Lovely Ladies

Every time the Class of '66 Ladies get together we have a 

sweet time of fellowship.  We met at "I'm A Basket Case"

Saturday, October 29, 2011.
The group was a little smaller than usual, but we 
enjoyed the time together. 

Front row:  LaNell Blackwell, Sandra Koditek, Diana Gulley, Janice Coplan

Back row:   Donna Caster, Beverly Carter, Nancy Shelton, Patsy Hardin, 

                Lyle Gardner, Loral Foster, and Marty Adamson

Catching Up On the Past

Lindy came to town!  I have developed a really sweet friendship via email with Lindy.  She was in town for her niece's wedding last weekend.  I grabbed Beverly and Gigi and we all had lunch in the Mexican Restaurant in the mall in Muskogee.

Even though we all graduated from high school together, I really did not know Lindy at all.  But, now that I do, she is a very special friend.  It has been 45 years since graduation and we all enjoyed the time together.  It is interesting to catch up on that many missed years.  At our age, time with old friends is  just precious!

 

Left to right:  Lindy, Beverly, Gigi, and me.

Brownie/Girl Scout House

How many of you remember going to the little Brownie/Girl Scout House on the corner of S. "K" and Dorchester Street, on Spaulding Park property?  The building has been updated with air conditioning, new windows, floor covering, walls, kitchen, and bathroom.  No more outdoor toilet.  The City/Park Association now rents out the building for meetings and other events.  The ladies of the class of '66 met there Friday, August 5, 2011 for our regular get-together.  We really enjoyed using the facility and fellowship, as well as reflecting back on our childhood days of time spent in that same building.  It was so special to have one of the former Girl Scout leaders join us for lunch.  Linda Windrix's mother spent many hours, years ago, leading and teaching girls.  What a blessing it was to have her join us.  She still leads a very active life, complete with weekly line dancing.  Some of us surely envied her physical spunk and sweet spirit.  Thank you Mrs. Windrix for coming.

Front row:(Maiden names)  Christy Nelson, Nancy Robertson, Mona Kidwell, Carla Shunkey, Patty Katakozinos, Gigi Bishop, Carol Baker, Mrs. Windrix
Back rows:  Cindy Baker, Deborah Dunham, LaNell Blackwell, Connie Moore, Janice Coplan, Linda Windrix, Carolyn Brandon, Julie Merryfield, Diane Thompson, Beverly Carter, Donna Caster, Nancy Shelton, Kathy Crittendon, 
and Mary Dalton.
Not pictured, but attending were:  Alice Schilt, Mary James, Sandra Koditek, and Sharon Hunter.



Posted by:  LaNell 

Baby Ava

Just a little something to brighten your day and cheer up the blog.
This is Lindy's second granddaughter -  one month old Ava. Lindy's daughters have one daughter each.  The picture was tagged by Lindy as, "Our own little yellow rose of Texas".  What a cutie!

Back In Time

Thirteen ladies from the Class of '66 enjoyed lunch today at the "Back In Time" Diner.  Time spent with long time friends is always a good time.  It was a rainy day, but there was sunshine inside.

Front Row:  Carol Baker, Patty Katakozinos, Nancy Shelton, Marilyn Ryker, Alice Schilt, Beverly Carter, and Debbie Dunham.
Back Row:  LaNell Blackwell, Mona Kidwell, Carolyn Brandon, Nina Boen, Diane Thompson,  and Janice Coplan.

 

Diane Thompson Parks

I have some great pictures of you beautiful Class of '66 Ladies, and I am going to start posting some of them on our CHS class blog.  Maybe this will inspire you to go ahead and send in your bio to add with your picture.  Please oblige your ole' friend since childhood.  Pretty ladies in the background with you too, Diane.  Lucky you Diane....I posted you first.

Posted by LaNell

Loral Foster Munson

Loral Foster

April 2011

I married Bill Munson in June 1966, so this year we’ll celebrate our 45th anniversary.  Bill attended Central during his senior year after moving from Altus.

I retired in 2008 from a 30-year career at the VA Regional Office.  My husband was a registered nurse and worked at both the Muskogee Regional and VA Medical Centers.  A favorite hobby of his has been remodeling houses for us and our children, so there have been a few moves over the years.  We both enjoy reading, and I have done a great deal of genealogy research on all lines of our families.  Although I haven't done much quilting, it is also an interest of mine.  I have recently been helping a group of ladies from our church make baby quilts and blankets to donate to DHS for foster children.

