45th ANNIVERSARIES ABOUND

One way to keep our memories sharp it to be reminded from time to time of things from our past. Continual exposure to old thoughts and memories brings them to the forefront of our minds and hopefully keeps our brains exercised! To help our aging classmates maintain good brainhealth, I offer the following interesting anniversary memory from Jim Olson regarding himself and Gary Schmidt - this was an email from Jim to Gary: "Gary - My brother called Saturday Oct 31st to remind me that it was the 45th anniversary of my winning the Missouri cross country championship in record time (and 43 seconds ahead of the number two guy) PLUS your shocking the sports world by running the race of your life to help KHS win the state title with a record low number.

Gee, it doesn't seem that long ago... although I am fuzzy on exactly who our top five guys were. You, Barrow, me...Bruckdorfer and Mills? I've been on too many teams and worked at too many ad agencies in too many cities that people's names are simply starting to get foggy in my brain."

Can you imagine what a high those guys must have experienced on that Halloween day so many years ago? According to Jim those records set that day probably lasted at least 10 years. The courses have changed over the years, so the records wouldn't be the same in today's world. And I must observe, how great that Jim's brother remembered and called to remind Jim.

Kathy Wick Lapping Sikes passes away 11/1/09

Tim Lapping and I have had two nice talks in the past few days. Our classmate, and his former wife, Kathy Wick passed away on Sunday, November first, just the day after she had begun Hospice care in her home after a long battle with cancer. She had undergone chemotherapy recently trying to hang on perhaps until the holidays for her family, but the pain was too much. As Tim said, she was ready to go. She is survived by her older sister Chris, having lost her younger sister Diane a couple of years ago and she and Tim have a son TJ and grand-daughter Chloe. There will be a memorial service Saturday Nov. 7 at 4pm, a Celebration Circle, presided over by a friend of Tim's who is a minister. The celebration of Kathy's life will take place at Tim's property outside of San Antonio. Tim will let us know if there is a specific charity TJ recommends for donations in Kathy's memory. Perhaps a charity of our own choosing would also make Kathy happy. There will be many friends in attendance; Kathy had worked for Ford Motor Credit and had many friends from her working career. Not too long ago Jack Lupher was visiting Tim and Ginny and was able to also visit with Kathy. Aren't these long-term friendships wonderful, and so important at particular times! Tim asked me to share the fact that the family and friends feel it is a blessing that Kathy could let go and now be free of the severe pain she endured. May she rest in peace and love.

KIRKWOOD FEATURED ON TV

Friday October 2 the St. Louis area CBS Affiliate, KMOV TV will feature Kirkwood on its 5 and 6PM news broadcasts. From the "coming attractions" clips I've seen it looks like it might be pretty interesting! The background pix I saw today are from the History of Kirkwood - an interesting, well-written book about the area. My husband's great grandfather was one of the original Kirkwood volunteer fire-fighters and is in the book. Since I have no Missouri roots, I love vicariously having Kirkwood and St. Louis genealogy through his family! Hope many of you see the program. I'll get someone to tape it for me as I'll be in DC that day!

INTERESTING ACTIVE CLASSMATE - CHECK HIM OUT!

Al Lawrence can be reached at al@allawrence.com . After leaving KHS, I tried college, but eventually volunteered for duty in the army, winding up in the inevitable place. Afterward, I went to MU-Columbia, got two Masters over time and taught for a few years. I own two small businesses now. Most of my time is taken up serving as Vice President of Excalibur Electronics. I spend much of the year at our offices in Hong Kong, where I manage our operations in China. I also manage all licensing for Excalibur, which is headquartered in Miami. I write for publication quite a bit. I have 12 published books, many of them on the game of chess. You can usually find something by me, along with my writing partner Lev Alburt (the brains of our partnership), in the chess section at Barnes and Noble. Our latest is a fat tome entitled "Chess Openings for White, Explained." My wife Daphne (a former Fulbright scholar and lifelong looker) and I have a 100+ year-old farmhouse (our favorite place) about 70 miles northwest of Manhattan, New York, and also own a place in Miami. But I spend much of my time in an apartment in Hong Kong, where I have a view of Victoria Bay. I like playing tennis and chess, reading and writing. But more than anything else, I like being with Daphne and our family of cats and our American Bulldog, Rocky, in our farmhouse near New Paltz, New York. I'd love to hear from classmates and friends of classmates.

