Russia Local High School Graduate 2009

Russia Local High School Graduate 2009

Samantha L. Gariety

Another Gariety relative is graduating this month from my alma mater, Russia Local High School.

This is Samantha L. Gariety, the daughter of Tom and Dorothy Reithman Gariety and the granddaughter of Carl and Esther Leugers Gariety. Samantha will be continuing her education at Bowling Green University in Bowling Green,Ohio. My brother Carl Gariety who married Esther Leugers in 1956 has 16 grandchildren so expect to see many more Russia grads in the years to come on this blog.Congratulations Samantha! Have fun at your graduation party on May 23 in Roo-shee.

Jack and I have a busy weekend planned so I probably won't be blogging till Monday. But do come back here on Monday to catch a photo of Samantha's older brother Chad who will be going back to Iraq this summer with the Ohio National Guard.

Carl, I don't know how you keep up with 16 grandchildren. I'm having trouble keeping up with my one and only grandchild Jack Aidan and here you are with 16 teens and young adults to pamper and enjoy and spoil.

Family Royalty!

Eliza, daughter of Joann's godson, Greg, and his wife Connie of Russia, won Little Miss Shelby County Fair.

The following photo and story appeared in The Sidney Daily Newspaper. According to the newspaper this little great niece of Joann beat out the older women in the contest (the four and five year old girls) to win the title. Congratulations, Eliza!

Contestants were judged on their poise and answers to questions. They were asked about their favorite color, song or poem, stuffed animal and pets.

Eliza, carrying a basket and a welcome to the fair sign, sang a rhyme for the audience. Her favorite colors are purple and pink and she has pets at home.

In addition to the trophy Eliza is holding, she received a $100 savings bond. Congratulations to Eliza and the whole family! We are proud of you.

If you would like to learn more about this fair event, click here:

http://www.sidneydailynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=97&SubSectionID=243&ArticleID=189666

Boston: Patriot and Red Sox Fan Heaven

Folks from Boston and Cape Cod are crazy about the Patriots and the Red Sox. And they can't leave the state of Massachusetts without bringing their fan regalia. Click on the second photo from the top to see Terry's Dad's little red socks on his shirt. Stroll down to the third photo to see an older Patriot logo on Samantha's son's baseball cap. By the way this little boy is also named Jack. In fact, this weekend found us with three Jacks in the house. Now stroll down to the bottom photo to see little Mia, Samantha's daughter, in her very pink Red Sox cap. Did you notice some boo boos on Mia's face? That is because she has just started walking and consequently has taken a few tumbles face first. Our rough brick patio Saturday night left an imprint on her sweet little face when she took off too fast to explore. And what do you do when you have more babies than high chairs in your home? You head to the Golden Corral in Manassas, Virginia for dinner. Did you notice that the two grandfathers were responsible for keeping Baby Jack in line at the dinner table?

Cape Cod Visiters

This weekend our grandson's paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. K flew down from Cape Cod to see Jack Aidan get baptised at the Floris Methodist Church and to see their daughter, Samantha, and son-in-law, Jim, become Jack Aidan's Godparents. The baptismal service was lovely and later the Sunday sermon the pastor gave was unusual and poignant. The topic of the sermon was Jesus and Christian kindness and to get us all thinking he connected Christian kindness to the story of Horton Hears A Who. We got to watch a church youth group act out Horton's kindness to the Who. And then we got to watch a video of ultimate human kindness and unselfishness played out in a women's college softball game where two of the opposing team players helped an injured runner round the bases and make a home run after suffering a torn ACL in her knee. This story actually happened in Washington state between two state university teams in the college softball playoffs. Well, I don't think there was a dry eye in the church after watching that video. And that had to be the perfect Sunday sermon for Baby Jack's relatives from Massachusetts who are die hard Boston Red Sox fans! Tomorrow I'll post a photo or two of Samantha and Jim's little toddlers who are in training to be adult Boston Red Sox fanatics.

