Alumni Sandstorm ~ 04/16/05
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10 Bombers sent stuff and 1 Bomber funeral notice today:  
Betty Ely ('47), Jim Jensen ('50)
Mike Clowes ('54), Tom Graham ('55)
Missy Keeney ('59), Patti Mathis ('60)
Judy Willox ('61), Frank Whiteside ('63)
Patti McLaughlin ('65), Rick Maddy (‘67)
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BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Ken Ely ('49)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Tony Sharpe ('63)
BOMBER BIRTHDAY Today: Greg Jochen ('76)

BOMBER CALENDAR: Richland Bombers Calendar
    Click the event you want to know more about.
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>>From: Betty Ely King ('47)

    My brother Ken (Chuck's) Birthday is today, April 16th. I hope he
gets my card. My sister and brother, Kathy and Bill sent their brother
a card several days before I got mine sent. I am still planning on
visiting my brother in May when I go to the Jazz Festival. My husband
Lloyd and my brother got me hooked on jazz.

-Betty Ely King ('47)
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>>From: Jim Jensen ('50)

To: Dave Brusie ('51)
    Belated happy returns to one of the truly good guys. I recall ol'
Dave as a fine basketball player and a good baseball buddy. Remember
the afternoon Coach Rish decided he would time each team member's speed
from home, around the bases, back to home again? You and I were the
tail-enders in that exercise.
    I won't forget the afternoon in the Squadron (3389th Technical
Training Squadron) quad at Keesler AFB, Mississippi when "C" Shift was
forming up. I was nearly a brand new radio school student, not long
removed from basic training at Parks AFB, CA, wearing a recently 
earned, single stripe (Airman 3rd Class). It was hot - even for January
1953. C Shift was just about to move out when I saw Airman Second Class
(two stripes) Dave Brusie laughing it up with some buddies in front of
one of the barracks. Man, did I ever want to break ranks and go over to
find out what you were up to... you know how it is... one CANNOT break
ranks without suffering some sort of grievous penalty. We nearly ran
into each other again in England. I was playing baseball and basketball
at RAF Croughton (1958-61) and you were doing the same at a base not in
our league.
    I remember also the delightful conversation Ed Osborne (RIP '50)
and I shared with your sweet, older sister during a Sunday morning
breakfast following Club 40 activities in 1996. She was a special
person - just like her younger brother.

Bomber Cheers and congratulations, Dave
-Jim Jensen ('50)
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>>From: Bob Carlson, aka Mike Clowes ('54)

To: Paul Holmes ('53)
    You are correct, sir! Research of the Memorial Page as maintained 
by the Club 40 DustStorm did not disclose your name. Therefore; the 
DustStorm finds you among the living, even though you are reporting in 
from South Carolina.

To: Vicki Schrecengost Carney ('67)
    The movie "The Hanging Tree" was filmed in the Yakima River Canyon
between Yakima and Ellensburg. It starred Gary Cooper and (I believe)
Karl Malden. The Audie Murphy movie "To Hell and Back" was partially
filmed in the same area and the Yakima Firing Range. Other portions of
this film were made at Fort Lewis and McChord AFB.

Re: The dorms.
    Memory tells me the men's and women's dorms were separated by the
700 area. The women's were to the south side and may have extended to
Lee Blvd. They were behind the Mart but I don't think they went as far
west as Stevens Drive. The Richland Patrol Headquarters (aka the cop
house) and GE's hiring office was also in this area.
    The men's dorms went along Swift Blvd being close to Goethals/
Jadwin and extending to about where the library is now. The only danger 
I ever heard of regarding them is that they were filled for the most 
part by bachelors (some of whom were given to strong drink and chasing 
women).
    This information is subject to correction by just about anybody. 

-Bob Carlson, aka Mike Clowes ('54)
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>>From: Tom Graham ('55)

    This builds on the recent postings about polio and Hal Smith's ('56)
nice recollections yesterday. (Hal, let's reconnect... you, Pook and
your parents were special to the Grahams. Your Dad was our coach.) Our
family arrived in Richland in late June 1948 during the big flood 
(from Missouri) after Dad's name got to the top of the house list. Home 
was 703 Abbot pre-shelter belt. How my mother, Eileen, and the other
mothers in town kept in good humor with those sand storms defies logic.
My brother Ben was/is seven years older than me and had finished High 
School before we arrived. He was a good athlete and joined Richland's
summer baseball team which featured Gene Conley and other established
players. Off to WSC, as it was known then, for his freshman year in
Chemical Engineering. We were like all the kids at that time in taking
precautions about polio.
    One month into Ben's sophomore year (1949) we drove to Pullman for 
a football game. He wasn't in his dorm to meet us. Someone told us he
might have gone to the campus infirmary. We arrived and were told 
Ben needed to be transported to St. Lukes Hospital in Spokane. Polio.
Couldn't move his legs. Left arm and hand affected slightly. Breathing
difficult. He's 18. Spends six months there getting stabilized. Mom,
Lewis & Clark 5th grade, and Dad, Contract Engineer, both juggle work
with time in Spokane. A stressful time, obviously. I'm 11 and we
continue to be inseparable playing spinner baseball as we had done in
Missouri (ah).
    Enter Admiral _____(AEC), Paul Beardsley and the March of Dimes. 
Along with my Dad they arrange for Ben to go to Warm Springs, GA, where
FDR was treated. Ben learns how to use a wheelchair... to balance on
the back wheels, to go up curbs and the like. Surgery on his hand.
Rehabilitation. Resumes college at the University of Illinois in 
the fall of 1951. The U of I was the first to make its facilities
wheelchair accessible. Besides many with polio, returning injured
Korean War veterans needed ramps. Ben decided on pre-med.
    The rest would take much too long to relate. It's the story of a 
guy who decided to be a doctor, became one, didn't feel sorry for 
himself, drove with hand controls, married a Seattle girl, blessed with
one daughter... also a doctor. He's now 74, retired as the Chief of
Radiology at Children's Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center in
Seattle, and still training Radiology Residents two days each week.
Along the way he was a Wheelchair Basketball All-American, became a
popular speaker at medical conferences and is recognized worldwide in
Pediatric Radiology. His shoulders are no longer what they used to
be... way too many transfers from the chair to car, bed, toilet, back 
to chair. But he doesn't complain. Polio dealt Ben and many others bad
cards but they drew out of it. I'm very proud to be his brother.

