Janice Scott (Vitton)

Janice Scott (Vitton)

Good morning class, Alvin Phillips shared his pins with you and I am sharing some of the items I have saved. Since Covid started, I have been doing some deep cleaning in my closets and drawers.  I have enjoyed looking thru it all including our yearbooks and other "stuff". The picture I sent ahead are some of my memories, my "stuff".

Jerry and I enjoyed reading Bill Butler's fun and funny post. BHS was so successful our Senior year in many sporting events. We appreciated the time that must have taken to write it, very creative.

I had a nice conversation with Susan Dowell about her neice, Hanna, singing with her brother, Joe. What a great connection between father and daughter, from heaven to earth.
 

Being our ages, I am not up on a lot of technology so I called Barbara (Kincaid) Mencken and she walked me thru on how to get a picture off your phone, IPad to the website. Thanks for your assistance, we appreciate your time that you give to keep our class entertained and informed.

Keeping you all in our prayers and hope to see you ALL in 2022.

Janice (Scott) and Jerry Vitton 📚

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

 Below is a picture of the Band of which I was a member of all three years.  Janice shared some of her memories now I'm going to share one of  my experiences  in the Band which is still sharp in my mind after all these years.  We were marching in the Memorial Day parade which went South on Main Street to the Bloomington Cemetary.  We reached the corner of Main and Wood Street and Mr. Bauer had us take a left onto Wood Street, dropping completely out of the parade and then turning onto East Street.  Here we are, the BHS band marching down East street all by our lonesome selves with people coming out on their porches to see what was going on but we marched on.  I'm still amazed by this, when we reached the  entrance to  the Cemetery, we fell back into place where we were supposed to be and continued on,what are the chances of that happening?  To this day I still don't know how we managed that but each time I think of my band years I think of that.  Anyone else remember?

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Earl Hargis!!!!

Phil Hershey (Hershey)

Happy Birthday my young friend, hope you have a great day.

Your old friend Phil

Susie Dowell (Emery)

Barbara, It really is astounding that your band was able to get right back into place. I imagine  the families on East Street really appreciated your coming down their street. It must've been exciting for them.   

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

I was really hoping the ground would open up and swallow us, let's just say it was not one of our finer moments.

Bill Butler

          Dan, I finally got a break and a chance to answer your question of 1-23-21 about calling the Fearsome Five basketball players for bed checks.  Yes, I recall having to do that odious chore.  Let me share with The Class of ‘62 the types of responses I got when I called these guys.

Call to the Shirk residence:  “Hello, this is Bill calling to make sure Jim is home and in bed by 8 PM.”  Response: “Hi Bill, Jim is still at the library doing research on the molecular structure of peanut glazes and the effect of covalent polar bonding between yummy hydrocarbons and rare oxygen isotopes and plotting their phase diagrams.  His lab in the basement hasn’t exploded yet, so I guess he hasn’t exceeded Avogadro’s Number of atoms per mole of glaze and therefore probably making progress on some new products.  I am kinda worried though about the stability of that compound above 63^o F when he shakes it.  Oh well, he should be home in several hours and I’ll tell him you called.  Bye now, have a good day.” Click.

Call to the Spahn residence:  “Hi, this is Bill, is Bob in bed yet?”  Response:  “Bob in bed?!  Hey, you kidding me?  Bob’s outback in the driveway playing 21 with his older brother Larry – or I should say, beating his brother again 37 games out of 40.  Good luck pal, Bob will be in bed when Larry gives up, OK?  Bye.”  Click.

Call to the Feek residence:  “Hi, this is the basketball team manager calling.  Is Buzzy in bed yet, it’s 8:15 and the coach said I had to call you.”  Response:  “Naw, Buzz is not in bed.  Buzz’s pet monkey has a girlfriend who performs down at the circus, so the monkey ran away to join her, OK.  Buzz had to go down there and have a talk with his monkey.  They’ll be home ‘bout midnight after Buzz stops off and buys some more bananas.  Besides that, Buzz can play ball with one arm tied behind his back and eyes closed and doesn’t need much sleep.  So long, bye.”  Click.

Call to the Brent residence:  “Hello, this is Bill.  I’m calling to see if Rod is in bed yet.”  Response:  “Oh Bill, I’m sorry but Rod is out shoveling snow.  I’ll hold the receiver next to the window.  Can you hear him bouncing the basketball between shovel scoops?  One hand shovels and the other hand bounces the ball.  He bounces, throws a scoop of snow, bounces, et cetera.  Isn’t that cool?  The only problem is when he tries to shovel the steps he loses his cadence and the ball goes flying into the street.  It’s good practice though.  I just hope he doesn’t get frost bite because he also shovels the whole block just to build up his arm strength.  I’ll tell Rod you called, bye.”  Click.