Little Ohio Farmer

This little Ohio farm boy is Waylon, the great grandson of my brother Carl. His momma, Nicole, emailed me these precious photos. Waylon is six months old and already checking out the cars. The top photo was taken at the North Star Cruise-In where Waylon's uncle Chad had his souped up GTO. The bottom photo of Waylon in the stroller was snapped at the Great Shelby County Fair which is taking place this very week in Ohio. In the middle photo the little farmer is relaxing at home. This is the new generation of Ohio farmers. They still wear overalls but they dress up the look with a baseball cap from the Gap and footwear for the beach.

My Daughter Is Blogging On New Site

http://jennandterry.blogspot.com/
Our daughter, Jennifer, is blogging now on a new site. If you click on this you can see our Baby Jack on his real birth day. And if you scroll down a bit you can find photos of her kitchen makeover. Jack and I spent one week painting the oak cupboards white. The rest she had professionally installed. We all felt like we were on one of those HGTV makeover shows. But luckily we all got along better than some on those shows.

Family Celebration

Jack, Jeanine and I drove to the planned city of Reston, VA and met up with Jennifer, Terry and Baby Jack at Clydes Restaurant. This restaurant has three sections, each decorated in a different style: airplanes, sailing ships and horses. We were seated in the horsey section so Baby Jack was fascinated by this huge black horse above his head. The reasons for the June family celebration: two birthdays (Jennifer and Joann) and Father's Day. Our waiter was a Bulgarian young man here for two years on a work visa. He was very helpful and volunteered to record the event by taking a group photo with our camera. Jack Aidan didn't dance on the table like he did for Jeanine's birthday celebration in March but he did cruise the restaurant once or twice on Grandpa's shoulders. The family is beginning to learn that putting the two Jacks together at a social event is just asking for Trouble with a capital T.

We Are Pooped!

For the last two days we old retired folks have been putting in eight hour days at our daughter Jenn's home. We are redoing the kitchen cupboards. Monday they got sanded. Today they got two coats of primer paint. Tomorrow they get two? coats of paint. Thursday we finish what hasn't gotten done and Friday we install the new hardware. Saturday I'm taking a work break. I feel like I'm on one of those decorator shows on HGTV. But I haven't seen one HGTV show that has a crawling baby and a cat under foot while a project is being done. Baby Jack Aidan seems to be taking it all in stride. He is just very curious as to what we are doing in his house. Mr. Merlin the Cat got put away in an upstairs bedroom to keep his little paws out of the paint. Our daughter Jennifer is the program manager of this operation. First comes the painting. Then the new counter tops and sink will be installed by a kitchen supply company. Then the floor people arrive to install new hardwood flooring. So you guessed it. The program manager not only has a three step program but deadlines for each step. So we need to get to bed at a decent hour to hit the road again tomorrow. So much for listening to McCain, Clinton and Obama tonight. Oh, and VA is under a tornado warning tonight! So hold on to your bedcaps, it may turn into a dark and stormy night.

Epilogue to the Story

Last weekend Dr. Marilyn Schultz flew from Cleveland, Mississippi where she is an Assistant Professor of English at Delta State to Missouri to meet up with her two daughters, Monica and Rusty. Together with Monica's boyfriend they drove to Kansas State University where Dr. Marilyn Schultz had the wonderful honor of hooding her daugther. In the first photo you see Dr. Schultz and Dr. Schultz with a KS faculty member. In the last picture you see Monica with her sister Rusty before the ceremony.

