Update: Dolly Fortson Adams

What do the National Geographic, the Weather Channel and the City of Charleston have in common? Our classmate, Dolly Fortson Adams and her camera. (Her photos are published under 'Dorothea Adams.') She has also done some work for the Post and Courier and others. I asked her to share these two with us. ( I apologize that these didn't get posted initially.)


Living on the South Carolina coast, Dolly is surrounded by beauty every day. But can you believe that photography is her second love?

She stays busy as a caregiver for Lutheran Hospice in Mt. Pleasant. She also loves dogs and horses, keeps in touch with Bobbye Ward Anderson and frequently asks for news of old classmates. She plans to be at the Decades BBQ.

I'll be adding notes about Minta McD, Martha McD, Marie C., Peggy M., Ruthie J., Jeannie C. and others soon. So Dolly, stayed tuned!

Deadlines Make It Happen!

This month's meeting for the 50s Decade BBQ buzzed with excitement under the threat of looming deadlines.

• Photos and news from each class and advertising copy are needed NOW for the Souvenir program book which will be bigger and better.
  
• Reservations for the day are due by September 25 if you want to pay just $20.
• Old teachers who are still around are being invited to come as our guests.
• Volunteers are needed to clean-up on October 13 and set-up on October 19th.
• AND last minute details are now officially 'last minute."
  

Although Judy says that Robert is not organized, he seems to have the numbers in order to motivate and inspire.

A lot of work was done and we can see the silver lining!




We will welcome the Class of 1953 to the roster of participating classes and expect all to have a great day . . . .

-

Charles Bignon: Keeping Track

Reunion committees don't just look for names, they keep track and sometimes they connect.

When we began to look for classmates before the 45th Reunion, I took out my old list of "A" names which had been assigned for the aborted 40th. I searched in as many ways as possible and I found quite a few. Then, I picked up the stack of "B" cards which had been given to Henry and began again. I finally just made some phone calls. Just out of the blue, I called people. Some remembered me; some didn't. Most were glad to hear from someone from ARC and their past.

Charles Bignon was one of those I called. He was kind enough NOT to say, "I don't remember you." I could tell he didn't. But he remembered lots of others and wanted to know about them - to catch up.

He read the Chronicle on-line everyday to keep up with his beloved Augusta. He often came over from Macon to check on his mother's house and would call or come by to talk about growing up in "PG" (Olde Town) just a block over from my house. He looked at the 1959 annual and asked about specific people who we might have found in our reunion search. He brought me his friend Willie Perkins' (ARC Class of '58) book ("No Saints, No Saviors") about their years with the Allman Brothers Band; he talked a little about those times and the job of keeping track of the band.

Sometimes I would not hear anything from him for 6-8 months and then he would call with some kind of request which was both matter of fact and specific. So, I checked his house after a storm, I wrapped Christmas presents for his family, I saved all the papers pertaining to James Brown's death and funeral, I redressed a small injury on his calf which had required an emergency room visit . . . . The last time I saw Charles we shared our first and only meal and talked about my tiny little digital camera. Later, he called to ask for more details. He liked it and thought he would buy one. When I told him the cost, he said, "Damn, Sugar, I don't want to make love to it. I just want to take a few pictures!" That was the Charles I got to know.

Charles reached the end of his days on August 25, 2007. I will miss those infrequent calls and visits from this kind and gentle classmate. I will always regret that I owed him a phone call and perhaps an email.

Charles's obituary follows:
MACON, Ga. - Charles N. Bignon, III died on August 25, 2007. Born on July 30, 1941 in Augusta, Ga., he lived in Macon for many years. He was the son of the late Charles N. Bignon, Jr. and the late Mary E. Massengale. He graduated from Richmond Academy and attended Augusta College. He worked in Atlanta and then in Macon for The Allman Brothers Band and as co-owner of The Great Southern Company. He retired in 1990. Charles is survived by a brother, Robert E. Bignon of Athens, Ga.; a sister, Gloria Anne Ivy of Belvedere, S.C.; nieces, Erin, Elizabeth and Britton; nephews, Rush, Tony, Christopher and Ryan; and many friends. Visitation will be Wednesday, August 29, 2007 from 10:30 a.m. until noon at Hart's Mortuary, located at 765 Cherry Street in Macon. A memorial service will follow at 4:00 p.m. in Athens, Ga. at the First United Methodist Church Chapel located at 327 North Lumpkin Street. In lieu of flowers, contributions should be made to the donor's favorite charity. Hart's Mortuary has charge of arrangements. Sign the guestbook at AugustaChronicle.com
Published in The Augusta Chronicle on 8/28/2007.

50th Reunion Report

Tuesday night, the air seemed a little cooler after our days of triple digit temps. But maybe it just always seems to be cooler down by the river at Butch and Jackie's house. Butch presided over the hamburger grill and classmates visited in groups on the grass. On the inside, plates and bowls of goodies filled the serving counter and other folks gathered in the air conditioning.

