| 19 | Summer | 98 |
|---|---|---|
| PO Box 522 | PAMPA, TX | 79066-0522 |
| Volume 8 | of the family, by the family, for the family | Issue 1 | 806 669 0522 | Kenny's Kids | Cousin's Reunion | Entertainment Superman | Reunion '98 | Jeanne's Report | Texas |
puzzler@pan-tex.net |
KENNY'S KIDSLoretta and her family are doing well. This past year Loretta took a teaching position in Fruita, Colorado. She loves it. She has found favor with the staff, the students and their parents. She has just signed her next years contract with the same school.Robert is finishing a house he is building near South Fork. It is near completion and already sold. He will join Loretta and the girls at that time. Heather is still writing her poetry and doing quite well. Her artistic writing has won her rave reviews, awards, prizes and encouragement to continue with her talents. Megan is now old enough to participate in school sports. She takes after her athletic mom. Megan has done quite well on her soccer team which was newly formed this year. She also makes nifty little crafts which sell very well giving her a real enterprising attitude. I get excited to see young people develop and use their talents. We may have another Helen Steiner Rice, Martha Stewart, or Bill Gates type of young adults growing up among us. Gailia's family is nearing the end of their first year of another four year term in Taiwan. Last time I spoke with her, there is to be a geographical move in their future. Sometime in the next couple of months they will be moving to the Northeast part of Thailand. Brandt had a bicycle accident the last quarter of '97 which resulted in shoulder surgery. He is recovering fine I believe. Both Justin and Nathen are no longer kids it seems. They attend school with mostly American children this year. Whitney attends public school (I think) which gives her an edge on keeping up with the Mandrin language. Amber, almost four years old now, asks permission to speak English when she tires of the Mandrin dialect in the home. They still need lots of prayer (as do we all). The Jonesboro, Arkansas school shooting in late March killed Brandt's pregnant cousin, who was teaching at the time. Their family does and will need some continued support, prayer and healing. Bruce and Robbie have really been busy. Bruce's work schedule is still the same as Daddy's, so that is a comfort to know they travel together. Since Daddy's promotion, he is now Bruce's immediate supervisor. When asked if that would cause Bruce any problems, Bruce's reply was to let them know Daddy had always told him what to do, so it would be no trouble. And it isn't - at least for Bruce. However, this last time out, it bothered dear ole' dad some. Bruce was having a serious sinus, allergy, cold type of week. There were some inspections at the platform going on and Daddy had to assign Bruce the task of days of scraping paint, and preparing for new paint. That just aggrevated the sinuses even more, but both lived through it. Robbie has taken a position at HEB, a local grocery store. She greatly loves the change. Better working environment, pay and hours. It also helps as Curtis is home after school. He is approching the rapid growth stage of life. His shoe size has set the stage. It may be hard to keep that boy in pants long enough for a while. Kay is graduating this year. She is no short fry herself, but she's about as big around as a toothpick! She has become quite knowledgable on nutrition and body building. Ron and I are in menopause. We had lived in Virginia for about a year, and once the kids started their post graduate schooling, we came back to Texas. I believe we may go back to Virginia some day. It was beautiful! Farms, friendly, and close enough to the District of Columbia to make some really nice travels. I have even been to Delaplane where the Watts family lived in early years in America. I loved it. The history of our country just flows there. It is just hard to monetarily survive - the pay scale certainly doesn't compare to pay rates we are accustomed to in Texas. However, if you have ever been there, you will see one reason Cousin Fred may stay in that part of the country. As a matter of fact, I still owe him a visit. He may forget, but I will not. I look very forward to that time. Cheri' is assisting the Juvenile Dept. in Indy where she serves in a teaching position. She still wants to work in an orphanage a little later on. She may also take some sign language classes or training to help dyslexic individuals. Right now she is just thinking of summer break! Neil is in Michigan most of the time. However he is in Moscow through the month of March serving on construction. His