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C L A S S N O T E S
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Marty Connor
1440 Robin Road
Coatesville, PA 19320
610-384-4921
[email protected]
I was just rereading the Christmas cards
from Skeeter, Preston, Doc Emerick, Ed
Thomas, and Hocker’s wife. I didn’t hear
from Price or Fisher, but I’ll give you what
news the others gave me.
Hocker’s wife, Doris, is now living with
her daughter and husband. Doc’s wife, Gin-
ny, wrote that they are both well and live in
Gorham, Maine, and commented that it’s
a great place to live and it’s close to their
children. Preston and Carol are not travel-
ing as much as they used to but both are in
fairly good health. Skeeter is just content to
sit around with little or no exercise, but his
family k eeps him busy. His 95th birthday
was a big success. His daughter Kelly has
written her play of Emily Dickinson and
presented it several times during the year. It
was well received and revealed her skill as
an actress and author. She is still teaching
“Communications For the Media” at Salis-
bury University.
I still sing in the church choir and am the
oldest member in church, 89 years as a mem-
ber. Patty, one of my twin daughters, is now
the lay leader in our church. Her twin sister,
Penny, just had her second hip replaced in
eight months time. She is still in PT and try-
ing to get back in shape. She is anxious to get
back to running! My oldest daughter owns
a yoga studio and teaches four yoga classes
at West Chester University. I still exercise
three days a week at the Senior Center and
celebrated my 96th birthday with a surprise
party with 35 family members present. One
granddaughter came in from Madison, Wis.,
to be at the party with my 1 1/2-year-old
great grandson, Holden.
Hope to hear from you guys so I’ll have
more to write for the next Williamsonian.
As ever, Marty
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Dave Clark
801 Haldeman Road
Schwenksville, PA 19473
610-287-9065
[email protected]
Summer is here and all the goodies and
fun that come with it. What are your plans?
I’m planning to do some salt water fishing
around Atlantic City. I haven’t heard from
any of our class, but it would be nice to hear
from all of you. What are your plans and
what have you spent your time doing? Please
call or drop me a line. By the way, how times
change. Bob Hope was almost arrested on
the beach in Atlantic City in 1950 because
his bathing suit was topless. Oh, the good
old days. Have a great summer!
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Dick Phillips
127 Richard Road
Aston, PA 19014
610-497-3878
[email protected]
It has been a relatively mild winter, some
cold temperatures, but only a few snow
storms, two of which only produced a little
more than a dusting. The last one in March
gave us about five inches of very wet, heavy
snow and ice. Hopefully, Old Man Winter is
gone and we look forward to spring.
3/9/17: I have received cards and phone
calls congratulating me about the Freedom
Medal I received in November. In the in-
terest of brevity I will just write “Freedom
Medal” at the beginning of each note. I was
very honored to receive this award and I
thank everyone for the recognition.
3/9/17: (Freedom Medal) Received a card
from Norm and Jo Cressman, they wrote,
“We admire your dedication to the veterans,
the school, and, definitely, your wife. God
bless you and your family.” Thank you my
friends, Dick.
3/10/17: (Freedom Medal) A letter from
Paul and Cheryl Reid. “We were happy to
see the article in The Williamsonian. When
each edition arrives we get a cup of coffee
and catch up on everything at Williamson.
I was sorry to read that Donna had been
in the hospital and hope she continues to
improve.” They have been enjoying their re-
tirement and just returned from a car trip to
enjoy some warmer temperatures. They vis-
ited board member Frank Hake and his wife
Kathryn, in Alexandria, Va., and also Fort
Bragg, N.C., Savannah, Ga., Clearwater, Fla.,
Bonita Springs, Fla. Jacksonville, Fla., and
many other stops. When they are at home
Paul enjoys snow plowing and yard work
with his tractor and they both enjoy garden-
ing. They are active in their church and the
area library and love living in the country.
Paul and Cheryl, I thank you for the letter.
You are two of my most favorite people!
3/10/17: (Freedom Medal) A letter from
Alice Bohmler. She wrote, “Congratulations
to a very dedicated man whom I am proud
to call a sincere friend.” Thank you Alice, my
friend.
3/13/17: Alice Bohmler sent a separate
letter to Donna about all of the problems
Donna has had and wishes her a speedy re-
covery. Alice, Donna really enjoyed your let-
ter. Thank you!
3/13/17: (Freedom Medal) I received a
card from Mary Whitesel which stopped me
in my tracks. Who is Mary Whitesel? The
name was vaguely familiar but I could not
make a connection. After much thought
and research I came up with Albert Whi-
tesel 5W4 who was also a retired Scott Pa-
per employee. Low and behold, his address
was the same as the one on the card I had
received. I made a phone call and Mary
answered! We had a long, interesting talk,
found out that Albert had passed on several
years back and it turns out that “Miss Mary,”
as she was called, worked at Coeburn El-
ementary school where my granddaughter
Nichole attended and where I picked her up
after school. Well, Miss Mary remembered
us both! Small world! What a memory!
Thank you, Miss Mary and I hope you have
a healthy, happy life.
3/15/17: (Freedom Medal) Walter Mensch
called. He just had a checkup and his blood
labs are good. Walt is still working with the
trains twice a week and there isn’t a finer en-
gineer in the bunch!
3/18/17: Gerry Dewees called. Faithful
Gerry, she always calls after reading The
Williamsonian and I love hearing from her.
She is doing well and has a few normal aches
and pains which she keeps in control with
Advil. Her twin granddaughters are both in
college and doing well. Keep kicking, Gerry!
