Elba AARP Monthly Dinner Meeting

Allene Lee, Jeanette and Jim DeShepper,
Bob and Syble Hahn - 2008 Officers

Last night was our monthly AARP covered dish dinner and meeting in Elba at the Senior Center on the town square. Jim and I have been members of this group since 1996 when we moved to Alabama. We joined to get acquainted with people our age and I can say we have met a lot of nice people over the years. When we joined, many were older and they have since gone on to meet their Maker. We were only 62 and probably the youngest members at that time. Now, at age 74, we are among some of the older group.

Over the years Jim and I have both served as President and held most of the other offices. I have prepared the yearbook for the past several years since nobody else knows how to use the computer well enough to do this. 

Party at Nursing Home

When James turned 50, we told him he could join AARP and go to the meetings with us. At first he resisted, but now he enjoys going and seeing everybody. It's difficult to find a sitter in the evenings to stay with James. Our meetings only last for one hour (6-7 pm). He gets home in time to watch his baseball games.

Over the years we have accomplished a lot of group projects. Every May we have a bingo party at the Elba Nursing Home with refreshments and nice prizes.
At least once a year, we invite our local state representative and senator to come give us an update. Pictured here: Rep. Terry Spicer, with Program Chairman Jean Moore on the left and President Jim Gilmer on the right.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, we go all out and have turkey and dressing for Thanksgiving and a big baked ham for Christmas. Many of the members live alone and we want to have a good holiday meal. We enjoy a lot of good homemade dishes. Always a lot of good desserts and in the summer, a bounty of fresh vegetables. It's the best kept secret in Elba! Then following the meal, we have short programs; sometimes informative, and other times just fun stuff. In August we always go out to eat as a group.

We have both participated in AARP sponsored programs including teaching the Driving Classes and working for 8 years as AARP Tax Aide Volunteers, preparing income taxes.

And of course we have our AARP member cards that we use to get discounts at hotels and other places. We also enjoy the montly magazines and newspapers we get from AARP.

Where else can you belong to such a fun organization for $2 (dues) a year?

The End of a L-O-N-G day!

James and his Bama Jam shirt

Some days just work out to be longer than others and today was one of those. It was time for James' quarterly check up with the kidney Doctor. Last week he had his lab work done at Elba Hospital lab and all the reports (3 pages) were at the Dr's office this morning. We're all very apprehensive the day of his check up. He has been in renal failure for several years now and this is nothing new. It's just that we are concerned that we will go to the Dr. and he will say that he has to start on dialysis, 3 days a week, 4 hr sessions. He is almost at that stage, and has been for about 4 years.


We got up early, got dressed and had a good breakfast before leaving for Dothan to see the Dr. at 10:15 a.m. James wanted to wear his new BamaJam shirt today. The Dr. was pleased with James' lab test results and actually dropped one of his medications, Zocor, which he was taking for high colesterol, which was down to 100. James was so pleased with his good report, that upon leaving Dothan he asked if I would call his staff at the workshop and tell them the good news.


It takes about 1-1/2 hours to get to the Dr.'s office. We had a list of things to do while in Dothan and in Enterprise on the way home. We don't take unnecessary trips anymore. One of our stops in Enterprise was to get posts, cement, etc to replace posts holding up a section of our wooden fence that fell in yesterday's bad storm. Then a stop at the curb market to get a bag of shelled pink-eyed purple hull peas they had reserved for me ($24). We'll have some for dinner tomorrow night, along with some hot, crusty corn bread. Jim bought some homemade chocolate ice cream while there. It was 2 pm and we hadn't had lunch yet.We arrived home, put away our groceries and other purchases, and then had a quick lunch so we could go back to Enterprise at 4 pm!


Jim had a board meeting of his Pea River Historical and Genealogical Society at 4:30 pm. James and I shopped at WalMart while he was there and at 5:30 we picked Jim up after his meeting. He took me to Enterprise College and dropped me off for an hour so I could speak to a child development class, talking about how it is to be the parent of a mentally handicapped child. They asked lots and lots of questions. They were amazed that James was in the first special education class in Atlanta, GA (DeKalb County), in the 1960's.


While I was at the college, Jim took James to eat at his favorite restaurant, Burger King.We arrived back home around 7 p.m. and James said, as we turned into our drive, "Oh, Boy. It's good to be home again. I can't wait to get in my favorite chair, relax and watch a ball game on TV." I don't think he has gotten out of his chair in the past hour.


And then, I started to think of the things I didn't accomplish that need to be done. They'll just have to wait until tomorrow. Taking care of the tree that blew over (came out of the ground) at the playground, finding a speaker for the AARP dinner when the scheduled speaker could not be there, pick our Concord grapes to make jelly and wine (they are very ripe), and lots of other things waiting to be done.


I just think I'll just go into my Scarlett mode and "think about all that tomorrow". Besides I have a good movie to watch tonight.

What to do when the lights go off

For several days now we have had afternoon thunderstorms with rain and lightning. The rain we need but not the "fireworks". A storm came up real fast this afternoon, while Jim was trying to finish cutting the grass. He had to stop yesterday when it stormed. Again he had to stop before he was able to finish.

