UPCOMING BIRTHDAYS:

Tomorrow Howard Williamson (Hampton HS - '63) of VA will be celebrating, and on Wednesday, so will
Melody Clendenin DeBerry (Warwick HS - '66) of VA! On the seventh, we'll have another Birthday Three-Fer! Jay Styles ('68) of VA AND Janice Pratt McGrew (Hampton HS - '67) of VA AND

Tim Parsons ('73) of VA will all be lighting candles!

Check it out. I just Scrooged myself. Have a look by clicking on the link below.

http://www.scroogeyourself.com/?id=1131609396

This holiday greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

From one of my Famous Marines, Herb Hice of MI, who served in the Pacific Theater during WWII - 12/02/07 - "Dear Carol / Dimples, Tiger, Tootsie, and Emmy":

From Jean Poole Burton ('64) of RI - 12/02/07 - "Hi Lady, how are you doing?":

Happy Monday,

Shari

http://www.feelstupid.com/img-man-wakes-up-after-pronuonced-dead-1052.htm

Man comes back to life after being pronounced dead.

Oh, WOW! This gave me chills - on several levels!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAPlmEHo9QQ

This man has a beautiful female's voice. Betcha he confuses some audiences!

WOWZERS! I could use another soloist for our Christmas Program during our Sunday morning worship service on December 16. I wonder if this fella's available?!? I can imagine "O Holy Night". Nah, I suppose not....

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Bizarre Wills

Ms. Eleanor Ritchey, the unmarried granddaughter of the founder of Quaker State Oil, died in 1968 with an estate worth around $12 million. According to Scott Bieber in Trusts and Estates magazine: "Under her will, she left over 1,700 pairs of shoes and 1,200 boxes of stationery to the Salvation Army. The rest of the estate went to the dogs." Real dogs, he means - a pack of 150 strays that Ritchey had adopted as pets.

When American patriot Patrick Henry died, everything he owned was left to his wife - as long as she never married again. If she did, he forfeited the whole thing. "It would make me unhappy," he explained, "to feel I have worked all my life only to support another man's wife!" She remarried anyway.

Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, tried to leave his birthday. He willed it to a good friend who'd complained that since she was born on Christmas, she never got to have a real birthday celebration.

An attorney in France left $10,000 to "a local madhouse." The gentleman declared that "it was simply an act of restitution to his clients."

An Australian named Francis R. Lord left one shilling to his wife "for tram fare so she can go somewhere and drown herself." The inheritance was never claimed.

Sandra West, a wealthy 37-year-old Beverly Hills socialite, left most of her $3 million estate to her brother - provided he made sure she was buried "in my lace nightgown and my Ferrari, with the seat slanted comfortably." That's how she was buried. The Ferrari was surrounded with concrete so no one would be tempted to dig it up and drive away.

A woman in Cherokee County, North Carolina left her entire estate to God. The court instructed the county sheriff to find the beneficiary. A few days later, the sheriff returned and submitted his report: "After due and diligent search, God cannot be found in this county."

Edgar Bergen, famed ventriloquist, left $10,000 to the Actor's Fund of America - so they could take care of his dummy, Charlie McCarthy, and put him in a show once a year. They went along with it.

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(On a personal note, (my son) Tyler had a third grade teacher whose homework involved running one mile each day. It got him into a good habit and all her students got good grades. The following year she taught a class who struggled with his grades, (I was friends with a mother who had a child in the class). Again the running one mile was incorporated, and all did much better. Maybe some of you had/have children or grandchildren in Stephens City who had her. Her name is or was Mrs. Edwards. She made it seem fun and Tyler loved it. When it snowed he'd run in the family room. I agree with this article; using exercise as a punishment cannot serve a good purpose!)

