Barbara and Herb Jacobowitz sent this picture of their beautiful grandaughter Zoe Elyse Gallo who recently celebrated her first birthday.
Herb tells me that she eats grits every morning (shown here) and is already speaking in sentences, such as “Hey Yaw’ll” and “Bless your heart.”
Herb says he doesn’t want her to have to wait til she gets to high school to learn how to speak proper English like he did.
Congratulations Gramaw and Grampa!
(To enlarge left click on picture)
As mentioned before on this site, I’m still goofing around with TV up here in the DC area. The show is called, OUT OF THE PAST and that title gives me a lot of room to play with. Recently I’ve been able to convince a number of very interesting people to agree to appear on the show with me. For example our own Ellouise Diggle as well as a number of other prominant local personalities such as local radio and TV celebrities.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to have Hollywood Mogul Barry Levinson (DINER, GOOD MORNING VIETNAM, RAINMAN, and many others to be my guest.
Obviously, the reason Barry agreed to appear on the show is that the word has gotten out all the way to Hollywood, that OUT OF THE PAST was THE show that all the big names were clamering to appear on.
Well, perhaps I exagerate a little.
The truth is that Barry and I worked together in the mid 60’s at WTOP-TV in Washington. I was a radio and TV announcer there and he was working his very first job in the station’s TV TRAINING PROGRAM. His newest novel is called “66,” which is about his years at the station.
Click HERE to see the interview.
-Ed
We are sorry to learn that Maxcyne Motte Yawarsky’s mother passed away in Wilmington, NC on Friday, June 20th. She was 94 years old.
Maxine and her husband Ray live in Ogden, UT.
Also, I spoke to John Culp and he says Pat is doing well (under the circumstances).
-Jerry Gaudet
Atlanta 6/10/08
Bob Ellis reports that Pat Culp fell while visiting their daughter in Atlanta:
“She fell while coming down some steps and broke her ankle in 3 places requiring 9 pins.
The doctors are telling her that she will be bed ridden for 3 weeks.
Pat fell about 3 p.m. Friday afternoon but the doctors did not operate until 12 noon Saturday. Needless to say she was not happy…
Pat needs to see the operating doctor on Monday. Then, maybe later that day or Tuesday..she’ll be able to return home. They are not sure how she will handle their stairs as all bedrooms are up stairs..”
Obie Oakley leaving for Fort Pickett, VAFirst, there was the picture of Jennie Margaret, Don Nance, and Gene Moore
in Cap and Gown obviously graduating again. (See stories further down on the next page)
Then there’s the one of Warren Sparrow....going out to sea in a NAVY submarine.
AND NOW A PICTURE OF OBIE OAKLEY going off to war again!
Next, I expect to see a picture of Alton Widenhouse and Johnny Thomason working out at Redskins Park for the upcoming football season!
I assigned the CHS54 investigative reporting staff to look into the matter and here’s what they discovered.
Well, …………they didn’t find out anything.
So, I reached into my journalistic bag of tricks……..and came up with the solution; I asked Obie.
Here’s what he said:
” These photos are from a recent trip I made to Ft. Pickett, VA. Veterans from my old unit were invited to spend the day with the current members of that unit who were training there.
They put on parachute demonstrations, both high and low altitude, displayed some of the weapons they now use and gave us briefings on their recent deployment in Afghanistan. This was in appreciation for the Humanitarian Aid project we completed the first part of the year where my guys raised $12K with which we bought over 4,000 pounds of blankets, clothing and school supplies.
These were sent to another one of our unit’s Special Forces teams fighting in Afghanistan that they might distribute them to the locals in the battle to win their hearts and minds. Distribution began on April 6th.
The one of me in body armor was when I tried to convince them to let me re-reinlist and the other shows us walking out to our private aircraft for the trip from Charlotte to Ft. Pickett. Big day for us old troopers.”
(It seems to me that the ARMY doesn’t need for Obie to re-enlist. He and his buddies are doing just fine where they are! -Ed)
Betty Rose (Templeton) Palomba was kind enough to share these beautiful wedding pictures with us. The bride is Betty’s grandaughter Jessica Palomba who is now Mrs. Tim Siemer.
Jessica and Tim are among America’s finest. Both graduated from the Air Force Academy and are now serving our country with the United States Air Force. Jessica is a contracting officer and Tim is a pilot.
Jessica and Tim are stationed in Columbus, Mississippi but will be moving to Washington State in January.
The couple is shown here with Jessica’s proud grandparents
FACES FROM THE WALL VIETNAM & LAOS NON-MILITARY PERSONNEL 1961 – 1965 AIR AMERICA CREW LOST
30 May 1961 near Hmong LaosAir America Charles Mateer Walter Wizbowski On 29 March 1961, Clarence J. Abadie led a flight of 16 UH-34s from Bangkok to Air America’s new forward operating base at Udorn in northeastern Thailand, 40 miles sough of Vientiane. The helicopter forces soon became involved in supporting Hmong forces engaged in a fierce battle with the Pathet Lao at Pa Dong. On 30 May, the first Air America helicopter pilots died in Laos, when Charles Mateer and Walter Wizbowski crashed in bad weather while trying to land supplies to the besieged Hmong.
