|
MIKE
& LINDA’S NEWSLETTER©
January
2001 In our 9th year - Since 1993
Volume 9, Issue 1
EDI Y’All !
From
the Editor
Welcome to the New Millennium.
We have reached the end of our first year of the new century, or as suggested
earlier, we are now on the threshold of a new one. If the year 0NE
was the beginning of the FIRST
century, then the year 2001
must then be the beginning of the Twenty First Century.
We have lots of exciting news in this issue of the
NEWSLETTER©
and several of you readers are to thank for it. Apparently you liked the new Web
format and wanted to be a part of it. That's great! We here at the
NEWSLETTER©
home office are pleased to see such a response. Keep up the good work, all of
you field correspondents.
KATIE FINALLY FINDS HER BROTHER
THAT SHE NEVER EVEN DIDN'T KNOW
WAS
LOST (OR EXISTED!)
After 25 years of
wondering and not knowing who her birth mother was, Katie Worden Sixtos Villalva
has recently discovered much about her biological origins and secondary family
roots.
 Angela Marie was the first child born to Freddie and Millie Scholl, who raised seven children in and around Savannah, Garden
City and Pt. Wentworth, Georgia.
 Angie's parents separated and later divorced when Angie was about twelve
years old. Angie went to live with her dad, Albert Frederick Scholl. Her six younger
brothers and sisters stayed with their mother, Millie.
Angie became pregnant at around the age of 16 and wanted to find a good family
to rise the baby because she was unable to do so at that young age.
Angie kept the name of the baby's father a secrete. She told no one.
Mike and Linda Worden brought Katie home from St. Joseph's hospital on October
25, 1975 when Katie was 3 days old. Less than two months later, just before
Christmas, Katie was baptized Katherine Theresa by Fr. Lawrence Lucree during
the 10:00 AM mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Angie sat in the
congregation that morning not knowing the baby was being baptized was her
baby. The only one
who knew both families was Carmen Newberry, the Office Manager from the
doctor's office the Scholl family used. Carmen also sat in the congregation that Sunday
morning, witnessing the event. Carmen has lived three houses
down from Mike and Linda for years but could not approach them on the topic until one or
the other party first approached her.
Two years after Katie was born, and only twenty days after her adoptive parents
gave birth to their first son, Michael Patrick, Katie's oldest known brother,
Katie's biological mother (Angie) also gave birth to a son, Matthew.
 When
Mat was
4 years old, his parents, Angie and
Joseph Mesarchik agreed to separate. Angie was unable to raise Matthew on her
own and so it was decided that Matt would move in with his paternal grandparents
in Ohio.
As Mat grew older, he visited his mother's family in the Savannah area from
time to time. When he was 15 or 16, he learned that his mother had also
had given birth to a little girl nearly two years before he was born. He wondered
for years after learning that, what had ever happened to his big sister. The family
thought, and therefore told him that a couple in Bryan County had adopted her.
Angie remarried a man named Hyatt and lived in Texas a while. When that marriage
ended, she moved back home to the Savannah area.
Angie died on September 22 1985 when the convenience
store she was working in on the West Side of Savannah was robbed. It took two
years to bring her murder to justice. He did serve time for other
robberies and while in prison, told others about killing Angie in a
robbery. His confidants turned him in. Sometimes the wheels of
justice turn slowly.
 After
several telephone calls to the family Doctor's office, and ultimately Carmen
Newberry, Mat has discover Katie and her whereabouts. They met for the first time in
their lives on Friday, August 4, 2000. Katie brought them to visit with her
parents' at their home in Springfield, for a few hours. Afterwards, they drove
to Savannah to visit the site where Angie was laid to rest in Laurel Grove Cemetery.
 Oh, by the way, Katie's family has spoken to and met all of Angie's sisters.
Millie, Angie's mother has visited with Katie
and Linda at Katie's home in Guyton. Millie lives only a few miles away.
Mat and Katie are their only living link to Angie. Katie is a part of their lives
they never thought they would catch back up with.
Mat
and Anne have planned a July 2001 wedding. When that event
is officially announced, it will be published in this NEWSLETTER©
for your convenience
and knowledge.
