Puzzles to Ponder

I received a great gift via Facebook recently when Monica Moore sent me to a link from a Forestville group.  The group was discussing having Dad as an English teacher.  As a child, I was completely aware that Dad taught English to upper level high school students.  About the only specific thing I recall about that was his making kind of a big deal about baking a cake (with peanut butter frosting?) to take in and share with his students to prove that he could.  Sounds just like the Dad we all knew, right?  But, other than that, I really didn't know much about Dad in his professional role. 

Monica lived on Dennison Road heading toward Forestville.  I can't really remember how we became friends but I imagine it was through Brenda Hazelton who was also a Forestville student.  It was a minor mystery in my mind how we went to Silver Creek but Brenda and Monica went to Forestville when we lived between them, on the other side of the road.  Monica's dad was a farmer as I recall.  There was a landing strip on their farm and he took us for a ride in a plane one time.  That seemed like a big deal--and it was!  After we moved to Buffalo Street, I lost track of both Brenda and Monica but we've been reunited through Facebook.

Anyhow, perhaps you saw the FB conversation but just in case you didn't, here you go (in part):


One of the few things I remember about Mr. Ryan was his way of pronouncing the word "extraordinary". He always said it with 5 syllables "ex-tra-ord-in-ary", but with his accent it sounded like a very polished way to pronounce it versus the more typical 3 syllables "extraod-in-ary" or 2 syllables "extraord-nary".


I remember one time when he got ticked atthe students in his class - he climbed up on his desk and threw erasers at the students . . .  Now THAT sounds like Dad


I remember having him for both 11th and 12th grade English. He's the reason I studied English in college.


We were one of his first classes at FCS....he did that "New England thing" of adding "er" to the end of words, therefore he always called me "Linder"...I remember he was dramatic in the classroom, but I do not remember what he said about swearing


A great deal of drama when we were reading Macbeth! I also babysat when their first was only a month old. One of my favorite teachers.  Long, long time ago

 Anyhow, I really enjoyed reading these comments and they touched me deeply.  As a teacher, you always hope your legacy will look like this.  Jim certainly has that for himself and it's very heartwarming.  This conversation was also shared with cousin Cathy who shared it with Uncle Tim.  She said he literally had a tear in his eye which chokes me up even writing this.

So, naturally, I went seeking some more information about Dad's time in Forestville and discovered that I could sketch out an interesting family timeline related to our homes.  Until recently I never knew Mom and Dad lived in Forestville.  I always thought we lived in Olean when I was born but perhaps this was similar to when he worked in Ellicottville and lived there during the week.

I'm having a grand time reviewing old Lake Shore News papers.  I had completely forgotten about this publication and it's just full of newsy-news.  In this quest, I learned something else about Dad that I never ever knew--that he ran for the Silver Creek Board of Education.  This page might be hard to read but there are two big articles on it related to this.  Buried in here we learn that our Dennison Road house was the last house in the Silver Creek district (perhaps explaining a bit about how Monica and Brenda went to Forestville).  From 1963:

Naturally he was embroiled in some kind of controversy and apparently he lost the election or I am quite sure we would have known that he had been on the Board.

Another article I found verified what I thought I knew about moving to Dennison Road --that we moved shortly after Paula was born. From Aug 1960:

There was a Bob Stoll in my class that I dated for a bit.  Coincidence???????

So, Monica gave me quite a gift with this link she shared as it led to these discoveries.  How interesting to get to know a different side of Dad.  It helps to complete some of the puzzle.  And to think it's likely that I've only scratched the surface here.  And what clues will be found about ourselves 50 or 60 years from now??
Puzzles to ponder during a snow storm. 

Back in the Day 1987

I recently saw that 2013 is a year in which none of the numerals repeat themselves.  This has not been so since 1987.  (Good evidence right here that I spend way too much time surfing the web.)  So I thought it would be fun to take a little walk down memory lane to 1987 and compare it to 2013.

Ronald Reagan was president and the New York Giants beat Denver in the Super Bowl back in the day when the Super Bowl was held in January :)  Les Miserables and Married with Children debuted speaking to the social conscience of the day.  Mark McGwire is a rookie and Jessica McClure falls down a well which captivates the media for the next several days as we all watched anxiously.


Jim and I had been married for two years or so when we learned that Amy was on the way. First time pregnancies fill your brain in ways few other things are able to so most of the remaining part of that year was focused on our new status as parents.

This was taken on a camping trip in June that we took with Glenn and Cheryl to Sandy Pond.  Shortly later, we learned I was pregnant and I remember thinking we'd spent this weekend not knowing this important news.  Cheryl told us that weekend that she was expecting Kaitlyn.  Little did I know.

This is where we lived until 1991.  I liked that car.  I'd almost forgotten it.

We returned to Rocky Shores Inn in Gloucester to celebrate our anniversary.  This place did not allow children so it was our last visit for a while.  Jim's really rocking those shorts, right?

Jim helping Mary Jane with her Christmas tree that year.

 We spent Thanksgiving with Nanny.  Swore never ever to fly again on Thanksgiving weekend.

 We chaperoned the senior trip to Disney that year.  I think it was their 15th birthday and my first visit.

Awww.  Harry

2013.  Barack Obama is POTUS -- something I wonder if Reagan ever considered might happen.  The Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl in New Orleans and they weren't even a team yet in 1987.  Cinderella debuted on Broadway and we went to see it.  It did surprisingly well even garnering some Tony nominations and winning one for costume design.  The Goldbergs debuted on network TV--a show ABOUT the 80s.  Yikes.  And the media event of the year was probably the Baby Watch for young Prince George.  Nothing like royal weddings and babies to capture media attention.

We welcomed Birdie, Grace and Lori to the family tree!  How lucky are we?  I got to honor Mom's long standing wish by taking a trip to Ireland AND spending extended time in Gloucester.  Retirement is truly a blessing.  

This is a 2013 version of a sunset picture after I've been working on some photography skills.

On that 1987 Disney trip, I suffered from some pointed remarks from my companions regarding the number of pictures I took of flowers.  I like to think I have refined those skills also.  Pictures now are decidedly more scenic harking back to the days (1987) when there weren't children's sweet faces and antics filling the viewfinder.  We now have 3 cats rather than good ole Harry.  You'll notice he still had his full tail back then.

And a pretty cool 1987 photo sprinkled with some 2013 style magic!

And, last but not least (even though it took place early in 2013), there was the famous Ryan Christmas celebration at Judy's.

Hope to see you all Jan 5 here at noon!

It will be 2014, another year in which the numerals do not repeat but a post like this will not repeat :)