"Will O' the Wisp"

I just wanted to see if wither of you would like to join in the round robin of e-mails commencing this month. Initially they were begun by Bobby Smithey and Ralph Rouse in attempt to cheer the ailing Gary Shinall up with Growing Up Years Reminiscences. Because their spillover effect has been to cheer ALL OF US UP and provide an excellent opportunity to recall and recap our various Elementary School memories as a starter, I'm hopeful you two will join in as well, and invite any and all other participants.
Your friend always, Hames

Subject: OUR GROWING UP YEARS IN PB

Dear Bobby and Ralph,
     I just wanna say to you both, that these wonderful reminiscences of our respective growing up years in PB, have to be uplifting to Gary Shinall, as he struggles with Lou Gehrig's, but they are also having a spillover effect on all of us fortunate enough to be also receiving them !
     In fact, via your First Ward memories, I think you may have provided the impetus to prompt all of us to consider adding our collective memories of those great growing up years, capturing moments to include all our old Elementary School & adjoining neighborhood memories. It seems to me a great place to begin would be to just off the top of our heads, type into e-mails, the names of as many of our classmates from each of our respective schools as we can recall. No doubt seeing all those names will prompt a multitude of memories for all of us.
     Since, when I returned to PB I was asked to co-write a History of PB Schools with Miss Martin , the English teacher who taught my dad and me and a bunch of others, and was given an office that housed EVERY SINGLE ROLL BOOK FOR EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL from the late 1800's on thru the 1950's, I got the great opportunity to look at all our history
for several generations ( For instance, my great aunt Elulalie had kept her birth year a secret, but in the old ledgers I found it...1883....This was significant, because when she finally passed away, it was 1993.
     A Christian Scientist, she managed to live 110 years. When I told my doctor that she'd lived to be 110 and never saw a doctor, he smiled and said " Maybe that's why she lived so long ! " )
Anyway since the return to PB was pre copy machines I was unable to photocopy anything, but I did painstakingly try to write down all the names from the roll books for 4th-6th grades at Lakeside, since those were the years I attended.
So if any or all think this might be good fun, plus a hedge on developing early memory loss, I propose that we begin brainstorming off the top of our heads and recalling as many names of classmates and teachers, coaches and custodians, and just see how many we can cumulatively recall.
     As I recall, here are the chronological listings of our elementary schools:
Sixth Avenue
First Ward
Sam Taylor
Gabe Meyer
Lakeside
and of course there's the Annunciation Academy too I think between TBarton, TStone, et al, we can start the Lakeside ball rolling. I will also forward this to Fred Ursery ( who I hope will pass along to Milton Hughes et al ) and Bobby Kientz to hopefully help recall some classmates at Sam Taylor. As for Sixth Avenue, that's a tougher one. I know that Overton
Anderson attended, as did Cappy Ware and the West Twins, and Freddy might be able to get this to Overton and Cappy.
I'll close for now and await your response, but just so I'm doing my part, I will next forward a reminiscence I wrote recently that, tho not directly related to our grade schools, is a story from the same era. It involved our scout troop that met at Lakeside Methodist and the highlight of which was all our campouts. Our scoutmasters included an elderly alcoholic and a shell shocked WWII veteran, who, bless his heart, peddled a bicycle in to our meetings, all the way from
the Pine Bluff Arsenal.
     The members of our scout troop as far as I can recall included George Lemen, Dick Dewoody, Tommy Barton, Johnny Williams, myself, Bill Stephenson, Bun Deweese, Wally Pefferkorn, Buddy Reid, Wayne Matthews, and a number of others, but that's enough names for the time being.
     The reason for my trying my best to recreate the Scout Story was that recently I put " Will O the Wisp" into Wikipedia, just to see how thorough this web site is. Well, it didn't let me down, and tons of info turned up. That was the good news. The dismaying news was that, Science, because it can't authenticate that which it can't trap in a bottle and study, has apparently relegated the Will O the Wisp to the same category as UFO's !!!!
     That was enough to prompt me to not only try to recall our camp out encounter, but also to get corroboration from at least two other eyewitnesses. Thank God, I was able to. Even with so many of our compatriots gone, fortunately Dick Dewoody and Bill Stephenson, were able to recall, just as vividly as I had and thus I was able to submit 3 eyewitnesses to be able to say the Will O The Wisp DID exist, at least back in the early 1950's south of PB, before all the swamps and other remote locations for it began to be filled in or disappeared.
     So anyway, I hope the soon to be forwarded recounting of our old scouting story will be good fun reading and my initially sparse, but soon to be expanded ( God willin' ) list of names from those same years, will prompt one and all to begin listing as many of their Elementary School Classmates, Teachers et al, and before we know it we may have a cumulative grand all star cast list of all the major and minor players from those thrilling days of yesteryear.
     And I will close with a piece of trivia: What was the name of the movie theater that sat beside the side of the Strand ?? And so until the Will o the Wisp follows, I would only ask that, Ralph, you and Bobby, forward this to any others of the regulars you think might enjoy this all.
     I will, as stated, forward on my own to the aforementioned above, and count on ya'll to forward on to any and all you like.
Thanks Old Friends ! Hames

OK, here goes ! Please keep in mind, I am out of my depth on anything pre 4th grade, but will recap the names I have heard over the years when they come to me.
     Principal: Mrs. Discher, then Mrs. Jones Coach: Rodney Ryan, then Newt McCullough ( " Don't Call Me Newt ! " )          Custodian: Wesley ( A great ole fella )
     Teachers: Page, Cherry, Thornton and Tarver, Roupe and Bryant
     Nurse: Mrs. Ferguson Supv. Mrs Dalby Head of Maintenence: Mr. Grauman ( Butch & Sissy's dad )
     Police Chief : My Great Uncle, Met Galligher...oops...just kiddin' that one doesn't belong !!! BUT George Lemen's
grandad WAS Fire Chief !!
     Rita Rowell, Bun Deweese, Dick Dewoody,Wayne Matthews, Mike Crane, Clifford Crain, Mercer Mayer ( Now a famous childrens'book illustrator. I learned to draw watching him and Mike Crane, tho I sure never was as good as they were, even back then ! ), Johnny Williams, Tommy Barton, Tommy Stone, Tommy Clayton, Auvergne Weatherall, Nell Phillips,Penny Perdue,Catherine Young, Margaret Coster, Buddy reid, Bo Reid ( I believe he went back a grade at some point...which brings me to The Perry Twins...Penny said she doesn't recall them at Lakeside, yet I, like every other red blooded Lakeside boy vividly recall Becky being there. My memory is tho that she and Reggie had spent part of their elementary school years at First Ward. Maybe some of you can confirm that. But at any rate, I know I recall hearing once that both sets of twins, The Roops at First Ward and The Perrys at Lakeside had voluntarily stayed back a year, when their twin came down with serious illness, and that's what allowed us to have both these twins in our own class of 1961 !
     Well, I'm at work and breaktime is over. I will try to pick this back up at some point, but will also hope that some of you will bring forth your own additions and that you First Warders, Gabe Meyerers, Sam Taylorers, and Sixth Avenuers and AA'ers will start your own lists rollin' Your friend always,

Hames

PS Once again as you'll note, I am forwarding this to a limited number, uncertain of who else might enjoy all
this memory exercizing ( exorcizing ??!! ) I will leave it to you others to get this along to any others you think might enjoy and add their own !!

     First off, an apologia.. Why this computer at work insists on adding "?"'s every time I start a new paragraph is a bewilderment, and I apologize for the distraction. If I knew how to stop it I would, since I don't I just trust you all will know that strings of question marks are not my doing. Thanks !
Now to the Question at hand :
      Ya'll, here's a real puzzler. Not sure we can arrive at a satisfactory answer, but any thoughts on it all will be
greatly enjoyed.
     The Boundaries That Defined Our Elementary School Districts.
      I'll bet we all pretty much could say where the boundaries of our respective elementary schools stretched from
or at least come close.( Lakeside for instance, I am certain of its Southernmost boundary as it was split right down
the middle of 22nd street, meaning that Travis Mitchell, Kenny and Dick Calvert et al wound up attending Lakeside,
while their pals directly across the street ( Bill and Jane Boyer, Cora Edna Randolph, Mike Bracken et al ) wound up
attending Gabe Meyer ) Now why in the world the powers that be split neighborhood kids right down the middle of a
city street is beyond me ( Why not just say " OK, All kids from 22nd street South go to Gabe Meyer, all kids North
go to Lakeside. Yet they split 22nd street right down the middle baffling !!!
     But believe it or not, that's not the baffler I'm posing, tho I'd love to hear anybody's explanation for it !
But since we had no one of us right now representing Sixth Avenue, here's the real puzzler !
Since one would assume that by the time we were growing up, the Sixth Avenue school's population was shrinking.
My grandparents still lived on 4th, and I recall John Nash, Richard Knox, Mike and Sissy Riggs and a few others
in their neighborhood, who, I know, went to Sixth Avenue.
     I also know that the West Twins and Overtone Anderson were brought from the Grider Field area to Sixth Avenue.
And I remember that Cappy Ware who lived near Annun. Academy, which was right across the street from Sixth Ave.
went there.
     But beyond those scant names, I am hard pressed to name others. Maybe some of you can help with some additions.
Now, having said all that, here's the puzzler. The Pine Bluff Arsenal kids. To my knowledge, ALL were bused
not to Sixth Avenue, a school they'd have to go right past, but to Lakeside, a school I have been reminded by Catherine was so filled to overflowing that the first three grades had to be split into morning and afternoon classes.
Now maybe some of you will write back and say that Arsenal kids WERE bused to Sixth Avenue and to your schools as well. But then it still doesn't make sense that the PBArsenal bus would just randomly drop off dribs and drabs
of arsenal kids, parceling them out to every school, when in fact there weren't that many of 'em in the first place,
and further, and most baffling, since Sixth Avenue was HURTING for kids and Sixth Avenue would've been geographically closest by far, why in the world weren't the Arsenal kids delivered there ??
     Don't get me wrong, I fondly recall a number of the arsenal kids enhancing Lakeside, including Gregory Hoffman,
et al, but it remains a baffler to me anyway, and I'd love to hear back from any and all, not only on the Sixth Avenue mystery, but as to your own recollections of your school's boundaries.
     To finish out with my own dim recall of Lakeside's, I know that Lakeside's Eastern Boundary had to have gone at
least as far as Talbot, Rutherford and maybe all west of Ohio, as Dewoody, The Weavers and Weatherfords all
attended Lakeside , so WHERE were First Ward's beginning boundaries??
      My guess on Lakeside's western boundary would be Mulberry, but that may be wrong, as Sandra Mead attended
Sam Taylor. I've already listed the definite Southern boundary, but will admit, I am out to sea on where the Northern
boundary that did in fact decide who went to Sixth Ave and who went to Lakeside might've been.
     I can hear Wayne groaning over all this and shrugging " Who Care's ? " And maybe not just Wayne, but doggone
it, this is fun for me and even if it doesn't spark any response, I've enjoyed doing it.
     Though I know our pal Marvin didn't join us til High School I will be forwarding along to him, in case he had any
younger siblings or observations on how in the world the arsenal decided who went to which school !

Hames

     Again apologies, Catherine DOES remember the Perrys at Lakeside. It was Penny & Wayne who said they
couldn't recall them there. Brudda Wayne, however, deserves a heap of praise After all he is the one who
cared enough to preserve that list of all our classmates.
     Fred Ursery writes that there were indeed Arsenal kids at Sam Taylor, so there goes another faulty premise on my part. I think I may be able to add suggestions for a couple of those mystery names on the Lakeside roll lists Wayne preserved.
     "George Lewis " I think may in actuality be Walker Lewis, who, as I recall started out in the same grade we did, but due to problems with dyslexia ( probably little understood at the time ) was held back a class, I think. ( Why on earth
the powers that be kept advancing some who were hopelessly lost in school, while holding back others who were
just fine but struggling in an area they couldn't succeed in without help is another mystery.)
     As noted before, it was also my understanding that, due to illnesses with one of each sets of twins, The Perrys and The Roops, also stayed back a grade voluntarily, which must've been a real sacrifice, God bless 'em.
     I am on shakey ground as I try to claim once again that at one time Lakeside had THREE sets of boy/girl twins,
as though, we all recall Kenny & Gay Gardner, and most do recall Becky & Reggie, I can't seem to find any
fellow classmate, who recalls Bill and Kay Price being there, so maybe I am hallucinating in triplicate.
     There was another Bill Price in PB, but the one who was in our class was a twin and wrote a book about his war
experiences and as I understand it works at....the Pine Bluff Arsenal !!!
     As our school system was segregated at that time I am fairly confident that all Caucasians living east of Main Street and South of Harding attended First Ward. You recall our city boundary ended just south of Harding Avenue at that time. The main thing I remembered living in the East End was normally the further you went down a street, the tougher the kids got. I always tried to avoid the kids living at the very end of the street. Examples were Bobby Henderson, Louis and Carl Preston, Guy Hankins, Kenneth Taylor, etc. Bobby Henderson and his wife had twin boys. When they were grown, one worked for Browning's Liquor Store. ( Yes Robert Browning) Once it was robbed at gun point. Afterwards the Henderson kid took off after the robbers, caught the one with the money, beat the Hell out of him and brought the money back. I remember Joe Ratliff's younger brother Dickie, as a young man, leaving the old telephone building that was converted into a night club. It was late at night when he was approached and shot by a robber. Dickie took the pistol away from the robber and (forgive the repetition) beat the Hell out of him. Then he went to the hospital to get the bullet removed.

Hey! I see Bun Deweese listed above in this email. Larry Barton, his old college room mate says hello. Kinda reminds me of an old Andy Griffin T V story when someone said "Tell Gomer Goober says hey!" Bun, Larry is now Baptist Hospital
Administrator in Paducah, Kentucky.
Bob Smithey

NOPE! Lakesiders East of Main and South of Harding (and North of Harding) included, Tommy Clayton, Carol Bell, Dick, myself, Freddie Davis, LaFran Justice, Carl Wright,... and probably several others that I have left out.... But all lived south of 10th Street and East of Main.....
Tommy Barton

I stand corrected...North of Harding. I never could shoot a back azimuth with a compass. I remember being trained one Sunday in a huge field at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina when Marines were working in groups with our compasses shooting back azimuths. We would stand around confused when little kids (who watched Jarheads trying to do this every Sunday) would walk up to a group and address the Marine with the compass saying " Want us to help you with that mister?"
Bob Smithey

     Thanks a million to all the wonderful responses to helping tie up some loose ends as well as unraveling some l
Eddie McColgan helped me to clarify that Lakeside's Coach, Denzel Bailey's brother was Sam Taylor's coach, not
their principal. Hope Fred Ursery will help me recall the name of the principal. Fred averred as how Sam Taylor also
had Arsenal kids bused there, so I guess maybe the arsenal bus just careened all along PB's tree lined streets,
dropping off their cargo kids in some preordained fashion. Which may also mean that Sxth Avenue got their share
as well. Wayne reminded me that Denzel was an unpaid coach as opposed to the paid PE Instructors. As noted
those latter at Lakeside included Rodney Ryan, Elgie Goss and Newt McCullough ( " Don't call me Newt ! " ) and
I wanna say that Bill Groce may've spent a few months there, maybe practice teaching from HSTC or somewhere,
but I can't swear to that. Nor do I know if these PE Instructors made the rounds to ALL of the Elementary schools??
     Speaking of old busses careening, I once had the un-asked for " opportunity " to attend some undescribable
summer " experience " called " Mr. Burley's day Camp " or as RFDewoody has reminded me, also referred to
as " Camp Saracen ", which, regardless of what it was called, was still apparently the sole operation of old Mr. Burley,
who would carreen down Elm street, bus exploding fumes and brakes screeching, laying on the horn of the bus, and you darn well had better be all ready for the Saturday out at Oakland Park, or off he'd go gathering up the other poor
kids who'd been roped into this " opportunity " to " learn woodlore. All I ever learned was that somehow Mr. Burley
was able to roll up his sleeve and stick it down into the muck and mire of part of the lake near the Dead Alligator
display and pull up a handful of clam shells, or mussels or whatever in the world they were. That is ALL I recall.
     Dewoody understandably recalls nearly being killed by a flying hatchet thrown by Johnny Williams or some other
crazed prisoner of the camp, and he still has the scar to show for it !
     The reason Mr. Burley came to mind is that incredibly he only passed away recently and in his obit it said he'd
been a longtime principal at one of PB's Elementary Schools, but maddeingly omitted which one. Anybody know ?
TCase has dashed any immediate hope of proving Bill & Kay Price were at Lakeside as he recalls them at Gabe Meyer. I think for a while they resided out past Byrd's Lake on the last numbered street in the phone book, whatever
that was. What should make us all smile is how unusual it was to actually have students who didn't spend their
entire school careers just at one school and neighborhood. We were mostly all anchored in time and place and
community. What a place PB was back then too !
     Bobby and Gary, when Miss Martin and I tried to put together that History of PB Schools, I vividly recall that, as
we listed the years of service, one teacher at First Ward had a record that probably has never been topped.
58 continuous years of teaching at First Ward. I sure wish I could tell you her name, but I'll bet YA'LL can tell ME !
And now I'll close this one off by just saying how much we all seem to be enjoying all this and how gratifying it is
to keep our minds and memories sailing the seas of good humor and uplift. I've loved lists all my life. When I was
a kid I made lists of my favorite baseball players and each time I got a baseball card I'd put a check by their name.
Later and still do, list all my favorite movies over the years et al. So these lists of the people and times and neighborhoods we all enjoyed.
     So, feeling like we've done pretty good justice to Lakeside lists ( tho I still intend to pass it along to DFinley and
others from different grades ) and seeing happily that Bobby and Gary may be willing to plum their memories for
all their gang at First Ward, I thought it might be fun to choose a school that apparently NONE of us attended,
but SURELY all of us will be able to help fill out what I admit is going to be a very sparse beginning. But here
goes :
SIXTH AVENUE KIDS I CAN RECALL:

Cappy Ware
Overton Anderson
Ruth and Evelyn West
John Nash
Mike and Sissy Riggs

and ya'll, there it stands. Miniscule. Those classrooms had kids in 'em, teachers teachin' 'em, and THIS is the best
I can do ??!!
     So, maybe this beginning list will be the inspiration for all to add their own remembered Sixth Avenuer !
And again thanks to all of you for just bein' out there ! Your friend always,
Hames.