Bill and I were blessed with a daughter and a son who were always good kids.  Jennifer and her family live near Tahlequah.  She is a stay-at-home mom and home schools their three children.  Her husband is a professor at Northeastern State University.  Lee is an Information Technologist at the Muskogee VA Regional Office, and his wife is employed at the Social Security Administration.  They have one son who attends Hilldale Middle School.

  

During 2009 Bill and I made a couple of decisions that drastically changed our lives.  We transitioned from a house to a 40-foot motor home.  Downsizing was time consuming and took a few months to accomplish.  We either sold, gave away, or stored our possessions, and have been living full time in the rig since April 2010.  That was actually our second and biggest decision.  The first decision was that we joined the Mobile Missionary Assistance Program (www.MMAP.org).  It is a group of Christian RVers who are retired and travel throughout North America.  The couples volunteer their time to work on construction projects at boarding schools, churches, campgrounds and other Christ-centered non-profit facilities.  The men’s work involves new construction, renovation, and remodeling.  If the ladies wish to work, they are asked to do such tasks as clerical work, sewing, painting, landscaping, and cleaning.  Each MMAP project lasts 3 weeks, so between projects we have personal time to visit places of interest around our beautiful nation.  Couples can work as few as four projects per year.  So far we have been to projects in Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California.  For the remainder of 2011, we are looking forward to spending a big part of the summer in Alaska and returning to the lower 48 to work MMAP projects in the South. 

When we are in the Muskogee area, we continue to attend Southeast Baptist Church.  Eventually, when the day comes that we no longer want to volunteer and travel full time, then we will settle at a retirement village. 

Our Friend, Our Classmate

IN LOVING MEMORY

OF

Nell H. Lightle Smith

1948-2011

Nell was such a sweet person.
Her long battle with cancer is over.

She will be missed.

Cynthia Green Mavis

After High School and Beauty College I moved to Arizona in 1976. Throw in several marriages I wanted out of,  I figured marriage was not for me!  I had two beautiful children Dustin and Amanda four years later, and considered myself blessed.
My main goal had been to get my degree before I turned 40.  I had some courses from Bacone and Connors (and don't forget the Beautician's license) but still had a long way to go for the degree I wanted.   I was working at Abbott Labs and decided to take night classes in Phoenix, with the approval of my kids. It was part of my soapbox speech to them both about getting an education earlier in life before it gets so demanding.  They supported me and I graduated before 40!!  I was a training crew-leader for the plant.  We had required training(sexual harassment,hazardous waste, etc) in all areas as well as soft skills. (conflict resolution, working in teams,etc)  I also was a licensed forklift operator/trainer for about 200 operators. Everyone had to renew their license each year.

By this time, I had met someone who must have invented the expression, "Never say never!" I hate to use the overworked Soul Mate, but this was really it!!!  I finally had found what I had been looking for in a relationship.  My life could not have been more perfect.

I was the luckiest person in the world for about a year and a half.  My world came crashing down when I received a phone call that my precious Amanda had been killed in a car accident.  She was to turn 16 in a week.  My son Dustin was in the Marines and had to be called home with news that you can never be ready to hear.

I never could have made it without my son and Joe Mavis. Even after all these years, it is something you never get over.  It happened in 1990 and now I have a grand-daughter named after her as well as a grandson.  They are a joy as well as a reminder that you must live each day appreciative of God's blessings and accept decisions that we don't understand.

After retiring from Abbott about 10 years ago, Joe and I moved to the White Mountains in northern Arizona.  It is really God's Country and the beauty is inspiring. I started subbing and then took a full time job as the Responsible Thinking Facilitator on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in a small school K-8.  I handle the discipline which is non-punitive and consists of writing a plan about how, when faced with the same situation next time, will you handle it differently? Of course the plan writing does not always work and I have to suspend occasionally.  There is so much abuse because of alcohol on the reservation, that just being there is so important to so many of our kids. It is depressing and at the same time uplifting to know that you are making a difference.

I started a girls club HEARTS (helping every aggressive relationship through speaking-out)
three years ago.  We do community service and have fundraisers so we can do things they have never done. We meet once a month and discuss speaking out as opposed to keeping everything inside as well as supporting each other.  We just got back from taking a train (none had ridden a train) to the Grand Canyon and then spending the night in Flagstaff and going to the mall and shopping!
There are no malls around here and that is a BIG deal.

Joe runs the golf services at the country club we live in and we both love to golf.  Dusty loves it and comes up often with the grand-kids and his clubs.  We are lucky to live in such a gorgeous area and will never take it for granted.  My Dad passed a couple of years ago and we moved my Mom up here with us.  She will be 86 in August and is doing great.  She is the Queen of her Red Hat group and volunteers at the police department twice a week.