Call to the Peterson residence:  “Hi, is Ron there please?”  Response:  “Who’s calling?  Are you the cops?”  (Me):  “Who’s that who says who’s calling?”  Response:  “Who’s that who’s saying who’s that who says who’s calling?”  (Me):  “Hey, come on now, who’s that who says who’s that who’s saying who’s that who says who’s calling?”  Response:  “OK, if you are who you don’t say you are, Ron is down at the pool hall hustling some dude by the name of Minnesota Fats.  That’s all I know, but I’ll let him know someone is looking for him, OK?  He won’t be happy though!  Adios.”  Slam!

          Now those are just typical calls.  The real juicy ones are not printable.  The other question about handing out pills (aka dietary supplements) to the players is also coming back to me.  As I remember, Coach Wood told me to give these pills in this specific order; he stressed that pills must be taken in order in order to be effective (btw, that’s not a typo):

Bob:  A,C, and E vitamins.

Jim:  not sure exactly what we gave Jimmer because he always got a handful and said they made great nutrients for his mom’s plants in her solarium.

Rod:  C vitamin, oil of coconut, oil of castor, L-lysine, D vitamin, unctuous flaxseed, D-mannose, E vitamin.

Buzzy:  magnesium, E and A vitamins, niacin, hempseed, omega-3, manganese, B vitamin, root of ginger, echinacea.

Ron:  an experimental concoction of brewer’s yeast, cayenne (red pepper), garlic, probiotic, semi-probiotic, melatonin, krill oil, fiber, ginkgo biloba, beano and gas-x for brain health.  (We had no idea what ginkgo did but it sounded exotic; we also didn’t know if Ron actually took all this or just sold it on the black market, but given all his furtive moves and excessive speed on and off the court, we figured maybe he did;  when he writes his memoirs, we’ll know for sure; lastly, we eliminated the horney goat weed complex for obvious reasons).

          OK, Dan, there is one last item for clarification, all humor aside….  the away Decatur game.  Maybe you have some additional insight into the issue Coach Wood had with the way the court was set up.  I remember that Decatur placed a light directly behind their defending basket in the first half.  It was up on the stage with the curtains open.  Our team objected because it interfered with a fair and equal shot opportunity.  Maybe the players remember that incident, but I think it did affect the outcome of the game.  I am also not sure how the issue was resolved, if it was.  Perhaps the curtain was closed?  Any recollection of that problem might shed some light (ooops!) on why the Raiders narrowly missed being state champs.

Dan Shickle

Bill Butler, 

I hated calling the guys, I am pretty sure Dave B didn't apprecite the call.   No one one else complained, but I could detect the calls.were not appreciated.

At Decatur I was probably sitting near near Jim Barnhart keeping stats.  Don't remember any problems as I was no where near the team. I know we both had victories by one point.   Down at Maroa I was with the fans opposite the teams.  We should have beaten Decatur.as our defenders boxed out, but they slapped at te ball over our heads and they went into the basket.  It wasn't just one but several balls.  I have never witnessed any thing like that since.   

The championship game was that game at Maroa.  It was to bad we were in the same sectionals.  tThat would have been a great final game.

Dan

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Phil Hershey (Hershey)

Bill and Dan you guys are hilarious. I have really enjoyed this thread. Please give us some more.

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

We are going to resume the Breakfast at Shannon's on the 10th at nine o'clock.  I realize there are some who are not comfortable with eating out but for those who are we'll see you then.

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Ron Peterson!!!!

Bill Butler

Hello Phil….          I’ve been exceptionally busy studying the great historical philosophers and intellectuals of the world and will take a break to summarize what I’ve learned so far. Philo, as in Phil (what a coincidence!), is Greek for “the love of learning”, and so the quintessential concepts of the most vexing question ever asked by mankind, i.e., what is the meaning of life, are now being revealed to me as described below.

