Ahoy, Fellow Pirates!
The planning continues for our 62nd reunion at the VFW in Yakima — 118 S 5th Ave , Yakima, Washington 98902, (509) 457-5400 — on Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 5-8 p.m. (The Post is very close to our alma mater.)
I intend to send out two more updates via Pirate Press and Facebook, one in June and a final one in August. In between those months, I’ll do a limited (just to those for whom I have no email addresses) in July 2019.
I need your help with this as I have neither email nor mailing addresses for everyone in our class. Please spread the word and let me know if you probably will attend (and how many with you?). I need to let the VFW Post know by the beginning of September the number planning to attend. However, it would be most helpful if I could give them an estimate sooner.
My email is editor@azbw.com and for mailing your checks, the address is 7620 E. McKellips Road, Ste. 490, Scottsdale, AZ 85257.)
This will be a casual, informal gathering with no “program” to speak of – just a chance to visit and share our stories and remember those who have sailed on to other seas.
TO YOU: FIVE REQUESTS
- Ann MacNeil: Would you be willing to provide “sticky” name tags and have each person fill out one as he or she comes into the reunion?
- Sue Woodruff: After I give the brief welcome and the blessing, would you be willing to read a list of the names of those who have sailed on? I think you have a current one, and I would like all their names mentioned at the beginning of our evening.
- John Ponath: Would you be willing to go around our gathering and ask people for a brief update on what they have been “up to” for the past 62 years (or something along those lines)?
- Jim Fitch: Would you be willing to find some kind of thank-you certificate to honor our long-time class president Mike Smithhisler and present it to him? (We can reimburse you for whatever you spend as I am thinking we’ll have a bit of money left over.)
- Everyone: What are your wishes re: any monies remaining after all is paid for our reunion? Please check (X) one of the following: _______remainder to anyone who wants to organize another reunion ___________a donation to the VFW Post _______________ or another idea you have listed here:_______________________________________________
A REPEAT OF DETAILS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Budget:
- From the past reunions committee I received $610 for this 62nd reunion. As I did not set up a separate account for that, I have kept the money in a personal account I rarely use.
- Fortunately, the Yakima Post is renting us the room for $200 (same rate as they charge their own members). They very kindly gave me the same discounted price because of my membership in the VFW Auxiliary here in Scottsdale.
- I have sent them a check for $200 so our room is reserved. That leaves $410 in our account (which, of course, is being supplemented now by the $12 reservations).
- The Yakima Post will need to know the number attending by late summer, so they can order the *appetizers mentioned below. The cost for the appetizers is $12 per person. I divided $400 by $12 to get the number that amount would serve: 33. However, it already looks as if we will have at least that many attending.
- Consequently, if you have not already done so, I am asking that you each mail a check — made out to Carol L. Allen –for $12 (per attendee) to me at the following address:
Carol L. Allen, 7620 East McKellips Road, Ste. 490, Scottsdale, Arizona 85257. - That will facilitate the following: 1) give me an accurate account of the number attending, 2) leave some funds for mailing (@ 55 cents per notice), and 3) satisfy the Post’s requirements to pay ahead for the snacks.
- Thank you to those who have already reserved; your cancelled check is your receipt.
*Appetizers/Price
Cheese, Crackers, Fruit, Veggies, Chips and Dip, Cookies, etc. $12.00 per person (includes plates, napkins, utensils, etc.)
And, although this does not directly apply to us or our reunion, it might interest you to see what the Post’s beverage selections and pricing (as of press time)in case you arrive early/stay late and want to order on your own:
- Coffee, Tea, Well Soda $2.00
- Well Drinks $4.25
- Domestic Drafts $3.50
- Domestic Bottles $3.75
- Domestic Cans $3.00
- IPA Drafts $5.50
- Import Bottles $4.50
- Wine $4.25 glass
I look forward to hearing from you and meanwhile, wish you a Happy Mothers’ Day and Memorial Day.
Fair Winds and Following Seas,
Carol (Lemon) Allen
FINALLY, AND JUST FOR FUN:
I’m sure you’ve seen this before, but every time I read it, I smile and remember:
THE “GREEN THING”
Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.”
The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
The older lady said that she was right — our generation didn’t have the “green thing” in its day. The older lady went on to explain:
- Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
- Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then.
- We walked up stairs because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
- But she is right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day. Back then we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
- But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day. Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded-up old newspapers to cushion it, not styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
- Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
- But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
- But we didn’t have the “green thing” back then. Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the “green thing.” We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn’t it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then?
