I love reading this blog. It is so great to hear from those of you who have written. Last week I wrote a big lengthy blog but somehow it was drafted and I could not figure out how to get it sent, so after many headaches and a few bad words I just deleted it!
I was writing just to say that in a nutshell my life has come full circle. From mom, to hairdresser, to insurance administrator, to home builder to realtor and back to being a GRAND mom. As I mentioned before, we have 3 grands.
Keely (61/2) and Tory (3) are the darling girls of my oldest son, Joe. Mikey (21/2), is Alex's son and he is my pal Monday-Friday 8-5. The night he was born, standing in the hospital l knowing his mom would be going back to work, I knew that he was not going to go to day care! So, when he was 2 months old , I quit my job and he and I have been hanging out ever since! It is the best job I have ever had!! However, since he is quite spoiled, I get all the blame!
Mike will always work at something, he loves a challenge! I just enjoy the kids, reading,(Sue, I will be looking for you books)p and I love to hang out at antique stores.
I will be back in Indianola in a few days and look forward to visiting with everyone on the 3rd!
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
What's Your Name Again?!
Yikes! I know it's been 40 years, but I would like to think my memory would be a little better than it is. Some classmates' names ring a bell, some are a little fuzzy! I think I'll be getting the old year book out before the August gathering. I really am enjoying reading what's happened to fellow classmates in the years since high school (even if names don't always ring a bell).
I am still working (unlike many of you who seem to have retired by now) as an elementary school principal in the Fairfield district. Twelve years at home with four kids make IPERS another four years away. Only one grandchild to note as the other kids are too busy pursuing travel and careers to think about children. I'm currently single and enjoying being on my own. Have written four historical fiction books set in early settlement days in SE Iowa.
My parents are both still living in Indianola and with a move this fall to a town house in The Village, I've been spending time with my sisters as we go through years of accumulated 'stuff'. It will be nice for them to get moved where they don't have so much upkeep on the home and property.
My memories of high school include lots of Pep bus rides to ball games, playing in pep band in the balcony corner in the old Simpson gym, lots of band and chorus activites as well as plays and musicals. Would have loved to have played basketball if IHS would have had a girls' team! Scooping the Loop on week-ends was also a favorite activity (but no Corner Sundry for me - my mother thought it was the den in iniquity and forbid me to set foot in the establishment).
Looking forward to seeing many of you at the reunion. Thanks to Susie for making the arrangements, and Mary for setting up the blog. Hope to read more entries and see how many more of your names I've forgotten : )
Sue Nyswonger McCracken
I am still working (unlike many of you who seem to have retired by now) as an elementary school principal in the Fairfield district. Twelve years at home with four kids make IPERS another four years away. Only one grandchild to note as the other kids are too busy pursuing travel and careers to think about children. I'm currently single and enjoying being on my own. Have written four historical fiction books set in early settlement days in SE Iowa.
My parents are both still living in Indianola and with a move this fall to a town house in The Village, I've been spending time with my sisters as we go through years of accumulated 'stuff'. It will be nice for them to get moved where they don't have so much upkeep on the home and property.
My memories of high school include lots of Pep bus rides to ball games, playing in pep band in the balcony corner in the old Simpson gym, lots of band and chorus activites as well as plays and musicals. Would have loved to have played basketball if IHS would have had a girls' team! Scooping the Loop on week-ends was also a favorite activity (but no Corner Sundry for me - my mother thought it was the den in iniquity and forbid me to set foot in the establishment).
Looking forward to seeing many of you at the reunion. Thanks to Susie for making the arrangements, and Mary for setting up the blog. Hope to read more entries and see how many more of your names I've forgotten : )
Sue Nyswonger McCracken
Monday, July 16, 2007
Hello to classmates from EHS!
Hello Class of 67,
Thanks to Mary for giving us this great forum to communicate with each other. I've read all of the blog entries and enjoyed all of them! Thanks to those of you who have contributed your thoughts to the blog. I only attended IHS my senior year, but made so many good friends and have great memories of those days.
