Sunday, December 20, 2009

Jim Walther Checks In

Dennis: Great to hear from you!

I have had a very busy life since I left Clearfield--but I still remember how great it was to grow up in Clearfield. Recently I was talking with a member of our United Way Steering committee about the opportunity to explore the mountains and streams around Clearfield.

Since I departed Clearfield I have completed a 21 year career in the US Army and a 25year career with the University of Texas at Arlington. I am married, have four daughters and 11 grandkids--that all live outside of Texas.

I wanted something to keep me off the streets when I retired from the University, so I started a foundation that is the propenent for Americas Promise in Arlington Texas. I am still working 60 hour weeks --but no paycheck. I could use some guidance.

How are you doing? I know you have been active in keeping our CHS class informed and saw your name come up a couple of times. BTW: Jerriann Jury Nielson, my cousin, just found me on Facebook. ...Also Amos Hixon who lives in Keller --about 20 miles from here--came on my Facebook.

Look forward to your reply, Jim.

Editor's Note - Jim sure is looking great, isn't he? Wonderful to hear from him after all these years.

A Magical Christmas Moment


This picture was taken when Christmas was 'magical' to me and Mom and Dad were like 'movie stars' in my eyes.

My mother's name was Dorothy and my dad's George. (He went by Geo.) They were going to the Dimeling Hotel for a Christmas Ball. Maybe the Charity Ball or the Junior Board of Trade. It must have been around 1950 but there is no date on the picture.

The newspapers on the foot stool were The Progress and The Harrisburg Evening News. We received both newspapers each day.

I just love to look at old photos and enjoy the wonderful memories of Christmas as a child.

Merry Christmas and May God bless each and every one of you and your families.

- Linda Smith Dale

Snoopy's Christmas Watch

My memory is a like a brick wall. Battered a bit now and then but strong and mostly intact. The mortar is in great shape. Still holding the pieces together. But some of the bricks are missing. Just gone. And no warning. Random open areas where the bricks used to be. No pattern at all. The memories that remain are clear and accurate. The ones missing are not going to return. Not ever. Frustrating.

I was eleven. I suppose most eleven year olds nowadays want a cell phone for Christmas. That is, if they don’t already have one. A great feature is a clock that is accurate and illuminates. Very handy indeed.

We didn’t have cell phones when I was eleven. Most of us were still astonished by this miracle called “TV.” Some of us were lucky enough to have one, complete with the ever-present red, blue, green and brown film over the screen that made ours a deluxe model.

My wish list that year was short. Very short. In fact, I wanted just one item. A watch! I knew that the chances were slim. My usual gifts were a doll from Santa, flannel pj’s from my grandparents, and a stocking…small by todays standards…filled with tangerines and nuts. And I knew that watches were more expensive than tangerines and nuts.

I don’t recall how the tree got to our house. Did Daddy tie it to the top of the Willys? That brick is gone. Completely. However, my memory is clear as a bell about the placement of the tree in our family room. Always in a corner because it wouldn’t “stand up.” Leaned it against the wall in a corner between two windows. Wire was wrapped around the trunk and anchored on each side to eye screws placed in the frames of the windows.

The tree trimming, complete with “modern” bubble lights, was a family event. Well, mostly. My mother provided the finishing touch with careful placement of about a million icicles. After that, we could just look, not touch.

Back to the watch. For the first time ever, and with courage that was not at all characteristic of me, I snooped. I just had to know if I was getting the watch I so very much wanted. And I found it! Tucked under a stack of lesser gifts in my parents closet. On the right side. On the floor. Clear memory.

That Christmas is one I’ll never forget. I’m sure of it. And it was the worst ever. I don’t think my parents knew that I snooped. But I can still feel the false surprise I showed when I opened that long golden box. I’m not sure of the lesson learned that Christmas. I’ll leave that to folks who like to analyze that kind of stuff. But I still have that watch. Like me, it’s not quite as shiny or stylish as it once was. And, although it still functions, it sometimes has trouble keeping up……..just like me.

Another memory that has had a life-long impression on me occurred some years later when I was a student nurse at St Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Tucson, AZ. The hospital was founded in 1880. Although the front of the building was renovated, the back was in such poor repair that it was off-limits to patients and visitors. Student nurses were required to use the entrance as well as the ancient elevator at the back of the building. It was so scary and unreliable that even the nuns were afraid to ride in it! I am so grateful that a memory from that creaky cage all those years ago has stayed with me. It was the beginning of the holiday season. A flyer taped to the elevator announced a Xmas Arts and Crafts Fair. Someone had drawn an arrow to the word Xmas and wrote “Who took Christ out of Christmas?”

I wish each of you a joyful holiday season and a new year richly blessed with love, good health, and a full load of bricks.

- Sandi Howland Archer