HERO MEETS HIS WATERLOO
ACROSS
THE FENCE
By
Arvord Abernethy
The
headline could well read, “Hero Meets His Waterloo”, last spring Jay
Trammell received the Annual Texas Rural Hero Award for tackling and
stopping a run-away tractor that had run over his grandfather, Harmon
Trammell, and the shredder had almost severed his right foot. Jay got
his grandfather into a pickup and to medical help that probably saved
his life.
Jay
recently tackled a mother owl on her nest to see about getting some
young ones for pets. Mrs. Owl tackled him and gave him a good flogging,
scratching him up pretty good (or bad). Jay had to retreat, so please
don’t ask him for a pet owl.
Mary
and I had a fine time at the 47th Annual High School Alumni Meeting at
Hollis
,
Okla.
The years are beginning to tell on the older classes; the oldest class
represented was of 1917. My class of 1923 was not as well represented as
usual; I think there were nine there out of a class of thirty some-odd.
I must say that there were more wrinkles present.
The
day started off that morning with a time of get together when you got to
meet old friends and make new ones. This lasted until
noon
, at which time some of the classes got together for lunch. The class of
1930 had made a special effort to get their class back for their 50th
Anniversary, so they had a great turnout and had some special
get-togethers.
There
was a parade in the afternoon and then time for visiting. A banquet was
held that night with 352 members present, and probably half of them were
from out of town. This is the only occasion many get to come back for.
The
Alumni Meeting was started 47 years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Edwards.
Mrs. Edwards, the former Miss Carolyn Spiegle, was my teacher in the
third grade, when she wrote 1914 on a Christmas card that I still have.
She was the kind of teacher we all loved dearly, and we wished she would
learn enough that year to be promoted on to the next grade with us the
next year, but I guess she didn’t. After her marriage to Mr. Edwards,
they lived out their lives in Hollis, and were very active in civic and
church life. Many, many graduated have had a deep feeling of gratitude
to the Edwards for their efforts in starting the Alumni. I could always
count on a hug and a kiss from Mrs. Edwards when I would be back up
there.
Hamilton
High graduates have had some great reunions over the past years, but the
advantage of an annual alumni meeting is that you not only get to meet
your own classmates, but those from other classes you were in school
with. Wonder if some of you Hamilton High graduates, or anyone for that
matter, wouldn’t like to organize such a group here? Graduates will be
appreciating it for years to come. Think about it.
We
went from Hollis to Kermit where one of Mary’s sons and families
lives. This was just before the big cave-in happened there, but they
have sent several pictures of it and it is very horrifying.
In
Oklahoma
they have what are called gyp sinks, but they are minor in comparison to
the cave-in in Kermit. The soft gypsum rock underground dissolves away
and the surface then drops in. A hole 10 to 20 feet across and about as
deep can come without any warning and the walls will be straight up and
down. Probably the same principal is involved at Kermit.
Hope
that some bureaucrat doesn’t have a brainstorm and propose that we
start digging in that hole at Kermit and dig a tunnel to
Iran
and bring the hostages back through it and then siphon all the oil from
under OPEC nations. I have heard of such ideas out of
Washington
haven’t you?
Looks
like Mother Earth needs to tighten her girdle over the bulges on
Mt.
St. Helens
and get a face lift at Kermit.
Speaking
of the volcano at
Mt.
St. Helens
, L. W. and Frances Gardner have just returned from the Northwest and
saw some of the results of the volcano. As they were flying into
Spokane
,
Washington
, they could see farmers plowing; ahead of the plow the ground would be
white with ash, then soil would show behind the plow. There are places
where the ash is too deep to be plowed under and vegetation in so
covered, livestock cannot find grazing. The
Gardners
reported they saw much of the trees and brush covered with ash, and that
they were hosing down the runways at
Spokane
when they got there.
I’m
sure you have heard that the Environment Protection Agency has brought
charges against
Mt.
St. Helens
for over polluting the air, and they also got an injunction against it
for not having any more eruptions. She went and defied the EPA on Friday
the Thirteenth and burped up a lot more rock and ash.
The
Gardners
’ trip took them on to
Victoria
,
British Columbia
which is on
Vancouver Island
. They then took a train trip through the
Rocky Mountains
to
Banff
and
Calgary
. There they found crisp, cool air and many people wearing topcoats.
Shared by Roy
Ables
ACROSS THE FENCE