          My research on the meaning of life began when, by accident, I encountered many paradoxes that remain unsolved, such as:  Is the projectile regurgitation (multiple up-chucks) scene in Monty Python’s, The Meaning of Life (1983) more or less funny than the puke scene (one barf) in Animal House (1978)?  I almost died laughing watching both, so when I regained consciousness I was left with the words of wisdom from Dean Vernon Wormer (Faber College) when he said to a student who just flunked out…. “Flounder, you can’t go through life fat, drunk, and stupid.”  Now, that’s serious advice, but is it the last word about the state of the human condition?

          Hang on, I’m getting to the essence of this narrative and perhaps can answer that question.  The most significant and esoteric gems emanating from my research do not come from the old guys, e.g., Pythagoras, Buddha, Confucius, Zeno, Socrates, Plato, Diogenes, Aristotle, Cicero, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Erasmus, Bacon, Voltaire, Hume, Kant, Shakespeare, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Chomsky, Ron Peterson, and hundreds of more modern thinkers up to and including Yogi Bear.

          Surprisingly, Yogi Berra (not Bear!) tops my list!  It is incredible that a New York Yankees catcher has given us the sage advice and super-esoteric facts of life that keep us going and smiling.  We are familiar with his incredibly insightful, “It ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings” and “de ja vu all over again” quotes, but there are hundreds more; let me pass on 24 of some lesser known quotes from our pre-eminate National Philosopher Laureate, Yogi. (I just made up that title; quotation marks not included).

1.  I never said most of the things I said.

2.  If you ask me anything I don’t know, I’m not going to answer.

3.  If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.

4.  A lot of guys say, ‘Hey Yog, say a Yogi-ism’  I tell ‘em I don’t know any.   They want me to make one up.  I don’t make ‘em up.  I don’t even know when I say it.  They’re the truth.  And it is the truth, I know.

5.  When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

6.  You can observe a lot by just watching.

7.  No one goes there nowadays.  It’s too crowded.

8.  We make too many wrong mistakes.

9.  Congratulations!  I knew the record would stand until it was broken.

10.  You couldn’t have won if we’d beaten you.

11.  Never answer an anonymous letter.

12.  The future ain’t what it used to be.

13.  Slump?  I ain’t in no slump.  I just ain’t hitting.

14.  It gets late early out here.

15.  OK, let’s pair up in threes.

16.  Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.

17.  If people don’t come out to the ball park, nobody’s going to stop them.

18.  Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

19.  It was impossible to get a conversation going…. Everybody was talking too much.

20.  I never blame myself when I’m not hitting.  I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats.  After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?  [note: this is an incredibly important diagnosis and should be hanging on the office wall of every good psychiatrist in the country!].

21.  A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.

22.  Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.

23.  You better cut the pizza into 4 pieces ‘cause I’m not hungry enough to eat 6.

24.  I don’t know if they were men or women running naked across the field – they had bags over their heads.

          Phil, as you can see, Yogi cuts to the chase of this dilemma regarding the meaning of life.  Athletes like Yogi have an uncanny insight into the challenges of life, competition, and survival in a world awash in chaos and uncertainty, e.g., see #20 above.  Life doesn’t have to be complicated if you view the world according to Yogi, …no conundrums or stress to worry about, no complicated theories, no nagging questions about which movie barf scene is the funniest, just simple common-sense explanations, right?  And, as I always say, don’t take life too seriously or you’ll never make it out alive. 

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Sandy Matheson Mier!!!! 

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Allan Mapel!!!! A

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

This is a picture of the Illinois House which has to be really old because it has horses and buggies as a mode of transportation in the picture.   Jackie Lewis Wohlwend's Dad had his  Jewelry Store on the corner for many years.  It now houses office space.

Phil Hershey (Hershey)

Hi Bill Butler,

Thanks for helping me understand the meaning of life. I keep it even more simple then Yogi's rule 20 (BTW I have always loved Yogi's philosophyon life). While I think rule 20 actually works especially when used to justify the purchase of anything that will help my golf game improve. My  rule is surround yourself with family and they will make you happy. Rose and I have 3 kids,11 grandkids, 3 great grandkids, 3 grand-dogs and one grand cat.

Life is good.

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Don't forget this Wednesday, Breakfast at Shannon's starting at nine.

Bill Butler

Phil,          You proved my premise about the universal and successful philosophy of life according to Yogi Berra.  I think that it can be summed up in the rationale, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, …and it’s all small stuff” (per R. Carlson, 1996), and in the music of Edith Piaf, 1960, singing Non, je ne regrette rien (French for No regrets, I regret nothing).  This is the most beautiful song I have ever heard; it has a real meaning-of-life message, and it will probably be the background music playing when the black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy swallows up our solar system (just kidding … about the background music, not the cosmology!).