I am including a picture of Kate (named after Amanda Kate) and me in our front yard.  Also, and old picture of my BEST friends from way back.  Marty and Cindy.  Cindy Miller and I got to be together again in Arizona until her death a few years after I moved out here.  Marty came to visit me last year.  These two were the best!!!

Cynthia Miller, Marty Adamson, and Cynthia Green

Penny Baker Maus

After graduation from Central, I attended the University of Arkansas where I met Mike Maus from Atkins, AR on a blind date.  We were married in August 1970 after we both graduated from UA—I had a degree in Education, and Mike’s was in Business.

Mike went to work for Sun Oil Company until Uncle Sam sent him a “love letter.”  Mike quickly joined the Air Force and became a helicopter pilot.  Thankfully, he never had to go to Vietnam—his assignments took us to Ellsworth AFB outside of Rapid City, SD; Yokota AFB, Japan; Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX; Scott AFB near O’Fallon, IL (which is just east of St. Louis); Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL; and finally to Eglin AFB near Niceville, FL in 1989.  When Mike retired in 1997, I told him that I would continue to follow him wherever he wanted to go but that I was not moving north of Interstate-10!!! 

I did a variety of things as we moved around:  substitute teacher, classified advertising, private English tutor, date entry clerk at GMAC, and defense contractor secretary.  In 1992, I went to work for a local orthopedic surgeon and filed medical insurance.  When our office manager and her husband decided to move to Wichita, KS to be near their grandchildren, the doctor sent Fran, our receptionist, me, and his wife to Hong Kong for ten days!!!  I took over as Office Manager in 2004 and am now closing out the business as the doctor has decided to retire from private practice. 

Mike and I were never blessed with children—just cats.  However, we have lots and lots of nieces and nephews as well as many children of our military friends who call us “Uncle” Mike and “Aunt” Penny. 

For most of our married life, Mike and I have spent our vacations visiting his family in Arkansas and my parents in Muskogee.  We moved my Mom and Dad into Dogwood Creek, an assisted living facility, in May 2004.  Daddy passed away in August 2008 just a few days before his 91^st birthday.  Mother remained at Dogwood until April 2010 when we were able to move her into an assisted living facility only minutes from our house.  She just recently passed away on February 10^th.

I will soon join the ranks of the unemployed and will then have plenty of time to pursue my hobbies—quilting, gardening, and riding on the back of Mike’s motorcycle. 

A Happy Bunch of " Mature Girls"

Hey, hey the girls were back in town.  We met for lunch and much talking at Harmony House, February 19, 2011.  We had a great time.  Come join us!

Back Row:  Mary Dalton, Lyle Gardner, Carolyn Brandon, Donna Caster, Janice Coplan
Dessa Weatherford, Marty Adamson, Beverly Carter, and Judy Frisby
Middle Row on left standing:  Glenda Moore, Julie Merryfield,  and Linda Windrix
Front and seated:  Nina Boen, Brenda Climer, Diana Gulley, Janice Miller, and 
LaNell Blackwell

A Sweet Visit

Beverly Carter and I had the privilege to spend a little time with Penny Baker today at Braum's.  We have not seen her since high school graduation.  She is such a sweetie and we really enjoyed our brief visit.  Our condolences to Penny and her family in the recent loss of her mother.  Thank you for taking the time to catch up with us.  Friends just get sweeter as the years roll by.
 

Beverly and Penny

Penny and LaNell

A Special Poem Found for YOU!

Please note:  I found this poem on the internet and I did not find a copyright.   I have posted the credit to the author at the bottom.  Minor changes were made to make it relevant for our high school group of ladies.  This poem beautifully expresses how I believe each of us feel after we get together.  The title was changed, as it was  intended for a 50th class reunion.  Posted by LaNell  (FYI - Cool Grandma is my screen name)

Reunited Classmates


A long breath of accumulated years
Has sustain each day as lives veered
Taking pathways to the unforeseen
Following fragrant flowering dreams

Our regular get-togethers marks the occasion
How has distance altered the equation?
Smiles abound with freely given embraces
Recognizable voices give light to familiar faces

Amazed by high school sweethearts still together
Married all these years…reflecting one another
Conversations revolve on the harmonious carousel
Past and present unite and simultaneously dwell

Sharing talk of whereabouts and growing families
Sharing blessings as well as overcoming tragedies
Attentively listening as seasoned old friends narrate
Remembering with a tribute…departed classmates

All the ladies united around tables in a quaint tea room
Reminiscing joyfully before former teens say goodbye
As I drive home… youthful voices resound in my mind
Suspended in a moment of time…where age is not defined

8/24/08

Theresa Ann Moore