The Newly Minted Doctor of Psychology

Earlier today I had you guess who the new Doctor of Psychology is of the four little girls in the picture posted yesterday. Well, before I give you the correct answer let me tell you the story. Jack's half sister, Marilyn, and her husband Lewis Schultz lived in Jefferson City, MO which is the capital city of MO. Marilyn who majored in English in college and taught high school English for awhile became a part time professor at Lincoln University in Jeff City. Lewis Schultz, Marilyn's husband, was a district claims manager for American Family Insurance. Life was good. Then the year after the two girls flew to see us Marilyn was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease which has plagued her ever since. But Marilyn was a survivor and she kept working at Lincoln University and raising her two girls. Then just a couple of years later Marilyn's husband Lewis died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack on a cold winter day in January and Marilyn was left to raise these two preteen girls. Marilyn did a fantastic job raising the girls all by herself. Monica and Rusty were both honor roll students in junior high and high school and went off to college where they continued to excel. Meanwhile Marilyn went back to school and earned her Doctorate in English from the University of Missouri in Columbia. Monica graduated from college and went straight to Kansas State to major in organizational psychology for her Masters. Meanwhile Rusty who had a double major in math and economics graduated from college and did Teach for America for two years in the inner city of Houston, TX. After that Rusty went to Boston College and got a Masters in math. Rusty in time returned to Houston where she now has a very fine business job using her math and economics skills and is about to purchase by herself a $350,000 townhouse in downtown Houston. I can't explain what Rusty does because it is way beyond my mathematical brain skills. However, I can now announce that the little girl in the previous blog post that got her Doctors is Monica! And guess what? Monica's mom, Marilyn, was invited to be the person to present Monica with her Doctor's hood. Tomorrow for my story's epilogue I will share photos of Monica getting her Doctors' hood from her mother, Dr. Marilyn Schultz. Left to right in top photo: Jennifer, Rusty, Jeanine, Me and Monica. Left to right in second photo: Jennifer, Rusty, Monica and Jeanine.

Prologue to the Story

It was a dark and stormy night. No, wrong beginning sentence. It was a light and sunny day. I was at Harbor Place in Baltimore in July of 1986 with four little girls in tow. Monica and Rusty Schultz had flown all by themselves from St. Louis, MO to spend a week with their first cousins, Jennifer and Jeanine Shipley in Virginia. At the time Jennifer was 10, Monica was 8, Rusty was 7 and Jeanine was 6. Jack and I thought that the two older cousins would hang out together and the two younger cousins would hang out together. Well, what did we know about the Meyer-Briggs Personality Test back then. Not enough to know that you don't put an introvert with an extrovert. So bedroom roommates quickly changed. Jennifer and Rusty, the two introverts, did their thing together while Monica and Rusty, the two extroverts, did their thing together. Midway through the visit we packed up the car with little girls and headed to Baltimore, MD to the Inner Harbor to see the National Aquarium and the shops and tourist sights surrounding it. While there we succumbed to buying the girls teddy bears and matching big and baggy tshirts. The girls proceeded to put on the big and baggy tshirts over their shorts and tops. Then we had to stop and pose for a photo for Mom and Dad Schultz back in Jefferson City, MO. That is the prologue to this story. Now let's skip to the end of the story. Today Jennifer, Monica, Rusty and Jeanine are all grown and have flown away to lives of their own. But all four have something in common. All four went to good colleges and earned both a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree. But one of these four little girls went even further academically. She got her Doctor's degree in psychology this past weekend. Make a guess as to which one it was. I'll tell you in my next blog posting when I tell you the story.

My Great Niece is Graduating

My great niece is graduating May 25, 2008 from Russia Local High School in Russia, Ohio. Jack and I want to send our congratulations to this outstanding student who has a 4.0 grade average and is quite the basketball player. We hope everyone attending the graduation party at the Catholic War Veterans Hall in Russia has a great time. You all will be in our thoughts here in Virginia.

Do You Remember Black and White TVs?