          I could tell by your photo that you have a great and grand family.  Congrats!  I am envious, but on the other hand, Envy is one of the 7 capital sins (see, The Seven Deadly Sins, French film 1962, 1963 U.S.), so I won’t go there and I’ll just keep working on reducing the remaining 6: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth (laziness), Wrath, and Pride, and hope to avoid purgatory.  There’s a whole lot more vices to discuss but right now I need to grab another bowl of ice cream, go to my appointment with my sadist for 30-minutes of flogging, check the stock market report, and then go take a long nap.

          Phil, did you ever realize that our BHS Class of 1962 is quite unique in the framework of experiencing life’s tribulations?  Maybe, like you, we understand what is truly important.  We probably have endured more major events in the history of mankind than any other generation.  Start with our parents who made it through WW1 and the pandemic of 1918,  and then the Depression of 1929.  We were born during and made it through WW2 and the Korean War in the ‘50s and the Viet Nam War in the 60-70’s, the Middle-East War that we’re still fighting (the longest U.S. war ever), and now the covid-19 pandemic that we’re still in.  Notwithstanding, our generation still managed to put a man on the moon and return the crew safely.  These are major world events, and, as Walter Cronkite would say, we were/are there!  Unfortunately, the bad news is that we are now experiencing the 6^th Mass Extinction of species on our planet during the last 500-million years (I studied the extinction that occurred 250-mya in grad school).  The sobering upshot is that we are witnesses to an extraordinary and unparalleled history of civilization; our class has been tested and we are getting pretty darn good at survival.

          So, not to worry you about black holes and mass extinctions, I’ll leave you with some more Berra-type axioms.  He didn’t really say these but they fit the genre.  The first 3 to come to mind are: 1.  “Scientists have recently discovered that chocolate, music, and sex all stimulate the exact same spot in the brain.”  (hey, I’m not responsible for how you use that one!).  2.  “The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” (I heard that one long ago but cannot remember the source), and 3.  “OK everyone, give me coffee and no one gets hurt.” (that’s a sign in my office).  I sure hope all that fits into the category for the meaning of life.  BTW, I am currently working on what is the essence of absolute truth, plus some official addendums to Murphy’s Law, i.e., “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Gosh, what an optimist!  Cheers.

Ward "Corky" Snearly

Patty's brother sent this to us and we thought you might find it interesting regarding the Bloomington connection to "The Wizard of Oz".  Best, Corky & Patty

https://relocatedtourist.com/2021/01/06/dorothys-grave-from-the-wizard-of-oz/

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

I wanted to add a little something to Corkys post.  Years ago that Cemetary was a terrible place to go into, they didn't keep it up and I couldn't imagine anybody in their right mind wanting to be buried there.  I hadn't been in it for years and this last year I drove through there and couldn't believe what they'd done.  It's a complete reversal of what it was, the grounds are beautiful and you could spend a day walking around in there.  If you get the chance go through it and see a lot of Bloomington History, it's worth it.

Phil Hershey (Hershey)

Thanks Corky and Barb for this wonderful post.

Phil Hershey (Hershey)

Hi Bill Butler, again I really enjoy your insights into so many thought provoking things that surround our lives.

In the late 60's as many did I discovered a band that that had a much different sound and beat. A very interesting lead singer. They had a song titled No One Here Gets Out Alive. The band was "the Doors" and of course the singer was Jim Morrisson. Perhaps more of a poet that sang. They are still my favorite band. While only seeing U-tube videos of their concerts I was able to  see both Robby Kreiger (creator of "Light My Fire") and Ray Manzarek the keyboardist doing a Doors cover concert at the House of Blues in Dallas.

I any event I liked the thought that No One Here Gets Out Alive (certainly at age 27 Morrison unfortunately proved that) but thought why not try to prove that theory wrong. So I continue to enjoy all that life is and each day in a little way I prove it wrong at least for that day. There is also a more recent philosphy that I have begun to follow also from a song by Trace Adkins. I quote:Toby Keith hatches a plan for remaining forever young — in spirit, at least — with “Don’t Let the Old Man In,” a slow-moving acoustic ballad that soundtracks a scene in Clint Eastwood’s movie, The Mule. Google it and enjoy it.

I may be on the back nine but I have just begun with a birdie on 10.

Karen Johnson (Hostetler)

Barbara Kincaid (Menken)

Happy Birthday Larry Keeran!!!!