Hames I am not totally confident that Susie Gray who taught me in the first grade at First Ward is the 58 year veteran but I do recall my father telling me that Susie Gray taught him in the first grade in 1922.
Bob Smithey

Hames 'ol buddy, I'm not completely certain but think I remember Bill & Kay Price at Gabe Meyer. Maybe Kientz or Cathcart recall???
Later, Tommy Case

Tommy, I feel like an idiot. I was thinking Bobby ( Kientz went to Sam Taylor ! ) Were you 2 and Jerry all at Gabe Meyer the whole time !!??
Hames

Kientz should have and may have gone some to Sam Taylor according to where his parents lived, but he lived with his Grandparents in Circle Dr. most of the time. Others at Gabe Meyer: Happy Caldwell, John & Clair Lee (twins), Rosemary West, Cookie Willis, Sue Love, Paul Wright, Barbara Anderson, Neil Underhill, "Kinky" Wilson, Vic Hiryak, Alva Appling, Sharon Green & Joe Sturdivant are all I can come up with off the top of my head. There was a kid named Stanley Schultz that I want to think was from the P.B. Arsenal, but not sure. Dr. Bruce is also a possibility? Maybe Kientz or Cathcart can think of some more.
Tommy Case

Tommy ! Thank You So Much ! It's SO GREAT to see all those wonderful names from Gabe Meyer ! Who was
ya'll's principal ? I know I should know, but I've forgotten. I know they were a class ahead, but Bill Lafitte and
Milton Hughes for sure, and maybe Roby Mize? Roby may've gone to Sam Taylor tho ?
Anyway, now hopefully we can all begin adding to every school's roster, thanks to you and Bobby giving us a
head start on Gabe Meyer and First Ward ! Your pal,
Hames

Roby Dan Mize was a First Ward kid. One of the East End success stories. UAMS graduate. Orthopedic surgeon. Collaborated with a Swiss doctor to help write part of an orthopedic surgery manual. Now testifying as an expert in the medical field during trials. Homes in Dallas and San Francisco. Has enough money to burn a wet mule.
Bob Smithey

Gary I just wanted you to see the positive correspondence between your old classmates that you and Ralph are responsible when you began sharing your family relationships and concern for one another. Something very good has come from the compassion you both share with one another.
We still have you and Barbara in our daily prayers. Ralph we pray your shoulder is receptive to the rehabilitation you are receiving. God Bless my friends.
Bob Smithey

     I know a number of you have already been keeping Dick Dewoody in your prayers. As some of you know, Dick has been courageously struggling with cancer for some time. It had reached the point that he decided he would make a " bucket list " of things he wanted to do before he " kicked the bucket " as he himself phrased it.
     One of those things was to return to an alma mater of long ago, which coincidentally would also be near the MoonPie & RC Festival.
     Stalwart longtime friend Wayne Matthews made all the arrangements and went by to pick Dick up for the trip. No answer. After getting no response either from inside or cell phone, Wayne, resourceful as always, found a ladder, propped it against the window ( 2^nd floor ), and somehow, Wayne, all 6 ft. 6 of him, managed to get thru the window. RFD was lying on the kitchen floor, unconscious. Wayne, again just the kind of friend you want around when God forbid this kind of thing happens, made all the calls, including a much later one to yours truly, to let us all know that Dick was resting comfortably at the hospital, with no memory of any of it all...including the now obviously set aside Moon pie Festival.
     I realize most of our e-mails have been unrelated to the more temporal, and yet this series was actually begun by Ralph Rouse and Bobby Smithey, recalling great old memories to cheer up ailing Gary Shinall, who himself is struggling with Lou Gehrig's, and whose gracious wife has been reading all the e-mails aloud to Gary.
     Dick has been very much on the mind of a number of us, as he played a central role for some of us in those wonderful growing up years we've been reminiscing about lately. As recently as last week, when I got to share a lunch visit with Eddie McColgan and Ted Luft, and looked at all the old Lakeside Bluejay football photos, there was Dewoody, in his civies, obviously designated by Coach Denzel as student captain for the younger kids.
     Dick has always been a fighter, and he has fought this illness as bravely and stoically as any who know him would expect. But I know it would be a real boost to know that our collective gathering of e-mailers, has him and his daughter and new grandson collectively in our thoughts and prayers.
     I will count on Wayne to read this aloud to Dick if he deems appropriate. In the meantime, I just wanna close by saying, that when we all began this trek back to our Days in PB, it quickly became a wonderful lift and smile inducer, much needed in this world today, but as I write this it's beginning to sink in that the origin of this all was selfless desire to boost the morale of an old friend by Bobby and Ralph and here it is again serving a similar purpose for yet another. God bless you all.
Your friend always, Hames

     Hames I forwarded your email to Gary as I know he will appreciate any news about his old friends. Compassion is a quality that clearly separates the good guys from the bad guys.
     You all are a bunch of good guys.
     Wayne if you will please tell Dick that Anne and I still value the memories of the great New Years Eve parties you both provided a host of hundreds for several years. Those parties mostly occurred during a time money was sparse and friends were plentiful for Anne and myself. Anne and I count ourselves fortunate to be on your and Dick's list of friends. It was a time to congregate, laugh and share the company of each other. As Charles Dickens once wrote "It was the best of times." We send our prayers and thanks to Dick.
Bob Smithey

Dick is still confused.. Sammye said he thought she was Maggie and Maggie was her..... but when I left the hospital tonight with Sammye, Maggie, and Gail (Cornish) Pruitt, Weldon Crews was going to stay with him and they were going to give Dick something for pain and start him on some anti-seizure medicine. I will try to give you an update tomorrow.
Tommy Barton

Now for the track trips. Absolutely no money was provided for athlete meals following a track trip. If your parents didn't have money to give you to run to a grocery store sometime during the track meet you went hungry. After the meet we had no time except to load onto the bus and head home. The entrepreneurial sprit infected Taylor Eubank and M. H. Levine. Taylor's Dad ran a grocery store so Taylor procured bread, ham, mustard and small cartons of milk and then enlisted the sandwich construction assistance of M. H. They then iced all down in an ice chest and smuggled it onto the bus and hid it under a blanket. After the track meet anyone with any money was faced with a monopoly McDonalds would have been proud. The price placed on those sandwiches made with a skinny piece of ham and smeared lightly with mustard would relate to the best steak dinner at Sonny William's restaurant in Little Rock today. Taylor has been retired from the FBI now for several years but I will always suspect that his retirement has been supplemented by his sandwich business investment income of years ago. A very true story. Until next time my friend, God Bless

Bob Smithey

Dewoody update: He must be feeling better this morning, he is requesting that Maggie "get me out of this place". Maggie is working with the nurses to try to get all of Dick's medicines correct and working on his menus. What a precious child!! We all would be proud.

Tommy Barton

Who'da Thunk It !!??

       Turns out TWO of our recent recipients attended Sixth Avenue!!! Bun Deweese wrote he'd been there in grades one and two, before moving away for 3 years and then came back to PB and Lakeside. Bill Stephenson/Bowker wrote to say he'd been also been at Sixth Avenue before coming to Lakeside in the 4^th when he and his wonderful family with all those remarkable siblings moved next door to my family on 20th & Elm.
     Bun and Bill, will it be asking too much on your memories to recall where roughly you resided when attending Sixth Avenue, as it sure might help us sort out the hodge podge of old school boundaries of yore. Also, needless to say, ANY memories you have AT ALL about that wonderful old mystery school, I am sure would be a delight to read by us all.
     Also thanks to Tommy Case coming thru for us with a great start on Gabe Meyer, and Bobby and Gary working away on their lists for First Ward, if we can just some Sam Taylor input, we're well on our way to covering all the old bases !

One quick note. Take a look at this:

Sixth Avenue First Ward Gabe Meyer Lakesid

The West Twins The Roop Twins John and Ann Lee Kenny & Gay Gardner

Becky and Reggie Bill and Kay Price Becky and Reggie also

It's like every elementary school ( no reports in from Sam Taylor yet ) had been gifted with sets of twins.!! Are there any twins I've omitted?? If not, then Sam Taylor will be the sole school that's twinless !! )

Hames

Hames and crew:

     I also wish Dewoody a speedy recovery and hope he is able to return to Little Rock again this summer and see the Traveler baseball team play again.
      I will enter the fray on behalf of Sam Taylor and make these observations.
     We did go to school for only a half day in the first and second grades. The principal at the school in 1948-1950 was Rodney Tillman. He now lives in Hot Springs. I corresponded with him recently. The next principal was G.W Buddy Turner whose wife was also the music teacher for the elementary schools.
     My fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Rhyne (maybe Ryan- I am not sure) whose husband was the coach. I remember the following students there:
Roby Mize- he went there some I know. I think he went to several
Freddy Tisdale- now deceased
James Vaughan
Mary Ann Sweeney
Shelby Jean Dye- I think she lived at the Arsenal but I would not swear to it.
Linda Lee Bolding
William Arthur Johnson
James Bounds
Jerry Buttram
Bobby Davis- the son of Coach Davis
Richard Fairchild
Lawrence Gresham
Clyde Caughman
Brothers Bill and Bob Lapsley - not twins
Janette Moran
Diane Davis
JoBeth Watts
Gloria Mayfield
Diane Schultz
Tommy Fletcher
Wally Peffercorn
Annie King Chu Ko
Judy Allen
Glenn Huselton
Wayne McGehee- i think
John Nelson
Kenneth Kesterson
Paul and Johnny Green
Robert Richey
Sandra Mead
Sandra and Sue Meado
Eddie Weeks
Don Cahill
John Bennie Landers
Tommy Jaggers
Van Browning
Janelle Wester- i think
John Billy McAllister
Otho Merritt
Rickey Ritchie
Jenny Marie Vinson
Harold Ellis
Sherry Grumbles
Danny Laminack
     I am 100% CERTAIN ON SOME OF THE NAMES BUT I AM WILLING TO STAND CORRECTED ON SOME.
Thus endeth my trip down memory lane.

Fred Ursery

     This Round Robin of Wonderful Input has truly taken on a life of its own. And it's produced its share of revelations and serendipity, synchronicity, or whatever one prefers to call it.
     As some of you have probably noted, several of us made reference to the man who was the longtime coach of The Lakeside Bluejays, Denzel Bailey. He used to pull up alongside the Lakeside playground and all the kids would run up to his car. Lord only knows how many lives this tireless man boosted ( and apparently he had a brother who was doing similar volunteer work at Sam Taylor ).
     Just as recently as last week when I had lunch with Eddie McColgan and Ted Luft, two years behind us at Lakeside, they brought some great old photos of the Bluejays, and there was not only Denzel and the whole team, but Dick Dewoody in his civies, no doubt having been chosen by ole Denzel as the exemplar older student to be team youth coach.
     Well, as you know Dick Dewoody, soon after, has been on all our minds, and now, as fate would have it, when I was putting up the newspapers at work, as I often do, I scanned the PB obits and incredibly, my eyes fell upon a tiny dozen word obituary,
Denzol ( sic ) Bailey, age 89
      It's almost as if, after all the recent cumulative positive thoughts and memories about the old fella ( Ted had visited with him last year and made a point to tell him how much he'd meant to everyone ) he decided it was OK and timely to pass on to Heaven. ( Denzol always called everybody " Podnuh " )
     The fact that the obit was so miniscule was saddening in a way. Other than a mention of a daughter named Hercher, nary a word about all the countless hours, days and years he had put in so selflessly for all those kids.
      I recall some years back that Bill Rumker wrote a truly great reminiscence of his Little League coach and I am ashamed to say I've blanked out on his name ( I will try to forward this to Bill, who I also think may've gone to First Ward and can probably help Bobby and Gary by filling in some names from his age group ! ) We can only hope that SOMEBODY who's still in PB or elsewhere who recalls ole Denzol will do the same for him ( Maybe the PBCommercial folks DID )
     Also there's been a lot of wonderful e-mails w/ good wishes and prayers for Dewoody and thanks to Tommy Barton for his updates. Wayne decided to go ahead on to the Moonpie Festival representing himself and Dewoody in proud fashion I am sure.
     Bun Deweese called from La. to say how much he's been enjoying the e-mails and to ask about Dick,( Ted, he mentioned how much fun he and Leslie had at HSTC ), and also happily added the following to our Sixth Avenue first hand recall : Bun said he lived in a house on 5th and Cherry, now an insurance office he said. He recalls that in his neighborhood and attending Sixth Avenue were Jimmy and Jackie Harrod, Donald White, and a fella first name of Buddy, . Bun attended Sixth Avenue in First and Second, while Bill Stephenson attended First thru Fourth before joining us at Lakeside. When Bun moved back to PB he too was in the Lakeside district, living in a duplex just off Main street, near Dewoody, TBarton, Freddy Davis et al.
      Bill meanwhile adds Bryan Eans and Walker Lewis to the ranks of Sixth Avenue ( so maybe I am wrong about the George Lewis at Lakeside being Walker...tho as we've noted kids DID change neighborhoods !! Catherine adds Diane Heflin ( Roy's first wife ) there also.
     The GREAT news on the lists front is, as hopefully you all have received is Fred Ursery's championship list for our, til now, biggest omission, Sam Taylor. YAY FREDDY !!!!
     It is my hope to provide us with a Lists To Date for ALL our elementary schools so far and then we can let our memories roam more freely to other recollections of those halcyon days of endless summers in ole PB.

Hames

PS I mangled Buddy Mc Fadin's e-mail address, which I've corrected above so please note. Also I noted one of ya'll had added Lawrence Fikes which is great, as when we tackle Annunciation Academy, Lawrence and Buddy can help immensely ( I think I have still have David Duffy's e-mail and did have Scott McGeorge's, so hopefully we'll be able to do that amazing school justice too ! ) Speaking of the Catholic friends and classmates I note that Tommy Case listed Vic Hiryak as possibly spending time at Gabe Meyer, which if so would put Vic as an anomaly as I know he was born in Slovak, a mostly Catholic community. But then Lawrence, myself, George Lemen, Ronnie Roller (?) and others spent time at AA tho we were all Protestants. What an amazing world we all had back then and the memories all of you keep providing just reinforces how blessed we were in so many ways. God bless all of you and keep them e-mails comin' !

Hames

     Have been really enjoying looking over that great list that Fred Ursery provided us for Sam Taylor. I guess it does turn out that ST was the only elementary school sans Twins ( Anun. Acad also ? ), but it's sure noteworthy to see that Sam Taylor could boast the only Chinese American Pine Bluffian school kid, so far at least,
     And that just serves to remind what a truly cosmopolitan, for its size PB was back in those days. There were as I recall it at least two Chinese American families in PB, each with grocery/produce stores, one on Main St. and another I believe on the East Side.
     Greek American families...the Makris family ( OK Dairy ), the Zacks, the Priakos ( Rendezvous then Tommy's ) the Jiannis ( sp ) The Fakouris were Turkish, I believe. Loads of Italian families and hopefully we can recall aplenty especially when we start the Annunciation Academy lists !
     And, just as a " warding off early Alzheimers " ploy, I;m going to now try to list as many Jewish Pine Bluff families as I can recall. So here goes !
Gottliebs
Sterns
Fruhmans
Blau
Kahns
Cohens
Baers
Silbernagels
Altschul ( I think I will just use singular form from here on )
Banks
Eisenkramer
Mizell
Levy
Levine
Morris
Rosen
Rutstein
Rozensweig
Kastor
Fleischaker
     and I'll leave it there with our old classmate to allow others to add their memories. What's a puzzler to some degree is that with so many Jewish families in PB, nary a one of our elementary school lists seem to have any of these kids listed, unless Bobby was putting MHLevine at First Ward. I'm pretty sure the Morrises and Rosens attended Anunc Academy at least for a while ( someone please forward this to LFikes who will know for sure ! )
     And yet, Gabe Meyer School itself was named after a prominent local Pine Bluff Jewish Civil War hero !
     Another puzzler: Look at our lists of twins: The Perrys, the Roops, John and CLAIRE Lee ( Thanks to Tommy Case for reminding me it was Claire not Ann ! ), The Wests, Bill & Kay Price, Kenny and Gay Gardner, et al
     ALL these sets were in OUR class ! Were we the unique class for twins ???
     What an interesting story it would make to hear how Daisy King Chu Ko and her family came to settle in Pine Bluff and what it must've been like for them. And as for all our Jewish families, it was a moment for pause, when recently, Tommy Barton related to me that just last year or so, the Temple was shuttered, due to there only being a few families left and apparently not sufficient to secure a Rabbi, and with that closing all the years and years of history.
     I was fortunate to have been able to narrate a PBS special about the disappearance of rural churches and yet as we all know there are plenty of houses of worship that have been passed by in the cities as well.
     Rather than feel melancholy about all these things, I choose to focus on the positive, and just recall, with all of you, that in those days, for all its faults and flaws, Pine Bluff enriched our young lives in so many ways.