School: Exercise is for the naughty

Some parents at a New Zealand school are concerned a policy of using exercise as punishment may be giving children the wrong idea. Instead of timeouts and detention, student scofflaws at the Rangikura primary school in Porirua are required to run laps around the sports field, the Dominion Post reported. Principal Paul Nees says the jogging is a way for students to burn off excess energy so they can return to class and focus on their work. But many parents -- and the government's Sport and Recreation agency -- worry students will develop negative associations with exercise that will keep them from developing a healthy lifelong attitude toward fitness, the newspaper said. "I have no problem with them being punished, but maybe using physical exercise is not the right sort of punishment," Andrew Scott, whose 8-year-old son was recently ordered to run laps for playing tackle rugby, told the Dominion Post. New Zealand faces many of the same childhood obesity problems as the United States.

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"If the world is to be healed through human efforts, I am convinced it will be by ordinary people, people whose love for this life is even greater than their fear."

Joanna R. Macy

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Thanks, Shari!

From Adrian Whitcomb ('67) of VA - 12/03/07 - "Attend Fort Monroe National Park Service meeting on 12/6/07":

Carol,

I'm sending out the message below to people who are interested in preserving Fort Monroe. Please feel free to pass this on to other people. A large turnout at the meeting this Thursday will be helpful.

Thanks,
Adrian Whitcomb
NNHS '67

If you think that Fort Monroe belongs to all of us and should not be developed to profit a few, then please attend this very important meeting. It is the first by the National Park Service concerning Fort Monroe. A large turnout will tell the officials there that we are interested in preserving the historical and recreational resources of Fort Monroe. Please don't assume that these goals can be reached without your participation.

Adrian Whitcomb

A public meeting

The National Park Service reconnaissance team will hold a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday [Dec. 6] at the Northampton Community Center, 1435-A Todds Lane, Hampton. The twofold purpose of the meeting is to explain the study and to receive comments from the public. Everyone is invited to attend, not just residents of Hampton.

Park service will hear citizens on fort's future

By Scott Butler, The Daily Press, December 1, 2007

President Theodore Roosevelt wrote in 1903: "Here is your country. Do not let anyone take it or its glory away from you … . The World and the Future and your very children shall judge you according to the way you deal with this Sacred Trust."

His words apply to Old Point Comfort, the deeply historic site of Fort Monroe. First fortified a year after the creation of Jamestown, the place of entry for the first African-Americans in the English colonies, and the place where American slavery began to die, Fort Monroe is an American stronghold associated with Robert E. Lee, Andrew Jackson, Edgar Allan Poe, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. A Union anchor to Gen. Ulysses Grant's capture of Petersburg and Richmond, Old Point Comfort is a bright star in our nation's old glory, and our sacred trust is to see that it never dims.

Unfortunately, this has not been the view of the those planning the post's civilian future. In its yearlong tenure, the Hampton Redevelopment Authority focused almost exclusively on residential development. Its successor, Gov. Tim Kaine's Fort Monroe Authority, has broadened the discussion of options, but it still hasn't ruled out the possibility of selling off portions of the 570-acre national historic landmark.

Thanks, however, to Del. Tom Gear, Congresswoman Thelma Drake and Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park, the legislation creating the Fort Monroe Authority required that it ask for a National Park Service survey of the post. This short study is now officially under way. It will make a preliminary determination of the post's national significance, its NPS suitability and feasibility, and its management alternatives.

As part of this process, the National Park Service reconnaissance team will hold a public meeting on Thursday in Hampton.

The meeting is an opportunity for citizens to tell the National Park Service what it needs to hear, and what it should tell the Fort Monroe Authority: The fragmentation of Old Point Comfort would demean its history, mar its scenic beauty, threaten potential archaeological sites, and limit public access to one of the most beautiful shorelines in the region.

Moreover, a federally managed, self-sustaining Fort Monroe, along the lines of San Francisco's Presidio is a management alternative that ought to be carefully considered, especially since it would be an economic boon to Hampton Roads.

Teddy Roosevelt was right. It's up to us not to let anyone take our country or its glory from us.

