Betty’s Week

 Mickey Jenkins of Tupelo was in Wednesday to pay their subscription. He came in and asked if I knew who he was and I think was surprised when I said that I thought I did.
    I said, “I think I do, and then guessed.” Was glad to be correct. Have known he and his wife, Linda Kinkennon Jenkins, for many years—since they were kids.
  Really knew Linda’s father, the late Jim Kinkennon, better than anyone in these two families, though. For many years Jim came by each Thursday (later Wednes-day) morning to pick up a paper. Always enjoyed our visits. I never saw him without a big smile on his face. Then after Jim died, Linda’s Mom, Hazel, became a subscriber. She was a member of Wood-land Hills for a few years and of the Sunday School Class where I read the scripture and guided the discussion—won’t even claim to be the teacher. Did enjoy her time with us and we do miss her. Mickey brought me up to date on both Hazel and Linda—enjoyed our visit.
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  Other visitors in the office on Wednesday were Pam Mathis White and Toni Trusty Hill. They were doing research on the class in preparation for their upcoming 45th class reunion.
  Pam and John now live in Hernando. Pam has retired from her teaching position in the nursing department at Northwest Community College.
  Toni, as all locals know, has never left the Valley and at present is a realtor for Fischer Realty, Inc.—some of you out-of-town subscribers may have lost touch with her.
  One of the first families I met when I started dating Ed was the Markley Trusty family and Toni was about nine or ten. Anytime we needed anything sautered Ed ran to Markley. Loved Mark, Dot and Toni, and then when Taylor came along, family ties just got stronger—he and Jim were the same age and of course WVHS classmates.
  Then the Mathis family came back to the Valley and Sandra (Pam’s older sister) worked for us for a while and we spent lots of time with Jimmie and Mae, Sandra and Pam. Ate a lot of Mae’s cooking, including some garlic toast for breakfast one morning. We’d had spaghetti the night before and the garlic butter got mixed with the plain. You do remember the funny things that happen.
  As I looked at the annuals found that I knew many members of this class. Looking forward to seeing them during carnival weekend.
  Also, knew Toni’s and Pam’s spouses families really well. John’s father, Bill, (and later Tommy) serviced our vehicles for many years and we knew all the Hills—they did all our brick work.
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  Last week when I mentioned that many had called to tell me they were happy to hear about Mrs. Sarah Norris, I also got a call from long-time friend, Earl Babb (we were at Northwest together, way back in the ‘50s), telling me that Mrs. Norris was his half-sister.
    I’m sure that she didn’t have a clue that I knew Earl or she would have mentioned him in her note to me. It is indeed a small world—we know so many people and a lot of them are related, but so many times we would never guess  they even knew each other, much less were related. Usually I find out about the connection quite by accident as I did with Mrs. Norris’ note and Earl’s call.
  Thank you both—I do like to learn things I need to know.
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  We had a class reunion on Friday night—the Crowder High School Class of 1955—and also a reunion spanning several classes on Saturday night.  Our class reunion was held at the Cole Farm and we had seven members of the class, along with several spouses present.They came from as far away as California.
  We had such an enjoyable visit, catching up on news from our families—most of us knew not just our classmates, but also their entire families. We have always been just a big happy family.
  Many of the class have not just children, but grands and great-grands. and they have lots of great stories, along with some sad ones.
  As we were leaving one member of the class said, “Well, we’ve gotten together for again normalizing. When asked what she meant, she said, “We’ve told our stories and found that we’re not crazy, we all have similar life experiences and that’s normal. I liked her new work “normalizing”—makes us all feel better about our stations in life.
  Since we last met Ann Pund Holland had had extensive open heart surgery, but is getting better each day, Yvonne Cannon Brown, seems better, even though her health has been poor for years, others seemed in pretty good shape for our age.
  One member was unable to be with us due to bad health. Was surprised because she had always been one of the healthiest members of the class. Shirley Dell Swindoll Kennedy and her husband, Gene, for many years had done mission tours.
  On Saturday night I had a problem—didn’t recognize many of the folks there. Some of these were members of classes above and below us. Guess I’m lucky to know all our class members.
  One of the younger ladies present came by to speak to Ann and when she left I asked who she was. Ann says, “Sue Hastings Reed’s little sister, Myrtle Lou.” She then called her back and told her who I was. Myrtle Lou made a picture to take to her Mom, who is now 93, and says, “Mother will know who your are.”
  We had to stand, tell who we were, and a little about what we had done in life. I got the privilege of going first. Mine was short and sweet, since I have only one son and a daughter-in-law.
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  Enjoyed a short visit with Amos Harvey during lunch today (Monday) at B.T.C. Seems that work is progressing rapidly on the craft brewery and they expect to have root beer ready by Watermelon Carnival Weekend.  He told me  lots of what they’d been doing this morning, but most of it went over my head. I did understand that some exciting flavors of root beer are being planned—might even have to try some of them. I don’t like root beer, but with added flavor, it just might be good. It’s a shame that Ed is not still alive—he loved root beer. It being made in the Valley would have made him exceeding joyful.
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  We have three more weekends of partying. Brother Rance will have a birthday party Saturday night, hosted by Brother Don. Then comes Watermelon Carnival and Mom’s birthday party will be the following Saturday.
  We really would have had a  full month if some had not died or moved far away. Mother Shearer’s birthday was the 20th, Daddy Shearer’s the 21st, and Jim and Celeste’s 19th anniversary was the 22nd.