NOVEMBER 2005
President: Gordon Hostetler
Secretary/Treasurer:
June Dewsberry
Dear MHUSA Alums:
“Glorious
are the woods in their latest gold and crimson”.
I can’t help quoting William
Cullen Bryant at this beautiful time of the year.
And of course the lovely Fall scene reminds me that it’s Newsletter
time.
Art and I enjoyed a
driving trip to California in June when our oldest granddaughter Rebecca
graduated from highschool in Long Beach. From
there we motored up the west coast to northern California to visit our oldest
son and his family in Eureka. We
stopped in a number of National Parks along the way including Arches, Zion and
Yosemite. Visited with Marylou
Engle Bert and Phyllis Engle Saltzman in Eugene, OR after leaving Eureka, and
with Linnea Sword Davenport in Turner, OR the next day.
We wound up in Bremerton, WA to visit with my 105 year old Aunt before
returning home through Idaho, Nebraska and Iowa.
What a spectacular country we have!
We returned recently
from Phoenix, AZ where I did my second 3-Day
60 mile walk for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation on October 21, 22
and 23. 1700 men and women
participated in this event and we raised 4.1 Million dollars to be used for
Breast Cancer research, education and awareness - a most worthy cause.
Many thanks to those of you who so generously supported my effort.
As the oldest walker, I was one of the few who suffered no aches, pains
or blisters. But the 90 degree
mid-day temperatures almost did me in. With
lots of rest stops and plenty to eat and drink along the way I survived with no
ill effects. Art was always a
welcome sight at the lunch stops each day when he brought me a change of shoes
and sox and gave me encouragement. And
at the end of each day he retrieved me and took me back to the motel where I
could get a good night’s sleep. Last
year I tented - and I decided that was not conducive to restful slumber!
While in Phoenix, we had the pleasure of both a dinner and a breakfast
visit with Mally and Marylou Davis.
Our two sons (from
Eureka and Thunder Bay, Ontario) and their families were with us for Canadian
Thanksgiving on October 10. With
our widely spread family, we find it works better to celebrate at that time when
airways and roads are not crowded and the weather is good.
And now we look forward
to the Holiday Season and send our good wishes to all for the best of Holidays
and a Happy and prosperous New Year.
With warm greetings to
all,
June
HERE
AND THERE
Laverne (Vogt)
Nafsiger
thinks sending the Newsletter by email is a great idea
- saves on postage and also saves the trees! On March 7 Laverne had both
knees replaced. Only the first day
was a bad day - everything has gone well since then. “By the time I came home
in 4 days, I could help my self in and out of bed and do all of my care, using a
walker. “ By now, Laverne will be
able to drive again. Laverne wishes
more English alums had email - it's so much easier to communicate. Laverne sees Gordon
Hostetler and Phyllis at Goshen College activities from time to time.
Another email enthusiast is Hazel
(Innes) Craig. She even
managed to download the Newsletter! Hazel
indicates the U.K. reunion was postponed until September in order to secure a
venue. Hazel is taking Yoga classes
- send us a picture of your favorite pose Hazel!
John Macdonald writes: “After some eye trouble, Mary
(Kelly Macdonald) had a cataract-removal operation on her right eye on
April 2. The surgeon is pleased with her progress.
Our daughter Katherine, who lives here, does the family shopping. The
other children appear from time to time, and issue various instructions, some of
which we obey. We really are well looked after.”
Linnea (Sword)
Davenport tells
me she has a book, "Kathleen", at a number of literary agents hoping
to get it published. …“It's about Assam when we lived there and is based
loosely on the story of Carolyn Glich. It's
all fiction, except for the places and historical people I mention, but
Carolyn's situation gave me the idea. The
characters involved are all dreamed up in my imagination, but once again loosely
based on missionaries I grew up with.”….
We wish you luck Linnea - let us know how it goes.
Art and I were delighted to have a chance to have a brief breakfast visit
with Linnea while we were touring the West coast in June.
Turner, Oregon is close to Portland, and was right on our route.
Linnea is much the same as I remember her, and she is aging very
gracefully!
Ira (Dash) Rao also
approves of the email format for the Newsletter.
She tells about a visit to St Louis where they renewed a host of
memories. Their three children, one son-in-law, and three grandkids
joined them. The Raos are planning
a visit to India late this year with their son, Nik, 41, single, who lives in
San Diego. They plan to visitl
Delhi, Orissa, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai.
June (Anderson)
Wallin
updates us on her family news. “ After the celebration of Christmas, our next exciting
moment was a phone call from our oldest grandson, Jared Johnson.
He's a Wheaton college graduate and is on staff at George Washington
University in D.C. He surprised his
Wheaton girlfriend by giving her a lovely diamond in Central Park, New York, a
carriage ride, lunch at Tavern On the Green, and dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.
This was followed by a quick train ride back to D.C.
Jessica gets her Masters Degree at American University, Washington, D.C.
on May 8th. The wedding will be in March 2006 in Cleveland. Grandma can hardly
wait.” June recomends a 3 disc
DVD available from amazon.com entitled “Himalaya” with Michael Palm and the
BBC.
Marylou (Engle) Bert enjoyed
a week with sister Ardys (Engle) Thuma
in Pennsylvania, in the Spring and they had a great time together. Ardys has no
e-mail address and all mail to her
should be sent via regular mail. One of the things they did together was to read
all the letters their mother had written to their dad, between the years 1942
and 1944......while he remained in India and they had to come back to the US.
(Mrs. Engle died in 1945 of a brain tumor.)
