In the past two weeks, Jamie and I were invited to two different surprise parties; the first one, like I wrote about last week in my column, was Carl Francis’ 95th birthday party.
Then, we were invited to his son Gary’s and Gary’s wife Susie’s 40th wedding anniversary.
There were two different venues though; Carl’s at the Elks in Greenville and Gary and Susie’s at the Ansonia American Legion.
We had a lot of fun at both events, and saw a lot of people I knew and met people I hadn’t seen in a long time, which was an added treat.
Gary and Susie also have six grandchildren who were also in attendance as were lots of other relatives and friends.
“I was very surprised, but the hubby was not so much,” said Susie, who was a Baumgardner.
And, in a Facebook message afterward, she remarked, “I wouldn’t want to do this life with anyone else.”
How romantic!
There was music performed by Dyslexic Funk, and, lo and behold, we knew them too. One of them saw Jamie, my son, and came over to our table during a break. The older one, the drummer and singer, asked me if I remembered him, and I said his face looked familiar. Here it was Danny Page, son of Dale Page and the late Ruth Page, friends of ours from the past.
Danny, who is the drummer for the group, said his son, Jason, is the one who was playing the guitar and singing. Danny remembered me from interviewing his family quite a few moons ago. I was surprised he remembered me but so glad he came over and introduced himself and his son.
That made my night. For just being two of them, they were great performers.
I’m so glad we got both invitations to these two surprise parties. I think we needed that. It’s always a treat when you can get reunited with friends and we sure did that the past two weekends.
The biggest treat of the most recent one was getting to talk more in-depth with Carl Francis,
They were taking photos of people in attendance close to where we were sitting and toward the end of the evening, someone told Jamie to come up and get his picture taken, so he told me to come along. I didn’t want to leave Carl there and asked him if he would pose with us and he was willing to do it.
The week before, I was at Carl’s party and took photos and, with the help of his granddaughter Jamie Francis Wisner, we got a slew of them for my column.
I am glad we got our photo taken of Carl with us. It’s one I can keep for myself. Carl is one of my heroes, and he reminds me of my own father.
Congratulations, Francis family, and keep on keeping on!
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Jamie and I extend our condolences to the families and friends of Anthony Duane Wright, Shirma Pence, Beth Keihl, Carson McKee, Marcia Ballengee, Mary Pat Royer, Anthony Duane Wright, Janice Thompson, Andgie Booher Shirk and Lloyd Stith.
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Seeking prayers for these people: Linda Johnston, Amy Brewer, Jené Riffell, Patricia Maier, Ken Wombold, Delores Beisner, Mike Hopkins, Jodi Gilpin Snyder, Charlie Bulcher, Ron Moody, Charlyee Severance, Justin Fritz, Jeremy “Jerm” Burke, DeWayne Yohey, Katrina Hoening, Kent Snyder, (cousin) Carol Byrd, Gladys Neff, Kara Didier, Carl Francis, Craig “Cheese” Thompson, Bridget Brown, Don DeBord, Otis Stewart, Chris Clark, Slug Midlam, Bob Peters, Phyllis Brumbaugh, Judy Collins, Linda Gasper, Carol Hemmerich, Stephanie Klingshirn, Brenda Schlechty, Betty Burnfield, Dan Lockhart, Roberta Hall, Pam Norman-Penticuff, Kelly Kelch, Mike Mayse, Steve Waymire, Nikole Baldridge, Chester Bryant, Lester Beisner, Mark Lovejoy.
Also, Judy York, Donald Booker, Dennis Leeper, Connie Stachler, Randy Heck, Ronnie Norton, Gary Eichler, David Pretzman, Clinton Randall, Ralph Byrd, Sonja and Dan Coppess, Bruce Kaiser, Amanda Mote, Paul Gigandet, Doug Whittington, Tracy Pratt, John Rimmer, Joan Keen, Larry P. Fitzwater, Jim Thomas, Neal Gray, Judie Hathaway, Randy Garrison, Kathy Gragorace, Donna Bixler, Cathy Melling, Scott Clark, and all others who are suffering from other life-altering illnesses.
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Happy birthday:
Aug. 8 to Ty Gasper and Dick Billenstein.
Aug. 9 to Kathy Wagner, Carrie Stachler-Robbins, Robin
Grice, Jason Billenstein, Lisa Parsons Miller, Adia Brooks, Kim Ward, Steve Garland and Barb Westgerdes.
Aug. 10 to Tom Lawson, Krista Widener, Keith “Slick” Schlechty, Tammy Subler Morrison, Tonya Blocher, Janet Webb and Ryan Cox.
Aug. 11 to Stanley Duncan, Gary Middleton, Michele Arthur, Lois Fowble, Chris Miller, Diane Barga,
Aug. 12 to Debbie Nestor Baker, Paul Hartzell, Jordon Wright and Mike Clack.
Aug. 13 to Brad Albritton, Mattie Hiestand, Brittany Ulman, Sondra Shiverdecker White, Rick Hadden, twins Ross and Grace Dapore, Troy May, T.J. Phlipot and Lane Clark.
Aug. 14 to Bonnie Wagner, Amber Neal, Therese Pohlman, Dennis Pratt, Theresa Siefring, Brad Lentz, Don Short, Janet Bolin and Roxie Thornhill.
Happy anniversary to: Hugh and Melinda Linebaugh on Aug. 10; and Randy and Mindy Ward on Aug. 11.
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Think about it: “Folks who attempt to climb high up the tree of knowledge are sometimes trapped out on a limb.” –Author Unknown
