I raise a toast to each and every one of you as a New Year dawns. A calendar marking the days of 2002 is a much-welcomed sight for many. Every life is different. Each person views events of the world from a different vantage point, a different angle; therefore, the same picture produces different images in the mind and different feelings in the heart.
Headline events from the annals of 2001 have been unsettling for the most part regardless of the station in life from which they were viewed. The most prominent happenstance that fell from the pages of 2001 was the terrorist attacks perpetrated upon those in the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in northern Virginia, and in airspace over western Pennsylvania on the now infamous day of September 11. That day brought us pause. A pause in which much of the world has joined us. A pause much like that you may feel at the apex of a roller coaster ride - just before you begin a rapid descent down the track filled with exhilaration tempered with fear.
Most of you have heard of my affection for roller coasters and the thrill they exude. Before you get on a roller coaster, you can observe the layout of the track and you can anticipate the twists, the turns, the loops, the free falls, and the end of the ride. With life it is the same, but different. Like a roller coaster, life is filled with ups and downs, peaks and valleys, twists and turns, loop the loops and quick straight a ways, slow climbs to the top and free falling descents. Unlike the clear end of the ride you can see on the roller coaster, life's end is certain yet vague. Even when death is expected, its arrival is unexpected. Even when you say you are prepared for the death of a parent or ill loved one, you are not prepared. Such is particularly true when death visits a child, a spouse or a life long friend "before it's time." 2001 brought upon us, the Class of 1970, that which is expected yet unexpected, or at least unwanted. But such is life.
The first Miles' Files of 2001 was entitled "2001 - A Hound Odyssey (Beyond the Kennel)" and noted that an odyssey is a long journey marked by wanderings, adventures and hardships. Indeed, life itself is an odyssey. The farther along life's path we travel, it seems our wanderings are more uncertain, our adventures more exciting and our hardships more heart wrenching. Nonetheless, we persevere and continue the journey because "life goes on." So does the roller coaster, but you do have to pay for another ride once the one you are on has ended. The roller coaster ride called life is without interruption.
While the world is bidding farewell to 2001 and paying tribute to those of notoriety and celebrity status who have passed on from this life during the year, we are remembering friends, children, grandchildren, parents and other loved ones who now walk a heavenly pathway to music written by the late Beatle, George Harrison. The Miles' Files has previously noted the passing of close friends Richard Brand, James Morehart, and Johnny Thomas during 2001 as well as two beloved grandchildren of littermate Danny Cordell and his wife Margie. Among our classmates who lost a parent in 2001 you can count Bobbye Ellen Davis, Gene Bennett, Greer Guinn, Joe Black, Mike Willhite and Mickey Doyle whose father Chester died just last week. Who can forget Chester Doyle's smiling face and friendly laugh while he cheered on young baseball players at Newport's Legion Field? As a personal aside, Mickey's mother and Chester's widow was the attending nurse who comforted me the night my own father passed away eighteen years ago. I hold her in my heart this day. 2001 also marked the passing of Lena Baker, my ninth grade Civics teacher who was adored for her innocence among mischievous classmates, Dorothy "Money" Pennington (mother of John, Bruce and Betty and life partner to the spirited Wardell) who treated me as her own, Dorothy Adams (a neighborhood mom from my childhood), and J. C. McGaughey who was an icon within my Newport church family at First United Methodist Church. I am certain I have not recounted all those lost to this life this year who influenced me in the surroundings of my "hometown" of Newport over years past since all the news of the day does not reach me. These lives mentioned "touched" me either directly or indirectly through their loved ones and they will always be remembered.
Death is a notable hardship you are bound to encounter on life's journey. Disabilities, illness, accidents, job loss, economic downturns, divorce, estrangement, alienation are sure to impose upon your life or the life of a friend somewhere along the journey. Cherry Lou Smith's mother was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. What to do? Pups have a dogged determination (a pun intended) in the pursuit of happiness. While we are now aging Hounds, I feel you are still pups at heart and an enduring playfulness persists. I have seen the wagging tails and panting with tongues hanging about when we have gathered for reunions or in other small groups to reminisce about times past and the friends who created those times. 2001 brought us together for an Encore Reunion (a unique 31 year gathering) in June that was a real hoot.