Hames

     Hames, your mind is a steel trap! It's amazing! One of our first Chinese immigrant families began with Harry Sy Joe. During the Great Depression, at age 12, Harry Sy Joe immigrated from China with an adult uncle by way of Boston Harbor. Harry's uncle found life too tough in America during the depression and returned to China leaving a 12 year old boy who spoke no English to find his way through America. (What courage!) Somehow, someway Harry learned of a Chinese family in Pine Bluff who ran a grocery store and offered him a job.
     Harry lived in the back of the store working when not attending school.
     He graduated from PBHS in 1945 and later traveled to Mississippi to meet other Chinese immigrants where he met his wife.
     The rest is history. For years the Sy Joes ran a successful Chinese Restaurant named appropriately, Sy Joe's. The Sy Joe's oldest daughter graduated Summa Cum Laude from UAMS and now heads the emergency center in an Alaskan hospital. Is America a great country or what?

Bob Smithey

     Gary we have covered football and basketball but have omitted some of our track experiences. If you could see me now you would understand why food comes to mind. After funding the football athletic program apparently the funds ran out at old PBHS. I remember on basketball trips if it hadn't been for Lester Silbernagel we would have starved since he paid for a lot of chicken fried steak dinners after the games. He even funded our post season banquet and gave us all a pair of red socks.
      I remember Roy Murtishaw was so eager to eat the real steak placed in front of him at the Plantation Embers when he tried to stab it the steak slipped on his plate and fell on the floor. Since a real steak dinner was a rare experience back then, Roy picked it up, brushed it off, placed it on his plate and started slinging elbows. Watching ole'
     Roy eat that steak wasn't so bad but listening to him wore you out.
     Now for the track trips. Absolutely no money was provided for athlete meals following a track trip. If your parents didn't have money to give you to run to a grocery store sometime during the track meet you went hungry. After the meet we had no time except to load onto the bus and head home. The entrepreneurial sprit infected Taylor Eubank and M. H. Levine. Taylor's Dad ran a grocery store so Taylor procured bread, ham, mustard and small cartons of milk and then enlisted the sandwich construction assistance of M. H. They then iced all down in an ice chest and smuggled it onto the bus and hid it under a blanket. After the track meet anyone with any money was faced with a monopoly McDonalds would have been proud. The price placed on those sandwiches made with a skinny piece of ham and smeared lightly with mustard would relate to the best steak dinner at Sonny William's restaurant in Little Rock today. Taylor has been retired from the FBI now for several years but I will always suspect that his retirement has been supplemented by his sandwich business investment income of years ago. A very true story. Until next time my friend, God Bless.

Bob Smithey

Tommy Barton

Tommy what great news! Please give Dick a collective AT&T hug from all of us. Since Dick has always been a "Manly sort of a Guy", if he asks where the hugs came from tell him Penny sent most of them.

Bob Smithey

     Dick will be released from the hospital tomorrow after a radiation treatment. He appeared to be in pretty good spirits this evening, especially after the doctor's visit and he learned that he would be released tomorrow. The only negative, he told Dick that he cannot drive until his other doctor gives him the okay.
     Dick was also aware that he had missed one of his "bucket list" trips.
     Keep him in your prayers.

Tommy Barton

     Dewoody update: Well, Dick is not going home. His condition has not changed since yesterday and Dick is unhappy about the turn of events.
     Maggie and the doctors are making decisions for his care and treatment.
      Will try to send an additional update later tonight.

Tommy Barton

Very sorry to hear this latest. It explains why I have not been able to reach him by phone for about 3 weeks now. If anyone talks to Dick, tell him he is in my prayers.

Ralph Rouse

What a beautiful email from a beautiful person asking our prayers for Dick. I have been trying to reach Dick by phone since I learned about all this. Being in Texas and often out of touch, I knew Dick had health issues but never knew until about a month ago how seriously ill he is.
This all started when I heard about Gary and sent an email to several of you asking you to pray for Gary and Barbara, his wife. Bobby Smithey having grown up with Gary immediately joined me. At that time, I still did not know the details on Dick until Hames told me. Put me down as "praying for them both regularly ".

Ralph Rouse

Dewoody update: He was bathed and dressed to go home at 6:30 this evening and waiting for the doctor to come by and release him. We are working on a project to move his computer down stairs so I left and do not know if, in fact, he made it home. I will know in the morning and let you know.

Tommy Barton

Dewoody update: Dick made it home last night... I talked with Weldon this morning and he said that "Dick was his old self".. and was glad to be leaving the hospital. Dick and Maggie were up when I delivered the PC desk but I did not get a chance to visit.

Tommy Barton

Is Dick Dewoody tough...or what? He was a Marine back in the time of "Iron men and Wooden ships." The only thing more powerful is prayer and I think it worked. Thanks for sharing the good news Tommy.

Bob Smithey

     George Lemen wrote to say how much he's been enjoying our Round Robin. George says he attended Anun. Academy k-2 before going to Lakeside in the 3rd.( He beat me there by one year. ) George says he lived at 1219 East 2nd when attending A. Acad. and that Cookie Willis across the street and one block west of Cookie Willis, which I am guessing means we should add Cookie to the Sixth Avenue lists. That makes perfect sense since she and the West twins and Cappy have remained such close friends from all the way back then. George also adds that another neighbor was D.J> King. George was that Mary Anne's folks ?? I know she went to AA where her mom was music teacher. At Lakeside, Mrs. Reasoner was the first music teacher, followed by Mrs. Baxter, whose son Jimmy was a student there too. Fred Ursery said Sam Taylor's music teacher ( and probably married to Lakeside's first PE instructor Rodney Ryan. )
     This poses the question: Did each Elementary schol then have its own music teacher and were the PE instructors shared by ALL the elementary schools as it appears??
     Thanks to Tommy Case for at my urging sharing his wonderful memories with the WHOLE group ( those of us who know that Tommy would later become the consumate professional barber in later life, thoroughly enjoyed his recapping his first " professional " rendering on the head of Gabe Meyer classmate Howard Glatstein !
     A favor I'd like to ask is that if possible, all who share their wonderful memories, please don't confine them to just sending to me, PLEASE copy to all of the above and please also copy to any other of our PB growing up years friends as well, as everyone seems to be enjoying these immensely and there's just no way or time for me to re-copy to everyone, and these are just too good not to share with the largest number possible as they uplift us all, plus they keep us in touch in a great way ! Thanks !
     Bobby, Catherine writes that she recalls a Chinese Grocery near the Worm Ranch, so maybe there were THREE, if my memory is correct, about the one on Main AND one near East End. The one there, somehow I recall being near what must surely have been the only non Italian Shoe Store ( Pine Bluff must've had the record for shoe stores back in our growing up years, The Lupo brothers at different locations, Barbarotto, Tony Sylvester's, and I think maybe Judy Rinchuso's dad, and I'll bet others of you could add 2 or 3 more ! ) The shoe store on East Side was a John Kaz or Kac was the way the last name began, but as a kid it was unpronounceable or spell-able, so the Kaz or Kac part is all I can recall.
     Bobby, your relating of the Harry Sy Joe story was just great !
     Fred Ursery wrote about the famous architect Fay Jones conversing about his own Gabe Meyer years and Fred said he was able to recall the name of every teacher, tho of course he was a generation before us. Also I got Annie King Chu Ko's name right finally.!
     Tom Bellhouse wrote that before he was born his mom taught school in PB, back when his dad first came to work for Cottonbelt, and that Tom's mom actually taught Bill Lafitte's dad, the famous footballer, " Foots" Lafitte !
     Speaking of the Cottonbelt, my great grandad, BGGalligher was the Cottonbelt doctor, and tho, it was long since shuttered, do ya'll recall the old Cottonbelt hospital near the shops ?? His son, my great uncle Met Galligher, was the police chief in PB for many years, as George Lemen's grandad was Fire Chief. Lots of fine members of both forces who somehow helped us kids and families feel more secure back in those days.
      Well, keep those great e-mails and memories comin' in, and if at all possible copy to all, as every single one has been read and appreciated by all when they get to see them.

Hames

One of the major reasons I am so glad when folks e-mail to all is that it saves me having to re-type every e-mail address every time. Yes, I know, someone more proficient with the computer, and not operating off a deadline of break times at work, could make it all simpler, but, alas, for now, that is my plight. SO, consequently, when I asked all of you to copy to all listed, I, somehow, I omitted Bobby Smithey's e-mail address ( please see and add from above ), plus I omitted the last part of Dick Dewoody's e-mail address ( also please see above and likewise add to your corrected and amended listings ! ) Lemme know when you add a new name and I'll make sure that new name gets added to our motley band ! And again, many, many thanks !

Hames

     Gary one of my best friends is a guy named Robert Dill, Marketing Vice President of Simmons Bank. In fact he is Anne's immediate supervisor. However you know Anne. She probably supervises Robert more than he her.
     Years ago, 1976 to be exact, Anne spied a brand new yellow Oldsmobile Toranodo with a tan vinyl roof on the show room floor of Welch Motor Company and fell in love with a car. I bought it for her and she kept it ten years until our daughter, Adrianne, began to refer to it as "Old Yeller." Well Robert had just bought a butt load of television advertising from Dale Nicholson at KATV for Simmons Bank. Dale then invites Robert and a friend (me) to come play golf at Little rock Country Club. Well we did.
      Robert and I arrived about 10:00 A M at LRCC and began the round with a bloody mary. At lunch we have a burger and another adult beverage. After the eighteen hole round we adjourn to the men's grill for another adult beverage, or two. We were having such a good time Dale calls his television sales manager, T V anchors and sportscaster, Paul Eells to join us at a place called One Eyed Jacks. After several rounds of beverages, Dale closed the ticket. Robert immediately opened it back up. My memory is not real clear but I think this happened three or four times. Finally around midnight Robert and I began our trip home. After all the beverage consumption, my appetite was roaring so we stopped at the Kentucky Fried Chicken place on Broadway near Roosevelt Road. A pretty testy neighborhood at midnight.
     Robert and I were the only two Caucasians ordering chicken at this time of night and I had an extremely strong urge to salvage two screaming kidneys. I hand Robert a ten dollar bill and head to the "head". Now ten dollars worth of chicken in 1976 was a bountiful amount of chicken. While I am in the restroom an extremely inebriated African American kept yelling at the waitress, over and over, "B_____H, where are my G D chicken wings?" Well as I am coming out of the rest room, the waitress is handing Robert ten dollars worth of chicken and Robert is saying "Listen if there are any chicken wings in here give them to this SOB!" That was cause for me to place a strong hand on Robert's shoulder and to instruct him "It's time for us to go."
     While driving home (Robert is driving) we both are eating chicken and throwing the bones in the back seat of Anne's new car.
     Since I had failed to advise Anne how late I would be, she has called the Arkansas State Police asking that they locate us. About two miles north of White hall a state trooper pulls us over. He was called Big Ben because he stood awfully tall and had a V shape from huge shoulders down to a small waist. Big Ben walks up to Robert's window and asks to see his driver license. Robert's actual retort "Yes sir just let me get up off my knees and I will get them for you." When Big Ben sees Robert's license he asks "Are you Robert Dill with Simmons Bank?" Robert "yes sir." Big Ben " I've been meaning to contact you and sell you tickets to the Copper Bowl football game. Robert's answer " And I 've BEEN MEANING TO BUY SOME!" Well that saved our bacon and we creped on home.
     P. S. Anne has never forgiven me or Robert. True story.

Bob Smithey

Bob, that is absolutely priceless. You have such a flair for the descriptive embellishment. I hope you are doing a compilation of these unforgettable memoirs. I think you ought to commit these to voice recording. I would certainly be willing to underwrite a copy.
Seriously, I think someone should be collecting all these stories from you and Ralph and Hames, and the others. I have been printing them out, but I am hardly a good archivist. Even though I never experienced these tales, I can picture them through your vivid prose.

J M Blackwell

Hames: I am enjoying reading this round robin. I also am glad to have these emails as a way to keep up with Dick’s condition. I will plan a trip soon for sure.
I, too, have fond memories of Denzel Bailey. I played center and defensive end for the Bluejays. Great guy. I, too, am sorry to see that his obituary was so inadequate. You and the others are helping keep his memory alive. Re Arsenal kids, I seem to remember a large kid named Blankenship, Don I think. You mention Ted Luft. I think Leslie Luft was in our class or perhaps one ahead. He also played in the backfield for the Bluejays. At First Ward was a cute girl named Donna Lynn Bell. Speaking of Dick and football, my older son, Daniel graduated Rhodes College in 1995. Somewhere, perhaps while visiting Daniel at Rhodes, I learned that Dick played center for Southwestern at Memphis, which was the original name of Rhodes. Teachers at Sixth Avenue: Ms. Ouida Sanders (first grade), a Ms. Mathews (I think). I think McArthur Wofford was at Sixth Avenue, also. As for school boundaries, I can’t help much. When at Sixth Avenue, I lived at 713 W. 5th; I could see the school from my yard. I do remember AA, probably one of last such schools taught by nuns in flowing black habits. Boundaries were kind of strange sometimes. I remember a nice (really big, shaving by the fourth grade) guy named Floyd Dodd. He lived, I believe, way out but attended Sixth Avenue. I recall that you, Dick, Tommy, and I came upon Floyd and a cousin of his while at the country property that Dick’s brother owned. (Where I shot the three birds one a time before the others flew away). Has anybody mentioned Becky Howell, fifth grade at Lakeside? She broke my heart by moving away that year. Has anyone mentioned Becky Kavanaugh? She lived on 28th, so I guess that she may have attended Gabe Meyer. A grade behind us - and cute. Do you recall a guy named Roundtree in Cub Scouts? Someone mentioned Jimmy Harrod at Sixth Avenue. Harrod is a historical Kentucky name – Boone compatriot. Which makes me think of a guy that I knew when I was in 4th grade, although I am not sure that he attended Sixth Avenue – Estill Allen. In KY, he would be named for two East Kentucky counties, Estill and Allen. Well, it appears that I should stop drinking before 11 pm –my memories are getting pretty vague and pretty damned weird. More later. Best regards,

Bill

     Ya'll, here's a wonderful example of why I made my plea for all to forward to all their e-mail reminiscences !
     Now, I know why Bill Stephenson chose not to copy to all, and that's because, because he moved away from Pine Bluff after the ninth grade and assumes few people would even remember him ( Bill was my next door neighbor for several years. His gorgeous older sister, Cissie Manning, was a cheerleader, I believe, and Bill had 4 other siblings besides Cissie. ) But, Bill may not realize it fully, but lots of us still recall that Bill came within just a few votes of beating Roy Murtishaw to become student council president and he was just a great all around guy, who, thru no wish of his or Cissie's, their family moved, like so many others, because their dad got transferred or had a better job offer in another town or state. In Bill's case, they moved to Shreveport and Bill went to Byrd High there, changing his last name to Bowker, to honor his stepfather, Dan Bowker, whose brother Bud was also a well known footballer at PB of yore, I believe, like Lafitte's dad, " Foots " Lafitte. Bill has always said that his years in Pine Bluff meant and continue to mean more than any others of his growing up memories.
     And below is an example. Bill's been gone from PB longer than most of us, so some things may be more distant in his recall, but since he married a PB girl, I can imagine that they'll both be delighted to be a part.
     So, knowing how great it will be for everyone to receive the benefit of others' memories like Bill's,, and knowing how garbled my last long e-mail got due to time constraints et al, , I have asked Tommy Case and Bob Smithey to co-ordinate a Master List of all our mailees so far, which will save me having to laboriously retype everyone's name every time I send out a forward that's only come to my e-mail, ( and yes I know there are simple ways of sending to all, but not when I am limited to only occasional 15 minute break time opportunities at work, where there's just no time to do the prep work) Tommy and Bobby will make sure things get out to all, except for those e-mails which somehow may not be meant beyond the immediate reader, and in hope that our recalled memories will stay in that range that makes them acceptable to Marvin Blackwell's book on all of us, which we all know Marvin has been working on while in the Witness Protection Program !
     Also this is a real good time to re-cap the amazing accomplishments of this Round Robin in its short time in cyberspace:
     LAKESIDE Elementary School: complete list of students our age, taken directly from roll books by yours truly, and alphabetized in Wayne's e-mail ( If you didn't receive this and would like to please let Wayne know, ( see his email address above ) and I'm sure he'll gladly forward along
      While on Lakeside, let me quickly add the teachers I recall: 4th grade, Mrs. Page and Mrs. Tarver, 5th Grade
Mrs. Cherry and Mrs. Roupe, 6th Grade Mrs. Thornton and Mrs. Bryan. I leave it to Catherine, Auvergne, TBarton, TStone, Ralph, Wayne, Dick, Bun, Bill et al to add the earlier grade teachers. I forwarded the students list to David Finley and Travis Mitchell for their older kid additions, and Eddie McColgan and Ted Luft will hopefully fill in the younger kids.

SAM TAYLOR : See Fred Ursery's exhaustive list from memory and, additions still coming in. Fred, could you test your excellent recall on the teachers there ?!

GABE MEYER : Tommy Case has done wonders in almost singlehandedly piecing together his classmates.

Bobby Kientz is now helping Tommy and between them and others to whom we may forward later, like Bill Lafitte,, Milton Hughes et al Also would be nice to get some teachers and principal.

FIRST WARD : Bobby Smithey and Gary Shinall have been making First Ward come alive in their memories, and if Bobby can find the time by going back over his e-mails, can probably give us a great list from First Ward

SIXTH AVENUE : Still our least known school, but we've been greatly helped by the fact that both Bill and Bun attended early years there, and maybe Catherine can forward our plea for help on to Cappy and the West twins, and Fred to Overton

ANNUNCIATION ACADEMY : This is one I, George Lemen, Lawrence, et al can probably do a pretty good job on a listing here, tho George left after 2nd and I after 3rd for Lakeside.

So lots to look foward to, and lots more to follow, God willin' God bless you each and everyone !

Hames

Hey Ya'll !