Some highlights for me were cruising the square on Friday & Saturday nights, where guys would pop the hood and compare engines. I specifically remember Rick Blunt, the sweet & gentle guy who later died so young. All of us enjoyed stopping by the Corner Sundry after school for a Green River or Cherry Coke...Who was the old guy with the red hair who served us? That was such a cool place. They had aspirins that hadn't been sold since World War II, yet they had the latest copies of "Teen" Magazine. I would tear out the full size photos of the latest stars and tape them all over my room.
Other memories: Carol Blackman's cool little car, that blue-green Vauxhall....they couldn't get parts for it since it was made in England....watching the Pfaffs wrestle at the old middle school gym... they were SO tough! I also remember playing intramural girls basketball on that stage there.....slumber parties at Roz Overton's house...Mrs. Cloud's class (she was my favorite teacher)...Seiler's Bakery bear claws....the sights and chlorine smells of the old Indianola Pool... the county fair....the smell of alfalfa seed at Criswell's Feed Store... and Sue Shupe's uncanny ability to make a noise just exactly like a Volkswagen horn!
In our high school yearbook, I had the dubious distinction of being named "most likely to be featured on the cover of MAD Magazine. I don't know whose idea that was, but I am happy to report that, 40 years later, I don't even read that magazine any more. Somehow, it's just not as funny as it was when we were 17.... What's up with that? Also, I don't look anything at all like Alfred E. Neumann (MAD's mascot, the guy with the big ears and the grin.)
My husband Don Beck (from Norwalk, class of 67) and I have moved all around the country since he works for IBM. We moved to Eureka, MO, just west of St. Louis in 1995 and plan to stay here until we retire. We have two wonderful sons. I'm a newspaper reporter and writer. I authored the history of Eureka, MO which was published this year. Would love to see some more memories in the blog!
- Joanne ( Croat) Beck
Thanks to Mary for giving us this great forum to communicate with each other. I've read all of the blog entries and enjoyed all of them! Thanks to those of you who have contributed your thoughts to the blog. I only attended IHS my senior year, but made so many good friends and have great memories of those days.
Some highlights for me were cruising the square on Friday & Saturday nights, where guys would pop the hood and compare engines. I specifically remember Rick Blunt, the sweet & gentle guy who later died so young. All of us enjoyed stopping by the Corner Sundry after school for a Green River or Cherry Coke...Who was the old guy with the red hair who served us? That was such a cool place. They had aspirins that hadn't been sold since World War II, yet they had the latest copies of "Teen" Magazine. I would tear out the full size photos of the latest stars and tape them all over my room.
Other memories: Carol Blackman's cool little car, that blue-green Vauxhall....they couldn't get parts for it since it was made in England....watching the Pfaffs wrestle at the old middle school gym... they were SO tough! I also remember playing intramural girls basketball on that stage there.....slumber parties at Roz Overton's house...Mrs. Cloud's class (she was my favorite teacher)...Seiler's Bakery bear claws....the sights and chlorine smells of the old Indianola Pool... the county fair....the smell of alfalfa seed at Criswell's Feed Store... and Sue Shupe's uncanny ability to make a noise just exactly like a Volkswagen horn!
In our high school yearbook, I had the dubious distinction of being named "most likely to be featured on the cover of MAD Magazine. I don't know whose idea that was, but I am happy to report that, 40 years later, I don't even read that magazine any more. Somehow, it's just not as funny as it was when we were 17.... What's up with that? Also, I don't look anything at all like Alfred E. Neumann (MAD's mascot, the guy with the big ears and the grin.)
My husband Don Beck (from Norwalk, class of 67) and I have moved all around the country since he works for IBM. We moved to Eureka, MO, just west of St. Louis in 1995 and plan to stay here until we retire. We have two wonderful sons. I'm a newspaper reporter and writer. I authored the history of Eureka, MO which was published this year. Would love to see some more memories in the blog!
- Joanne ( Croat) Beck
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