I wish it weren’t so, but it was a day our small family will never forget. My first cousin, and CHS54 graduate, Charles Mateer was (probably) shot down in Laos. (I say probably because I’ve since corresponded with Richard Crafts, the pilot of the other helicopter who had just landed at the site where Charles’ helicopter was attempting a landing. They were under artillery fire at the time. Crafts said he couldn’t tell if the copter hit the top of a tree, or it was brought down by enemy fire, but Charles was killed instantly. Crafts brought his body back to the Air America base in Thailand.
This was at a time when the world wasn’t aware that the US was fighting communists in Laos. That’s the reason that Charles had been discharged from the Army early……and joined AIR AMERICA, which, in reality was the CIA.
My aunt Kathryn and Uncle Harry, Charles’ parents, received their last letter from Charles the day after they were informed of his death. They actually found some comfort in it, since Charles seemed so happy and fulfilled with helping the Hmong people continue their fight for freedom.
-Ed
“All gave some,
some gave all.”
It was commencement at UNC. We, the class of 1958, were invited to return for a reunion and to lead the procession of graduates. The event started on Friday with tours and dinners, but all I cared to do was walk with that group of old folks at commencement. About 200 were to be attending, but I believe the rain prevented a few from coming. We did have around 150 present. We met at the field house at Kenan Stadium, donned our blue robes, and a medallion commemorating our 50 years since graduation. We exited the field house in pouring rain, walked around the podium, and returned to the fieldhouse. Meanwhile, spouses stayed in the fieldhouse out of the rain and watched from the balcony.
It was great seeing and visiting with Jennie, Bill, and Gene. I did get to visit with people I have not seen for fifty years (glad we had nametags). Most of us who still have hair, have gray hair. So many folks have changed, but Jennie has remained the same.
was a beautiful day. Liddy Dole was there. She is a Duke graduate. A good time was had by all the 6,000 in attendance.
According to the program, the sub is a little more than 300 feet long. It is also covered with rubber. It must be the “Run silent, run deep” thing. Artie said it was the largest concentration of tax dollars he had ever seen: $2.2 billion contained in less than 400 feet.
According to the speechifying, the sub is going to be used for drug interdiction… and other things.
It was an exciting day. There were many folks who were World War II vets. Some were from the battleship North Carolina. The day before the ceremony there was a meeting of the crew of
the sub and the Old Timers from the battleship. How about that? According to the sub’s captain, a few pieces of the teakwood deck of the battleship have been placed in conspicuous places on the sub.
That is the news. Here are a couple of pictures.
Hope all is well. We soldier on, keeping our heads up when we dribble.
Warren
AND THE WINNER IS:
Holly Jones!
Neil Jones reports that his daughter, Holly Jones, led the ticket in the Democratic Primary for Buncombe County Commissioner, by a wide margin.
She is the CEO of the YWCA in Asheville and has finished 8 years on the Asheville City Council.
Shown here….Holly and her adopted daughter from Guatemala.
Neil says that “Holly has her undergraduate BA in Public Policy from some public school in Orange County,N.C. (Guess you could look up the name somewhere. I forget it.) Then , thank Providence, she graduated from Divinity School at an edenic school called Duke. Then she relapsed and picked up a MagnaCum Laude MA from UNC School of Public Health. Went to Asheville to run their YWCA and has served 2 terms on the Asheville City Council leading the ticket in both elections.”
Neil adds, “Sorry bird dog who won’t brag on his puppy.”
Congratulations Holly, and congratulations Neil!
(Note: I went there for 4 years but I can’t remember the name of that nearby public school either, but I remember the names of every one of the beer joints in Orange County. I had to look up the word “edenic.” It means, Eden-like….as in “the garden of Eden”
…unless of course, you’re an evil lacrosse player. -Ed)
This is not official, but I’ve been hearing rumors that THE COMMITTE is considering an “event” to commerate our 55th anniversary….sometime next year. That’s welcome news, and certainly a good reason for us to make an extra effort to find our “missing classmates.”
As a reminder here is the current list:
James Morris Allen
Sarah Ellen Beck
Paul Everette Biles
Rebecca May Brogden
Nancy Elizabeth Brooks
Ruth Brown
Agnes Anne Caudell
Danny Carver Cole
Donald Bundy Cooke
Lois Elinor Dempsey
Ann Gorden Finger
Sue Elizabeth Griffin
Carl Guest
Janie Frances Gurley
Frederick Earl Howard
Nancy Eunice Karnes
John Thomas Keller
Kathleen Virginia Kesler
Jeanne Holland King
Doy Kenneth Lim
Ronald Richard Little
Gary Lutteral
Sarah Lillian McWhirter
Fred Arthur Merrill
Esther Lorraine Newell
David William Powell
Nelda Codelle Price
Elizabeth Ann Purvis
Helen Bryan Ray
Roseary Sessoms
Michael Thompson
Robert lee Tribble
Wade Edward Turner
Bruce Lawrence Wallace
Yvonne Wentz
Shirley Ann Williams
Elizabeth Ann Wilson
Jerry Lee Wood
I’ll keep you informed regarding our next “event.”
-Ed