       Please disregard any previous entreaties to start sending to all when you e-mail ( including the plea I tacked on below in the intro to Bill Bowker's great e-mail, enclosed for all to enjoy.
      The problem had been that due to time constraints ( 15 minute break times at work,), I was concerned that, with our amazingly growing numbers, I wasn't getting everything out to everyone, plus garbling my own attempts as well.
     My first thought had been to ask that everyone start copying to everybody, until it sunk in that even those folks who were already sending to all weren't sending to the same " to all " list that others were. Plus anything that complicates a simple joyful act has a tendency to kill incentive, which is the opposite of what we are all doing.
     The only thing that made any sense then was to have a Master List that would include all of our correct and updated e-mail addresses, and a willing soul to make sure that that list would receive all the forwards.
     Tommy Case, has graciously offered to, with Bobby Smithey's help, put together such a list, so that now, each time anything comes in, it can be shared with the whole group ( unless otherwise designated )
     So please take a moment and check your address above and any others I may have mangled, ( I've been mis-spelling Alltel for who knows how long ! Now that won't be a problem anymore ), and let me know of any corrections or additions and I'll pass along to Tommy and Bobby. Also if you know of anyone who might like to also be receiving these, just let us know.
     Since every single person who has responded has said how much they've been enjoying this renewed contact and opportunity to reminisce in positive ways about our growing up years in Pine Bluff.( And this is sure borne out when you see how quickly our numbers have grown! ), And never losing sight of the original purpose that Ralph and Gary and Bobby started it all with, let it also be said, that these e-mails are providing an uplift to all and for some in particular, who appreciate the opportunity to recall simpler times and a place and time when summers never seemed long enough and yet never seemed to end, at least in our obviously vivid memories and recollections.
     So anyway, just go right back to your comfort level as far as e-mailing is concerned. Keep 'em comin' and, God willin' we'll keep 'em comin' along to you all.   Thanks !

Hames

    And now, before we get to Bill Stephenson/Bowker's great e-mail, here is my opportunity to try to tie up some loose ends !    Fred Ursery reminds me that Sam Taylor's music teacher was Mrs. Turner, and that their PE Instructor, Rodney Ryan's wife, was one of their teachers there at ST. ( I believe that Rodney Ryan wound up teaching at U of A Fayetteville ) Again, it appears that each Elementary School had its own music teacher, but that the PE Instructors were shared by all ? Can any First Warders or Gabe Meyers add any thoughts on that ? Also this brings the question as to whether Sixth Avenue was able to muster enough Overton Andersons to have a football team ?
     Since we know that Denzol Bailey at Lakeside and his brother at Sam Taylor , and as Tommy Case has told us, Cookie Willis's dad at Gabe Meyer were volunteers, maybe those elementary schools that weren't fortunate enough to have such men to volunteer their services had to forego after school team sports ?
     Bill Rumker wrote that it was Ed Brown who was his Little League Coach, and hopefully, Bill might share the beautiful tribute he wrote some time.
     In my haste to write an intro below, I mistakenly gave Bill more siblings than he had, and gave PB credit for Bill's wife ( She's from LR and even tho her maiden name was Whiteside, apparently there's no relation to Cappy Ware's LR husband, also named Whiteside ) and his uncle Bud Bowker may have played football in LR or Fayetteville instead of PB.
     When I was asking for help with PB's Shoe places, I meant of course Shoe Repair shops, like the Lupo Bros. ( 2 different locations ), Barbarotto's, Tony Sylvester's et al. And I still am hoping someone can recall the non Italian shoe shop on east end, whose long last name began with Kac or Kaz.....
     Some other Jewish families, Catherine adds the Goldbergs and I believe Anetta's family was Goldberger. I recall Larry Hall, I think it was who was going to marry Anetta.
     Another name to add to the Lakeside rolls, along with Bill's Becky Howell, , is Jim Borne. Jim was there briefly, and then when he returned some years later, he was Jim Patterson. Jim's late wife, the wonderful Gail Ragland, explained how all that happened and I'll try to find her e-mail of some years back.
     Bill's also absolutely right in recalling that Floyd Dodd ( and his brother Havis? ) was shaving in the 4th grade !
     That was at Lakeside. If he was shaving at Sixth Avenue before then, he was older than even we at Lakeside thought
     Bill mentions Jimmy Rountree. Where did Jimmy attend Elem. school ? Also could the Buddy that Bun recalls in his Sixth Avenue years be Buddy McGriff ?
     And it might be fun to occasionally our e-mails with a trivia question so as to continue to ward off forgetfulness.
Here's my starter. Name the only PB Movie Theater that NONE of us ever got to see a movie in.
     Well, that's enough to keep us busy for a while.
     Thanks again !

Hames

Easy... The Vester, behind the Strand on 2nd. I believe it was named for "Vester" the matriarch of the Brown? or Perry? Funeral Home in Pine Bluff!

Tommy Barton

Hames:

You are a literal paragon of industry for squeezing all this into 15 minute breaks. However, it is alright if you confess to borrowing a little work time. I would never rat you out. Well, unless there was some real money involved, and then my true character would be revealed.
Keep up the great work. I had no idea that P.B. was such a fascinatingly diverse community.

J M Blackwell

Dear All,

     Well, that astute detective J M Blackwell is correct. Occasionally, I am granted more computer time than usual, and happily, today is one of those times !
     First off, please note that the above mailing list is, I hope and pray, as complete and error free as any so far. So if you are of a mind to, and can, unlike me, copy and paste it so that in future you can mail your sharing to all, wonderful.( Wayne and Tommy, it would be especially great if you two could, since your updates of Dick Dewoody would then reach all ) If not, I'll keep trying to forward what you do send, to all, unless requested otherwise.
     Some of the addresses may need clarifying: hhcjr is Catherine, PPBurdeno is Penny & Paul, alark is Auvergne, Altoid is TBellhouse, and I believe the others are self explanatory.
Now, Hoorays are in order for Fred Ursery's exhaustive lists of Sam Taylor, and Bobby Smithey for his equally amazing lists of First Ward. Both these were from memory ( unlike the Lakeside lists, which I had the good fortune to copy directly from the old roll books long ago, and Wayne alphabetized).
     The unbeatable memory of Tommy Barton cinched the Early PB Trivia Question. The only movie theater none of us never saw a movie in was...The Vester ! Tommy even adds that the name Vester came from the matriarch of the black funeral home operation that also owned the Vester, which most of you remember adjoined the Strand ( Had David Finley been on our list when that went out, he may've contradicted my lead in, as david's Dad ran the projectors at a number of theaters, so David may've gone with him if he ever was called upon to show the movies at the Vester ! )
     I don't know about ya'll, but I printed out both lists and have been really enjoying reading back over all those familiar names ( aside to Gary and Barbara: Gary, your family must've had the record number of family at First Ward ! You, Brent, Lana, Lance, and cousin Kathy Shinall ! And Bobby mentioned your aunt was also a teacher there ! ) Do either of you know if First Ward is still being used as a school ? I think Lakeside was turned into a Montessori school ?
     Fred Ursery also relayed that during a lunch he and his wife were having with another couple, the wife mentioned that she had been happily attending Sixth Avenue, when with no explanation, boundaries were altered and she was transferred to Sam Taylor.
     When Fred told me this, I immediately began wondering again, why a school already hurting for pupils, would bypass the arsenal kids, and then start transferring students who were already there ?!? Most of you are prob'ly already ahead of my tortoise slow brain, but it FINALLY dawned on me, that the best explanation is that, instead of looking to increase its students, Sixth Avenue, even as far back as when we were in school, must've been trying to PHASE IT OUT ! Unless someone else tells us differently, that's the only explanation that seems to make any sense. Wish we knew when Sixth Avenue did actually close, and what became of it ?
     Thanks again to Bobby Smithey for solving my own dim recall of the name of the only non Italian Shoe Repair store. Bobby says it was Albert Kraizig, and his place was at sixth & Ohio in a triplex bldg. that also housed Jimmy Smith's Grocery Store and Brewster's Barber Shop. Thanks Bobby, I can picture that corner lots more clearly now, and also rectify my faulty memory of there being a Chinese Grocery there instead. I guess Catherine was right, that the only other Chinese Grocery was near the Worm Ranch ( Speaking of the Worm Ranch, do ya'll recall the old White House Hotel nearby ? Was always kinda mysterious, but that may've been for a reason )
     George Lemen wrote to say how much he was enjoying reading the recollecting, and added a memory about his 3 years at Annunciation Academy. George recalls that the nuns would insist that our lunchtime apples be eaten down to the core, and even sometimes demand evidence. George recalls one girl handing the over seeing nun 3 seeds and a stem ! George lived those 3 years at 1219 E 2nd, near Cookie Willis and D.J. King, and with my eyesight, I thought I was seeing West 2nd and figured that would put Cookie at Sixth Avenue, but as Bobby's list of First Ward shows, Cookie was there, at least until TCase's list puts her at Gabe Meyer later on, when her dad coached their football team.
     So obviously more of us kids moved around than we may've remembered ( Roby Mize may have the record. Roby was orphaned and lived with various siblings, and even for a spell with Travis Mitchell's family, and prob'ly the Smitheys too, right Bobby ? )
     Roby always reminded me a bit of Dale Wyatt ( also orphaned I think, tho Dale once explained it all, I alas have forgotten. I think Dale may've also been related to Bobby Wyatt and Jimmy Wyatt ?? )
     Which brings up WHERE did Dale attend, since he's missing so far from any of our Grade School Lists.
     Likewise, somehow Larry Walker, Jimmy Quinn, Jerry Mayer, the 3 musketeers, are likewise so far not on any lists ( tho, with my eyesight I may've just overlooked ) I'm guessing they turn up on Tcase's & BKientz's still in progress Gabe Meyer lists. Other names still missing off the top of my head, Jimmy Roundtree, Wesley Hargis, Catherine Ward ( First Ward addition ? ) et al
     Speaking earlier of school boundaries, I believe I have come up with the northern most Lakesider I can think of Buddy Gibbs. Buddy lived at either 8th & Walnut or 9th & Walnut. And I believe Cappy Ware, who was in the Sixth Avenue district lived on 7th. Therefore the dividing line must've been 8th or 9th.
     Well, I think that wraps up all the input so far. If later time allows, maybe we can start compiling the kids at Annunciation Academy, and hope that Buddy, Lawrence, and David will be the mainstays in helping compile those lists, which should be chock full of lots of names we all recall so well, when they joined us in high school.
To close out this round with another trivia question from our Growing Up Years :

NAME 6 DRUGSTORES FROM OUR GROWING UP YEARS ( Murray Hart Walgreens not included. Too easy ! )
Thanks again to Ralph, Gary & Barbara & Bobby for initiating this Round Robin and for all of you keeping it going to all.

Your friend always, Hames

      First Ward is still listed as a public elementary school in the local phone directory. Roby Mize never lived with the Smithey family but he would have been a welcome addition. With some of the antics Roby pulled in his youth, it would have redirected some of the discipline Mr. Smithey administered in our household. Lord knows I could have used it.
      Dad (J.R. Smithey) was a projectionist for the Bonner family who owned the Community Theatre. He worked there prior to entering the U.S. Navy in 1937 and again during WW II. The Bonner's also owned the Drive-In Movie on Dollarway Road.
      The cost of admission to a Republic Western Movie ( Roy Rogers, Lash Larue, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, and others) on week ends at the Community was ten cents. On Saturdays you could go to the Saenger Theatre for the price of two empty coke bottles. Jimmy Smith used to keep the empty coke bottles behind his grocery store. The Roop twins used to go behind the store and pick up enough empties, walk around front and sell em' back to the store to get their money to go to the movies. I tried it a couple of times. Scared the bejeebies out of me when doing it especially when I saw the Cummins Prison Farm workers cleaning out the ravine in our neighborhood but it got me in the movies.
     Times were tough back then.
     Dale Wyatt is an uncle to Bobby, Jimmy and Mary Ann Wyatt. I am not sure but believe Dale attended Dollarway and White Hall schools. Dale has taught journalism at White Hall for many years. Dale was an above average pitcher in baseball and outside shooter in basketball. He always seemed more mature for his age.

Bob Smithey

Dear Tommy and Bo,
     This e-mail just to thank you both for helping take the eyestrain problem away for me !( I have another appointment with the eye specialist next month ).
     Since our e-mailers grew so quickly in numbers and others asking to be added, it just makes sense to have an up-dated, poof-read Master List so that anything I receive or write can be immediately forwarded to Tommy, who will just press Forward To All on his Master List, and that way everybody will get everything, with the exception of those who don't care to share with the whole group, or anything you guys figure doesn't meet the G rating test, and I no longer have to try to collate all the individual " All " lists or retype addresses each time.
     As to the Master List, I think between Bobby's list, my list and Tommy's list, we've pretty much got it all covered. Bobby has had Lawrence Fikes listed, so if Bobby thinks Lawrence is OK with receiving the mailings,
     I'd suggest adding Lawrence to the Master list, and unless Buddy McFadin hollers " Stop " I would think he'd be a good one to add, since he and Lawrence both went to AA and can help with that list.
     Another for sure example, with Bobby's input, is Gary Shinall. I purposely omitted Gary from the Dewoody health updates, concerned that negative health stuff might not be appropriate for Gary and his wife at this time. So Bobby, could you please let Tommy know whether to put Gary on the Master List to All, please, or just leave it that, since you will be getting everything, you can decide if what comes along is appropriate or not, and then you would forward on to Gary.

Thanks !

     Alan Blackwell has asked to be added to our mailings :ablackw001@aol.com Alan asks us to be sure we get those numerals in as numerals rather than letter " O's "
     And Tommy if you're doing names besides the more nebulous e-mails ( Altoid=Bellhouse, PPBurdeno= Penny, HHCJR =Catherine, et al, then I guess Alan would be a good one to do that with as well ?
      We all 3 know that there are some names we'd love to add, but for different reasons can't. A case in point for me is Roy. I'd love to have sent several of our mailings to Roy, but what always stopped me is that I know Roy is maintaining a political blog and would automatically add all our e-mails to his mailouts and that just wouldn't be fair to others. But if anyone wanted to blind copy to Roy on their own and didn't mind receiving his stuff, that's a whole 'nother matter.
      I've already sent our first trial e-mail to you both ( The Bill Bowker one ) and after Tommy', Bobby, and I have OK'd the Master Send To All list as best we can, Tommy that would be the first one to go out under this new system.
     It's ironic that, here, we three who are still working, have wound up being the co-ordinators, but God provides ministries in wondrous ways sometimes, and I am just thankful we are being allowed to boost the morale or even the day, with a growing number of our Growing Up Years Friends !
     Thank you again !

Your friend, Hames

Hames my personal feeling is that Gary knows he is facing an inevitable death as his body deteriorates and his wonderful mind remains in tact. Gary has reached a stage where he is almost non-communicative and totally dependent upon Barbara feeding him any and all sources of information. No one will know Gary and his daily spirit better than Barbara. Let us continue to remember and communicate with him sharing all facets of life and death while depending on Barbara to edit the content. This gives Gary an opportunity to live until he dies knowing that many care for him and without his withdrawing into a shell until the end of this life on earth.
Those are my thoughts but we would be remiss not to solicit the thoughts of Ralph. For it is Ralph Rouse who began this strong shoulder of communication for Gary and Barbara to lean on during this difficult time. What are your thoughts Ralph?

Bob Smithey

     I agree totally Bobby. I have called Barbara and shared expressions with her of my caring and praying for Gary and she has cried and laughed and expressed great appreciation for the love expressed by our efforts to make their life more meaningful at this time when they feel so very alone facing this problem.
      We should let them know that we love them, and more importantly GOD loves them and gave his only begotten Son for us all so that we can accept Him as our personal Savior and when our time comes we can go to be with Him and someday be with each other again where there will be no pain or sorrow.
     I have total faith in His promise and am looking forward to that day.

Ralph Rouse

      Thank you for this reply Ralph. The one important question I have never asked Gary, and simply made an assumption is, "Are you a Christian?"
     Have you discussed Gary's faith with him Ralph?
     Ralph, you have done a wonderful thing by lending your strength and support to both Gary and Barbara. Your willingness to share and multiply words of encouragement and hopefully email distractions of memories and humor have been beneficial to many others. It provided a medium to express our love and concern directed to Gary and Barbara that has grown to include those same expressions of emotions to many others.
      I have always followed your life with admiration as you distinguished yourself first with feats of physical strength followed by overcoming tremendous adversity. In the past and today you are recognized as one of America's humanitarians improving the lives of others.
      Your strong Christian faith and life experiences remind me of similarities of a man named Sampson with comparison details in scripture.

Bob Smithey

     Yes I have and "YES" they are Christian's and they do believe that we will be like HIM in the great bye and bye..
      Bobby, your words are so kind. Thank you. You have such a way with words and appreciate you so much. I talked to Larry Walker the other day and he said he was going to call Gary and share his faith with Gary also. Barbara has told me to tell all of us that Gary really looks forward to our emails and that she reads them and then reads them to him as she has the time. She told me to tell you all that she wishes she could answer them but time does not allow her to. She says keep them coming.
     She says that things have grown more difficult because Gary's respiratory system is under attack. He is having trouble swallowing and he is having trouble breathing but does not want to be put on a respirator. I asked her how she feels about that decision and she said if it were her she would make the same decision. I told her I respect such a very personal decision. Then I went on to tell her to tell Gary that in my eyes he is a bigger man than he ever has been and to tell him with the advances in medicine and most particularly some of the stem cell research going on, we never know what next year may bring.                  The Apostle Paul put it this way " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith...". Pray for Gary and Dick and if you have the chance share your faith and hope with them. God bless you all.

Ralph Rouse

THIS CAME TO ME FROM BOBBY KIENTZ.

