Mother and the Class of ’66

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014I hadn’t planned to go to the Class of ’66 lunch when I was in town. I had too much going on, the ’66ers are young whippersnappers, and the affair was being held at a place where I swore I’d never spend another penny after two bad experiences.

Then, I got this Facebook post from Jane McKeown Neumeyer: Ken, ask your Mom if she would like to be my guest at Monday’s Class of 66 Luncheon. I could swing by to pick her up. She is definitely an honorable member and more honorable than most of us. If not, maybe, you could drop by with your Mom during lunch sometime so that those of us who only know her through your blog could meet her. Oh, and we could see you, too. LOL!

Marilyn Maevers Miller puts on the pressure

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014Marilyn Maevers Miller weighed in: Thank you Jane, what a lovely idea!!!! By the way….she is so much fun!!

Wife Lila and Mother went down to Marilyn’s joint in Charleston one time and I understand that there was much hooting, hollering, hijinking and hilarity at the meeting. They laughed about it for days.

Marilyn, in the striped outfit, was on her best behavior today so I’d trust Mother to go down to Charleston for another play date.

Sally Wright Metz tugged on her arm

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014Sally Wright Metz tried to figure out which of Mother’s arms was the fake. She gave them both a pull, I think, but they stayed on.

Bob and Dick

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014Dick McClard, left, wonders how such a delightful woman could turn out a commie pinko son. Bob White is less judgmental.

Jane wouldn’t let go

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014I didn’t know if Jane McKeown Neumeyer was pulling a Sally Wright Metz arm check or what, but I didn’t think she’d ever let go of Mother’s hand. I’m glad she pressured me into bringing Mother, though, she enjoyed the celebrity treatment.

Brune Standard Time

Brad Brune '66 lunch 07-28-2014_7373Brad Brune, operating on his normal Brune Standard time, arrived late and after the group photo had been taken. He always likes to make a grand entrance.

The Group

Mary Steinhoff at CHS '66 lunch 07-28-2014Here are the folks who showed up (minus Brune). It looks like Mother has been accepted into the Class of 1966. I just hope they can keep up with her. (Her October Birthday Season is approaching. She’ll be 93.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Neumeyers Visit Florida

When we moved to West Palm Beach in 1973, Wife Lila and I discovered something curious: folks who hadn’t bothered to call us collect when we lived in Gastonia, N.C., suddenly started showing up on our doorstep as soon as the temps started dropping up north. We were usually happy to see them.

Over the years, the visits started tapering off. Maybe it was the bricks we put under the mattress, maybe it was because we pointed out the bullet hole in the window above where they were sleeping. Who knows what actually worked?

Neumeyers were welcome visitors

When Jane McKeown Neumeyer said she and her husband Don were going to be down this way from Madison, Wisconsin, to take in some spring training baseball, we said we’d be happy to meet up with them at The Loggerhead Cafe on the beach at Carlin Park in Jupiter (that’s a town, not a planet. It got its name because it was a stop on the Celestial Railroad, along with Juno, Mars and Venus).

Headed for the beach

After an excellent round of dolphin sandwiches, we decided to check out the beach. It was a perfect, if windy, Florida March day.

Watch out for the Wave God

Jane rolled up her pants, but not quite enough. (She’d have been fine in her high school majorette skirt, but she said she didn’t bring it with her.)

Folks from the Midwest take some learnin’ before they understand waves. I had an assignment to check out a report of a beached whale. When I arrived, I saw some helpful spectators who were trying to to push the grounded mammal back out to sea. The swells were long and gentle, so it looked like I’d be able to wade out quite a way into the water to be able shoot back toward the shore for a better angle. I had just turned my back on Europe and started to punch the shutter release when a rogue wave picked me up and deposited me next to the whale.

Fortunately, nothing was damaged but my pride. That’s about the time I started going to the beach about as much as if I lived in Kansas. Somebody or something out there wanted me and I wasn’t about it give it another shot.

Marilyn Monroe imitation

The wind was whipping Wife Lila’s skirt around, so she tried to imitate Marilyn Monroe’s famous steam grate pose with stage directions from Jane.