Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. ...
We have received cards and letters and read all of them with great interest. We rejoice with you in your joys and pray for you in your life challenges. You have uniquely blessed our lives; the memories give life warmth and meaning. Thank you.
Our 2024
This year, we chose to return among familiar family and friends to attend what is now the Chumuckla Community Church (Elizabeth Chapel). Alex, Holly, and the in-laws attend there, and we greatly
We had a chance to visit some family and friends - some well, some not so well- and appreciated our time with some amazing people. On a recent short trip to Chipley, we saw our Godson, Jordan (and Stephanie) Sewell, and visited the Gainer (Carswell) Cousins. I came away from there with a supply of sprouts of Japanese Yew trees, which they have on the property. They will go somewhere in my small woodland around the house, which I've been adapting into an amateur neighborhood disc golf course. I've had help to put in a lot of trees and shrubs that will, in time, color up the woods around us.
It takes a lot of help from a special team of skilled people to get these plants in the ground and keep up the yard because, for whatever reason, I still have fast-acting fatigue when I get near actual work. True Story. The racing heart and fatigue I have chalked up to my favorite social media theory about heart and circulatory damage from the MRNA vaccines -- of which I am fully loaded -- beginning at the very time I had a heart Ablation in 2020. I get around OK. But extended effort or short periods of hard effort put me out of action. The VA, Medicare, or five varieties of Doctors, and Rx have led to no revelations of what THEY think is the problem. So... I am going with social media. (I checked the facts, of course.)
New Orleans... The New Orleans School of Cooking and WWII Museum were our favorite things. These are worth a visit anytime you are in NOLA. Part of our Ship Reunion Tradition was having our Ship's Plaque displayed for a year by the New Orleans Irish Heritage and Whiskey Museum. Typically, we always leave the plaque with an Irish Pub in whatever town we hold our reunion. A hurricane drove us out of town early.
Over a few early months of the year, we replaced the carpet in our house with wood-look flooring. It is a lot easier to keep the dust down, but it was a lot of effort. All this without me being able to do much physical effort. It looks GREAT.
Karen's sister, Toni, finally got moved back to Florida and out of Texas. She lives in the home they bought from Jon Tinsley before he died. It allows a lot more opportunities for family gatherings over dinner. Others for dinners and shared events are Holly's parents and sisters. We attend many of the local Community theater programs and Church activities together. This is in addition to the many opportunities to visit and share time with my Brother's and Sister's families. It really expands the options for things to do and places to go. Karen also took time now to share her voice with the Chumuckla Church Christmas Cantata. It makes her happy to sing. I just listen. (FAMILY and FRIENDS)
One of the WEEKLY MUSTS is Vic's Saturday morning CRUDDS meetings with buddies who have coffee and share stories. Chumuckla Reprobates Utopian Debate and Discussion Society. Rule one is there are no rules. Rule two is ... see rule one. We have a great time. And the mix of people varies from week to week. One of the key members is our 93-year-old friend, Dick Miller. Often Dick and Vic and perhaps a guest or two will relax at home and watch a war movie. A collection of local friends from school or fellow veterans will combine appointment trips to the VA Clinic or specialists. Sometimes, Vic hosts the Jay Museum, and sometimes, the CRUDDS meet there. Vic is also a Board Member for the Coon Hill Cemetery and helps where he can. He also stays active with social media - to bring the unusual history of family or our region to the community. The region is growing very fast. The newcomers and old-timers seem to like learning the history... although Vic's particular version of history is not always accurate.
Our longest trips were to North Alabama and to New Orleans - both connected to Vic's shipmates from that short but memorable time in the Navy. We attended Capt. Bob Brown's memorial in Gadsden. I did not serve under him, but I grew to appreciate the man at reunions. I even had an insightful interview with him on my YouTube channel, me3tv. He was O'Callahan's first C.O. My actual first ship, C.O. Marvin Smith, is also interviewed on the channel. Another star of Naval leadership and later friendship. He passed away in 2023 (a WW2 vet).
EXTRA: The New Orleans trip included the annual ship reunion, where we visited with shipmates and the LAST C.O. of the O'Callahan (1989), Gary Schnurrpusch. My X.O. with O'Callahan was retired Capt. John Heidt. He passed away a few years ago, but his friendship and excellent memory of our combat details were always fascinating to absorb. While in New Orleans, I met a veteran of our command ship, Turner Joy, with whom we fought side by side on the LAST day of Vietnam to the Cease Fire (Jan 27, 1973). His knowledge of most of the totality of events those last days was far beyond what I took away. So now there is an interview with him in my podcast pages. It was a bit more dicey than I had felt at the time. Somehow, 1/2 inch of aluminum between me and the sea felt like total security.
He put me onto a book that detailed a big part of that last day, the loss of Cdr. Harley Hall, an F4 pilot - was shot down and executed. I only had small parts of that story and always pay respects at the very end of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. His prior command before this deployment was C.O. of the Blue Angels out of Pensacola. I am late learning all this from a decades-old book that Jim Chester wrote the forward to. "A Convoluted Conclusion" (an end to the saga of Harley Hall).
Karen, Vic, and LITTLE MAN,
We wish you the warmest of blessings this year. We are blessed with the best friends, family, and neighbors. Thank you for enriching our lives and being a rich memory in the building blocks of life.