     A couple of days ago I was running (I use that term verrrry loosely) on my treadmill, watching a DVD sermon by Louie Giglio...and I was BLOWN AWAY! I want to share what I learned....but I fear not being able to convey it as well as I want. I will share anyway.
     He (Louie) was talking about how inconceivably BIG our God is...how He spoke the universe into being...how He breathes stars out of His mouth that are huge raging balls of fire..., etc., etc. Then He went on to speak of how this star-breathing, universe creating God ALSO knitted our human bodies together with amazing detail and wonder. At this point I am LOVING it (fascinating from a medical standpoint, you know). ...and I was remembering how I was constantly amazed during medical training as I learned more and more about God's handiwork. I remember so many times thinking...'How can ANYONE deny that a Creator did all of this???'
     Louie went on to talk about how we can trust that the God who created all this, also has the power to hold it all together when things seem to be falling apart...how our loving Creator is also our sustainer.
     And then I lost my breath.
     And it wasn't just because I was running/walking on my treadmill, either!!!
     It was because he started talking about laminin.
     I knew about laminin. Here is how wikipedia describes them :'Laminins are a family of proteins that are an integral part of the structural scaffolding of basement membranes in almost every animal tissue.' You see....laminins are what hold us together ...LITERALLY. They are cell adhesion molecules. They are what holds one cell of our bodies ! to the n ext cell. Without them, we would literally fall apart. And I knew all this already. But what I didn't know is what laminin LOOKED LIKE.
     But now I do. And I have thought about it a thousand times since (already)....
     Here is what the structure of laminin looks like...AND THIS IS NOT a 'Christian portrayal' of it....if you look up laminin in any scientific/medical piece of literature, this is what you will see...
     Now tell me that our God is not the coolest!!! Amazing.
     The glue that holds us together....ALL of us....is in the shape of the cross.
      Immediately Colossians 1:15-17 comes to mind.

Ralph Rouse

This comes from David Duffy regarding emails that he has read from me and Bobby Kientz. This all started with asking classmates to pray for Gary Shinall (who is dealing with ALS- Lou Gehrigs Disease) and his wife Barbara; and Dick Dewoody who is dealing with brain cancer. Pray for these.

Ralph Rouse

     Great to hear from old friends. These Emails to everyone are just great. God bless G. Shinall and I have prayed for him to help him in his suffering.
     Bobby, you are right on about what holds us all together, and if you read much about St. Paul who wrote to the Colossians, you will find that this was a man much like us who became an instrument of God. The reason that I appreciate him so much is that he was a real sinner that denounced Christ for so long. He was Saul and a persecutor of Christians until he was knocked from his horse on his way to kill Christians. Well the rest is history and very good reading. He was renamed Paul by Christ and became one of the most ardent followers.
     God bless you both and your families!!!

John Duffy

     Gary I want you to know that I was selected to be a Hall Monitor in the ninth grade. That meant I got to sit all alone out in the hall (across from study hall) in a desk by the boys bathroom to observe who came and went while taking care of bodily functions. I saw this as future training preparing me for a career for either shining shoes or passing out hand towels in the men's room of a large hotel some day.
     Actually my job was to keep the peace in the halls as teachers tried to teach in the classrooms. I remember Civics, First Year Algebra and Latin II normally kept my head down. The one thing I remember about Latin was "Ubi Ubi, Sub Ubi"
     Translated that meant " Where oh where is my underwear?" Oh yeah, I also remember " Amo te." Translated "I love you." I always tried to use that one on the girls however you remember not a lot of the girls in the East End of Pine Bluff spoke Latin.
      Remember H. A. Taylor? He was Carolyn Lynn Taylor's older brother. Mean little bugger. H. A. was a monitor picking up absentee slips from all the classes. When he got to the John Allen Building, he would peek around the corner catching me deep in an Algebra or Latin lesson. He would then sneak up on me and literally stomp the fool out of my foot. I obviously let out a Confederate Yell that any soldier would be proud and teachers all down the halls would open doors to see what was wrong. By this time H. A. was long gone. Now a bright kid would have caught on to this program but it took several painful stomps for me to become fully alert.
     H.A. distinguished himself in Viet Nam and later became a Circuit Judge. I always wondered how that mean little rascal dispensed justice. However he turned out to be a pretty good judge. He quit stomping feet and just put chains around the ankles of some who appeared in his courtroom.
     Until next time we pray for you to have a good day today. God Bless my friend.

Bob Smithey

Another great classic from one of the finest storytellers. What characters peopled you early years.

James Blackwell

     Hames ol' friend, it would seem that several have compiled a list of some of our classmates now, but if you still need assistance let me know. I did add a few names here on the Cc that probably haven't been there before: John Lee, Joe Sturdivant, and Jim Vontungeln.
     It's sad to hear about some of the health issues some are having, but I do believe in the power of prayer, and join in asking for God's merciful hand where it's needed.
      I do enjoy reading those memories that some have written about. Pine Bluff was a great place to "grow-up"...and I use that word lightly : )
     Later,

Tommy Case

Yes, I noticed that peoples lists did not list the person(s) they were sending their list to. Tommy, it looks like your list does include those of us you shared this email with. So can we say that those listed in the "To" section of your email is a master list of everyone who have expressed interest in receiving our emails? How about it Case, Ware and Barton?

Ralph Rouse

Hi Hames,
     I'm copying this to the whole list, 'cause it contains gifts for the whole list!
     Getting to be our age seems to bring lots of thoughts and conversations about mortality, as present and former friends, lovers and spouses go to the Light and leave us here. As recent emails show, we increasingly rely on our faiths, whatever they be, to help explain the inexplicable, to calm our fears and to ease our losses.
     A couple of years ago, I was able to replace an incredibly rare, long-lost 45 record. (Remember 45's with the big hole?) Had to buy it in England and have it transposed onto CD. Anyway, it's a gospel song by Little Richard, who had had a rather schizophrenic career going between gospel and rock. I'm appending it here for your enjoyment, along with the flip side -- a heck of a gospel Rock & Roll song called "He Got What He Wanted (But He Lost What He Had.) They're .mp3's and should work with any player.
     Enjoy!

Tom Bellhouse

Gary I quickly pieced some memories together to see if they jar your memory. As a sophomore I remember playing tailback in football because every time I got up off the bench, Coach would holler "Smithey get your tailback here!" Of course you, Joe D Ratliff, Clayton McCaskill and a handful of others got to see action due to your God given athletic gifts.
Here's hoping with a sincere prayer that this day will be good for both you and Barbara. God Bless my friend.

SOME OF THE BEST PINE BLUFF MEMORIES < Go Here to view the below presentation >

Saturday Morning Movies at the Saenger, Matinees at the Malco, Strand, Alamo or Community. Swimming lessons at the Boys Club for Tadpoles, Goldfish, Beginners, Swordfish and Sailfish, Sneaking in Eden Park to swim at night, Holding your breath while passing the cemetery, Cotillion dances, Little League Ball Games at Eighth and Oak, Flat top haircuts for boys, ponytail hairdos for girls, fear of Mrs. Poindexter, The Truant Officer, marshmallow and weenie roasts at Oakland Park, The very fowl smelling and very large alligator at Oakland Park, miniature golf and train ride at Oakland Park, Drive-in Movies at the Pine Bluff Drive-In, Zebra Drive-In and Pines Drive-In, Looking at Trains at the train depot, drinking an ice cold AAA Root beer in July on Main Street or Roosevelt Road, working up courage to talk to teen age girls, learning how to kiss a girl and breathe through your nose simultaneously, going steady, carving your name in a wooden booth at Teen Town, taking dance lessons from Mrs. May or Mrs. Hart, trying to make your hands quit sweating while talking to girls, watching slow trains go through downtown Pine Bluff, sliding down the levee on a cardboard box sitting on wax paper, excitement or disappointment in making, or not making, a Little League Ball team and the All Star Team, Friday night football games at Jordan Stadium with family and friends, Watching the AIC Basketball Championship Tournaments held at McFadden Field House, drinking coffee or a coke at the Coffee Cup on Main Street, swimming and boating at Atkins Lake, getting your first family car, television and air conditioned home, walking a lot wherever you went without parents and sometimes with them, drive-in waitresses at the Rendevous on Main, a steak from Tommy’s on Poplar Street, your first taste of pizza wherever, jumbo hamburgers, circling the Chicken Basket on Blake Street, getting a paper route and buying a scooter or motor bike then meeting at Buddy’s Cycle Shop to enjoy the smell of gasoline while looking at other bikes, going to Matthews Hardware to look at Christmas toys, going to a dentist in the National or Simmons Buildings, leaving your house unlocked, walking in groups in your neighborhood (unsupervised) when trick-or-treating, lunch burgers at the Zebra Stall, Walgreen’s on Cherry , Snack N’ Sack on 28th and Atkinson’s Café on Main, the aroma of two paper mills on an overcast day, pointing a finger at someone when first smelling the paper mill, saying “pull my finger”, girls watching boys and boys watching girls in senior high study hall, athletic and band trips on a bus, blue jeans and white tee shirts, poodle skirts, Twerp Season, sitting on the Confederate statute before the morning or afternoon bell rang, getting up the nerve to ask someone for a date, going to John Noah’s Restaurant or the Wonderland Café for pie and coffee after church on Wednesday evenings, daring someone, double daring someone, dying of fright in speech class, buying school clothes at Baim’s, Penny’s, Cohen’s and shoes at Rosenweigs (while watching the basket overhead deliver your receipt for payment) enjoying watching the stationary Indian Head signal on television when nothing else was on, listening to KCLA, KOTN and KPBA radio stations, remember seeing Sixth Avenue when it was a brick street, recalling the Community Chest instead of the United Way, dragging Main and later dragging Cherry Street, reading Classic Comic books instead of the lengthy novel and then writing a book report, getting a book of blank prescriptions while at the doctor’s office to later write your own sick excuses, trying to teach Coach Marcus Kaufman that there was a difference between pain and injury such as a broken bone, surviving football two-a-day practices after taking salt tablets and being denied water for several hours, getting your name off the SICK, LAME AND LAZY BOARD in football, wondering what the girls will think when they first see your legs on the basketball court ….As the Statler Brothers keep singing; “ Do You Remember Those?”

Bob Smithey

A day does not pass by without me thinking of and praying for you Gary. You have been one of those people from my past that I have always really cared about even though we never really spent a lot of time together. Perhaps because I have lived with a severe disability for the past 45 years, I have a very special empathy for what you are facing and admiration for you and your wife and loved ones. The only way I know to make you smile is to share an occasional picture of my new grandson who is the "apple of my eye". He and his single mother, Deana, live with my wife and me and he cheers me up every day for this first year of his life. Therefore, Keegan Dean is waving at you old friend.

Ralph Rouse

I wanted all of you to have this from Gary and Barbara, and Also remember that Dick has a daughter. We need to pray for all of them. Even though they are going through an unimaginably difficult time, we all need to remember that God is love. Please take time to read with me some very familiar verses in God's Word (John 3:14-18, with special emphasis on John 3:16 and 17). That we may be together again in that great reunion day.

Ralph Rouse

July 10, 2008

Hi, Ralph,
     This is Barbara, Gary's wife. Gary has lost the use of his arms and hands and cannot reply to your email. He asked that I send you a response and to let you know how much he appreciates your email, kind thoughts and prayers. He always spoke so kindly of you when we talked about our growing up in Arkansas.
     Keegan is a precious child and Gary wanted to make sure that I sent you pictures of our grandchildren as well. We have a daughter, Karla, and a son, Alex. Alex and his wife have no children so these two are the apple of our eyes.
     The ALS is progressing and Gary is very weak. He can speak but is very difficult to understand. He can walk only with me holding his hands for support (walking backwards) and he is starting to use a wheelchair more often now. He has lost about 40+ pounds but still is as handsome and bright as ever!!
     Keep in touch with us; Gary loves for me to read your emails to him.
     Here are some pictures of our grandchildren, Max and Sarah Macik.

Barbara Shinall

This is a message I got from Gary after the 45th reunion and before he got his diagnosis of Lou Gerhigs Disease.

Ralph Rouse

Ralph,

It's good to here from you. I hope you and all of your family are doing well. I did go to the reunion and it was great to see all the people that I haven't seen since high school. Although you were not there, you were were the topic of several discussions that I recall. Maybe I'll get to see you next time. Take care of yourself.

Gary Shinall

Gary, I am sorry that I was unable to make the 45th reunion. I really wanted to see you. I saw you on the website pictures and you look great. Hope you and your family are doing well. Hope to see you at the 50th PBHS Reunion if not before. GOD BLESS old friend.

Ralph Rouse

I wanted to pass on that I called for Ricky Riley yesterday about a business deal we are working and found him in Destin eating lunch with Dick, Wayne Matthews and Darrell McCauley. I asked Rick to pass on again that we are all thinking of Dick.

Thomas S. Stone

Hello Everyone,

This is Barbara, Gary's wife. Gary was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday night. He has been having complications and is not doing well today. I wanted to let you all know that I do not think he will be with us much longer, therefore, I am asking for your thoughts and prayers.

I will keep in touch.
Barbara Shinall

     It's great to have the opportunity to spend a little more time than usual, so hope to take advantage of it and cover more ground, backtracking long enough to say again, what an uplift this round robin of old friends has provided.
     It all began when Ralph Rouse, searching for ways to offer encouragement for Gary Shinall, who has been bravely struggling with the effects of Lou Gehrig's, came up with the idea that e-mails from various friends, would not only be an encouragement, but a welcome distraction and pleasant diversion.
     Bobby Smithey cemented it all, when his e-mails quickly followed, regaling Gary and his loving wife Barbara with wonderful e-mails reminiscing about their childhood growing up years at First Ward and their East End Adventures. ( Any of you new to this Round Robin should immediately solicit forwards from those who've been fortunate enough to be receiving Bobby's priceless reminiscences ! )
     From Ralph and Bobby, the list of e-mailers steadily began growing, and Bobby's First Ward memories, inspired similar role calls and memories from others re Lakeside, Sam Taylor, Gabe Meyer, and even the least known of all, Sixth Avenue. Bobby put together, from memory, a list of all the First Ward kids & teachers, Fred Ursery did the same for Sam Taylor, Tommy Case and Bobby Kientz are working on Gabe Meyer, and Lakeside got boosted by Wayne's presence of mind of having saved the Lakeside lists I'd compiled years back directly from the old roll books. Even the mysterious Sixth Avenue got a little more of its mystery removed, when Bill and Bun shared their recall of the first few grades they attended there. ( by the way, did you two realize you lived a block from each other ??!! )
     And now to top it all off, Buddy Mcfadin has agreed to plumb that great memory of his and get us rolling with the Annunciation Academy ! Tho I was only there half the time Buddy was, going over to Lakeside in the 4th, I'll try to end this marathon e-mail, with my list from memory ( not yet having seen Buddy's maybe, our two will be added to by David and Lawrence, and then passed along to Scott McGeorge, who, when I asked him at Kearney Gunti's funeral if he could recall the names of the nun/teachers there, rattled off every single one grade by grade, without blinking an eye !
Anyway, the e-mails obviously continued to snowball, and Dick Dewoody was added to the get well prayers,( it was great to hear via TStone that Dick had recovered well enough to be enjoying Destin with Wayne, RRiley et al ! ) and no doubt there are others benefitting from it all on many levels, all thanks to Ralph and Gary and Bobby and all those who immediately got into the spirit of it all and provided uplifting pleasant diversions for us all.
     From Barbara's last e-mail it appears Gary has reached a point of hospitalization, but Barbara has continued to read everyone's e-mails to him, and she has said they have meant a lot all along the way.
     The fact is they have come to mean a lot to a number of others, judging from all the positive responses.
     Everybody got into the spirit of fun. Tom Bellhouse provided us all with one of the greatest Gospel songs ever recorded. And Tommy Barton won the first PB Growing Up Years Trivia question,
     " What was the only movie theater none of us ever saw a movie in ? " Answer: The Vester ( Somebody suggested we maybe could've also listed The Alamo, but Catherine swears her dad used to take her there often. Bucky recalls it was way out on Sixth, so maybe some of you got to go there too and have some memories of The Alamo to share ! )
     The second trivia question was " Name 6 PB Drugstores From Our Growing Up Years " not counting
     Murray Hart Walgreens ( too easy ), but that too was quickly nailed, this time by Fred Ursery, who listed

Conery's
Bobbitt & Dancy
Spillyard'sCherry Street ( across from the old Davis Hospital )Central Pharmacy
Rexall
Bobbitt & Dancy's were on the west side of North main, and that reminded me of another that was nearly a block down and across the street, Collier's Drug Store, which I think became Reed Collier's.
I seem to recall that both Marsha Rosen's dad and brother, Robert worked there as pharmacists. and we're prob'ly leaving lots of others out ??
And mentioning Marsha Rosen's name, God rest her soul, seems a natural lead in to a stream of consciousness recall of kids at Annunciation Academy, during the short time I was there, because Marsha was there too.