Two Classmate Deaths

I am sorry to report the death of classmate Cheryl Grindstaff Scott. Thank you to Bob O'Neill and Ken McBride for getting this information to me for posting.

Cheryl Scott
PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Cheryl A. Scott, 61, of Perryville died Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, at her home.
She was born Nov. 2, 1947, in Memphis, Tenn., daughter of James Peter and Janice Corrinne Coker Grindstaff. She was married July 18, 1969, to Larry Scott. He preceded her in death May 22, 1994.

May she rest in peace and be remembered with love.

I was recently reading the obituaries in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and found same for Steve Emigh's father, in which it is stated that Steve himself is no longer living. I checked and find that Steve passed away 12/8/2007. I will write to his widow to express our condolences and find out more information.

Ah, good OLD Kirkwood...

I received this email and thought I would pass it along. For those who haven't been back to Kirkwood lately, the Magic House sits right next door to Nipher on Kirkwood Road. By all means, also go to the site that is linked at the bottom. Extremely interesting! I guess I will have to do some "drive-by's" this weekend to look at the houses I am not familiar with. (And, as always, if the link doesn't work when you click on it, just copy and paste.)

The Magic House (George Lane Edwards House), 516 S. Kirkwood Rd., Kirkwood, 1901

The land on which the Magic House sits was part of the estate of J.O. Sturdy. The estate was subdivided into 18 individual lots. In 1901 Florence Noble Edwards purchased a tract of this land from a previous owner. She was the wife of George Lane Edwards, a son of A.G. Edwards and grandson of Ninian Edwards, the first territorial governor of Illinois, for whom Edwardsville is named. Albert Gallatin Edwards moved to Kirkwood in 1864 and became one of the first trustees of the newly incorporated town the following year, as well as a founding director of the Kirkwood School Board. George Lane Edwards was born in Kirkwood in 1869 and married there in 1892, and when the brokerage firm of A.G. Edwards and Sons was incorporated in the latter year he became the first president. He was the director of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in 1904 and died unexpectedly died in 1919.

The house was probably built in 1901. And by 1904 it, other real-estate, stocks and securities were put into a trust for Mrs. Edwards and their children. Mrs. Edwards kept the house throughout her lifetime, but never returned to live in it after her husband’s death. The trustees encouraged the sale of the property in 1923 to Katherine M. Schmick whose husband was George M. Schmick who, in 1927, served on Kirkwood’s first Zoning Commission. The property was purchased by the Kirkwood School Board in 1954 and was remodeled by the architectural firm of William B. Ittner for use as administrative offices. The school board sold the property to Riviera Investment Corporation in 1975, and plans for the magic house were made in 1977.

http://www.co.st-louis.mo.us/parks/landmarks/Kirkwood-landmark.pdf

LINDA STEVENS, R.N. TELLS HER STORY

Linda today has knee and leg problems, but as you can see her spirit hasn't waned! This is a story of heroes if there ever was one - thanks LINDA for sharing with us! You and your family make KHS65 proud! GO TO WWW.KHS65.COM TO PAGE 5 OF THE 2nd ALBUM to see the photos that go with this article!

A Family of Soldiers

After graduating from KHS, I entered the Nursing School at Deaconess Hospital. As you all know, we were in the midst of the war in Vietnam. Since I came from a family of soldiers, there was no question as to what I should do. While in Nursing School, I join the US Army. Because I had spinal surgery before Nursing School, I was rejected by the Army. This broke my heart but I was very fortunate and very stubborn! I immediately began working with the Army and my Orthopedist surgeon to reapply. Eventually, I received a personal Presidential waiver from President Johnson and after Nursing School I was promoted to a Second Lieutenant in the US Army Nurse Corps.

My goal was to be assigned to a unit going to Vietnam. But first I was assigned to Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio and Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Denver. Finally, time came for me to be assigned to a combat unit. Much to my dismay I was assigned to the 41st Combat Support Hospital. This unit had just returned from Vietnam and would not recycle until after the end of my enlistment. So, I served my time, but never made it to a combat zone.