Earlier in the year, Freeman Travis, Mike Stephens and I met for dinner and three hours of laughter. I got to "sit in" on a most memorable retreat to the football season of 1950 with distinguished Hounds John Minor, Joe McDonald, Donald Ray and Claude A. Foushee when they visited their coach Red Nelson in Arkadelphia in November. I enjoyed wonderful visits with former teachers Virginia Umsted Castleberry, Ima Jean Paige, Helen Shoffner, and Butch Duncan during the year. I have enjoyed "talks" with many of you via email and on the phone and personal reminiscence with the likes of Jimmy Toler, Donnie Washam, Kenny Thaxton, Mike Fortune, Mike Brand, John Pennington and so many others. And while the occasions of funerals for some of those who did leave us to death in 2001 were tempered with sadness, they were brightly lit with the faces of friends not seen in many years. What joy those "get togethers” have brought to a loving pack of littermates and other "old" Dogs of Yore. 2001 also adorned the life of littermate Bobby Joe Forrester with a new son and brought grandchildren into the lives of other members of the Class of 1970 (I'm still much too young to be a grandparent). It also brought us "good news" with the improved health of cancer battlers Mary Wynne Parker Perryman, Darlene Black (wife of Joe), and childhood pal Karen Fortune Cathey (Class of 1972). I have visions of fun loving Pups!
These Miles' Files are now directly circulated to 66 members of the Class of '70 and 111 other ancient Hounds or friends of Newport High Schoolers from days gone by. I want to tip my hat to Harriet Brantley Lane (Class of '64) for her creative flair on the NHS website and her unfailing maintenance of the site. Harriet is a real Lady among Tramps. Thanks to her, you can now retrieve each of the Miles' Files scribbled out since March of 2000 from the "Reminisce with Us" section of the NHS website.
Our class of 1970 vintage Hounds now has 55 registrants on the site with Billy Allen Ray recently joining our circle of classmates who can be reached with simple strokes on the keyboard. Welcome Billy! This forum also reconnected me to Jeannie Pender and her daughter Katie this week. Jeannie is the former wife of high school classmate and college roommate Eddie Crawford who lost his life in an accident in 1984. Katie is their daughter who is now a 22-year-old young lady. While we can no longer physically embrace Eddie, we can hold him in our hearts and remember him with laughter. I am grateful to Donny Appleton for pointing Jeannie in my direction. Thoughts of Eddie bring smiles.
I must ask all of you to make note of an email address change for me. I can now be contacted at: jmiles@iocc.com. I separated from my job yesterday and joined the ranks of the unemployed. The bank for which I toiled did not meet expectations in 2001 and it is time to change coaches. I have no definitive plans at present. I have had thoughts (dreams) of being the field manager for the St. Louis Cardinals or Cincinnati Reds (two really great baseball towns), the curator for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, a best selling author, or a cabana boy in Palm Springs or Cabo San Lucas. Let me know of any exciting career opportunities of which you may be aware. As my intellectual guru Oscar Wilde once said, "Life is too important to be taken seriously."
My wife, Kathryn, and I just returned from a respite to New York City. We arrived on the 100th day following the September 11 tragedy that befell the city and found it in transition. We enjoyed several Broadway shows including the Producers, Cabaret and the Full Monty. We also heard Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave fame) at B. B. King's on 42nd Street. "Hold on, I'm Comin'." Window-shopping at Christmas time was a real treat and the crowds were wonderful. The area near "Ground Zero" was somewhat somber. A feeling that our children’s generation may embrace the happenings of September 11, 2001 as their “Pearl Harbor” captured me. Different lives. Different vantage points. Different expectations.
Life is indeed much like a roller coaster - filled with ups and downs, twists and turns, some anticipated, some not. On a roller coaster I experience some apprehension as the slow climb up the initial incline on the track readies me for the thrilling ride ahead. In life I feel a similar excitement as I prepare for the remainder of the ride. I can't help but think of words from Jimi Hendrix's first single "Hey Joe." "Hey Joe, where you gonna go to now, where ya gonna go?" Exciting, intriguing, frightening ... such is life!
Welcome 2002! Born of another infamous time are the words "Happy days are here again" which were sung out on the heels of the stock market crash of 1929. "Happy days are here again, the skies above are clear again, let us sing a song of cheer again, happy days are here again!" I wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!
I remain on this roller coaster called life and Miles from nowhere ... may God take your hand in His,
joe
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