Along with: Here Goes :
Paul Davidson
Buddy McFadin
George Lemen
Bob Jones
David Duffy
Scott McGeorge
Lawrence Fikes
Paul Davidson
David Cranston
Ronnie Roller
Louis Massanelli
Jack Turchi
Tommy Turchi
Bobby Conery
Charles Okle
Jim Bradford
Bobby Ritchey
Mary Anne King
Diane Carlson,
Sharon Culpepper ( a year behind us ? )
Kay Crossett
Peggy Forest
Varga Szabo
Pauline Magnini
Judy Rinchuso
Nancy Fratesi
Judy Fratesi
Eunetta Mustachia
Judy Bimm
Carolyn Laub
Pauletta Krivolavek

and from other classes Kearney Gunti, Hugh Burnett, Ned Tomboli, Caesar Massanelli, Jim Shugart, Harriet Bullock,
Ann Terry,
     Well, that's pretty good for having left after the third grade, hunh? ( I purposely omitted kindergarten attendees as they were so numerous ! ) Buddy, Lawrence, David & Scott, your turn !!!
     Closing with a two choice PB EARLY TRIVIA questions:
     (1 ) Along with the Annunciation Academy kindergarten, there was another kindergarten that existed in those early days. Anybody remember or attend it ?
     ( 2 ) With all the soft drink items for sale these days, it may be hard to recall just how varied the soft drinks WE all had back then...Sundrop, B-1, Nehi varities, Barq's, Nugrape, Grapette, Orange Crush....and please add your own favorites ! But the trivia question is: Pine Bluff, like many other communities, had their own soft drink company, which turned out a variety of flavors under the name....???
     And lastly, but certainly not least, in mentioning so many unsung heroes up in the long ago first paragraph, it seems apt to let the closing paragraph, sing the praises and remind us all of the fella who has quietly and graciously been providing our class's fantastic website all these years. Jerry Cathcart ! Just in case you haven't visited ADMIN@Classof61.net recently, you should. There you will see a labor of love, primarily created and maintained by our beloved classmate Jerry, mostly at his own expense, and garnering the praise and envy of every other senior class out there. It truly is a work of art and a labor of love. Sure hope all will join me in thanking Jerry for his lasting gift to us all, and TCase, I sure hope you'll check Jerry's e-mail address above to make sure he too has been getting all these e-mails !!! And please add forwards to the several new names time has not allowed me to add to our original mailings ! Thanks to all you Master List Compilers & Forwarders !
     And now, after this, a respite to follow, as the Eye Doctor has been hollering Cease & Desist. But will be looking ( I hope ! ) for all that follows. Thanks and God bless you all.

Your friend always, Hames

Ham:

You made up that Vargp Szabo name !

Tommy Stone

The CocaCola Bottling Plant was the plant I remember. I worked there the two summers after HS. It was owned by Mr. Ferd Bellingraf that lived in the big house with the lake on HW 65 going to Little Rock.

George W. Lemen

Doug's Bottling Company, owned by Doug McClellan (not sure about spelling) Mae McClellan was a friend of Robin's Grandmother. Dewoody's house was on the other side of the ravine from Doug's. and the old McClellan was on 22nd and Alabama. The old brick yard was behind the fenced block that the house sat on and Freddie Davis and I had the good fortune to have woods, trails, a pond, etc to play. Plus the ravine.. I suspect that every kid that ever lived or played near the ravine, has fallen into it.

Tommy Barton

I don't remember ever knowing anyone who went to 6th Avenue, but it was only a couple of blocks from the Academy and there were a lot of kids there. The playground was always full at recess.
My grandmother lived at 5th and Mulberry and the Alamo was about 4 or 5 blocks from there, in what we would call a little shopping center today. As I recall there were several businesses there and I had a cousin who would take me to the Alamo quite often. I think I cried through The Song of the South (which has been banned) about three times. Two coke bottles would get you in and it was the first place that I ever ate Milk Duds. I was about 6, 7, or 8 years old, and a haircut costs a quarter. Also, KOTN radio was there as well.

John Duffy

All:

Gary is still in Hospice; though he is not doing well, he is still with us.
I am sorry that you all heard erroneous information. I will try to keep you posted as to how Gary is doing.

Barbara Shinall

Hey Gary,
Barbara has updated us on you. I just want you to know that we are all praying real hard for you. You are a bigger man in my eyes than you have ever been and I want you to know God loves you and we love you.
Ralph Rouse

July 17, 2008

Gary peacefully passed away last night. He fought the hard battle against ALS but was very ill and exhausted. His memorial will be Sunday, July 20th at 3:00 PM at the Chapel of the Forest:

Klein Funeral Home
14711 FM 1488
Magnolia, Texas 77354
281-252-3428

Please keep us in your prayers and thank you so much for keeping in touch with us during this most difficult time.

Barbara

     Barbara we deeply regret receiving this information but thank you for it. Many times the statement is trite but please know that anyone on this email list will do anything to help you and your family at this difficult time. If you think of anything, just let any of us know.
     Because I grew up with Gary and even though we later rarely visited, I am like so many who feel as if I have lost a family member.
     It has helped me in the grieving process to write a small summary of what I knew of Gary's life included with this email. We all extend our love and prayers at this difficult time.

A Life Named Gary Shinall by Bobby Smithey
Click above to go

Bobby Smithey

Wow, what a beautiful testimonial of Gary's life. Bobby grew up with Gary in his neighborhood and knew him much better than me. All I know about Gary was that he was all the things Bobby described and that every experience I had with him caused me to admire his humility more than all of the rest of his gifts and especially because he was blessed with all of the rest that Bobby so eloquently describes. When I heard that Gary had been diagnosed with this terrible condition, it really shook me to my core. I guess because I have lived with a disability all my adult life, I felt led of God to solicit assistance in attempting to in some small way bring some distraction to the ravages that I knew Gary and Barbara were going through. Bobby and others really did a great job of doing that.

I am so very thankful for having known Gary and for getting to know Barbara through this time when he and she have shown me what courage under fire really looks like. Most of all, I am thankful to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for welcoming Gary into His arms where Gary will be with Him and like Him because Gary accepted Him as his personal Savior. The promise that Barbara and I and others of us will see Jesus and Gary again in the great bye and bye is something that we have to look forward to.

Barbara, you have been a rock to Gary through this dreadful experience and I greive with you and your family, but I also celebrate Gary's life well lived and know that he has just now really begun to Live in the presence of our Lord for Eternity.

Ralph Rouse

Hello,
     I have known many of you through the stories I have heard from my brothers...
     Loosing a father at five years old was very hard. One thing I could always count on however was my brothers Brent and Gary.... they both are very special to me and helped me growing up in their own ways.
     Reading Bob's email is exactly how I saw Gary...he was a super hero...He was something I could hope to ever be..He was there to lift me up at 5 years old so I could see my father when he died...he was there when I broke my leg playing for the "Deamons" of 1st ward (playing for Dewey Freeman), he was why Ray Marshall picked me for Optomist Little League Baseball when I tried out and did not catch one ball on tryouts (Mr Marshall knew my brothers so he took a chance with me). Gary was there when I stayed out after dark. In this case I wish he would not have been there because I was spanked...He was the one I would watch punt the football so high at Hutson Park and wonder if I could ever do that...He was a Zebra, He was the one who had the cool 62 T Bird...He was te one who loved music and knew how to build those speakers..(which I have a pair www.shinallandcompany.com ), he was the one I visited when in college, he was the one who always challenged me with arm wrestling matches, he was a Arkansas Razorback...He was a All American,
     I will miss him dearly!
     Check out the web site below. When you get there, click on search and type in Shinall for the last name. Gary's name pops up... I had to dig to find this site. It indicates that his name may be published in "Teen Magazine". I'm guessing Dec 1960 (thats when the all american teams came out).

Lance

http://www.ex-preps.com

Some of his Gary's class mates in 1960 are Joe Namath, Dick Butkus, Lance Rentzel, Gale Sayers, and many others. Gary was the only all american from Ark in 1960 and there was only 83 all americans from ark from 1947 to 1972. Only 4 all americans came from Pine Bluff in the same time period. They are listed below.

Shinall, Gary	Full Back (FB)	17	6ft. 2in. / 198lbs	Pine Bluff, AR	Pine Bluff	TM (1960)
Norwood, Gordon	Quarterback (QB)		6ft. 2in. / 190lbs	Pine Bluff, AR		SS (1963)
Barnes, James	Ends (E)		6ft. 3in. / 195lbs	Pine Bluff, AR		SS (1963)
Kennedy, Bill	Int. Line (Int. Line)		6ft. 1in. / 200lbs	Pine Bluff, AR		SS (1968)

The "about us" link on the page says this which is what I will always remember...especially the first sentence....this says it all:

This site is dedicated to the high school football players considered the best of their time. All-Americans.

     What a wonderful and varied bunch the class of '61 has turned out to be! Not in achievements, but in "heart." The concern, messages and and prayers for our classmates and their families, the work done by many to maintain lists and websites, and now Smithey's beautiful tribute. Thank you all, for bringing this together.
     I came to PBHS in the 10th grade, so my connections are less vintage than many of y'all's and mostly bear on being a high schooler. So, Free Association Time, in the spirit of Bobby's earlier note, I remember ...
     The Midget, where both Burnett and I could get away with being an older "Tony Marchetti."
     Walking two blocks to visit Gail Ragland, my first crush.
     Mrs. Holmes' Boarding House, with some of the best artery-clogging food on the planet, and all you could eat.
     Bucky and I having twin VW Bugs.
     Learning to play snooker at The Stag, and later learning pool from Buddy Hankin's father "Dutch" Hankins.
     The World's Best Cheeseburger, made by a fellow named Baker at his pool hall downtown. Baker's was a black place, so you had to sort of slip in there, but he sure knew how to fry a burger.
     Hanging at Hames' house. Yeah, that Holly guy is pretty good.
     Richard Brinsley Sheridan "Scrubby" Watson, one of the most interesting people I have had the pleasure (and terror) of knowing. (Listen to Romanian Rhapsody sometime and ask yourself how high schoolers could play something like that, and play it well.) And then I remember Alva Appling, a really good person.
     The Hauber Apartments.
     Herb Dunning and his hobby shop.
     Listening to "Buzz" Bennett on the radio, and later, our own DJ Hames.
     Going parking and listening to WLAC from Nashville, featuring "Big Hugh Baby" and an introduction to the Blues (then called "race music")   Later, I heard it on the X.
     Sitting ringside at the forbidden Rainbow Club at midnight with Jimmy Thompson and watching B.B.King an arm's length away.
      Listening to Jimmy McKissick play piano at the Club on Friday nights while we feasted on all-you-could-eat shrimp. (When last heard from, Jimmy was playing in the south of France during the season and in Singapore at Raffles the rest of the year. He's played Carnagie Hall and had a movie made about him. )
     Good times, good years, but more important, good people. I think we've all turned out -- interesting!
      Love and best wishes to all,

Tom Bellhouse (still Tommy to you.)

Subject: High School Football Memories

     A photo taken in 1958-59 football season shows several stalwart players and one skinny kid at the right end with legs so thin he couldn't even fill out his uniform. We all remember Gary's unusual size and good looks. Two years later he would make All-State and All-Southern as a senior. Ashley was a pretty good size fellow but notice he had some growing to do to catch up with a taller and larger Gary.
     M. H. Levine was an end, much heavier and larger than me and the guy Coach Kaufman always chose to have me block in Practice. M. H. actually played the second half of the Camden High game with a broken leg! M. H. came to the sidelines complaining of pain in his leg and Coach Kaufman spoke some words of encouragement to him that put him back in the game.
     In the picture notice the grin on M.H.'s face. He knew shortly I would once again be assigned the task of trying to block him.
     The hand injury the paper referred were broken bones in my left hand where a tackle on an opposing player took place at a premium price.
     Also enclosed is a photo of the First Ward Demon team of 1954. Gary was ill and not in this photo. He was replaced with quarterback, Buddy Hendrix. Please notice the slightly turned sideways # 22 with crew cut and glaring football stare.
     Also are news clips provided describing athletic feats of folks all over the city.
     The photos and news clips provided by Ashley Adams. Thanks for the memories Ashley.
     P. S. After receiving news of Gary's death I removed his email from this mailing. I spoke with Lois Bailey, Gary's Mother today. Lois is disoriented and while aware of Gary's passing was unsure about Lance's or Brent's address. Lois did advise that Brent is not well, confined to a wheelchair unable to walk. Lois was unsure of final arrangements for Gary but grateful for all our concern.

Bobby Smithey

Bobby ! These are just GREAT !

Hames Ware

     I was schooled by Lance. I was totally unaware that Gary made the High School All American team but fully understand why he did. Did you notice the outstanding group he was associated? Joe Namath, Dick Butkis, Gale Sayers, Lance Rentzel and others. Pretty amazing and impressive group of athletes, huh?
     I also learned from Pine Bluff's own Arkansas Razorback historian, Benny Reed, why Gary transferred from Arkansas to Memphis State. Every week Coach Broyles had Gary on the first team in practice but when game time arrived he played Joe Paul Alberty (spelling?) in front of Gary. This went on for several weeks until Gary had enough and transferred to Memphis State.
     We will always wonder what athletic career Gary would have had if things were different.
     However, it appears with his love of and for family, his friends, and his music that his life was no less successful and he lived with no regrets.

Bobby Smithey

     Lance, the thing about Gary that made me love him was that despite all his physical and mental gifts he was a humble and even shy man. When a man can have the talent that Gary had and can be a regular guy that makes him extra special.
     My daughter is married to Chuck Johnson (Chuck graduated with you) and Chuck has told me of how Gary fathered you after your dad died. I am paralyzed from the waist down from an accident in 1963 when I was 20 years old and have lived paralyzed for the last 45 years. Ten years after my injury I was in Conroe, Texas and knowing that Gary lived in Spring, I called him and asked if he would like to come over to the condo where I was staying. He came over and we spent the evening catching up on each others lives. He was extra special and he is receiving his eternal reward as we communicate. One of the rewards Jesus will bestow on him is helping to raise a fine man like you.
     I wanted to come to Gary's funeral service but I have a torn left rotator cuff (5 tears) and am using a power wheelchair to get around and it greatly limits my ability transfer and travel. My thoughts and prayers are with Barbara, his children and grandchildren and you, your mother sister and Brent and they will continue to be with you all. Let's just all look forward to and prepare for that great reunion day when we will see Jesus, Gary, your dad, my dad and mom and all those Jesus paid the price for so that by accepting Him as our personal Savior we can have the eternal life that Gary is currently rejoicing in.
     I am sure that you and your family know what a wonderful wife Barbara was to Gary through all of this. She read our emails to him regularly to try to cheer him up. She took care of all of his personal needs and lovingly cared for him all the way till God called him home. I would call her from time to time and talk to her and Gary would try to talk through her to me. Hearing this great man struggling was especially heart breaking to me as a person who has lived with a disability all of my life. I know the rigors of this devastating damage to Gary's earthly body has been very hard on all the family and especially on Barbara. Not many wives could do what she did. God will give her a crown for the way she handled this tragedy. Lets pray especially hard for her because she must now live with a large piece of her missing until they are reunited.
     May God bless you and yours.

Ralph Rouse

All:

I will write more later, however, I wanted to let you all know how wonderful this tribute to Gary was and how much I appreciated Bobby writing this. Our niece read this at Gary's memorial service and everyone who knew and loved Gary commented on what a perfect and insightful description it was of him.

Thank you, Bobby!

Barbara

     I went to A. Academy from K4 to 5Th grade then went to Sixth Ave. This is a list of people I remember:
     Overton Anderson, Terry Bradshaw, Mickey Callison, Charlene Carter, Bun De Weese, Conley Fikes, Charles Greenwood, Ronald Grimes, Jim Harrod, Judy Henry,
     Charles Hillis, Dickie Lawrence, Jim McBurnett, John Nash, Pete Paschal, Janet Searan, Sharon Smith, Cappy Ware, Donald Warren, Evelyn West, Ruth West, Norma Winstead, Jo Wood,
     Miss Ethel Winters was our 5Th grade teacher. Miss Helen Frazier was the principal and the 6The grade I think was a Mrs. Hersher.

Jo Wood Munn

I think we left out an Elementary School

     You know, the older I get, the more I become aware that the brain in my head is like a BB in a blimp. It never was worth very much to me even though I am now working very hard at acquiring the skills required for graduating from the sixth grade at Gabe Meyer School. I may make it sometime in the near future if I keep working on it.
     I was a part of the west end gang out on west 28^th to about 34^th streets. I distinctly remember that somewhere about mid year of the fourth grade, we were separated right down the middle of 28^th street (my street). Those on the north side (mine) continued to attend Gabe Meyer while those on the south side went to a new school called Forrest Park Elementary, located at about 34^th street and Hickory, I think. I remember this well because my buddy a couple houses down and across the street, Paul Wright, was sent to the new school.
     That in itself was not so bad , but was a particular trauma to me because I hung around with Paul most of the time, who kept me from being picked on by the local school toughs. Yea, I remember it well because from that point on, I got my butt kicked on a regular basis. In fact, I think the number of bullies expanded rapidly to keep up with the demand. That had to be the longest two and a half years ever. Bobby Kientz and Tommy Case were at Gabe Meyer, but they just told me to learn to run faster. They have been helping me out like that ever since.
     I seem to recall also that Bill and Kay Price lived beyond 29^th or 30^th street, something like that. I think Bill continued attending Gabe Meyer and Kay went on to the new Forrest Park School. I do not have a clue as to the why of that, but Paul confirmed to me that is what he remembers also.
     Others I can remember from that neighborhood going to Gabe Meyer were; Buddy McGriff, Edward Evans, Sharon Green ( from 27^th st) Stephen Hawking and I’m pretty sure about Bill Price. The ones I can recall attending Forrest Park ; Paul Wright, Jimmy Mayfield, Eddie Stanley, Bill Gates.
     There must be others from that neighborhood, but I have trouble remembering what I did yesterday, much less half a century ago. Ooh! Man! What I just said! That’s a long time. To heck with it. I’m going flying.