Mat has already asked Katie to give him his new nieces and
nephews birth dates so he can have an opportunity to be a proper Uncle to them.
If you care to contact Mat, you can write to him at:
Matthew
Mesarchik
134 1/2
Ferris Avenue
Chardon, Ohio 44080
or simply e-mail him at www.muddyrabbit.cs.com
*****************************
TOMMY WORDEN VISITS A
MORTICIAN...almost
Tommy Worden and Jason Sanders attended Effingham County
Junior High and High School together in the '90's. They were not in the same
grades, (when Tommy was a Sophomore, Jason was a Freshman) but they attended
that high school together for at least three uninterrupted years.
They were great pals and did many enjoyable and adventuresome
things together. They double dated, went to movies together, went bowling
together, went on church functions together, and on and on.
Before he graduated, Tommy got a job at
Hardee's Restaurant in Rincon.
That took up a lot of his after-school hours. Jason worked part-time at Little
Ceasers across the parking lot from Hardee's. His dad also kept him busy on their farm.
By the time Jason graduated, Tommy had completed the
"Quick Start" program taught by Savannah Tech, after which he began
working at Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation, in Savannah as an aircraft
assembler, thereby once again consuming much of his free time.
Then Jason moved off to Alpahretta, Georgia, a community near
Atlanta, where he began his studies and apprenticeship into the education and
art of Mortuary Sciences. Most all of the time was spent in class or at two nearby
funeral homes where it was agreed that he could observe and practice some of what
he learned.
When the occasion made itself available, Tommy accepted an
invitation from Jason to drive up to Alpharetta to visit with his
"mortician-apprentice" friend for a few days. They had not seen each
other for over a year.
Jason phoned when Tommy
arrived and let us know he was taking Tommy out to get him drunk and find him a
woman, or vice-versa.
The two old friends had a great time together for that few
days. They didn't even get any sleep for the first 36 hours. Then, just as they
decided they better try to get some much needed rest, Jason was asked by his
boss to drive Mr. Johnson over to the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport.
He, Mr. Johnson, had to catch a flight back to Ohio right
away. He could remain in Atlanta no longer. He had to get home.
With Mr. Johnson and Tommy aboard, and being fully aware of
Mr. Johnson's flight departure time having been delayed, Jason pulled the truck up along side the
speaker at the drive through at McDonalds and ordered some breakfast for himself
and Tommy.
Mr. Johnson was not hungry.
When the attendant asked Jason why they didn't come inside to
eat, Jason told the attendant that they didn't have time today. They had to rush
Mr. Johnson to the airport to catch his flight. Besides, they could not leave
Mr. Johnson alone in the hot truck. But, neither could they bring him inside.
Before boarding the truck, Mr. Johnson had been neatly,
conveniently and inconspicuously closed up securely in an appropriate shipping
box, and had been prepared for return to his home in Ohio, for burial. You see,
Mr. Johnson had recently passed away and was in no condition to be lolly-
gagging
around inside the McDonald's restaurant.
Soon thereafter, the crew were on their way again, down I-20
South so Mr. Johnson could catch the morning flight.
After seeing Mr. Johnson safely and securely strapped down in
his assigned place on the airplane, the two remaining friends promptly drove the
truck back to the funeral home and resumed the fun of their "holiday."
When asked what they were going to do next, they were heard to
say, "We're going to grab some babes and ride the roller coasters all day at
Six Flags over
Georgia!"
And that's pretty much exactly what they did.
LILIES OF THE VALLEY
We're just not sure how we are going to do these, but any
Obituaries we are aware of will be brought up to date at each publishing.
***
We were informed by our Seymour, Wisconsin correspondent,
Ruth Beise, on September 3, that:
Aunt Joyce Kramer's only son, Joe, died Sat. Sept 2 of cancer.
The wake was on
Monday at Boettcher Funeral Home, Kaukauna.
The service was 12:00 Tuesday at Holy Name Catholic Church in Kimberly.
Fr. Bergsbaken and Msg. Carl Steiner concelebrated the Requiem Mass.