TV sitting on top of car

We had a terrible storm with high winds and heavy rain. Trees were uprooted over the area and lots of limbs fell. Our electricity was off for about 3 hours. While waiting for the power to be back on, we looked for things to do that didn't require electricity. We were most anxious to learn about storms in our area and wanted to know if they were gone, etc. We were unable to hear any weather news on the battery radio. I remembered that our little b&w kitchen TV had a power cord to connect to the car battery. We went outside and hooked the TV up to the cigarette lighter and voila! instant TV. We tuned in Channel 12 in Montgomery for local news at 5 pm and guess what. There was a golf game going on and no weather news until the game was over.

Jim and James watching TV outdoors

We must have caused some stares by motorists passing by when we sat on the front porch in rocking chairs, looking at TV on top of our car in the carport, while we were without electricity. We heard all about things taking place in Montgomery today but there was little news about our really bad thunderstorm. We did learn that there would be more rain throughout the day. And every day next week except Tuesday.

We watched as our neighbors trees blew over in their yards and big limbs fell. Part of our wooden fence fell when one of the posts broke off at the ground level. All afternoon you could hear chain saws buzzing in the neighborhood.

One good thing about the rains, we haven't had to water the flowers or lawn in a long time. The grass was never greener. Keeps Jim busy on his riding lawn mower. Today he was 2/3 finished and by the time it dries up from all the rain today, he'll have to start all over again.

My cousin's 50th wedding anniversary

Ed toasting Sharon and Tom

On July 6th we traveled to San Destin, FL (Miramir beach area)to attend the 50th wedding anniversary of my cousin Tom Nix and his wife Sharon, at 6 pm, with a big dinner at the beach house of their daughter Janet's husband Ed Lemaster's family.

We actually arrived there around 4 pm and were surprised that there wasn't nearly the traffic we had expected for a 4th of July week-end. We enjoyed visiting with lots of my cousins, children of my dad's only sister, Aunt Mattie Lena Stanley (deceased). Tom and Sharon and their daughter Janet and their son Jimmy all live in Orlando. Siblings Linda Westbrook, Betty Sauls, and Kathy Edmondson all live in Elba. Their brother Bill from NC wasn't able to attend. It was so much fun sitting on the deck looking out over the Gulf of Mexico, enjoying the breezes, and talking to the relatives and watching the kids play or swim in the backyard pool.


Their daughter Janet and her husband Ed, along with their teen-ager Clay, were busy decorating when we arrived. Their nephew and niece, Stevie and Denise Sauls, assisted with decorating and the snack table. The delicious barbecue meal was catered and cooked on the spot. It was more than we needed to eat, but so good. 

Betty and Kathy (Tom's sisters)

After we ate on tables around the pool, and visited for awhile, we went upstairs to the living room and deck, for the beautifully decorated anniversary cake. The seashells were made of white chocolate. Ummmm
Janet had made large posters of some of the wedding pictures taken in 1958 and placed them around the big living room.

Denise and Sharon

 Their Best Man, Taylor Steele, who was Tom's best friend in high school, and his wife Joan came from Enterprise and surprised Tom and Sharon when they arrived. Other friends from the past came to the celebration, along with many of Tom's relatives. Sharon and Tom met in Atlanta when he was working and going to school and she was in nursing school. Sharon was from Gallion, OH. We were also living in Atlanta so we got to know Sharon before they got married. Sharon was from Gallion, OH. Her immediate family (parents, sister and brother) are deceased.

Tom is just a few years younger than I so we have known each other about 70 years! We don't see each other very often since they have lived in Orlando, since before Disney World. We see each once or twice a year.

Taylor Steele and Tom

Janet and Denise

Tom and his family, and his siblings and their families always spend a week or two together at the beach every July and their 50th wedding anniversary just happened to fall in July so it was the perfect time to celebrate the occasion while they were all together. I'm so glad they invited us to share this memorable event with them.

Stevie Sauls and sons, Collin and Chase

The Sewing Lesson

Our "almost 13" year old granddaughter Caroline came
from S.C. came for a visit recently and I taught her how
to use the sewing machine and how to sew. One entire
afternoon was spent learning all about the machine; how to thread the machine and bobbin, and to learn to use the foot pedal. Then I gave her a "sewing license" I designed on the computer. Her goal was to make something to wear while she was visiting us.

Skirt made from old neckties

For 4 days she sat at the machine and sewed all kinds of things. We cut out a dress and she sewed all of the straight seams. I used a pencil to mark the seam lines. She would get so excited as we finished up each garment. She made a dress, a blue and a yellow top, 2 skirts, and some bags. I am including a fashion show below.

Dress Caroline made

Her favorite thing was the necktie skirt she is wearing in  photo on the left.. We bought 

Skirt Caroline made

a white top to wear with the skirt. She opened up some of Jim's old silk neckties and I helped her sew them to make a unique skirt - an original! It has an elastic waistband and a lining.

Blouse and skirt Caroline made

We had so much fun while she was here. She, my sister Carolyn from NC, and I went to visit Aunt Ida in Brewton and then on toDestin, FL for an overnight sunset at the Gulf. Carolyn went home to NC the next day and Caroline began her sewing lessons.