Jerry Cathcart

     It sure means a lot to know that Bobby Smithey's wonderful tribute and eulogy to Gary Shinall is already posted on our class's website http://www.classof61.net , along with the amens from Ralph, Auvergne, Tom and others. The
opportunity to learn about Gary and his life from these e-mails, and from the welcome words from Barbara and Lance,
has, and will continue to, carry Gary's courage forward, one of his many bequeaths to us all.
    In a way, our e-mailings, seem to have become a companion piece to our website. As we've reminisced about
our growing up years, Jerry Cathcart has been finding a place for them there, and it's an amazing experience to go
to the website and see us all both as we were, and, in our current writings, as we are, still great storytellers, brimfull
of memories of a place and a time as vivid as can be.
    Tom Bellhouse's stream of consciousness sure brought a lot of memories tumbling back ( I too recall how great
those pool hall hamburgers were he referred to, and I've never found one to equal them ! Or those Green Castle chilidogs for that matter ! Funny how certain things seemed to go together. Nugrape and those chili dogs for instance.)
    I wonder if Tom knows that the state's premier Arkansas Business newspaper is owned and published by
Buddy Hankins' son Jeff ?
   It was great to read David Duffy's first hand recall of The Alamo. I too recall it being wedged in between some
early day strip mall businesses. Bucky recalls it not being far from John Noah's.
Wherever it was it was too far for me to ride my bicycle to. David also recalled Sixth Avenue's
schoolyard being full of kids, so the mystery continues as to why we're having such a hard time coming up with
more than a handful of names. At least we have Bun and Bill's early recollection of the early years they were there.
   Speaking of David. If you ever wondered what Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett were like, you shoulda been a friend of David's growing up. David constructed his own log cabin while still in grade school, log by log. He was so adept with
scout knife and hatchett, it was a wonder to behold. One time on my Grandad's farm, David and I got running so fast down a steep dry creek bed, we couldn't stop. But we wanted to ! 'Cause there was a snake coiled awaiting our arrival down below. Incredibly, still in full run, David somehow got his scout hatchett out of the scabbard, threw it, and when we'd reached the bottom, the snake was halved !
   Still awaiting Buddy, David and Lawrence's input on the starter list for The Academy Kids ( Aside to TStone,
Varga Szabo DID exist ! Please see Buddy and Bun's validation on that ! )
   Bun recalls throwing the paper for the old White House Hotel and a nice lady who paid for all the " residents "
   It looks like, til we hear otherwise, that Lakeside must've had the only female principal, and from Bobby and
Ashley's great newspaper clippings, it looks like some new names can be added to Bobby's First Ward lists.
   The Class of 1960 has a great newsletter and its source, Janice Helvey Tiner, has been really good about
sending it upon request. TBarton receives it, as do, I thanks to Fred Ursery.Their on-going prayerlist includes
David Finley, and I told her we'll add David to ours as well. There's prob'ly not a one of us who isn't struggling with
some kind of challenge and,, it's heartening to feel those prayers, collectively and cumulatively, and It is wonderful news to hear from TStone that Dick Dewoody, tho he may've had to miss the RC & MoonPie Festival, was able to get to visit Destin, and hope he, Wayne, RRiley will give us a recap of that vacation !
    Last time's Memory Stumpers were two fold. And on purpose ! ' Cause I knew if we got lucky, those two questions would flush out the two people best able to share info with us about them.
    The first, as you may recall, was " What was PB's own Soda Pop Bottling Co.? " And there's no-one on Planet Earth to share that with us any better than Tommy Barton our classmate who grew up with Doug's Bottling Co. as part of his neighborhood stomping grounds, and whose growing up years adventures could fill a chapter in JMarvin's book. But in the meantime, maybe he will recount some of those great memories in further detail. Like the time he and Freddy Davis discovered the....well, I'll leave it to Tommy to recap....
   Second PB Question was " There was Another Kindergarten besides the AAcademy. What was it ? "
Well, there just aint nobody better able to shed a little light and levity on this subject than the inimitable BKientz.
As soon as this marathon e-mail winds up, I will ask our Master List Keeper, TCase, to Forward To All, Bobby's
rollicking recreation of Mrs.Gray/Carter/Cooper ( there's still some debate as to her name )'s Kindergarten.
And if it doesn't bring to mind the taste of graham crackers and milk, nothing will !
   Oh, also, in one of the previous Memory Joggers, Fred Ursery won with his listing of 6 PB Drugstores. Somehow
I substituted Central Pharmacy for Fred's Formby's listing. But no matter, since Central Pharmacy, like
Bobbitt & Dancy's, Collier's, and Spillyards were all on Main Street,so they are a perfect lead in to this time's
Memory Jogger ! And it's one that all can participate in :
    NAME AS MANY BUSINESSES THAT FACED ON TO MAIN STREET AS YOU CAN RECALL ( PRE McDonald's
era ) You've got a head start with those 4 pharmacies, so sit back, close your eyes, and mentally, stroll up and down
Main Street, and see how many Main Street establishments you can recall ( and,say, when you do, could you stop off in that pool hall Tom Bellhouse mentioned and get me one of those hamburgers ! )     God bless You All ! Hames

          God bless You All ! Hames
          Jul-26-2008

       In a message dated 7/13/2008 5:04:18 PM Central Daylight Time, HamesWare writes:
1 ) Along with the Annunciation Academy kindergarten, there was another kindergarten that existed in those
early days. Anybody remember or attend it ?
Ms. GRAY????????

     It was located on Cherry Street, about one block from Gabe Meyer School. It was run by a nice elderly lady that I know had a big black cauldron stashed away somewhere in the back where she boiled young boys on the nights when the moon was full. I attended there (when I couldn't fake a fatal illness that would keep me home) and remember the sleeping mats, warm milk and Graham Crackers that we were forced to eat each day. There were several other young children incarcerated with me if I remember correctly. I think I quickly joined forces with the group and we started planning an escape.
     If I remember right, we were given an outside sojourn once each morning, that's when we were gonna make our break. We had it all worked out, the red headed kid was supposed to distract the warden with a fake tummy ache while me and the other two climbed the fence...(The gate was never locked...duh!) anyway the redheaded kid wasn't able to pull off the Agonizing tummy turmoil and in fact squealed on us thus terminating our Great Escape and getting me expelled from kindergarten.....Broke my heart. Needless to say my Grandparents failed to comprehend that this little episode was merely a prelude to the coming years and my devotion to scholastic endeavors.
     Howsomever, that's what I remember and that's the way it was in my world.

          Bobby Kientz
          Jul-28-2008
Yo Bad Bob,
     I remember quite a few of your early endeavors and in fact was found guilty by association more times than I care to remember. After conferring with T. Case and several others in the know, we are quite certain that the phrase “devotion to scholastic” in the above paragraph is either a type-o or flight of fancy. We feel the word scholastic in relation to your adventures is pretty much of a stretch. I don't think anyone would be caught calling what you were endeavoring to do scholastic. It was, however, very educational. Anyway, that is what Case, Duncan, Lawrence, Skillen, Lemen and a few dozen others seem to recall. Could it be? No, not possible you say!! O.K., I believe you!
          JWC
          Jul-28-2008
Hi all,

Lakeside district went at least to 9th and Olive. Bud Gibbe lived between 9th and 10th on Olive.
          George Lemen
          Jul-28-2008

Ralph,
Thanks for the note. Yes it is hard seeing someone close reaching the end of this earthly life. I have been through it with both my parents, my in-laws, and with close friends Gerald Cornish and Rita Rowell Hale, and now Dick. We all have to do it some time, but it doesn't seem to get easier.
Thanks , again, and God bless you, too.

On Jul 22, 2008, at 5:01 PM, ralphrouse wrote:

     Wayne, my firend, how are you doing. I wanted express to you how much I appreciate you for being the kind o person who is there for his friend in time of need. I know it must be difficult to see Dick
regularly and see him trying to deal with his brain cancer. I have written and talked with Dick by telephone and told him I am praying for him. Do you know of anything else I can do?

What is a telephone number where I can call you from time to time.

Wayne, God will bless you for all of this and I thank you.
          Ralph Rouse
          Jul-28-2008
Weak minds think alike Dick. I, like Bobby, started to view the Bucket List last night but I realized it was past 9 pm and having to get up early and go to work on Monday I did not. None the less, I have seen to promotions on television and get the idea. I just sent Wayne Matthews an email last week telling him how much I appreciate him being there for you through these trying times. As I told you in my last telephone conversation, I love you and am praying for you real hard and as well for you daughter and new grandson. Lean upon the Lord my friend.

          RalphRouse to Dick Dewoody
          Jul-28-2008
    If you are thinking of copying an email and pasteing it into this program,     <click here first >

          Thanks
          Jul-30-2008

Everyone:

My children and I would like to thank each of you for the support and love you gave Gary when he was so ill with ALS. A special thanks to Ralph who called us regularly to check on us, to Bobby who wrote the most wonderful tribute to Gary and to Hames who pulled the "Will O' the Wisp' together so that everyone could share their stories. Gary looked forward to me reading the emails to him and, if he had felt better, I am sure he would have added some stories himself!!

God saw you getting tired
When a cure was not to be.
So he wrapped his arms
around you and whispered,
"Come to Me".

Our deepest and most sincere thanks to each of you.

          Barbara Shinall, Karla Shinall Macik and Alex Shinall
          Aug-03-2008

08/04/2008 To Dick Dewoody

I finally saw the movie Bucket List. It was a very entertaining movie. The part that I liked the best was how Morgan Freeman was asking Jack Nicholson, who was not a believer, about what he thought about the after life and Jack asked him if he knew something that he didn't and Morgan remarked "not really, I just have faith". Dick. I pray for you and your family daily.
          Ralph Rouse
          Aug-06-2008

8/05/08 Telephone Conversation with Barbara Shinall
I called Barbara today to check on her and her family. Barbara is having a very difficult time coping right now with the aftermath of the ordeal that Gary and she had to go through and the loss of Gary and the void it has created in her life. She told me it is even harder than she had imagined. She needs our prayers now more than ever. I suggested that she might seek professional help and assistance from a pastor, a counselor, a support group, etc. I reminded her that the Bible tells us that we are not to sorrow as those who have no hope. (I Thessalonians 13-18).

Barbara told me that the service was in a rural wooded area and was simple but very nice just like Gary wanted it. She said the only family memebers who were unable to attend were Brent, for health reasons, and Brent, Jr., for business reasons. I asked her to send pictures of Gary's daughter and son and Lance as adults if she has them and can. I told her that I wanted to help her in any way that I can and I gave her my telephone numbers. I think it is important for us to continue praying for Barbara and her family as she strives to cope and adjust in time to this loss.          Ralph Rouse
          Aug-06-2008

Correction regarding my telephone convesation with Barbara Shinall. The scripture reference that I meant to give is I Thessalonians 4:13-18. Excuse the typo.
          Ralph Rouse
          Aug-06-2008

          Gerry Lee Eilbott Soltz
          Aug-06-2008

Greetings to all my Lakeside grade school and junior/senior high friends. We have all enjoyed hearing from the "boys" about their athletic and scout adventures. As I mentioned to Hames at one point, it is fascinating to hear about what was going on in the "male world" even as we girls were having "bunking" parties, doing each others' hair, having "lemon squeezes" and mixing all the different varieties of liquor from our parents' cabinets with cokes. While you boys were gathering around the coaches for Lakeside Blue Jay skirmishes, we girls were reading movie magazines, going to the "show" on Sunday afternoons to see Debby Reynolds at the Saenger, and having girl scout meetings on Wednesday afternoons. As we approached our teens, we started going out on "car dates, " had weekend all night poker parties, and danced up a storm at one of the FIRST televised dance parties, at KATV on Saturday mornings. Howard Watson was the DJ, our cool equivalent of Dick Clark. And we all vied to dance with the "older" guys such as Tommy Hopkins, who knew all the Arkansas Push moves! Monday afternoons, after school, many of us young junior high girls trouped over to the YWCA for activities, and planned parties and get togethers that we could invite our "boyfriends" to. We dragged Cherry with whatever friend had a car, even without a license, and then went home to spend HOURS on the phone , rehashing "who said what to whom" that day and whom we had seen on our endless repetitive driving routes. The day wasn't complete without a burger from The Hut on Cherry, or early on, a trip to Walgreen's to sit at the counter for a fountain coke. By each Friday afternoon, everyone had made her week-end sleepover plans. And arrangements would be made to sneak out in pajamas and meet at one another's houses. (Sometimes in cars pushed out of our parents' driveways.These were the best cruising times, around midnight, when the thrilling possiblilty of being caught by police or our parents when we got home heightened the escapade.) Why is it that we all remember with so much fondness all these juvenile activities, when we didn't even have Walkmans, cell phones, text messaging, call-waiting, internet access, and all the other common techno stuff I can't even name? I think there was a delicious anonymity to our lives: often no one, frequently esPECIALLY our parents, knew where we were, nor often how to find us. We were out in a vast (to us anyway) hidden childlike world with its own special boundaries, language, dress, and behavior. We created our own imaginary adventures, with all of Pine Bluff our playground. We felt safe in a time when doors were not locked, we biked without helmets, and rode in cars without seatbelts. There were precious few "restrictions", either physical or mental, on our roaming. We lived comfortably with neighborhood boys toting loaded BB guns. And everyone wanted, and got, pea shooters for Christmas. --We girls entered "maturity" with physical rites of passage: first bras, menstrual periods, body hair. Whispered confidences and notes passed in class notifed friends of new boyfriends or the latest scandalous behavior of "older girls." We vied over whom to invite to the frequent Junior Social and Pollyanna dances. Mrs Louise May was our wonderful mentor from grade school on, providing us with our first exposure to Boy-Girl etiquette at her weekly dance classes at her home. We were enormously blessed that she and her saint of a husband, Charlie May, oversaw and chaperoned so many of our formal dances at the Tavern at Oakland. For someone like me who LOVED everything about jitterbugging, I was an eternal fan of Mrs. May (who always smelled of coffee and cigarettes). Okay. I'm sure that you "Boys" have read enough. But I'll bet the girls out there have some more memories to add to mine. Fondly, Catherine Young Cockrill (Little Rock)
          Catherine Young Cockrill
          Aug-15-2008

     Looking forward to catching up with all the correspondence on the website, thanks to Jerry making it so simple. He's created the 21st Century equivalent to the Old General Store, and I am looking forward to visiting soon, putting my feet up, and reading what all of you have been adding to the roundrobin that Bobby,Ralph and Gary and Barbara inspired.
     Jerry's directions to our " General Store ", " Just go to the for page, http://www.classof61.net/sharing/feedback.htm click in the input box. Type your name in the black box and click on the submit button and your addition will be added at the bottom of the page. You then will have a link to go to the page http://www.classof61.net/sharing to see input "
     So simple even I should be doing just that with this latest entry. So why aren't I ? Well, I'll borrow from
Moe, Larry & Curly, who can best explain my absence these past few weeks ( with apologies to TS & TWB who've already heard this one ! )

ME : Hello Doc, Long time, no see !
     EYE DR. : Very Funny Mr. Warde. Time is money. Sit down and tell me if you can read that first line of words.
ME : What line of words ??
     DR : The line on the chart.
ME: What chart ??
     DR : The chart on the wall !
ME: What wall ???
     DR: Next patient !

     In truth, I've got a great eye doctor ( If still in PB I would of course be going to Dr. Hughes ! ), and things are
better now and I am very grateful for that. Still, one of the things I have to limit is the computer, so I will wait to
visit the General Store til next time, and hope that our benevolent webmaster will post this for me and thus free
me up to put my full energies and time into this e-mail itself, which, due to having been away for a while, may well
turn out to be the longest entry yet ! so here goes:
          Hames
          Aug-17-2008