Butler, a Newport News resident, is a board member of Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park (CFMNP.org).

http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-op_ftmonroe_1201dec01,0,7747368,full.story

Thank you so much, Adrian! I for one certainly appreciate the valiant efforts you and so many others are putting forth on behalf of this worthy goal!

From My Niece, Shari, of VA - 12/03/07 - "Christmas Letter from Jesus":

Christmas Letter from Jesus

This came in my email at the perfect time. I recently got into a discussion online with some ladies about Christmas and what it means... and stores and companies and how they do or do not celebrate the season! Boy, this really opened my eyes. I don't know if you will use it, but here it is anyway!

~Jodi, Hope Mills, NC~

Dear Children,

It has come to my attention that many you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. Maybe you've forgotten that I wasn't actually born during this time of the year, and that it was some of your predecessors who decided to celebrate My birthday on what was actually a time of pagan festival - although I do appreciate being remembered anytime.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own.

I don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa's and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that once in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8:

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
  2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
  3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
  4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
  5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
  6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
  7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
  8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing George complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up. It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference.

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a "Merry Christmas" that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families.

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary - especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine.

Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest.

Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember: I LOVE YOU, JESUS

~Earthly Author Unknown~

The NNHS Class of 1958 Holiday Gathering will be held Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 6:00 PM
(Dinner at 7:00 PM) at Mike's Place, An Irish Pub, (757-599-5500) 458 Warwick Village Shopping Center, (Hilton Village,
across from the Cedar Lane entrance to the Mariners' Museum), Newport News, VA 23601-3240.
CONTACT: Jwdvt@aol.com

The NNHS Class of 1957 Holiday Party will be held Wednesday, December 12, 2007 at 6:00 PM
at Angelo's (Route 17), Newport News, VA.
CONTACT: Pabletz@aol.com

From My #1 Daughter-in-Law, Mary Bennett Harty (Litchfield HS, IL) of IL - 11/27/07 - "Tweety - this is sweet" (#5 in a series of 5):

Y'all take care of each other! TYPHOONS FOREVER! We'll Always Have Buckroe!

Sleigh Ride

- Mitchell Parish, Leroy Anderson, 1948

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,
ring ting tingling too
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a sleigh ride together with you,
Outside the snow is falling
and friends are calling "Yoo hoo,"
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a sleigh ride together with you.

Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,
let's go, Let's look at the show,
We're riding in a wonderland of snow.
Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,
it's grand, Just holding your hand,
We're gliding along with a song
of a wintry fairy land.

Our cheeks are nice and rosy
and comfy cozy are we
We're snuggled up together
like two birds of a feather would be
Let's take that road before us
and sing a chorus or two
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a sleigh ride together with you.

There's a birthday party
at the home of Farmer Gray
It'll be the perfect ending a perfect day
We'll be singing the songs
we love to sing without a single stop,
At the fireplace while we watch
the chestnuts pop. Pop! pop! pop!

There's a happy feeling
nothing in the world can buy,
When they pass around the chocolate
and the pumpkin pie
It'll nearly be like a picture print
by Currier and Ives
These wonderful things are the things
we remember all through our lives!

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,
ring ting tingling too
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a sleigh ride together with you,
Outside the snow is falling
and friends are calling "Yoo hoo,"
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a sleigh ride together with you.

Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,
let's go, Let's look at the show,
We're riding in a wonderland of snow.
Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap,
it's grand, Just holding your hand,
We're gliding along with a song
of a wintry fairy land

Our cheeks are nice and rosy
and comfy cozy are we
We're snuggled up together
like two birds of a feather would be
Let's take that road before us
and sing a chorus or two
Come on, it's lovely weather
for a sleigh ride together with you.


	12/03/07 - NNHS Newsletter - Sleigh Ride "Those merry sleigh-bells, our hearts keep time Responsive to their fairy chime. Ding-dong, ding-dong, o'er vale and hill, Their welcome notes are trembling still."
- Susanna Strickland Moodie (6 Dec 1803 - 8 Apr 1885)