Updating Alumni Information

Have you noticed that the Email Directory page of our class web site provides a link for you to use in updating your contact information? When you click on the link titled "Update Address" a form opens that you can use to accomplish this task easily and quickly. Just type your address information in the correct blanks of the form and then click on the Submit button at the bottom of the form. The whole process usually takes less than 2 minutes to complete.

I mention this capability because as we move ever closer to our 50th year reunion having your most recent contact information becomes very important if we need to contact you for any reason. If any part of your address info changes don't hesitate to update your information. If most of what you provide is the same as what's already in the alumni records, that's okay. In fact, it will be confirmation of the continuing validity of that data.

Death Of Danny Stegall

Frank Bright sent a note saying a half-brother of Danny Stegall had told him that Danny passed away suddenly on Tuesday, 2/23/2010.

The last address we have for Danny showed him in Richmond, TX, a community southwest of Houston. As more information becomes available I'll pass it along. If anyone sees an obituary for Danny please let me know. In the meantime, keep Danny's family in your prayers.

Addendum - 2/27/2010

Danny's wife has passed along that Danny's wishes were no obituary or memorial services. Those wishes were honored.

Egg Trick/Fight

From the days when staying up late was worth the effort.

Herbert Vann Greene

Mr. Greene is the brother of classmate Don Greene. Please keep the Greene family in your prayers.

_________________________________

Visit Guest Book until 3/26/2010.

Lt. Col. Herbert Vann Greene (U.S. Army, Retired)

BENTON, LA - Funeral services for Herbert Vann Greene, 71, will be held at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, February 25, 2010 at Calvary Baptist Church, 9333 Linwood, Shreveport, LA 71106. Officiating will be Bro. Step Martin, Bro. Billy Crosby and Bro. John Fream. Interment with full Military Honors will follow in the N.W. LA Veterans Cemetery in Keithville.

Visitation with the family will be from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, Southside.

Herbert was born on August 31, 1938 in Bernice, LA to William and Virgie Greene. He passed away suddenly on February 22, 2010. He graduated from Fair Park High School in 1956. He attended Tulane University on a football scholarship, then graduated from Northwestern with a BA in sociology in 1960. He was a probation officer with Caddo Juvenile Court, a claims supervisor for Aetna Insurance Co. and in 1974 he started his own business, AIR, Inc. that he ran for 28 years before retiring in 2002. Throughout those years he also served his country proudly in the U.S. Army Reserves with the 4013th and also the 95th division. He completed Basic Airborne earning his Parachutist Badge and served as an MP officer.
He was active in the Auditorium Class at Cypress Baptist Church after moving to Benton in 2005. Prior to that he was an active member in the Pastor's Class at Calvary Baptist Church. He loved football and spent years officiating high school athletics throughout the state. After moving to Benton, he became involved with the Benton Lions Club and was currently serving as President.

He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Marla Greene Churchman. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Edna Jan Barnette Greene of Cotton Valley, LA; daughter, Kelly Greene-Byram and husband, Kelly of Shreveport; son, Hunter Greene and wife, Emily of Baton Rouge and son, Jade Greene and wife, Joni of Lebanon, TN; grandchildren, Cameron, Kendall and Cade Byram, Ashley, Matthew and Lauren Greene and Amanda and David Greene; brothers, Willie Joe Greene and wife, Colette, and Donald Greene and wife, Sue; numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and extended family members and friends.

Herbert was a true joy to be around. He brought a smile to all and never met a stranger. He will be deeply missed by many, especially his Tuesday golf group. The "Bored Meeting" at Calvary will never be the same.

The family expresses thanks to the staff of Cypress Baptist Church and to their many friends for their caring and love during this time. Special thanks to the Bossier EMS.

Pallbearers will be Bill Hoolahan, Sam Watts, Bill Boston, Billy Grisham, Roger Fuller and Thomas "Bitsy" Lewis.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Cypress Baptist Church 4701 Palmetto Rd., Benton, LA 71006, Calvary Baptist Church, or to the charity of donor's choice.