For those of you who live out of state
and would like to contact her,
her address and phone number are:
Joyce Kramer
712 S John St Apt#3
Kimberly, WI 54136
Phone: 920-788-1493
 YEMASSEE SHRIMP FESTIVAL
Yemassee, South Carolina held its annual Shrimp Festival the week
of September 10. Food, crafts and music were enjoyed by all.
Jane Lyons called Linda to remind her of the festivities and suggest
that Jack and Jane meet Linda and Mike in Yemassee Friday evening for some good
old time fun. Mike, Linda and Tommy rode over in Mike's truck
around 7:00 PM and began looking for Jack and Jane. Celeste spent the evening
with her Mommie and her sister, Alicia, in Guyton. The two groups finally found
each other at Jack and Jane's daughter-in-law's (Jerra`) brother's house.
Jane's son, John is married to Jerra` Nix. Jerra`'s
brother lives just down the street from his parents about a block away from the
site where the old grammar school formerly stood before it burned, where Jane and several of her brothers and sisters
attended the lower grades many years ago.
Several bands were performing throughout the town, none of which
were immediately identifiable by name. The one down in front of the old
school played '60 era tunes, much to the delight of the baby boomers.
Another one was perched on the back of an 18-wheeler flat bed trailer, down near
the single traffic light (which only blinks - red or yellow, depending on the
direction one approaches from.) This is in the general region of the former
Fitz's Texaco station. But I digress...
The band down town playing oldies did their best to get the
crowd into the music. They were quite successful. Mike and Linda even got
out on the street and shook a leg or two. Sorry - no pictures.
At the conclusion of the evening, or when Mike and Jack said it
was time to conclude (for them) Tommy had made arrangements to stay over in
Yemassee with John and Jerra` who had offered to take Tommy back to Springfield
some time over the weekend if he wanted to stay and continue enjoying the festival. Tommy
(who was feeling no pain) told his Aunt Jane that John and Jerra` were going to
take him home on the handle bars of their Harley Davidson.
Tommy reports that he had a great time and even got some what
involved in the parade the following morning. He tried to talk John in
participating in the 5K run.
Later Saturday afternoon, the three of them traveled to
Springfield in Jerra's car to deliver Tommy to his residence at 310 Hickory Street.
Everyone sat around in the back yard and watched Mikey build a set of saw horses
and a cut-off saw table.
Mikey was constantly checking his angles with his speed square
and John was constantly trying to convince him that "it looks close
enough-nail it up." "Besides, the ground will be soft enough to
make up for any mistakes." Mikey would laugh and recheck his angle
with the square. The more John tried to convince him to be less
"exact" the more often Mikey would re-verify the angle.
NEWS FROM IN
AND AROUND SEYMOUR
Submitted by Ruth Biese
Wow, since July, boy or boy.
Since then Linda and David both have purchased homes for themselves.
Linda and Mike and Austin have
a 7 bedroom, 3 Bathroom home in the country - beautiful. And David has a 2
bedroom, 1 bathroom home in the city. They are both very happy to own
their own homes. Along with the bank of course.
Roy and his family are yet in
the Antigo, Wisconsin area, milking cows. His family is fine. Of course little
Sabryna who is 3 is a chip off the old block. She does the silliest things. One
day Roy called because she had gotten into her mom's fingernail polish and
painted her face and arms and hands and legs and feet, missed her nails though.
Another time she used a gallon jug to climb onto the counter and empty out the
dry spices and use them to play in for sand. She is quite the character.
Emily will be 1 on Dec 15, she
is crawling and gets into her sisters things already, we'll see if she still is
in 15 years......Mikey will be 11 on Dec 18, he is a big help in the barn and in
the house. He is a carbon copy of his Dad.
Austin is in Kindergarten this
year, lets just say that school has changed since I was in contact with it. But
then that
is how life is, not much stays the same.
Jim and Mike moved back home
for a while. David is enjoying his home, and his dog is also. He brings her out
to the farm every day with him and she does love to run.
Mom (Aunt Hazel) is yet in
Green Bay and doing fine. She doesn't have a computer, so I have to print out
the newsletter and give it to her, it isn't the same as viewing it on the net;
you loose the picture quality. But she enjoys it anyway. She turned 79 this year
and is just as spry as ever.