Are you old enough to remember the good? old days when the family had only one TV in the home and it was in black and white? I do. I also remember sporting events on TV and what would occur at our house to my dismay. But first, let me explain this photo. This is an old photo of my now deceased brother, Harold (Hal) Lawrence Gariety. Harold loved sports and he loved playing baseball in high school and in the U.S. Army. And while serving in the army Harold was stationed in Sendai, Japan where he played on an army team called the Black Knights. This is a photo of my brother in the Black Knights uniform in Japan. Harold was one of the team pitchers. This was probably the spring of 1955.





Now when I was growing up I didn't like any sport, especially baseball, because my three older brothers would insist that our family watch any sporting event on our black and white TV instead of any reguler show like a comedy, western or variety show. So I didn't enjoy watching the Cincinatti Reds or the Cleveland Indians play. Totally boring in my opinion. And when my brothers, especially Harold, took over the TV I would stalk off to my room to read a book. Maybe that is how I fell in love with books and reading. It was my refuge from my brothers and sports on TV.


Now in the spring when we would gather wild strawberries and had to de-stem them we would enlist the aid of Harold. He wasn't crazy about this task but my mom prevailed and Harold helped my sister and I do this task. Well, just to pester my older sister, Mary Ellen, and myself he would place the de-stemed strawberry bowl half way across the room and give each strawberry a pitch into the bowl. Some were curve balls and some were sliders or knuckle balls but all looked like fast pitches to me. I always felt sorry for those poor little strawberries being slammed into the bowl with a fast pitch. But in spite of their smashed appearance those tiny wild strawberries were the sweetest things to taste. Much much better than the big luscious looking strawberries you find in the grocery stores today that look good but have a bland cardboard box taste.

Ohio Queen

My great niece Hillary was selected the 2007-2008 Homecoming Queen for Russia Local High School in Russia, Ohio, my home town. And Hillary is the daughter of my niece, Darlene, who is also my godchild. The paternal grandparents are Paul and Iona of Russia. Are you one of those confused souls who can't figure out why a high school homecoming is in the winter instead of the fall? Well, that is because some high schools in the midwest are too small to have a homecoming connected to the fall football season (no football team) so they connect it to the winter basketball season. Which also puts more emphasis on basketball in the midwest. The tri-state area of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky is totally mad for basketball. Our best wishes go out to to Hillary and the rest of the 2007-2008 Homecoming Court of Russia Local High School in Russia, Ohio. Click on the photos for a larger and sharper image. And move arrow buttons to left and right to see the entire court if you enlarge the group photo.

Ohio Newborn

Nicole and Jon are proudly announcing the birth of their son, Waylon Grant Keller. This is the baby that has made my brother Carl a great grandparent and myself a great great aunt. With all that dark hair and dark eyes I see a lot of French in this cute little fellow. I just love looking at baby pictures!

The Tenth Day of Christmas

On the Tenth Day of Christmas we got a beautiful photo via email of the New Years Eve Baby Girl in Tucson. This is Rebecca Abigail Lowe. She arrived and weighed in at 7 lbs, 2 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. What a precious little Christmas present.

Memories of Aunt Corrinne

Aunt Corrinne was quite an independent spirit and fearless lady. She was the only woman I know who drove across country from Missouri to Arizona by herself with two preschool grand kids when she was in her 60's. Another time she drove alone to Washington D.C. from Missouri to visit her daughter, Vickie.

Aunt Corrine grew up on a Missouri farm and moved to Kansas City as a young woman to be a business woman. At one time she ran a restaurant in downtown Kansas City. Later she became a key punch operator for a Kansas City company. (Pre computer business practice)

She finally retired at the age of 65 but remained active in the following roles: widow, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. I will always remember her as a courageous woman who had a southern bent for hospitality and food. No one ever went away hungry from Aunt Corrinne's home. She prepared pounds and pounds of candy for relatives, co-workers and neighbors at Christmas time. Her favorite homemade candies were peanut brittle and divinity.

Jack has many fond memories of his Mom's older sister. Life was never dull with Aunt Corrinne around. She had a way of starting home projects and getting everybody involved in these projects. Even this fall she was supervising a remodeling project on her house!