There were a few complaints, "My mouth won't fit this burger." seemed to be the main one.

It was time for the meeting to begin. Heh heh. Just wanted to point out that planning a 50th Reunion is not always just hard work!




Janice Johnson Dixon and Frank Stafford reported on the research for locations.












They did a great job of offering options for both a casual event and more formal evening and will pursue a couple of venues.



Co-chairs Butch Murdoch and Harry Pund tried to keep us in line as we discussed the thoughtful suggestions sent in by Dan Miller, possibilities for this historic weekend and options for a full schedule. Janice Johnson Dixon, Janice Keel Helton and I will develop an agenda which can be discussed in blocks of time. So get ready for a fabulous ARC weekend in 2009 -- probably late April.

In the photos, I hope you will also spot, Mike and Jane Bass Moxley, Fred Fidler, Eddie Glover Tanner, Ron and Louise Colvin, Annette James and her friend, Mary Gahnz Usher, Robert and Judy Little Murphy, Don and Norma Patterson, Robert Dixon, and Diane Pund .

The next meeting will not be until December, but we have lots to do until then.

A Welcome to the World!

A tiny little discovery this week gave me a 'frisson' of concern. (I've always wanted to use that word; the heroines in gothic novels always seem to love it -- and this is my second time in two weeks!) Following my statistics for website visitors, I clicked on a link back to . . . my own website!

My first reaction was, "Strange." My second reaction was, "Wait, something is not right. It's in SPANISH!" Since others have had their websites appropriated by nefarious characters, I wondered if mine had been stolen as well.

With a little help from my webmistress/daughter, I've learned that my webpages -- and my blogs now appear as about ten or so different websites in as many languages -- we believe it is a new creation from Google. (See my English website and their Spanish versions.)

I have sometimes taken for granted the reach of the World Wide Web when I need to find information. Now, I feel a little like the mother cat in the photo who stepped between the camera and her baby -- don't bother my baby!

Colloquialisms and dialects sometimes need interpretations in this country, so certainly translations from one writing system to another are not always clear. It makes me a little nervous as I publish my words in perhaps a dozen languages: my own English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Russian, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Korean . . . .

I once had to explain to my Japanese friends that a new gallery label was needed to replace "A Big Harvest" for the painting, "A Bushel and a Peck." (The title comes from the song "I Love You a Bushel and a Peck.")

So, I hope these words I write will find good meanings for readers wherever they live and whichever version they use.

Welcome, World!
Annette

Note: I also published this post today on my BushStrokes blog.

We're Few but Fun!

While only four of us made it to the Girls Day Out lunch during one of the hottest days of the decade, we had a great time visiting. It's Emily Stevens Baumann, Mary Gahnz Usher, Jane Bass Moxley, and Annette Adams Bush.

We discussed doing something special in November. Hope some of you will join us then - - and bring pics of the BBQ!

The Check Is In The Mail. . . .

Oh, sorry.The INVITATION is in the mail!










This week the Community Room of the Martinez Fire Department was buzzing as each class of the Fifties filled a table with envelops, labels, invitations, newsletters, and stamps.

What efficiency! What dedication to duty! What speed!

Almost 2900 envelopes were ready and packed in boxes within two hours for Robert Murphey ('58) in his purple hat to take to the post office.


So, send your reservation in ASAP. If you hear from Robert, tell him, "The check is in the mail!" (It's music to the ears of an old CPA.)





See YOU at the Decades Reunion on October 20th.


A few more pics.

"My Name Up In Lights"

One of the fun things about writing a blog is getting responses -- the lovely interaction which blog-writing brings. Sometimes the comments are from strangers, especially on my personal blog. Sometimes the notes are emails from old friends, usually on this one.

Over the weekend, a long email came from Dan Miller. He wrote that he had followed the web links mentioned in the last class newsletter. He had found both my 59 Musketeers blog and my art website. (Thanks for the compliments, Danny!) AND, per my request for links to classmates' web presence, he added this note:

For several years, I've been writing regular essays on the WSMV-TV website (still do).

The articles (more than 350 of them) are archived at my personal "Dan Miller's Notebook" website.... and in MANY of them, I write about Augusta, and the old days growing up there.

I suspect that my Augusta contemporaries might find the references interesting, and bring back a few memories.

Off the top of my head, some specific essays that reference Augusta, even ARC, are:

FRIDAY NIGHTS, EMERSON BOOZER, AND ME

WIGGLES

THE HAMMER

DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE

THE 18TH AT AUGUSTA

THE FRUIT OF THE PINE

THE DAY ALDOUS HUXLEY DEPARTED THIS WORLD

JAMES BROWN

THE GREENISH BOWL

CHRISTMAS EVE IN MY HOME TOWN

THE PLEASURES OF BARBECUE

MY NAME UP IN LIGHTS

HAIL TO THE MASTERS

CONNECTIONS

GENE AUTRY, MY HERO

THOSE THREE LITTLE WORDS

HERSHEY'S, SNICKERS, AND ARNOLD PALMER

AN UNEXPECTED FRIENDSHIP (perhaps my favorite)

And there are many others with "Augusta references" that might just stir up some old memories for folks who lived there.

