A BRIEF SUMMER PIRATE PRESS: July 1, 2018

Fellow Pirates, I hope you are all doing well and that you will be able to join us for our 62nd reunion, probably on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019 at the Yakima VFW Post, which is near our old high school. (Do you realize that many of us will have turned 80 by then?! But, we are still young at heart, right?)

I will be contacting the Post Commander this September to begin the process. Am thinking that we will keep it simple: an open bar and snacks, concentrating on just visiting and reminiscing. The tentative date I am suggesting is the last Friday of the Central Washington Fair and is approximately the time we have had previous reunions.

Please let me know your thoughts, suggestions, and if you think you will be attending: editor@azbw.com

I am keeping this short, but if you haven’t heard, here’s an update on our class president Mike Smithhisler:

Bertha: Just got a call from Mike Smithhisler yesterday; he fell in January in his garage and was there all night and part of the next day; his friend, Mary, came to see him and then they called 911, he said that he had never been so cold and is doing better now. he is in Living Care here in Yakima. he said that he sold his house and his car. He can be reached by phone: 1-509-965-5240.

Carol Elizabeth Lemon Allen: Thank you for letting us know, Bertha. I just talked to him, and he sounds really good — happy not to be living alone anymore. His mailing address is Living Care Retirement Community, #506, 3801 Summitview Ave., Yakima, WA 98902-2794.

Also, this is a photo of Darlene Craig, who was in our class but not our graduation group. One of her relatives is trying to find her, so if you have any information, please let me know and I’ll forward it to Sue Woodruff.

Finally, an excerpt from some great thoughts about friends as we age (thank you, Ann Baker MacNeil, for sharing these):

A newlywed young man was sitting on the porch on a humid day, sipping ice tea with his father. As he talked about adult life, marriage, responsibilities, and obligations, the father thoughtfully stirred the ice cubes in his glass and cast a clear, sober look upon his son.
“Never forget your friends,” he advised, “they will become more important as you get older.” “Regardless of how much you love your family, you will always need friends. Remember to go out with them occasionally (if possible), but keep in contact with them somehow.
“What strange advice!” thought the young man. “I just entered the married world. I am an adult and surely my wife and the family that we will start will be everything I need to make sense of my life”

Yet, he obeyed his father; kept in touch with his friends and annually increased their number. Over the years, he became aware that his father knew what he was talking about.

Inasmuch as time and nature carry out their designs and mysteries on a person, friends are the bulwarks of our life.

If Things Get Better With Age Then I’m Approaching Excellent.
“You can’t make Old Friends!”