desire is to be an architect and children's pastor. Kenny and Frances are also doing great. So they tell me. They are looking good and healthy. They both stay busy about their household duties. When one of us many kids hollers, they are there for us too. They take trips occasionally and even go camping with the grandkids at times! Daddy says he goes to work to rest and lets Frances hold down the fort . He has scheduled 'another' retirement date for early 1999. I'll have to see it to believe it. We are blessed to be theirs. Karen Waters COUSINS REUNIONIs it June already? #1 item on my list is Mom (Elmeda) will be 75 in September. There is a Birth-day Party Planned for her at Dodson's Cafeteria at S. W. 59th and Pennsylvania in Oklahoma City. on Saturday, September 26, 1998 from 2-4 pm. If anyone needs directions, please call myself or Joe 405-634-2042.We were glad to see some of you at the Childress Reunion. There was a change in dates this year that threw us off. It was decided to start having the reunions every-other-year starting the First Sunday in May, 2000. We will confirm that date with Bill as the time gets closer. The Mahan's will have their reunion over the July 4 Weekend. (I can not lay my hands on the info right now.) Mom has been getting some home improvments, and still more will be done, if any of you would like to see if a paint brush will fit your hand, please stop by any time. Lowell Ray Elder L. Ray Elder Editors note: Lowell has e-mailed me recently indicating the Texas Instruments branch in Lubbock is closing down thus placing him in the ranks of job searchers. EVENING ENTERTAINMENTKenny was telling me of times of entertainment he was having as a youth. He recalled lying on the couch, book in hand, and a funny scene took place. Kenny said the writer had written so graphically a comical incident -his minds eye could picture the scene as it was relayed. He laughed so hard he fell off the couch onto the floor!Nowadays, lots of us flip on the television and select a channel, plug in a video, or play one of those video games. We at times leave little to the imagination, and I can't remember too many of us laughing that hard at any of 'our' evening entertainment. It takes effort on all our parts to recapture the treasure of just being family. I am grateful for modern inventions as a whole. Also for this newsletter which seems to draw our families(as spread out as we are) back to our central family. I believe it will, can and has helped to build strong future relationships. And for good writers; some who write for the pure entertainment aspect, and some who cause us through their writting to really think. Karen Waters SUPERMANWe may have the real Superman in our own family and he wasn't given the chance to prove it!As a young boy, it was common for Kenny
and his brothers to go squirrel hunting.
Grandpa Watts One particular day, Kenny and one of his brothers were out hunting. They had reached their limit and were just out messin' around before returning home. Kenny was then presented with one challenge he found hard to fulfill. His brother believed Trixy could outrun a bullet. So as he was riding Trixy, he would start her running at a good pace, after a brief lead, Kenny was to fire the gun at his brother's back. This brother was not concerned about his own safety because he had so much faith in his trusty, fast horse, that as long as he remained on her, he could move faster than a speeding bullet. The race was on, Trixy was off, the signal was given to fire the gun - but Kenny couldn't do it. We will never find out what the outcome could have been, but I know for a fact, that this brother is truely a super man, with or without the horse. By the way Uncle Pete, Kenny wants to know if you know which brother that may have been? Karen Waters Watts Cousins Reunion '98At the recent Cousin's Reunion held May 17th in the Reunion Room at the beautiful Fair Park in Childress, Texas, we entertained approximately 85 people. We had door prizes, including a miniature boom box for the little ones, an electronic dart board for the kids 6 thru 16 and a pole lamp for adults.We auctioned off an enlarged, framed picture of the Richard and Sally Watts family, family album, crafts and a Mary Kay fragrance basket. A lovely lone star quilt made by Alta Watts was raffled off and the proud winner was her son, Charlie Lee Watts. The funds derived from these projects helps toward rent on the building and other expenses for the reunion. Kathy McCraw Williams and family from Washington, North Carolina attended the reunion for the first time driving 1530 miles one way. Kathy was the high bidder on the Richard and Sally Watts family