Linda turned 26, Bill turned
53, I had a birthday in there too, only 52. So the fall was a bit busy for us
here in WI. We also were fortunate enough to be able to visit with Mike on one
of his business trips. We did enjoy seeing him and exchanging pictures, of
course he had many more than I did. But we did have a good time and hope to see
more of him or anyone else that may come this way.
We did have the misfortune of loosing Aunt Joyce's son, Joe, to cancer. He left
behind a wife and 2 children and his mom. We all miss him very much. I did have
lunch with Aunt Joyce this last week and she is doing well, she even went to
Maine with some friends. And she has gotten back into making some crafts, she
even makes Santas out of corncobs, they are so sweet. She asked how everyone in
the south was.
One of Jerry's sister-in-law's is fighting breast cancer, and one of my cousins
is fighting lung cancer, so please keep them in your prayers. Right now one is
holding her own but the other isn't doing well, the cancer has spread to her
brain.
Hope this newsletter finds all of you doing well. Love from Wisconsin-
the Biese's.
PUMPKIN PATCH
  As
Halloween approaches each year, the local Rincon WalMart
store places a large selection of fresh pumpkins outside its store from which
its customers may make their selection. When this occurs, Celeste begins
looking for her witch hat and prepares to have her photo made. And that
is why these photos are here. Any questions?
ANNUAL
AVANT/CROSBY
FAMILY REUNION
About 85 years
ago Mae Crosby, the only daughter of Steve Anderson Crosby and
Katherine Herndon wed Luther Avant, son of Jullius Avant and Ella Martin.
Each year, since about 1972, the descendents of Steve Crosby and Luther Avant
have met around the first Sunday of November to share fellowship, food and
fantasies.
  This
year, Hank and Joe Worden were chartered with planning and holding this annual
event. The event moved from the Walterboro Saddle Club to the Electric
Co-op meeting building. The accommodations were much more modern, and some
times more modern is more desirable.
  The
turnout was less than was anticipated, but those who were able to attend
were greeted cheerfully and lovingly. After a brief word of thanks to God,
by Gerald Beach, for the opportunity to meet together and share another brief
moment in out lives with one another once again, everyone was invited to partake
of the food that had been prepared.
 Later,
a brief business meeting was called to order, during which Catrina Reeves from the Avant side of the family was selected to
chair next year's reunion. Door
prizes were given out. The meeting adjourned. The building was cleaned
and secured. Several smaller reunions then reformed around the surrounding
towns and counties consisting of those in attendance. Many of the Wordens (Crosbys) regrouped at the home of Steve
and Bernie Bazzle for a few more hours of reminiscing.
 
- WE ARE
GROWING BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS -
Earlier in this
NEWSLETTER, it was mentioned that Katie (Worden) Sixtos Villalva had found (or been found by)
her biological family. Now, in this same issue, it is revealed that
Celeste, Katie's first daughter has discovered who her biological father
is. His name is Daniel Tuten, and as a result of that discovery, she
learns that she has another Aunt, three Uncles, another grandmother a 5 year old half sister and a
new born baby brother.
The first night as we
prepared to visit with Daniel, Celeste and Alicia were taking a bath together, when
Celeste was overheard telling Alicia, "I'm going over to go meet my Daddy
for the first time in my life!"
When we first got out
there, Celeste was quite shy. But Daniel's youngest brother, Kevin
(he just turned 12) got her to loosen up real quickly when he brought in some
new kittens. Celeste had to pick one out for herself. However, it is
being raised with its brothers and sisters in the country.
As photographs are
available, they may be published in later editions. The one shown at the left is
Daniel, his wife, Tammi, and their new son, Celeste's half-brother, Danny.
MIKE WORDEN IS
A
TRAVELIN' MAN
It was mentioned in our
last issue that Mike and Linda had gone to Maine on Gulfstream's behalf in July
so Mike could participate in the contract negotiation for the new General
Dynamics office supply provider.
As a result of that
"award" and some manipulation with the existing Gulfstream supplier to
cancel that agreement early, Staples, Inc will assume the providing of office
supplies to Gulfstream at all of its locations beginning January 2, 2001.