-Tom Graham ('55) ~ in Bellevue and looking forward to our 50th 
                this September
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>>From: Missy Keeney ('59)

Re: Women's dorms
    I delivered the Columbia Basin News to the women's dormitories when
I was in the 6th grade and part of the seventh grade. I don't remember
the women's dorms being scary but I did find it scary to be the only
female paper carrier. I wasn't allowed to go on a trip that I earned 
by getting subscriptions because I would have been the only girl on 
the trip. I was really bummed because it was to a Dude Ranch and I was
seriously horse crazy (a girl thing, I think) and I had worked super
hard so that I could go on that trip. Still smarts!!

-Missy Keeney ('59) ~ Richland
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>>From: Patti Mathis Wheeler ('60)

To: Mike Brady ('61)
Re: dorms
Mike, we must of had the same parents. *LOL* You also noted the chin on
chest thing and now the dorms. The women's were down Lee hill which was
the path my friends and I took to the Village Theater. I was given 
many warnings about being very careful when I passed the dorms, and if
anyone spoke to me just to ignore it. I do not know what the big deal 
was about, except the fact they were strangers to our community and not
known by a lot of folk. I somehow doubt that they were all perverts,
but there was so much secrecy here at the time. I feel a bit of
paranoia took over about those poor dorms.

-Patti Mathis Wheeler ('60)
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>>From: Judy Willox (Classic Class '61)

To: All Bombers
Re: Green & Gold, Red & White
 http://richlandbombers.com/Xtra05/WineTastingForm.jpg
    Taste the wines of renowned vintner Charlie Hoppes at Club 40's
Spring wine tasting event! Join us on Saturday, April 23 from 6-9pm at
the Hampton Inn, Richland. We'll be pouring wines from Fidelitas, Canon
de Sol, Gamache and Gooseridge wineries. Tickets are $25, and include
wine, light hors d'oeurves and a silent auction to benefit the Richland
High senior graduation party. Tickets are available at the Hampton Inn,
or by calling Maggie Shallman at 627-4295. Only a limited number are
available, so get yours today!
    If you are from out of town and want to attend, attached is a form 
to send in to the address on the form.

Bomber Cheers,
-Judy Willox (Classic Class '61) ~ Richland
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>>From: Frank Whiteside ('63)

To: Carol Converse Maurer ('64)
    That's cool that you got to be involved in the making of a film.
Down here in LA, many of the good extra spots go to politicians and
their families or people who are well-connected. I'm sure James
Carville (who got Hollywood to re-make and film the movie here)
probably has plenty of his friends and relatives in it. Who knows--
maybe he'll slip a cameo of his pal, Bill Clinton, into it.
    I did get to watch the filming of a movie back in 1965 in Pass
Christian, MS. I was able to get very close to the filming. It starred
a new actor by the name of Robert Redford. I still remember him walking
along a railroad track with an old train tooting in the background. 
The film also starred a much younger Natalie Wood. She was a really 
good looking actress. The name of the film was "This Property is
Condemned," and I believe it took place during the Great Depression. I
saw the movie and saw the exact scenes I saw filmed.

To: Vicki Schrecengost Carney ('67)
    I remember the film "The Hanging Tree" very well. I had no idea 
it was filmed in Yakima/Washington State. I occasionally play Marty
Robbins' recording of the song "The Hanging Tree" from an old 33 album.
I still remember all of the words.

Re: John Unser ('63-RIP)
    I just wanted to express my sympathy to the family of John
(Russian) Unser ('63-RIP) on his passing. John was a really great guy
when I knew him during our time in high school. I know that everyone
who knew him will miss him. My only regret is that we didn't cross
paths again after graduation.