The last night at our house Caroline finally had time to ride the golf cart in the yard. She asked if I'd take a picture of the beautiful sunset.


I took Caroline to Atlanta and met my sister Alice
there for an afternoon at Fernbank Science Center and
to Stone Mountain that evening for the laser show
and beautiful fireworks. The next day my sister took
Caroline back home to SC. Caroline is the youngest of
our 5 granddaughters and they've all spent time at Grandma Camp each summer.

Flay Day - June 14

Today is Flay Day and we put our flag out early this morning while it was still foggy. We have been flying a flag on special occasions for as long as I can remember.


I always enjoy seeing the large US flags flying on tall flagpoles when we travel places. Especially if the wind is blowing, making flag furl in the breeze. It bothers me when people leave tattered and torn flags hanging. Before he died, our neighbor used to call and tell people when they needed to replace their flag.


You only have to leave the US and travel to other parts of the world, and come home and see our flag displayed to make your heart swell with pride.


As a member of the Daughters or the American Revolution, we take great pride in promoting "fly your flag". We say the Pledge of Allegiance at our meetings and sing the Star Spangled Banner. I belong to some other civic groups and we too always say the pledge. I hope we never stop doing that.


I remember when Alaska and Hawaii were added as states and 2 more stars were added to the American flag in 1960. We had a flag with 48 stars for a long time.


Today we are saddened with the death of a great newsman, Tim Russert, who died from a heart attack yesterday while at work. I think it is very fitting that his home town of Buffalo, NY has their flags flying at half-staff. Recently our young friend David Bannister, who was a city councilman, died suddenly, and the city honored him by flying the flag at half mast.


God Bless America!

Our family's Boy Scout experiences

When we heard on the news today about a tornado hitting a boy scout camp in Iowa, so many memories of our sons Ronnie and Bill and their scout camping experiences came to mind. I'm sure there were many that they didn't tell us about in fear that we'd never let them go again!

One of the first is when Ronnie went on a camping trip to N. GA when we lived in Atlanta in the 1960's. He was with an advance group that went ahead to the mountains to prepare for a troop week-end camping trip. Soon after they arrived it started getting dark and started snowing. It was almost a blizzard. They packed snow around the base of the cabin to keep out the wind. They had enough food to last for awhile and I don't remember if they had any heat. All I remember about the trip was being so concerned about if they were keeping warm. Of course, the trip was called off and the other campers remained at home. It was a couple of days before the snow melted enough for them to get down off the mountain and come back home.

Bill Gilmer

We went through the Cub Scout, Webelos, and then the scout ladder all the way to Eagle with Ronnie and Bill. James was in boy scouts at his sheltered workshop in NC for a short time. He definitely did not like going camping after one experience where it rained and they were in tents and he got wet. That was enough for him.


Bill and Ronnie both spent summers working at Camp Dierks in SE Oklahoma when they were in high school. Bill started out working in the dining room. I remember that one summer Ronnie taught Archery. Most of all I think they enjoyed swimming and canoeing in the cold lake. What I remember about Camp Dierks was the big bags of very dirty clothing, esp. towels, they brought home occasionally to wash. They weren't paid very much but loved working there, meeting new friends, the good food, and learning a lot about the outdoors.

Ron hiking at Philmont 

Perhaps the most memorable time for us was when Ronnie went with a friend Doug to Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in New Mexico one summer. He started cutting grass for friends and neighbors early in the spring to earn enough money for his trip. He and Doug went by charter bus with scouts all over East Texas.

We had traveled out west with the boys the summer before and had some idea of what the area looked like; lots of big mountains once you get out of the desert area going north. I remember that some of the mountains had snow on top all year long.

While Ronnie was away and Bill was working at Camp Dierks, Jim and I agreed to work at a camp for mentally handicapped kids which our son James attended. The camp was held at a Girl Scout camp just a few miles from Paris, TX where we lived. It was really isolated and we didn't have cell phones, TV, etc. to get any news during the week. One day Jim went back into town and went by our home and the phone was ringing. The Paris News reporter had been trying to reach us to see if we had heard from Ronnie and we told him where he was. They had seen an AP news release about a scout who had died and they suspected bubonic plague and all the campers were quarantined until they could find out what caused the scout's death. As I said, there wasn't any way we could get info except that the scout was not from Texas and we than assumed Ronnie was ok. He was on a trail in the mountains and they let them move to an area with a cabin and pack mules to ride. Food was dropped to the campsites while they waited out the medical report. Ronnie showed us his pictures of the "Bear bag" and how the bear got to their food one night and pulled it down from the tree. The bear bag photo here was from Google.

We were anxious to get back home to listen for any news from Ronnie, and we finally heard that his group was fine and would be coming home the following week. It was decided the boy died from a complication he had before coming to camp, with a chest infection, etc. The high altitude was too much probably.

Ronnie and Bill both earned their Eagle Scout rank and I'm sure they remember a lot of good scout experiences. Their dad accompanied them on some of their camping trips but didn't volunteer too often. He said it was hard work! Besides, he didn't like sleeping outdoors and all the bugs, etc.