At the time of the first war in Iraq, I again enlisted. This time I was rejected because of screws I had in my knees. After 9/11, they raised the age of enlisted for Army nurses and yep, you guessed it, I enlisted again. Damned near made it! I passed everything until the Army came up with an obscure hospital record from 1966. Rejected! Now, I'm just too damned old!

As I mentioned my family has a very long history of serving their country in the time of war. I have many ancestors who fought during the Revolutionary War. One ancestor served with General George Washington at Valley Forge. My great, great, great, great grandfather served during the War of 1812. My great, great grandfather served in the Union Army during the Civil War. He lied about his age being only 14 when he enlisted. After serving several years, he was found out and spent the rest of the war assigned to a hospital. My grandfather served in WWI. My father enlisted before Pearl Harbor & was assigned to an Army hospital in San Francisco. He applied for and was accepted into the Army Air Corps, where he trained to become a B-17 pilot. During WWII, Dad flew 38 combat missions, including bombing the beaches of Normandy. After his combat tour, Dad volunteered to stay in England to fly bombardiers back and forth to North Africa to practice bombing. After the war Dad was picked to become one of the first military helicopter pilots. Later he served as a helicopter pilot instructor. According to the USAFHPA, my Dad at almost 93 years old, is the oldest known, living combat helicopter pilot. He was also the first helicopter on the deck of an aircraft carrier. At the time of the Korean War Dad reenlisted to fly 4 engine planes but he was waved because of his age. Later he flew mapping missions over Alaska for the US Government. In the middle of the Vietnam War, Dad was contacted by the CIA to fly secret mapping missions over Laos and Cambodia. He was ready to go, but his kids begged him not to go and his daughter cried like a baby!

Linda Stevens Vietnam Era Veteran, US Army Nurse Corps, 41st Combat Support Hospital
Member of American Legion Post 404

I'M FROM MISSOURI YOU'VE GOT TO......

We all know the ending of this statment don't we? But do you know who first said it? Our very own Jane McLaren's great-grandfather. I had it as part of my email signature for quite awhile and received many comments, including one from Jane telling me who the author was!

Here's the story: "It was at a naval banquet in Phily. Willard Duncan Vandiver, my great-grand father, was a rep in congress, and a member of the Naval Committee of the 56th Congress. This excerpt was written after the fact and the author seems to have proven my ggf's authorship. My Great-grand father was known as a great orator, of the "rough and ready" type. He looked just like Mark Twain and was often mistaken for him. The saying, I'm from Missouri and you've got to show me, "stands as a protest against shams, pretenses and hypocrisy."
"I'm from the land of corn and cotton and cockle-burrs and democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, you've got to show me." New York Herald, Sunday April 2nd, 1911, magazine section. THANKS Jane for sharing your famous family connection with us!

So I was behind a car yesterday with 2009 expiring license plates and actually paid attention to the fact that "SHOW ME STATE" is still on the plates; I was thinking how long that's been on the plates when I glanced over at my own 2010 expiration brand new plates lying on the floor of the car & to the bottom of the plate first, and the saying was gone! Upon looking again I saw at the top, in a bit smaller letters, it's STILL there!

KHS65 FIGHT SONG & ALMA MATER

In cleaning out some old emails I just ran across two great links - our fight song and Alma Mater, sung by KHS students, but the words are printed so one could write it down if desired.
ENJOY!

Viet Nam information on Footnote.com

I just received a note from Footnote.com today announcing a feature which allows one to enter the name of a soldier on the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial wall in DC and you can bring up the image of the engraved name. I typed in Jerome Rawlings and up came his name on the wall and quite a bit of information about him, to include a map showing where Kirkwood, listed as his hometown, is located. I then added a photo and caption about him. Check it out at http://www.footnote.com/page/93952852_jerome_rawlings/. Jeff Beardsley of our class was killed in Viet Nam also I thought, but I do not find him on the Wall or on Footnote.com. There IS a Jeffrey Beardsley but he is not our classmate. If you know about our Jeff please let me know! I would like to do more features on our Veterans, so if you have a story to tell, or just when and where you served, we'd like to post it. Please see http://www.khs65.com/ for much more information & pix about Jerome and a bio of another Veteran classmate of ours!