3/?/17: (Freedom Medal) Don Zimmer-
man called and we had a nice chat. He had
a contractor come in and build a new home
on the old foundation. It turns out that it
was done exactly like his original home.
His wife Kat has had a lot of back problems,
several operations, and still needs some help
with pain pills. Don, thanks for the call. Say
hi to Kat and we hope she feels better.
3/19/17: Got an email from David Weth-
erill stating he had notified the alumni about
his father, James Wetherill, passing, but he
didn’t know if it had gotten to me. He said
Jim was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in April
2016, they got him into a retirement facil-
ity in September, he went on hospice just
before Thanksgiving, and passed away Dec.
11. I had not received any word on this so I
called school to make sure that it was passed
on. I don’t have a current phone number, but
I hope to contact David soon.
Keep in touch, it’s later than you think,
above all be good t o each other.
Dick 4W8
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Will “Pills” Eastlack
111 Dock Drive
Lansdale, PA 19446-6230
215-362-3278
[email protected]
3-14-2017 Received a letter from Marge
Schrenk: This year has been a sad one for
our family since our oldest granddaughter
Janice, 43, died of a brain tumor. It’s not the
way life is supposed to happen. She’s at peace
now, but leaves two children behind. Fortu-
nately, they have a great father to help them
through the rest of their life.
I got to see Nina Lingenfelter in Florida
for the first time in two years. I really missed
her. We talked about all our old Williamson
friends and all the fun we had. Thank God
for the memories.
I enjoyed reading what Joe Petree shot this
year and his grandsons. Mickey would have
enjoyed it too. Can’t believe he’s been gone
10 years now; miss him every day!
We try to keep in touch with Williamson
and its activities; stay connected. God Bless:
Marge
3-2-2017 Received a letter from Joe Petree:
Dear Classmates, spring is coming, hope-
fully, after the snow and ice we had made
for very difficult traveling. Nice thing about
being retired, I don’t have to drive in the bad
weather. Doesn’t seem I’ve been retired since
April 2003. Doesn’t seem that long.
Had a birthday dinner planed for Stephen,
son, and Joey, grandson, last week. Both
birthdays were in March, but weather was so
bad we had to call it off until later.
I had a virus which has not cleared up; go-
ing to the doctors tomorrow. Had it a couple
weeks ago, but it came back.
Saw in the last Williamsonian about a
classmate’s grandson graduating from Fort
Leonard Wood. I was sent there for combat
engineer training, then shipped out to Korea
in 1952.
Family is well. Mary and I have arthritis,
but we are getting around.
My best to my classmates. Stay well and
healthy. Joe
3-24-2017 Received a letter from How-
ard Fluck: It’s time again for class notes.
Times goes quickly. Today is a good time
to catch up on paper work. Sorry to hear of
Dick Weaver’s passing. The ranks keep get-
ting thinner. I am happy to enjoy reasonable
good health.
In reading the last Williamsonian it seems
the school is always growing and improving.
It is very different from our time there.
As in the past, there is little happing in my
life. My son, who lived in the North Caro-
lina mountains, sold his home and moved
back to the Raleigh suburbs. He felt it was
better to be closer to business rather than
isolated in the countryside. Also am told my
grandson and wife are expecting twins. This
is first twins in our family.
I’m proud to see our class participation in
giving is 67 percent when the average is only
17 percent.
I’ll close for now wishing you and fellow
classmates my best wish. Howard
4-30-2017 A note from Will Eastlack :
Things are much the same with me, still
studying art, painting with water paint dif-
ferent objects and flowers.
Williamson had a beautiful exhibit at the
Philadelphia Flower Show.
This is about what Williamson has done
for us. I often think how fortunate I was to
graduate from Williamson. Even though I
furthered my education in college, I con-
sider Williamson the most important.
A few years ago I took a lady from a poor
church in Norristown to introduce her to
the school so that she would be able to in-
troduce young men. I had a junior show us
around and he said that after his freshman
year he went back to California where he
had worked for a contractor before com-
ing to Williamson. The contractor hired me
back for the summer and at the end of the
summer the contractor said to me, “I almost
didn’t hire you back, but you changed. You
can have a job with me any time you want.”
The school takes in 100 boys a year and
yet only about 75 graduate, not because they
fail, but because they can’t take discipline
and some leave because of family problems.
When we were there discipline didn’t seem
to bother us; we were raised with parents
that disciplined us with the belt. I was re-
stricted for three months, not allowed to
leave the campus, and had to work for the
school on Saturdays, but it didn’t bother me,
my job was to clean Joe World’s bathroom.
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Ray Unger
R.R. 2, Box 2051
Gouldsboro PA, 18424
570-842-2449
[email protected]
Hello classmates.
Here it is April 2 and we still have snow in
the yard. Looking forward to it going away
so we can get out on the golf course again.
It is just a short time till Alumni Day. It
would be great to see those who are in a po-
sition to attend and spend the day with you
classmates. We usually arrive prior to lunch
so that we can have lunch together and then
go out and spend the time visiting with and
remembering how it was before.
Those that can, we find a local restaurant
to attend and enjoy dinner together.
I did as always hear from John Clymer
and he reminded me that he has now been
in his new home for some years now. He
also reminds me of the gathering of another
group of Williamson alumni for a lunch in
the area. The place is called Shady Maple. I
see where there are several classes who get
together there on occasion. Let me hear
from you.
Ray Unger
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Donald W. Zipse
417 Bluebird Crossing
Glen Mills, PA 19342-3362
610-358-1462
[email protected]
The previous class notes were due in Janu-