Rose-Neath Funeral Home Southside Chapel 687-1256

Older Browser Support

Classmates using older Internet browsers may experience problems with some features of our class web site on or after March 1, 2010. Google has announced that as of that date they will no longer support browsers prior to IE7, Firefox 3.0, Chrome 4.0, and Safari 3.0. This could affect the functioning of the YouTube videos that are part of our web site. Other services, such as this blog, may also be affected. The blog article immediately below this one explains why Google has chosen to take this action.

If you currently use any of the older browsers you can wait and see what the impact of this change will be. However, updating your browser now is the better option. If you don't know how to download and install one of the newer browsers its time to find a friend who can help you. Installing a new browser is not hard, but if you've never done it then it may be more than you want to try alone.

I currently have IE 8, Firefox 3.6, and Google Chrome 5.0 installed on my computer just to be sure each of these newer browsers work well on our class web site, and they all do. Becoming comfortable using any of these newer browsers will take a little time, but probably not as long as you tend to think before actually doing it.

If You Use IE6 - Read This

Google to send Internet Explorer 6 users packing come March

By Emil Protalinski | Last updated January 31, 2010 3:15 PM

Google is continuing to kill off support for Internet Explorer 6 in its services; the search giant has announced that two more of its Web properties will stop supporting IE6 as of March 1. "Many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers," a blog post on the Official Google Enterprise Blog begins to explain. "We're also going to begin phasing out our support, starting with Google Docs and Google Sites. As a result you may find that from March 1 key functionality within these products -- as well as new Docs and Sites features -- won't work properly in older browsers." Older browsers, according to Google, include anything prior to IE7, Firefox 3.0, Chrome 4.0, and Safari 3.0.

Although one might think this is a reaction to the Internet Explorer's vulnerabilities notably exploited in the recent series of Chinese-based attacks against Google and 30 other tech companies, which Microsoft has since patched, the truth is Google has already done this with many of its other products. Google's Orkut and YouTube started phasing out IE6 support about six months ago and Google has been using Gmail to convert IE6 users to Chrome for over a year.

Google's stance on IE6 varies from Microsoft's because the search giant does not need to support Windows XP, the operating system with which IE6 first shipped, as long as Microsoft (which will support XP and IE6 until April 8, 2014). Google can thus pull IE6 support on its many Web properties and urge users to upgrade. Microsoft, on the other hand, which has stated time and time again that it wants to see IE6 disappear as much as anyone else, won't force anyone to upgrade (though it's worth noting that the software giant's Office Web Apps won't support IE6 either, just like Google Docs). Instead, it says the decision is ultimately up to the user, touting IE8's many features over IE6, particularly in the area of security, in an attempt to push users to upgrade. IE6 ended 2009 with a market share of 20.99 percent.

The Bear Film

More entertainment based than reality based photography, but interesting nevertheless.

Geraldine Holt

Mrs. Holt is the Mother of deceased classmate Larry Dean Holt. Please keep her family in your prayers.

_______________________________

Visit Guest Book until 3/13/2010

Geraldine Holt
SHREVEPORT, LA - Funeral services for Geraldine Lewis Holt, 85, will be held at 1:30 pm Friday February 12, 2010 at Rose-Neath Southside Chapel 2500, Southside Dr. Officiating at the services will be Brother Wayne L. Fussel, Evangelist at Midway Church of Christ assisted by Minister Ted Hardan of Oakcrest Christian Church. Graveside services will follow at the Good Exchange Cemetery in Mc Leod, TX at 3:30 pm. The family will receive visitors on Thursday, February 11th from 5:00pm until 8:00pm.

Mrs. Holt died Friday February 5, 2010 at Willis-Knighton North Medical Center. She was born in Shreveport, LA on April 12, 1924. For many years she was a member of Midway Church of Christ and in recent years a member of the Oakcrest Christian Church. She was a dedicated, loving Mother to her children, as well as a proud and caring grandmother and great grandmother. Mrs. Holt was blessed with many friends throughout her lifetime, among which were very special ones including David and Gladys Owens and Ruth Suggs. She was deeply loved by relatives and friends and will be missed by all; and, the family acknowledges and appreciates their love and support.

Mrs. Holt was preceded in death by her husband Lavernice (Mose) Holt; son, Larry Dean Holt; brother, K.P; sister, Nettie; and parents Samuel N. and Ever Lewis.