picture. Les Benton from Mesa, Arizona also attended and stayed several days giving us an opportunity to have a good visit with him. He was the successful bidder on the basket of Mary Kay which he graciously gave to Mary Watts. Stella Mahan, a special Guest attended and was a door prize winner. The Cousin's Reunion will be held in the future every 2 years with the next one to be held the first Sunday in May in the year 2000. You all come!!! P.S. Anyone not on our mailing list, please let us know your address so we can send you an invitation to the Reunion 2000. Bill Watts Jeanne's ReportLouada was unable to attend the cousins family reunion this last time. There were just too many things going on and not enough energy to go around. She's about to get new windows and/or window frames installed, proobably a few at a time.Altus has recently made national news with its high temperatutes one week and low temperatures the next week. There has been lass than 1 inch of rain since April! Sharon is enjoying having both her boys home for the summer. Jason and Jeremy are having a good time playing with and reparing their go-cart that they made. Soon they will be turning their go-cart track back into Grandma's front yard! In July, Jason and Jeremy will both go to Missouri to live with their Dad. Jeremy has missed out on all the hunting that Jason has gotten to do. Sharon will deeply miss them, but doesn't want to rob them of the opportunity to do thes "guy" things with their Dad. Of course, she and Louada will still see them now and then. Things will definitely be quieter and lonelier for Louada and Sharon both. Cecil, Billy and I are very much enjoying life in South Carolina. We should be moving into our new (manufactured) home in late July or early August. Our new address will be: Cecil & Jeanne Hart Cecil still enjoys his golf pro job tremendously. He was recently paid $150 to play in a large, local charity pro-am golf tournament! And to think some people have to pay to play golf! He routinely gets to play free at a number of very nice courses in the area. Billy has found his niche in life -- Taekwondo karate. He now has an orange belt and will test for yellow belt sometime in July. We're checking on a job for him. I am still working at Bausch and Lomb as a clerk int hhe Engineering Department. My job (temporary) is supposed to be over on October 5th. However, I hope to have a Civil Service job before then anyway. I have applied for one at the U.S. Marshal's office and am impatiently awaiting for a call. We are getting more involved at church. Cecil doesn't get to go every time that Billy and I do because of his work schedule, but gets off on Sunday and/or Wednesday more often than I expected. Mom and Sharon will be driving out for a visit in September. We won't have a yard put in yet then but hope to be settled in nicely. There are so many places in the area that we wan to take them to. We know that they'll fall in love with the area and its scenery. Until next time, TEXASIf you haven't already seen the Musical Drama TEXAS in Palo Duro Canyon, you really should go. It's about the history of the Texas Panhandle (at least the episode I saw was).Marian & I finally got around to seeing it about a week ago. We went with her parents Virgil & Anna Belcher. We got there a little early to get in on the barbeque. My favorite part (once we were done with eating) was the nightmare Uncle Henry had. One episode in his dream was about prairie fires due to the dryness of the Texas Panhandle. The ladies were dressed in red with streamers (representing the fire) and the men were dressed in the Calvary uniforms. After a bit of struggle, the Calvalry had the fire put out (the ladies were laying down all over the stage). Another episode in his dream was concerning Calvin Armstrong and his dreams for having a railroad come through the Panhandle. This railroad Uncle Henry realized, would bisect his ranch. Calvin later found a soft spot though by proposing to name a town after Uncle Henry and his wife (Henryanna). A manmade bolt of lightning struck a tree in the crevice in the canyon toward the end of the Drama. Although I didn't see the bolt, it put out quite a pop that certainly got everyones attention. Afterwords, they gave a display of fireworks. The family scribe, |
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didn't allow them to kill more
than they could eat. So for a young boy that was
a little hard for Kenny because he says it was so
easy. I believe he said it was Trixy, their horse,
that would tip them off as to where the squirrels
were. She would just tree the squirrel, then
stand there and wait for one of the boys just
look up and shoot.