     The last " Growing Up Years " Trivia question related to how many businesses faced on to Main Street that
we could recall. So far, not having checked the website additions, the list contains the following ( Must be PRE
McDonalds era ):
MALCO
STRAND ( Vester was on the side )
BOBBITT& DANCY
STAG DOMINO PARLOR
COHEN'S
KAHN'S
BAER'S ( Had a big stuffed bear out front ! )
FROUG'S
COFFEE CUP
REED-COLLIER'S
HIGGASON'S RESTAURANT
PINES HOTEL
BUDDY'S SUNSHINE SHOP
LONG'S BOOK STORE
CENTRAL PHARMACY
HOLLOWAY'S GROCERY
SIDNEY GOOD'S
ADAM'S BARBER SHOP
SPILLYARD'S
and that's just prior to the entries moving to the website, where hopefully, the rest of Main Street Mainstays
can be added !
     This time's PBPuzzler is the first for which we don't have an answer, unless one of you out there can come up
with it. Otherwise, we will have been outdone by Milton Hughes, who, via Fred Ursery suggested it, and, who, we
can hope, DOES know the answer !
     I should say that half of Milton's Puzzler, I have no trouble recalling and that's the name of the PBHS Caretaker, who lived under the football stadium, and I'll bet most of you will recall him too. ( For whatever reason I also
have no problem recalling the names of the custodians at the two elementary schools I attended. Ben and
Wesley. Two fine individuals who cared about the schools they worked for and all us kids )
      But Milton's 2nd part is the hardest part : The name of that odd shaped dog that followed along behind him everywhere he went.
     If you can nail that one, then you go to the Pantheon of Recall Excellence, now inhabited by Tommy Barton,
Fred Ursery, Bobby Kientz & Catherine Young !
Mysteries of other sorts have been falling by the wayside, as witness Overton's finally helping us get a bead on
Sixth Avenue, Buddy McFadin's rounding out of the Academy kids ( Tom Foti, Ronnie McKenzie, Josephine
Belvedresi, John Horwedel ( RIP ), The Beasley Boys, and how could I have left off Jo Wood and Charlene Oliver??!!
Another great by-product of this Round Robin has been the way it has incorporated others from different years,
Class of 1960,1963 and now, this week, 3 great e-mail reminiscences from Mary Elkins Lewis, Class of 1962 !
Mary is another Sixth Avenuer and added Sharon Smith to Overton's list of students, and also helped clear up
one of the western school boundaries, as Mary said her family lived on Pullen, and that some of the nearby kids
attended Dollarway and White Hall.
     The Other Kindergarten finally has a name, Mrs. Cooper's, and from a variety of those who attended the following roll call:
BOBBY KIENTZ
GERRY LEE EILBOTT
NELL PHILLIPS
MILTON HUGHES
BILL LAFITTE
COOKIE WILLIS
BUDDY REID
and I think George Lemen said he was there too. Gerry said that it sided on Cherry and that the kids played
upstairs, while Mrs. Cooper and her husband ( who worked as a policeman or Sherrif's Deputy, lived upstairs )
It may seem we've spent an inordinate amount of time on Elementary Schools, making lists of the kids, et al,
but when you stop and think about it, those years and those kids played a big part in our growing up years. And
in many cases, some of those kids, didn't get to stay in our lives long enough to make it to our PBHS years, yet
it's clear from all the responses, we all still have vivid memories of those years and those kids and Pine Bluff as
it was back then.
     To personalize it all, I know that I probably never would've learned to draw, had I not gotten to watch an early
master at work. Mercer Mayer was only at Lakeside Elementary for two years, but he was already great at drawing, and now is one of America's premier Illustrators. Mike Crane was another kid who could draw and who didn't make it to Junior High with us. Bill Stephenson made it to Junior High ( In fact, Bill was almost our Junior High Student Council President ), but then my good neighborhood friend and his family moved away to La. Then there was Freeman
Sawyer, whose grandfather ran the Pine Bluff Commercial. Freeman lived out on a farm that adjoined another
stand out who didn't stay on in PB, Margaret Coster, and each Halloween, Freeman's family would host all of us Lakeside kids to fantastic Halloween parties.
     And I'm sure, every single one of you could name an equal number of kids who shared your grade school and
early PB years, who also, left somewhere along the way to high school, and so that's why I think these Elementary
School Lists and memories remain so much a part of our younger lives and recall, as witnessed by all the
e-mails.
     And maybe at this point, it's a good time to ask our Webmaster a question: Jerry, is it possible to somehow
separate out the grade school lists, school by school, so that additions to the roll call could be easily made ??
I'm thinking of how great it would be to be able to click on, say, GABE MEYER, and allow new names to be added to those kids recalled on the starter list. Lakeside is complete and alphabetized, and it should be relatively simple to do the same for all the other schools as well. If you are able to work out a format,hopefully each school will get its own roll call, as we've got most of each schools' kids' names already, amongst all the various e-mails }
     Back to the kids who left before or during our High School Years, Johnny Williams deserves a separate
chapter all his own, Catherine Young ( Cockrill ), who's just written that she's written something for the website, which I am already looking forward to reading, as her imagery in relating PB memories is incredible.
     And then,
                      there is Richard Finley Dewoody.
     I got a chance to stop by his LR offices last week and talk to his wonderful daughter Maggie. Dick is taking one day at a time right now and I know he feels the prayers that are coming from us all.
In writing about my lifetime friend, Dick Dewoody, I cannot recall a time in my life that I didn't know him. We attended the same church and Sunday School. Dick was able to sing well known hymns with new lyrics that only I and others nearby could hear. Dick's lyrics were sidesplittingly funny and while we were bursting out laughing and
getting into trouble, Dick always managed to stay composed ( he wouldn't remain that lucky once we got into
Scouts ! ), Once we were well into grade school, the Dewoodys would invite me over to Sunday lunches after church was over.
     I really looked forward to those times. Dick, possessed the biggest yard and the most toys of any kid in Pine Bluff. He had a horse, the best comic book collection imaginable ( including all those my parents wouldn't let us
have ! ),a tree house, and as we got older, his dad had the unused stable back in the woods near the ravine
converted into a club house for all us kids.
     Dick's dad was an amazing man. His own father had invented Mexana, and the cans still bore the name
Dewoody on them on up until the 1960's. Dick's mom was our cubscout den mom ( David Finley, being a year
older, was our pack leader. (( Many of us are keeping David in our prayers, as he too is dealing with illnesses ))
Getting to spend the night out was a major event for me, and thanks to Dick, I got to do that a lot. Once
the clubhouse was converted, Tommy Stone, Bill Stephenson, and I would consider ourselves lucky if our phones
rang on Saturdays and Dick's gruff voice, foregoing " hellos" et al, would simply say " Wanna Sleep ? " That
shorthand and those two words meant that we'd all be sharing in adventures too great and fun to be equalled.
     Because sleeping is probably the only thing we DIDN'T do at the Dewoody Club House ! Mostly, like many
other boys and girls of our era, we'd sneak out, and roam all over PB. I guess we were too old for bicycles and too young for motor scooters, because as I recall, we roamed all over Pine Bluff on foot. We must've told every ghost story, played in every vacant lot, and snuck into many churches just to " explore " .Recalling just one of those nights, something had happened to all of PB's street lights and all of them were eerily blinking on and off with the effect being like a silent flickering movie, with only the smudge pots to guide our path.
     As we got older and discovered girls, our destinations were most often guided in that direction, as many of the
girls were getting to spend their nights out as well.
     About that time, Bill's family was told they'd be moving to La. and the gang lost a vital member and I a great
neighbor. At 15 I fell in love with a 14 year old and she consumed most of my attention for the next three years,
and that earlier part of my life drifted away from me.
     But never that far away. All of us have remained good friends over all these years. And sometimes at one of
our gatherings at the Stones, I will turn to Dick and say " You know, old pal, you saved my life " And inevitably,
Dewoody will look at me quizzically. I guess he may discount what an important part he played and plays in a
lot of our lives who were fortunate enough to have shared those times with him.
     He is a once in a lifetime friend. He is in all our prayers. God bless Richard Finley Dewoody. Hames

          Hames
          Aug-17-2008

"Will O' the Wisp"

     The purpose of presenting the "Will O' the Wisp" in the format I created was to allow all the members and friends of the class of 61 that wished to be involved in the "round robin communication" to have a fairly easy vehicle with which to do so. If the "Will O' the Wisp" is used like an email, then we have a continuous communication through it instead of through selected emails. It offers several advantages:
FIRST-: It places everything in a common place, accessable with a click of the mouse.( Check out the bookmark on the page)
SECOND -; It is more or less continuous, and easy to go back to previous entries. Not everyone is using the same email list, therefore, sometimes you get only the replys to comments, without ever seeing the origional comment, and vice versa.
THIRD-; It puts everyone in the same loop, at the same time, on the same page. That is a whole lot easier for me to follow than anything else I know of. It sounds better if we all are using the same sheet of music.
FOURTH-; What should be presented. The major hesitation I had when presenting the origional emails that I had copied was not knowing for sure if there could have been something in them that the author wanted to be seen only by the recepients to which the email was addressed. This gives each contributor the ability to "keep it private" or "make it public" by using this forum. Each individual makes that decision, not a dingbat like me.
FIFTH-; There is a link to this site on the class of 61 web, so all of the class members will know about this and be able to participate if they so desire. Many will just read and maybe never contribute. That's OK, too.
     There are probably other advantages that I just can't think of at the moment. If you can think of any, use the "Will O' the Wisp" to present them. See how that simplifies things. Some of us have a real need to keep it that way.
     Here is how I see using this:

     If there is something you wish to say or present, and you would do it in a round robin email forum, then present it here, knowing that everyone will be able to view it. (That includes the world you know. This is the www) This forum would be a replacement for the round robin emails.

     That's it!

It does not have to be an earth shattering literary achievement. It can be something as simple as "Hey! Bad Bob! Quit being so lazy and get to doing something!" or "Has anyone heard from Rick Skillen lately?" If you read what has already been presented, you will see a pretty good mixture of just about everything. That is how it should be.

                                   So, What do YOU think? I know a really neat way you can let us all know.
          admin
          Aug-18-2008

To Ralph Rouse from admin:
     My most humble apologies for my goofey sense of humor. You know, my Godfather aproach to the cut and paste thingy. Thingy is a technical word ,you know. Didn't mean to be so harsh. Just a fun, technical thingy to make.

To All from admin:
     I also apologise to you all for my lack of expertise in the real technical parts of the www, but some of us just can't quite get there. The reasons for not being able to cut and paste an email into this program is that email uses the SMTP protocol, complete with it's own backgroung code to make it work. The program I made uses straight text and converts it into HTML so it can be presented on a web page. MS word also uses a background code to make it do what it does. All that different code running amuck and colliding in the background confuses the 1's and 0's we are all using like we know what we are doing, especially me.
     Now somebody smart could figure that out, but that excludes someone who uses technical words like 'thingy" and the like. Yup, that's me. So until you guys revolt and fire the current admin for incompetence, we are stuck with it.
     I know there are many things that people would like to cut and paste to present to the "Will O' the Wisp" forum. NO ONE wants to retype an email for example. No way! There is a simple solution, however. If you have windows on your computer, you have wordpad, notepad or both. These are true text editors. Just copy what you want ,say for example , an email, paste it into wordpad or notepad, then recopy it from there and paste it into the "Will O' the Wisp" upload program. Putting it into either one of these programs removes the backgroung code and leaves true text. It works.
     Try it, you'll like it. That is how I uploaded this.
P.S.- Again, please forgive my sense of humor. Remember, I see the world in a different sort of way. You know anyone who straps a prop to his rear end and then goes.....................................................! but, that's another story.
          admin
          Aug-18-2008

To Hames Ware
16 Aug 2008

     Not sure if this will help or muddy the water, but I lived off Pullen Street in Pine Bluff and attended Sixth Avenue. However some of the kids very close to me went to Dollarway. Since my older brother had gone to Pine Bluff Schools my mom decided that my younger brother and I should also.
     I don't think I ever thought too much about the Arsenal kids but unless they were trying to distribute federal money why on earth wouldn't they have gone to Dollarway or even Whitehall. I had some cousin's who lived at the Arsenal and they went to Whitehall.
     I am enjoying reading the memories.
          Mary Elkins Lewis, class 0f 62
          Aug-19-2008

Dear Mary,
     It's just great to read all you've written ! Thank you for taking the time to help us solve some ofthe mysteries of Sixth Avenue ( mysteries only because the original congregation of e-mailers didn't have a Sixth Avenue alumnus among them )? Then happily, Bill Stephenson and Bun Deweese gave us a boost by recalling their first few years were there. Then just last week or so, Overton Anderson gave us some great first hand memories from his years there. And now yours, which I hope you will allow to go on to the website, as they sure offer some wonderful insights.
      Were you related to Mis Elkins the teacher ? She helped me improve my math grades one year when she tutored in the summer. Then I also remember an elderly lady who lived not to far down the street from us named Dr. Jennie Elkins.The class of '62 will always hold a special place for all of the class of '61, and of course for me personally, and?all should?feel flattered that you have enjoyed?our website, which Jerry Cathcart has almost single handedly constructed and maintained for us. Thank you again for taking time to write and hope you'll
continue to share any of your memories of those wonderful years !!!           Hames Ware
          Aug-19-2008

Dear Hames,
     Thanks for replying so quickly. It is fine to use the comments on the website.
     The algebra teacher was not kin to me, but I also had her as a teacher. She is now Mrs. Day. In fact I wrote her not long ago thanking her for being my teacher. I went on to teach school myself for about 35 years before I retired.
     I also was not kin to the Dr. Elkins. My branch came from Alabama. My immediate Elkins relatives mostly lived in Whitehall. My dad was the only one who came to town and stayed. My dad worked for the Cotton Belt. My mom was actually of Czech descent. Her dad was a tailor in PB for many years. I am not sure where he did his work but somewhere on Main. He died in 1937 so I actually never met him.
          Mary Elkins Lewis, class of 62
          Aug-19-2008

Dear Mary,
      You mention an older brother attending PBHS. What years was he there ?? I recall another Elkins family, I think, who were electricians in PB. Do you recall the name of your relative who was a tailor. Vic Hiryak, in our senior class was born in Slovak, Arkansas, which had a fairly large Czech population when we were all growing up.
     Where did you wind up teaching school ? I taught for a few years myself, gave it all I had, and then felt it was time to do other work. I admire the fact you were able to stick to it as long as you did !          Hames
          Aug-19-2008

      As I look back over this I have probably told you more than you ever wanted to know or had asked but I will leave it and you can stop when you are tired or bored or both.
     My older brother(who later worked for the postal service) would have been class of '53 except he joined the Marine Corp at 17. When he started grade school there was actually some kind of school right in our neighborhood, which was off of Pullen street. If you know where the railroad track crosses Pullen or at least used to not sure it is still there, we lived back on a street called Scull Street.
     The electrician was not kin to us either. Most of our Elkins were farmers or ministers and lived more in the Whitehall area. I have quite a few cousins that graduated from White Hall. My dad's parents had 16 kids, about 13 lived to maturity. My mom's family was the total opposite. She had one brother who survived to marry and he only had one daughter. Her other two brothers, one died about 5 or 6 years from being kicked in the head by a horse or mule as best I remember the story. Another younger brother came back from World War II with
TB of the spine and died in 1948. I have dim memories of him holding my then year old brother on his lap. My younger brother graduated in 1965 and is an emergency room nurse at Jefferson Hospital. He has a house built on part of the ancestral Liska property.The tailor's name(my mom's dad) was Joseph Liska.
     He came from Czechoslovakia with an older brother and learned the trade from him. These brothers were at one time tailors for Grover Cleveland when he was mayor of Buffalo, governor of New York and later when he was President of the US. You know he was the President with nonconsecutive terms.
     As for where I taught school that is an even longer story. After PBHS I went to college at Bethany Nazarene College which is in Bethany, Oklahoma. While there I met a man from Fort Worth, Tx who later joined the Navy. We married in June of 1965 and he was promptly sent to Viet Nam(as in I didn't see him for 15 months after only having been married 3 weeks). I had one more year of college left so I finishes up while he was gone. After his return, we went to South Carolina and this was my first teaching experience in the early days of integration. Hedid not want to go back to Vietnam which was understandable so after his 4 years was up we returned to Oklahoma, where I taught in Yukon, Ok for 3 and 1/2 years before the birth of our daughter. Due to many circumstances he decided to return to the military and he remained there for the next twenty something years. I subbed in Great Lakes, Illinois before I had my second child. Then we were off to California for a short stay. Next came Okinawa, Japan where I taught for the Department of Defense for one semester. After that I found a private Catholic School that wanted Englis speaking teachers and I taught there from 1974 until 1976. After returning to the US we were stationed in Corpus Christi, Tx. I taught in a district called Flour Bluff from 1978-81. I had to sub to get my foot in the door so to speak before that. After leaving Corpus we went to Virginia where I subbed only because of their strange licensing requirements for teachers. Then on to Athens, Georgia where I worked in reservations for the Holiday Inn.This was actually quite interesting because computers weren't what they are today and I was able to get a lot of training on computers from them. Also the University of Georgia is in Athens and our hotel was on the corner of UGA campus. On football weekends our hotel was the place to be. Of course for you to get in someone had to practically die and leave you their reservation. Those Dogs are as serious about football as the Razorbacks believe me. I have never heard Hunker Down Hairy Dog so much in my life.
     After the tour in Athens my husband was nearing the end of his required time with the Navy for retirement. He was originally from Fort Worth and since his parents were both getting up in years we chose to retire to Fort Worth. I started looking for a job as soon as the boxes were in the house and as luck would have it I found a job in Burleson, Texas at a Middle School that was desperate for a math teacher. I spent the next 20 years teaching Math in Burleson(home of Kelly Clarkson of American Idol fame).
     I retired in May of 2006 after my husband had died in January of 2006 following complications of quadruple bypass surgery. I wanted time to enjoy my grandchildren whose numbers were increasing and that is what I have done for the last 2 years.
          Mary Elkins Lewis, class of 62
          Aug-19-2008

Ralph Rouse to Admin:
No need for apology to me. I thought it was funny when you pulled a Capone on me.
Your explanation on how to transfer an email to notepad is something I have not done but I will try to figure it out.
I want to thank you for making it easy for all of us to communicate as we can. It was my IT ignorance that caused me to
cut and paste emails to this and your Godfather responsibility to make me an offer I can't refuse.           Ralph Rouse
          Aug-19-2008

On Aug 17th, Hames Asked:
      And maybe at this point, it's a good time to ask our Webmaster a question: Jerry, is it possible to somehow separate out the grade school lists, school by school, so that additions to the roll call could be easily made ??
     I'm thinking of how great it would be to be able to click on, say, GABE MEYER, and allow new names to be added to those kids recalled on the starter list.

Check this out and see if it will do. I think it is what you are asking for:     <<<< Go Here>>>>
          admin
          Aug-20-2008

I have been keeping in touch with Barbara Shinall and I am happy to say that while she is missing a big part of herself and her family with Gary gone to be with the Lord, she is working hard to heal. I have gotten four emails that she has sent to her family and extended family that shared her faith and hope in the Lord and His promise to those who believe. One was a scripture tree that when you clicked on each leaf or bird on the tree you got a scripture of hope and promise from God's word. She is not only working to heal, she is working to help her family heal both immediate and extended. In one of the emails she told me about how Gary and her oldest, their only daughter KK who was her dads biggest fan, and how Barbara sees Gary in KK. She talked about how KK is so much like Gary with his rare sense of humor. She talked about their youngeast and only son, Alex, and how he had stepped up to the plate upon his dads passing and was helping his mother and keeping their property mowed and cared for . She said that Alex is even a better man. I told her that this reminds me of Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose."

Barbara is doing what we all need to do. The Bible is clear that not all things are good, but that for believers, all things work together for good and Barbara, as a believer, is looking for the good and calling upon the Lord to help her heal from her devastating loss. Pray for her and her family. KK and her family have invited her to go with them on a float trip down a river in west Texas and she is looking forward to that.
          Ralph Rouse
          Aug-20-2008

Hames had another great idea and Jerry "Capone" Cathcart has made it happen. I am the first to register. Therefore, the score is Lakeside 1 and all others ZERO.           Ralph Rouse
          Aug-20-2008

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push the start button AFTER selecting station.
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