Yep, Dan, quite a few have stirred up some memories for me. This one for July 24th is an example: Catcher in the Sly My uncle played for the Tigers and then for a St. Louis Cardinal farm team until he gave up baseball to become a physicist. Dan reminded me that baseball in Augusta was BIG STUFF.

So, I have added Dan Miller's Notebook to the blog list. While not truly a blog, I thought its weekly updated content fit blog better than website.

I hope to occasionally point to one of his essays as it strikes my fancy. Today, I'm just posting this photo of the RiverWalk to pique your interest in another of his recent essays "Down By the Riverside."

And the reference in the title? Check this one

You'll want to visit often.

Updates -- The Lydia Mystery

It's placed discretely on the sidebar under websites -- Lydia's Manners That Sell -- but who is Lydia?

Many of you know that the Ms. Manners of the business world along the Georgia/Carolina coast is our own Lydia Wammock Ramsey. She specializes in office etiquette, meeting manners, and business communications.

If you didn't know about Lydia, you will want to check out her website for more info on this lovely classmate. You'll find that she "writes a weekly newspaper column on business etiquette for the Savannah Morning News and The Carolina Morning News. She has appeared on radio and television programs across the country, and has been quoted or featured in The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Day."

Her website also says,

Lydia Ramsey helps people promote themselves and grow their business by showing them how to keep their feet out of their mouths and egg off of their faces.

We could ALL use that kind of help, so:

• Sign-up for her newsletter.
• Hire her to give a manners seminar to your not-so-up-to-snuff employees.
  
• take her quiz.
  
• buy her books.

She's someone to know!

My Old Friend, Virginia Johnson Laird

Recently, my daughters and I were discussing family dogs. Most of our pets have been mixed mutts or pound puppies. One of our favorites had been Rags, a little Peekapoo, who looked like a little pile of black rags on the floor at the pound. I thought about the first 'real' pekingese which I had ever seen. It belonged to Virginia Johnson's grandmother. Virginia and I got to be good friends while her mother was my third grade teacher and I often visited their house during the next few years. Sometimes Mrs. McElveen would let us play with her little pug-nosed, bug-eyed jewel. He seemed very exotic! Our Rags was not exotic, but he was loved just about as much. I had lost touch with Virginia across the years, but still have warm memories whenever I pass the little brick house on Troup Street in Kings Woods.

Even though Virginia died in January before I began my class blog, I had saved her obituary. I wanted to add it just for the record with thanks for the memories.

HOUSTON, TX - Virginia Johnson Laird, born August 9, 1941 in Aiken, South Carolina, entered into our Lord's hands January 4, 2007 at the age of 65. Virginia graduated from Augusta Richmond Academy and Bolens Business College. She started her career in the apartment industry in Columbia, SC in 1969 and continued her career in Houston from 1979 until retirement in 2001. Virginia was a devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and she was a loving friend to many. She was preceded in death by her son Steven John Laird, her mother Ruby McElveen Johnson and her father James Tilman Johnson. Virginia is survived by her husband of 45 years, John B. Laird, Sr., daughter Merrell L. Turpin and her husband Dean, son John B. Laird Jr. and his wife Dalene, grandchildren Justin, Kurt, Halton, Laird, Elizabeth Massey and Wyatt and great grandchildren, Kori and Landon. Virginia had a great love for life and enjoyed every moment she shared with her family and friends. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, 214 Davis Road, Augusta, Georgia 30907 from 12 pm to 1 pm with the funeral service beginning at 1 pm and burial will follow at Westview Cemetery, 2051 Division Street, Augusta, 30904. Pallbearers will be Justin Turpin, Halton Turpin, Laird Turpin, Jordan Clem, Richard O'Connell and Doyle Evans. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the American Cancer Society in memory of Virginia. Published in The Augusta Chronicle on 1/7/2007.

Looking for a Few Good Sports!

I have followed with interest the swimming career of my friend's husband in Alabama. He is now 70 and still competes on a national level.

It occurs to me that some of the Class of '59 might be doing some interesting things. Biking, basketball, swimming, fishing, golf . . . . competitive or not.

Let us know what you do -- a comment here is fine. An email to me with a photo works, too. Later, I'll add some photos of a few good sports!

Where? Who?

Jane and Emily wonder who is planning to come on August 16 for the Girl's Day Out lunch. An email to one of them will get your name on the list and they can decide where to get together. If there are enough from North of the Oconee River, lunch will probably in Madison. If you have suggestions for good spots close to Augusta, let them know that, too. Stay tuned. I'll try to have pictures!