To make certain all
involved were aware of what was about to transpire, Mike went to several of the
Gulfstream locations the week of November 6, accompanied by an associate from
Savannah, and met by the Corporate Staples representative.
Mike landed in Appleton,
WI on Monday, 11/6, around 10:00 PM that night, after several flight delays. Due to a
Packers game being played in Green Bay, against Michigan, no rooms were available for 40 miles. Mike and
his associate each ended up getting rooms in Waupaca, an out of the way community,
but found to be quite scenic the next morning, when viewed in the daylight.
On the way to Waupaca, the
car was pulled into a convenience store parking lot and Mike went in to ask
directions. The lady in the convenient store said, in her heaviest
Wisconsin Accent, "Oh, SURE! Do you see that stop-and-go
light right there?" ...as she pointed down the street in the night air at
the traffic signal mounted on the pole by the side of the road. Mike had
to ask her twice more until he finally understood what a "stop-and-go"
light was.
The next morning, Mike and
Paula, his associate drove back into Appleton. Paula dropped Mike off at
the Airport where it had been pre-arranged for him to meet with Ruth
Beise. Ruth brought along her son, Mike, and one of Mike's buddies.
The foursome went in for some coffee, and talked for about thirty minutes.
It was then time for Mike to meet back up with Paula and get to the Gulfstream
facility there by the airport. That night, they boarded a plane and flew to
Oklahoma City, OK.
The next morning, the threesome met up again and prepared to go out to the
Bethany facility,
after waking up to snow and sleet accumulating outside. The NQHA (National
Quarter Horse Association) was in town and many horse trailers were parked
outside in the parking lot of the Embassy Suites. Several Cowboys and
Cowgirls were having their way with the breakfast buffet inside.
After
several telephone calls to the plant, it was verified that they were open and
receiving guests.
 That
meeting over, Paula and Mike made their way back to the Will Rogers Airport to
catch their scheduled flight before the snow had a chance to close the
airport. Several airplanes were already seen getting deiced prior to takeoff.
After a connecting flight
in Dallas/Fort Worth was caught, the trip soon concluded, at the Long Beach,
California airport terminal. As Mike stepped off the gangway into the
airport lobby, several smiling faces greeted him. Now, these were not just
the friendly folk who are normally waiting at the airport to greet and sell
flowers to the strangers
who get off the airplanes. These were WORDENS. Well, for the most
part, they were Wordens. Elvis Segunda was never a Worden, but he is now closely
related to one.
 There
to meet Mike were no less than two of Jim and Posey Worden's children (Ed and Suzy) and
grand children (Mike and Margaret). Suzy and Ed's brother, Jamie was unable to make the trip down
to the coast but sent his best wishes.
After Mike checked into his hotel room in
the Long Beach Marriott, the entire troop went into  the
Sports Lounge and tossed back a few. Tales of bygone childhood days were
shared among all the older adults and queries about their
parents juvenile days were posed by the younger ones.
Mike, Ed and Suzy
had not seen each other since Mike studied radio telegraph techniques at M.C.R.D.
San Diego, in 1966, prior to going to Viet Nam. Young Mike showed special
interested in anything his dad's cousin, older Mike could share about his
Grandpa Jim, also a former U. S. Marine.
  Older
Mike did pose one simple request which was never favored. He asked that
before they parted for the evening, he could hear Elvis say, "Thankya!
Thankyaverymuch!" Elvis' wife, Margared got a particularly good
laugh over the request. @;) Unfortunately, however, it was never
favored. Oh, well, next time. perhaps.
On Thursday, after
meeting the Long Beach folks, Mike walked the 50 yards to the airport terminal
and caught a flight that connected in Dallas/Fort Worth, back to Savannah.
Linda met him at the Savannah airport around 11:30 PM.
After working in
Savannah on Friday, Mike prepared to catch another flight on Monday to Falls
Church, VA. Mike's Manager was scheduled to attend the General Dynamics
Purchasing Council quarterly meeting there. But Jim, Mike's manager had to
go into the hospital for foot surgery. He asked Mike to substitute for
him. 
 Mike,
not having ever been able to visit the Viet Nam Memorial Wall in Washington, DC
saw this as an excellent opportunity to do so, at Gulfstream's expense.
