear her back brace at least another month. She says it is hot, but her back is so much better when she wears it that she really does not mind. Ruby says son Jeff and wife Phoebe, who now live in Memphis, are looking forward to their first child in January. Jeff was always so full of advice on how to handle children that she is amused, but feels they did all right by their four, and is pleased to think that Jeff will be a good father.
Long-time members who knew Erlynne Savage of Houston, will be pleased to know that she is doing well despite some bursitis, and husband Carl who has some physical problems is coping. Their granddaughter, Mary Beth (whom the late Dorothy Scheckenbach dubbed “Angel Puss”) has received steady promotions at work and is now a Legal Secretary, Erlynne wrote of one of those disasters which turned out just the opposite: Mary Beth arranged to have new cabinets installed in the kitchen for their 49th wedding anniversary, and as the Formica tops were being put on there was a “Vapor Explosion” and the Fire Dept. was called. “What a dirty mess! This was the first fire we’d ever had, but Hartford Insurance sent its Restoration Crew to clean everything – sent all their clothes to the cleaners, washed dishes, painted the entire house inside, and gave us nearly $2000 for new curtains, etc. No one was hurt or burned. So I have my Spring housecleaning all done!”
Despite Carl Webb’s comments about doing less gardening this year, he’s forgotten his resolutions. A recent letter said, “You should see our gardens grow; both of them! I will be fighting weeds day and night all summer because cultivation is what makes the weeds grow. I put dried cow manure in every row with seeds and bulbs, covered and sprinkled a bit of 12-12-12 on top to warm the soil and give plants a fast start. After things are up a few weeks, I water them twice with a solution of Fish Emulsion Oil, 2 teaspoons to a gallon of water, two times during the growing season. A few rain showers also help, but I never water because we have good soil here that retains moisture well.” He enclosed a clipping of a cemetery gate which displays a sign “ONE WAY – DO NOT ENTER.” I should try to get one of a cemetery I know whose gate reads, on the inside, “NO EXIT.”
John Brann is also gardening this year and he claims it is “mainly to keep the kittens company. Placido, the rambunctious longhair, is always under foot and more fun than a monkey. He gets under the hoe so I have to move to a different place; I dug a trench and was planting beans when he plopped down with his bushy tail in the trench, so I covered it and tamped it down. When he tried to get up the fun started. He is pretty good about keeping out of the way, though. I never got over the time I was cutting tall grass in the alley and Toni was sitting on a fence post watching me when all of a sudden she jumped down in front of the sickle and I whacked her. Scared me silly, but she didn’t seem to mind. Only explanation I can think of is that the sickle was carrying so much grass that it was like getting hit by a haystack.”
Rita Wysong writes a weekly column entitled “Seniors’ Connection” for the Gazette of Montgomery County, and from the looks of the samples, she must put lots of time on it. She reported on the get-together of retired foreign service officers and wives, and commented that her husband, Robert, couldn’t resist telling his favorite story: “When we arrived in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, our fourth overseas post, I’d told him “I said I’d follow you to the ends of the Earth and this is it!” Her account of all their activity in recent weeks, ending “…just returned from Finger Lakes in New York; Bob’s aunt comes next week and we are to drive her back to Indiana the following week so Bob and I can attend his 45th class reunion, then on to Missouri for a few days.” She, as I, eagerly awaits the next issue of The Fossil, in which (if nothing happens again to prevent it) Ralph Babcock will publish her Beirut Diary, paired with Victor Moitoret’s account (as told in letters to his wife, Rowena) at the same dangerous period. (This is another case of one of those “coincidences” which I think rule my life: my knowing Vic & Rowena and sharing the concern when Vic was recalled to active duty in the NAVY and was aboard a U.S. warship at the same time when Rita’s husband was stationed there, and she had to leave.
Marion Wyllie is a member of a Round Robin group to which new member, Louise Rayle belongs. I met Louise at least 25 years ago at an NAPA Convention in Grand Rapids, and before her burgeoning family took so much time we corresponded regularly. This year her daughter Shirley’s oldest son graduated; Louise said the 103 graduates were lined up alphabetically and Ron, the tallest, ended in center front. What pleases her is that he has a job in a print shop in town; he had taken 4th place in the entire district in Graphic Arts. And Angela Payle, their (Louise & Lynn’s) eldest granddaughter made the National Honor Society this spring as a Junior. She hopes to enter the Univ. of Michigan next year, possibly on an academic scholarship, and since she made a 99% on a nationwide math exam it sounds as if she stands a good chance. Their newest grandson was six weeks old when she wrote on June 7th, and they will get to see him for the first time at the family reunion in July.
Flora McKinney Hefti is thrilled about selling a filler to The Christian Science Monitor in April; this was her first one for the Home Forum Page which is used in all editions around the world. It was a write-up on the Pasadena Playhouse.
John Brann is an avid baseball fan, so when I tuned in on a late night talk show and heard a writer being interviewed on his recent book, which was devoted to errors & misplays in the game, I wrote John about it – but had been too sleepy to note the name of the author or title of the book. He replied he didn’t know of it, but so many funny goof-ups have been happening in baseball on TV lately so there is plenty of material for a book. “Once a player threw a baseball at a rabbit that had strayed onto the field, and two runs were scored. Lou Gehrig hit a home run (that wasn’t) that hit the stands and bounced back onto the field where a fielder caught it on the fly, and base runner, thinking it was the third out, ran unnoticed to the dugout and Gehrig was called out for passing base runner so lost the record.
“The funniest play I’ve seen on TV,” John continued, “was when a shortstop threw a ball out of second baseman’s reach and first baseman chased it and threw to catcher who whirled and lunged to tag out the base runner – excusing the base runner was still standing on third base. Sure looked silly sprawling to tag out the empty air. The Royal’s first baseman made a play like that. Wouldn’t have been funny if the Royals hadn’t been far ahead at the time. Royals had made three errors to let opponent get runners on first and second. Next batter hit a grounder to shortstop who started a double play, putting out runner going into second and relaying to first basement who got the batter out and then (thinking it was the third out) nonchalantly tossed the ball to the umpire who dodged out of the way and the runner on third trotted home free.”
Right now I don’t know anyone living in San Antonio who can tell me if the Alamo suffered damage from the recent terrific rains and flood. I remember one of the times when we were there and camped at a place on east side of town when an overnight rainstorm stopped traffic. We did not have to leave, so waited it out, and when we did go we saw signs of how high the water had been along the road we would have been traveling. Lenore Hughes’ ? Mark for April on old missions around San Antonio brought this to mind.
Claire Reilly says she really knows what it means to be lonely now; her little dog, Bridie Murphy had a stroke and died on Labor Day, 1985; she was 18 years old; then her beloved boy dog, her only companion, died as result of his diabetes on May 19th, he was 14 years old. She wrote, “No more pets; It is too hard to lose them!” We hear she is going to visit her granddaughter in Lake Elsinore, California, so we can expect to wee more work by her great granddaughter and UAP member Victoria (Vikki) Kelsey.
Until next month, Willametta.
Seasonally Speaking
by Merry B. Harris
Ocotillo, CA 92259
Summer is the lazy time
When even grown-ups play.
Oh, how I wish that when she returns
Summer would come to stay.
(Her letters sound another tune
Now she’s enduring desert’s June;
So our readers must remember
Merry wrote that in December!) WTK
The Grape Vine
A Personal Publication, with News Items from and about Members, a few announcements, with light verse as space allows on the back leaf.
Published by Willametta Keffer
for United Amateur Press
at Shady Acre, Roanoke Virginia 24014