“They were poignant.......and I'm so glad our dad saved them”.
Marylou’s daughter got her masters' in Spiritual Theology and she and
her husband are moving to Calif. He
will be the new CEO of a socio-Christian organization called Medical Ambassadors
International. The basic function
is to send trained medical workers, chosen from third world countries....to go
back with aid. The Christian
message is not overt..........but will be expressed through aid.
In late July Marylou went to Atlanta to play in a National bridge
tournament. No word on how that
turned out. It was our privilege to
spend a lunch hour with Marylou and sister Phyllis (Engel) Saltzman in June as we drove through Oregon
on our way to Eureka, CA. You
can’t go wrong with a gourmet lunch at Marylou’s!
Irene (Lehman) Weaver
reads every word of the Newsletter and is very proud to be a Hermonite.
Though she doesn’t recognize many names, she is familiar with enough to
make her feel a part of the group - and a part of that great land of “tinkly
temple bells and spicy garlic smells”. Irene
is in a retirement home now and misses the spices in food, but has made curry
for crowds of people with great pleasure At
95, Irene says she is well and walks 2 miles every morning.
She praises God for allowing her to be born in India, and to go to school
at Mt. Hermon. She was a missionary
in her childhood environment and also served in Nigeria, Ghana, Swaziland and
Botswana. Her husband Ed died 16
years ago.
I can always count on a letter from my dear friend Averil
Watson for my birthday. Daughter
and Nurse Wendy travels up and down to Melbourne in her work with Premature
Babies. Daughter Janice keeps busy with her hairdressing business and son Adam,
12. Averil’s mother, Elsie Watson
is now 102 and still with them. The
family takes her out in a wheelchair, but most of her time is spent in bed.
It was good to see Mally
Davis and Marylou during our time in Phoenix. They are both well and enjoying their retirement in the area.
Our thoughts are with John
Turner as he misses Jane terribly.
His younger son has two cute little boys who were born before Jane died
and that helps.
OLD MOUNT HERMON
STUDENTS ASSOCIATION (U.K.)
In the August issue of the OMHSA Newsletter, Hazel Innes Craig tells briefly of her visit to India in
March. She flew to Delhi and
visited Mussoorie, but not Darjeeling. She
stayed at the Oak Grove School, founded in the 19th century for the children of
Railway empoyees in India. She
found Delhi much the same except for the enormous amount of traffic with 6-lane
highways and many more people.
In September, 14 OMHSA alums gathered at the Bombay Brasserie and
enjoyed a curry lunch. The group
will be joining many other hill schools at the Hill Schools Reunion lunch on
March 29, 2006. It will be held at
The Clay Oven in Alperton. Cost is
29.50 pounds per head including wine. If
any of you are interested in attending, you may send your check made out to
“OMHSA” (29.50 British pounds each) to James Sinclair, 14 Royston Court,
Hook Rise North, Tolworth, Surbiton, SURREY KT6 7JX
England.
OBITUARIES:
We send our
loving sympathy to Dana Troyer
and his family in the death of our dear Verna.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you Dana.
Our sincere
sympathy is extended to the Swan family as we say goodbye to Ruth (Mrs.
Lawrence) Swan.
Ruth
Humphrey Swan died August 11th 2005 at her beloved Cooch Nahai after a short
illness. Born June 19, 1922 in
Methuen, MA, she grew up and attended Edward F. Searles High School where she
was voted “best all-around girl”. An
active Rainbow Girl she served as Grand Worthy Advisor from 1942-1943 of the
Massachusetts Grand Assembly. During
the war she was the Colonel's secretary at the Climatic Research Laboratory in
Lawrence, MA where she met and fell in love with an unconventional second
lieutenant (Lawrence W. Swan)
whom she married and accompanied on a lifetime journey of adventure.
Her honeymoon consisted of mountain climbing in Mexico after which she
settled down to be the “rock” of a 54 year marriage to an eccentric
professor naturalist in Redwood City, CA. She
worked first at Annual Reviews and then was a secretary in Medical Microbiology at
the Stanford Medical School from 1966 to 1987.
She reigned as Rani of the Swan estate “Cooch Nahai” (loosely
translated as the Realm of Nothing in Hindustani) for which she had the perfect
combination of organization, charisma, and overall appreciation for imagination
to be revered by all the hundreds of visitors, friends, students and colleagues
that passed through. She was an accomplished pianist and organist, loved
whistling with her Strawberry Finch and keeping beat with Sousa on the Fourth of
July. Her deep brown eyes and warm
friendly smile always welcomed guests no matter what species her husband or
children brought in. Her partner,
the Raja, preceded her in death in 1999. No
memorial service is planned but contributions may be made to the Hospice
Foundation of America, 12000 Biscayne Boulevard #505, Miami, FL 33181 or the
Sempervirens Fund, (Big Basin State Park) Drawer BE, Los Altos, CA 94023.
-oOo-
YOU KNOW YOU’RE A MISSIONARY KID WHEN:
You can’t answer the question “Where are you from?”
You speak two languages but can’t spell either
You watch National Geopraphic specials and recognise someone
You speak to different ethnic groups in their own language
You have friends from or in 29 different countries
You wince when people mispronounce foreign words and countries’ names
You believe vehemently that football is played with a round spotted ball
You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism
You watch a movie set in a foreign country and you know what the
nationals are
REALLY saying into the camera
You appreciate having four distinct seasons other than: dry, very dry,
rainy, very rainy
After a couple of years in one spot, you’re ready to move again
-oOo-