May 31, 1961 - May 31, 2009

Do you remember what you were doing 48 years ago today? I do, now that it has been brought to my attention by another classmate. <smile>

On May 31, 1961, at 7:30pm we were to be on the Hudson Street side of the Hirsch Memorial Youth Center and form into two lines. At 8:00pm we were to march into the auditorium and remain standing until Mr. McKenzie sat down. Then we could be seated.

A total of 504 Fair Park 1961 classmates stood that night when our name was called and received our Fair Park diploma. We then moved the tassel from the right to the left side of our cap, and thus officially ended our “high school” days.

If anyone has any photos taken at our graduation send me a copy and I'll make a new photo album for the big event.

Suspicious Emails

Have you received any emails recently that invite you to click on a link to view photos sent to you by a classmate? I have, but the classmate had no knowledge that such an email had been sent to me. In fact, the classmate was also getting the same type emails from the same organization. I marked the emails I received as SPAM so my email program will now treat any additional emails from that email address as SPAM.

My initial concern with this SPAM email was that clicking on the link might activate the download of a virus to my computer. That is one way viruses are spread. Not wanting to take a chance with a virus I just deleted the email after marking it as SPAM.

I "Goggled" the company name shown in the email and they are known for sleazy practices. This company's behavior illustrates why it is a good idea to use the Bcc line of the email form to hide the email addresses of folks you email. A Spammer getting an email addresses is harder when the Bcc address line is used for the recipient's email address.

If you get any of these type emails do not respond to them. Use your email program to mark the emails as SPAM or JUNK and then delete them. And consider using the Bcc line of your email form, especially when you send emails to multiple recipients.

One other thing is also worth considering. If you receive a forwarded email that has lots of email addresses showing in it, just delete those addresses before you forward that email to others.

If you have any questions about this topic drop me a note.

Fran & Marlo's Mayo Clinic Performance

Fran & Marlo Cowan (married 62 years) playing piano together in the atrium of the Mayo Clinic. He turned 90 in February 2009.

Emily Jane Newberry

A memorial service to celebrate the life of Emily Jane Leslie May Newberry will be held on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 11:00 am at First Presbyterian Church in Shreveport. Visitation is Wednesday, May 13 from 5-7 pm at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Dr. in Shreveport. Jane passed away on Friday, May 8, 2009 in Shreveport, where she has lived since 1949. Her parents, stepmother, her first husband, Mitchell V. May, second husband, James W. Newberry, and grandson, Benjamin Leslie Caldwell, predeceased Jane.

Mrs. Newberry was the step-mother of '61 classmate Johnny Newberry. You can access the obituary and Guest Book for Mrs. Newberry by clicking on the title to this article. Please remember the Newberry family in your prayers.

Looking For Mary Ann Cole

Henry Pharis from the FP Class of '62 sent a note asking for help in finding someone. Here is Henry's note:

I received a note from my cousin, Mike Johnson. He is trying to make contact with a girl that used to live next door to his grandparents, Edith & Jeff Duncan. She attended Fair Park in the '54-'58 time frame. I would appreciate you sending your feelers out. Her name was Mary Ann Cole and any information would be appreciated.

If anyone has anything that might help Henry let me know so we can get it to him.

Update - 5/21/2009

Thanks to Mary Palmer Strange for sending an obituary today showing that Mary Ann Cole is deceased. That info was forwarded to Henry for sharing with his cousin.

Researchers Hijack Botnet, Score 56,000 Passwords In An Hour

The dangers we face on the Internet are discussed in this article. Click on the Title line to read the article.

Update On Sammie Lowe Beasley

Helen Lindsay Rigg visited Sammie today in the hospital and provided the following info on Sammie's recovery from heart surgery.

Visited Sammie..still in ICU, but supposed to go to a room this evening....& she is okay. In good spirits & beginning to feel better after an infection.  I'm still saying prayers.

Thanks Helen. If you get more info please pass it along.

Navigating The Blog

In the blog article dated 4/27/09 I explained how to be sure the blog articles you read get counted by Google's blog tracking software. However, the process I described wasn't very easy to follow. The good news is I have found a much easier way to do it.

• When you find an article you want to read just click on the title of the article. That will ensure the article is counted. After you read the article click on the Return (or Back) arrow located at the top left corner of your internet browser. That is the same arrow you may already be using to return to web pages you previously visited. Clicking on that arrow while in the blog returns you to the same spot you were before you clicked on the article title. If you find another article you want to read just repeat the process.
  
  
• Some folks may be able to right click their mouse on the article they read and choose "Back" from the popup menu that appears. This is just another way to do the same thing as clicking on the arrow.

If this process doesn't work for you please let me know. Be sure and tell me which browser you are using.

New Cars ~ Old Cars

I saw an article in the newspaper on 5/1/09 saying:

The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro will makes its debut at noon Wednesday at Chevyland.

For a few minutes my thoughts drifted back to 1959 when the new Chevy's arrived at Chevyland. The '57 and '58 Chevy's were such dream cars I couldn't wait to see what the '59's looked like. I knew there wasn't a prayer of owning one any time soon, but dreaming was still free.

First chance I had I dropped by Chevyland and went inside. I stopped and just stared for a few minutes at what I saw. It was not a stare of awe, but of disbelief. I thought how could they have done what they've done to this car, especially those rear "wings" on the car. If you don't remember what the '59 Chevy looked like here is a YouTube video to remind you. If you care to watch there are additional videos regarding Chevys that you can watch by clicking on the video links at the bottom of this video. Some of the videos will really stir your memories.