Surviving loved ones include two sons, Sammy Lee Holt and Billy Earl Holt and wife Linda, grandsons, Kevin, Greg, and Todd, and granddaughters, Gerrie, Melissa, Cheryl, Sharla, Erin, and numerous great grandchildren as well as nieces and nephews.

Serving as pallbearers will be Kevin Holt, Greg Holt, Todd Holt, Manuel Holt, Garland Hughes, Steve Grossman, Gene Little.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Diabetes Association .

Rose-Neath Funeral Home Southside Chapel 687-1256

Senior Class Pictures Video

Not long ago I learned that Google has made it possible to transform slide shows into YouTube videos. Recently, I succeeded in making a video out of our Senior Class Pictures. Its now posted on the Home Page of the Class Web Site.

A couple of tips will help you get the most out of watching the video. First, run your monitor in full screen mode. The F11 key usually turns that feature on and off. Also, choose the highest resolution setting for the video which is labeled as 480p. That will ensure you can read the names and personal data for the pictures. If you want to stop on a page, just click on the play/stop icon on the left hand side of the player functions bar located below the video screen. Click a second time to resume viewing the pictures.

Many of us have enjoyed looking at these photos since they were uploaded as a slide show several years ago. That was all made possible by classmate Mickey Phillips who did high quality scans of all these pages of his Sequoyah, and sometimes more than once to get the best image possible. If you enjoy what you see, be sure and tell Mickey thanks for his contribution.

Reunion Update 2/13/2010

An email dated February 2, 2010 was sent to everyone listed in our Class Email Directory at that time. The text of that email letter is posted below as a source of information for classmates who may not have received that email. If you are not listed in the Class Email Directory, or need to update your email address, you can do that in about 2 minutes or less using the Update Address link on the  Navigation Bar of the class web site.

____________________________

The 50th Reunion is "up and running". We have narrowed the date to one of the first three weekends in April 2011. We will avoid hot weather, graduations, Easter, and the "seasons" of football, hunting, and hurricanes. We are working on venues, and hope to set the exact date soon so that you can put that weekend on your calendar.

We have heard from over 100 of you "in writing" (and many more by telephone). It is clear that you want only a short program on Saturday night, with most of the evening available for "visiting", with some of "our music" (for dancing and listening) in the background, of course.

We are setting the price at $120/couple and $65/single for both Friday and Saturday night. This is what the 1959 class charged recently and we felt that they would have been as cost conscious as we are. And since prices go up every year we may have to provide "less" than they did in order to hold our costs in 2011 to the level they experienced in 2009.

Professional "Reunion Planners" are expensive, so we are doing it "ourselves". We have had a great response to our request for volunteers. Please thank them every chance you get.

In order to keep the folks who have "stepped up" from having to "front" costs for things that will, or may possibly, be needed, such as postage, deposits, decorations, printing, banking costs, post office box, and all of those things that you never think of (have you "been there"?) that all cost money, we are asking those of you who can to SEND YOUR REGISTRATION FEE NOW. One thing that we might be able to do with some of the money is to guarantee a block of rooms in exchange for a reduction in the room rate. This would help our classmates who will have large travel expense. It will be such a help to have some "operating capital" in the bank. We do have about $400 left from our share of the money left over from the "sixties decade" reunion a few years ago. Our 45th reunion was "tight", money wise, with some "sweating and loss of sleep". So far this time, our initial mail out to 450 of you cost about $650 and we will need to mail at least once more to those who do not use, or furnish, e-mail to us. Please encourage all you know to give us their e-mail. Bill Scott and Jerry Cook are knowledgeable and vigilant in the area of protecting our lists. We no longer get a lot of emails since Bill Scott has the blog (where you can read the messages Bill posts) set up on the Web site at: http://www.fairpark1961.net. You can get reunion information there.

SEND YOUR CHECKS NOW MADE PAYABLE TO:

FPHS Reunion 1961

P.O. Box 761

Shreveport, LA 71162

If you are unable to come, you may have made a non-tax-deductible donation, but it will be greatly appreciated. Of course, we would hope to be able to refund to those who want a refund.

Here are the names of everyone who has sent a response in writing indicating a reasonable level of interest...