The visit was a moving experience. The skies were overcast and did not add
any glee to the visit.
 A
group of school children were in the crowd of about 50  visitors that
afternoon. Most of them were born eight to twelve years after that war was
declared ended in 1975. Several people were seen tracing or rubbing on select
names engraved into the dark, drab granite walls. When asked if they knew
these individuals, some did. Some had been asked by others yet at home to
find and record the name. One young girl was rubbing the name because that
military deceased had the same last name as hers.
As Mike photographed
anyone who was recording a specific name, that individual was approached and
asked their association with the name. They were also told  that
their picture had just been made, digitally, and if they would provide their
e-mail address, a copy would be forwarded to them. One lady, shown here,
was given Mike's business card to write her e-mail address upon. She said,
"Wait, my e-mail address is on my own card. I'll give you a
copy." Upon looking at it later, it was discovered that she was the
assistant director of the WWII memorial being constructed in Washington at this
time. What are the odds that such a random photo would be randomly taken of such a
significant individual.
Those whose
photos were made have already been provided e-mail copies and conveyed their
gratitude to Mike for the gesture.
-*-*-*-*-
Note
from the Editor: There is a tendency
to omit or overlook news articles that occur early after the
publication of a Newsletter and to pack it with
news that occurs late in the phase, just before publication
time. We have tried to spread out the articles over the spectrum of
the weeks and months since our first web newsletter in June.
-*-*-*-*-
The following
article was written by Frank E. Worden, son of Hazel Cliff and Jim
Worden. It was provided after Hazel sent out a photo of Frank when he
came home from the Army for Thanksgiving and we asked permission to publish
it. We also suggested that Hazel or Frank write a little about what he
had been doing. Here it Frank's article:
This is Frank, Jim's son. I thought I would
take a moment to fill you in on what I have been doing for the last seven
months. As of the beginning of May, I enlisted in the ARMY. I went to Basic
Combat Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. There I learned a lot about
just what I am capable of when I put my mind to work. Basic was pretty much
just a summer camp, except that we got to blow stuff up. I learned Basic Rifle
Marksmanship, for which I qualified 25/40 for my Marksman badge. I learned
about grenades, and qualified 6/7 for my Grenade Sharpshooter badge. I also
had the opportunity to do Physical Training at 5:00 in the morning.
 I
graduated from Basic on my dad's birthday, 20 July "2k". The next
place I went to was Fort Eustis, Virginia. Fort Eustis is part of Newport
News, Virginia. Fort Useless (Eustis) is considered as the home of ARMY
transportation. I enlisted as a 67T, which is a UH-60 Blackhawk mechanic. My
AIT (Advanced Individual Training) was to last for four months as a 14.3 week
course. I was attached to C-co 1/222 Aviation Regiment. On November 17 this
year, I earned the right to wear my WINGS, by graduating from my school. I
graduated from school with a 95.5% average, and 3/9 in my class standing.
I forgot to mention before that I was
attached to 1st Platoon, E-Co 2/39 Infantry Regiment. My current
accomplishments include my Marksmanship Badges, my wings, the ARMY service
Ribbon, as well, I am a Private First Class (E-3). My current PT scores are a
measly 43 push-ups in 2 minutes, 64 sit-ups in 2 minutes, and I can run 2
miles in 15:25 minutes.
That is about the best I can come up with as
far as having to type my recent experiences. I must apologize for having
scattered some of the information. If I had to endure all that training all
over again, I would have to say that I would change nothing.
My next assignment has me going to KOREA. At
this time I am not sure of which Post I will be going to. If you wish to get
in touch with me, you will have to do it through my Mother, or Aunt Suzy. God
Bless, and have a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
Sincerely,
Frank Earl Worden, PFC
Well,
that's about it for this issue.
Give us some ideas
for the next issue,
and don't forget
to check out the other
pages
in this issue.
Feedback - we want feedback.
We NEED feedback!
If you read this NEWSLETTER,
please leave feedback
so we know
how many people are
reading it
and what they think about it.
Did you
remember to leave your feedback?
Don't forget
to leave your feedback.
Click here to
go back to Home Page,
or here to go to Linda's Page,
or here to go to Mike's Page.
| 