My two daughters dearly loved Aunt Corrinne for she had a way of speaking her mind no matter what and Jennifer and Jeanine found this very refreshing. It was during a late October visit in 2002 that she showed both my daughters how to crochet. And could she crochet! Even though she was legally blind she could turn out crocheted afghans like no body's mother. While I was fixing supper each evening she along with Aunt Judy would sit by the fire crocheting and drinking bourbon and water. Now that's a southern dame! And she could even show Aunt Judy a new crochet stitch or two.

I will always remember Aunt Corrinne's beauty and style. She had the most beautiful grey hair and blue eyes. And she was not afraid to wear high heels as she grew older. I can still picture Aunt Corrinne in her new three inch high heels at Jennifer's high school graduation. My niece's husband, Guy Celeste, had to help navigate Aunt Corrinne from the high bleachers in the gym and thru the crowded hallways that day. She looked like a grand lady from the 1950's in her dress and heels. During her 2002 trip to Virginia Aunt Corrinne and Aunt Judy did the Washington D.C. tourist circuit from the Capital to the Smithsonian to Arlington Cemetery to Mount Vernon and to Monticello. She refused to use a wheel chair anywhere we went until the final day at at Mount Vernon. After a week of sightseeing she finally did admit that she was just a little tired so maybe she would sit in the wheelchair for a little ride down to Washington's grave at Mount Vernon. At the time she was 84 years old!

Oh, how we will miss Aunt Corrinne. And God better get ready for a heavenly home project or two or a new crochet group!

Corrinne Rosenberger 1918-2007

Corrine Rosenberger

Born February 8, 1918

Hale, Missouri

Died December 2, 2007

Lee's Summit, Missouri

I'm Free

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free

I'm following the path God laid for me.

I took His hand when I heard Him call

I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day

To laugh, to love, to work or play.

Tasks left undone must stay that way.

I found that place at the close of day.

If my parting has left a void

Then fill it with remembered joy.

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss.

Ah yes, these things, I too, will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow.

I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life's been full, I savored much,

Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all to brief,

Don't lengthen it now with undue grief,

Lift up your heart and share with me.

God wanted me now. He set me free.

Author Unknown

In loving memory of Jack's mom's sister, Corrinne Rosenberger, who had been in failing health this past year. God took her home for Christmas and all Eternity. Aunt Corrinne would have been 90 years old on February 8, 2008. Aunt Corrinne was quite ready and willing to "cross the bar" into Eternity. Therefore, I especially like the very last line of the poem above:

"God wanted me now. He set me free."

Marine Corps Ball November 10

These are photos of our daughter Jeanine at the Marine Corps Ball in Washington D.C. Jeanine is the girl in the the vivid blue dress standing next to the Marine Corps birthday cake. Jeanine attended the ball with six of her classmates from American University who are also in the Public Affairs Masters Program at American University in Washington D.C.

Jeanine had fun dressing up for the event. It was deja vu for Jeanine for she wore the dress she wore to the Hayfield Secondary prom her junior year in high school in 1997. Jack and I were duly impressed that she could still fit into the dress after ten years! From these photos it looks like the gang of girls had fun at the Marine Ball. Semper Fi!

Randy Wright April 1958-August 2007

Randy Wright
April 1958 - August 2007

In Memory of Jack's Nephew

Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey:
From childhood to maturity
and youth to age;
From innocence to awareness
and ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to desecration
and then perhaps to wisdom.
From weakness to strength or
from strength to weakness
and often back again;
From health to sickness
and we pray to health again.
From offense to forgiveness
from loneliness to love
from joy to gratitude
from pain to compassion
from grief to understanding
from fear to faith.
From defeat to defeat to defeat
until looking backwards or ahead
We see that victory lies not
at some high point along the way
but in having made the journey
step by step
a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
and death a destination
And life is a journey;
A sacred journey to life everlasting
Author Unknown