Judy Coulson Gisiner
Martha Louise Daugherty Winford
Joseph Augustus Durusau
Linda Mason Gentry
Charlie McBride
Sharon McClain Carter
Barbara Lee Addison Freed
Judy Swanner Enloe
Phillip Carney
Robert Gary DeClerk
Mary Sue Doiron Maxwell
Don Curtis Jones
Janis Nallin Vascoe
Mike Robinson
Patricia (Pat) Sanders Rouch
Denice Schneider Creech
Sherrelene Lynette Adkins Smith
Wilma G. Beaird Adams
Kay Doris Bevill Tucci
Claire Burks Leeftink
Don Chandler
Larry W. Fields
Johnny Grubbs
Sue Judd Ross
Chris Roach
Billy W. Scott
Henry R. Templin
Lloyd Wallace
Billy K. Sneed
Kenneth Richard Allen
Lester C. (Nickname – L.C.) Anderson
Jamie Armstrong Ballard
Shirley Baldwin Chandler
Eugene Earl Blake
Betty Crystal Bogue Jones
Janet Box Wolfe
Sheila Joyce Bradford Jones
Frank Bright
Kay (Katherine) Ann Burford Murphy
Donnie Brown Carroll
Thomas James Casteel
Jerry Dean Cook
Willis William Dear
Bruce Deville
Camilla Marie Fulco Doughty
Joyce Graves Gadd
Alice Faye Hammons Bailey
Carrol Ann Hanson Cook
Carol Ann Hawkins Deshotels
Sylvester Sonny Hedges, Jr
Johnny R. Howe
Phillip Johnson
Billy M. Jones
Marvin D Jones
Barbara Jean Kennedy Blaylock
David Bruce Kruger
James(Jim) McNamara Langford
Helen Fern Lindsay Rigg
Sam J. Lucero
Charles L. Maranto
Virginia Marshall Fulmer
Linda McDaniel Russell
Dinah Netherton Grisham
Judy Pace Smith
Jacqueline Bea Reynolds Robertson
Johnnie Beatrice Ross McKinney
Betty Sims Rose
Joan Lee Stockard
Gayle Teresa Goodyear
Chester Terral
Anneice Thomas Butler
Hollis Richard Thompson
Peggy Tilton Williamson
Earle Kent Valentine
Garland Weidner
David Wells
James Clinton Windham
William (Bill) Joseph Rittenhouse
Mary Lynn Tuminello Johnson
Patricia Ann Pendleton Reed
Linda Kay Kitchens Smith
Betty Molcany Barber
Clark E. Smith
William (Bill) Arthur Roberts
Janice Litton Mowry
Carolyn Sue Scott Gough
Patricia Ann Osborne Booton
Lamar Oliver
John Pierce
Richard Lindsey

Also, we have talked to a number of you who are coming, but have yet to send your response.

We will update you as we make progress with the reunion planning. This is going to be the biggest and best one yet. Those of you who come will have a great time and we ask for the support "from afar" from those of you who for reasons of health or family situations will not be able to come. We will be thinking of you and hope that those of you who can will contact us so that we will know that "you are there".

There are a lot more of you who have volunteered to help and would have been willing to "sign" this, but we just included those we were absolutely sure had consented. Wish us luck!

Frank Bright, Betty Molcany Barber, Judy Brooks Bartz, Charles Canfield, Willis Dear, Camilla Fulco Doughty, Faye Hammons Bailey, Carrol Ann Hanson Cook, Jerry Cook, Garland Weidner, Dinah Netherton Grisham, Hollis Thompson, Bill Scott,  Linda Terry, Bonnie Cole.

America The Beautiful

Till The Last Shot's Fired

Facebook Users

I put the following message on my Twitter Account tonight:

Fair Park 1961 50th reunion planning underway. Classmates get in touch. Don't put it off.

I know a lot more of our classmates are signed up with Facebook than Twitter so I wanted to ask that each of you on Facebook put a message on your Facebook account letting any FP 61 classmate who might visit your page know about the 50th reunion. If they get in touch with you please ask them to contact  me via the News Link at the top right hand column of the blog. Or, if they wish I can get in touch with them via email if they will provide their email address. Thanks.