-Frank Whiteside ('63)
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>>From: Patti McLaughlin Cleavenger ('65)

Re: The Hanging Tree
    In answer to Vicki Schrecengost Carney ('67), The Hanging Tree was
filmed on Bethel Ridge. Take the turn-off toward White Pass just out of
Naches, just past the elk-feeding place, take the dirt road for Bethel
Ridge that will end up on the Chinook Pass side. We had a cabin on
Rimrock Lake, so we went up and watched the filming. The star was Gary
Cooper; and I had my picture taken with some of the extras. It was all
very interesting. They imported a tree for the hanging tree, it was on
a turntable so that they could catch the light as the cameras needed
it.

-Patti McLaughlin Cleavenger ('65) 
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>>From: Rick Maddy (‘67)

To: Vicki Schrecengost Carney ('67)
Re: "The Hanging Tree?" and the CCC

Hi Vicki,
    The movie was partly filmed in the Yakima/Nachez area. One of the
buildings in the film was the Civilian Construction Corp (CCC) camp's
stores building - they stored food in the building to keep bears from
getting into it. This was in the Cascade foothills above Nachez in the
Copper Creek area on Chinook Pass. My dad was there during the 1937-'39
era. I have a photo of him standing in the doorway of one of the bunk
houses.
    As a kid my dad would haul us around in that neck of the woods and
show us kids the bushes he stomped around in and some of the largest
Douglas fir, hemlock and other "pine" tree varieties I have ever seen
in Washington state. I'm talking virgin trees that had been there since
time began and most likely still there, outside of the parks. Dad knew
that Natchez country quite well and the location of a couple of those
stands (usually five or six trees). I wish I had taken notes. Dad
passed away in 1989.
    Loggers would leave small stands alone that had survived many fires
through the ages. Loggers in those times either acted more educated
than today's at times and/or were impressed by the shear size of the
stand and acted wisely while clear cutting in the '20s. About the only
time a logger leaves a tall, large tree around is in steep terrain to
use fifty years from now as a spar pole - where block and tackle is
placed at the top for choker cable and dragging the log out of the
woods to loaders - when the trees around it come of age. We have all
seen that loner out there in the middle of a clear cut. Although, less
and less because they now use steel and/or bring their own spar, or
high-lead, equipment.
    I know John Hammer ('67) and Phil Collins ('67) (Phil and I lived
in Toledo, WA ('74-'75) for a year together when he was logging around
St. Helens area - miserable beyond words - I, of course, was steelhead
fishing in the Toutle River) could enlighten us on logging. Both
experienced choke setting. John shattered his leg bone doing that
hugely dangerous job around the Mt. Baker/Mt. Shuksan area in the early
'70s.
    The CCC was run by the Army. An Army captain was the head man. Dad
made $27 a month plus "three hots and a cot". He sent $25 (mandatory) 
of his pay to his folks in south central Iowa farm country. South 
central land is hilly, poor land for farming, although my grandfather 
grew corn for barter and food for plow horses, cow feed, chicken feed 
on eighty-five acres. My grandmother took care of the kids (four girls
and my dad, the youngest) who also helped with the garden, chickens,
milk cow, sold eggs and chicken blow-outs for stewing and general
farmhouse chores. Even though he had only a couple dollars, the young
men would go down to the local bar, barn dance or cock fights to let
off some steam. One night a fight broke out because the loggers were
wearing cork boots in the drinking establishment poking holes in the
flooring. An argument broke out about respect of a poor man's property
between loggers and CCC... fight was on.
    The CCC built roads, trails (usually clearing in case of fire),
buildings, fought forest fires, flood control, etc., etc. For example,
they trucked my dad and the young men into western Montana, eastern
Idaho, area of Rocky Mountains to fight a forest fire that had broken
out in the Blister Rust epidemic area. This fire was the largest forest
fire on record in the United States until the Yellowstone fire in
'89 if I recall correctly. Another example; the rock structure on top 
of Mt. Spokane north of Spokane is a CCC building. One of the finest 
examples of a building built to blend in with the aesthetics of it's 
surroundings. Frank Lloyd Wright would have been proud and also shows 
proof that the CCC was very conscious at times about their work... even 
as an art form.
    My mother took us to the Y drive-in (was it the Starlite?) to see
"The Hanging Tree." My father never went to movies. He watched very
little television; Walter Cronkite, Jack Paar and would let me sit 
up late at night to watch the Friday Night Fights with him. Well,
sometimes Bonanza and Ed Sullivan too. While in boot camp in San Diego,
his platoon was involved in making a scene or two for a Hollywood movie
on boot camp life in the Marine Corps. The production company had them
standing around in the sun while one of their China Marine drill
instructors made life even more miserable in the hot sun and several
"boots" got ill. It so infuriated my dad he never went to a movie
thereafter. He said it was so fake and %@*&!! So bad was it he would
not even go see "The Hanging Tree" with us, but much later in life he
did sit and watch it at home on TV. And to this day when I see a tree
that has fallen over, I look in the root system for a "nug" or two.

-Rick Maddy ('67)
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Funeral Notice scanned from the TCHerald
by Shirley Collings Haskins ('66)

>>Frank Dawes ('52) ~ 3/17/33 - 4/2/05

http://funeralnotices.tripod.com/
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That's it for today. Please send more.
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