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Monica Haban (Brown)

Dave-  You'll be thrilled to know that the OLP class photo graced the school hallway for about forty years! Lucky for us, the photos are now digitized. They are treasures.

I continue to be impressed with the recolletions that all of you have.  Matching the name to the recognized face is a real gift.

Thanks also to our moms who saved the memorabilia and/or allowed us to save them!

Timothy Lavelle

Hello to you there in Future Time Zone (FTZ) where it is always three hours ahead of Way More Fun Time Zone (WMFTZ) here on the Best Coast. You have all the people of course but we have, well, a lazier, more "you guys are so funny to watch" life style. How is that? Well you got up three hours before we did and then had to wait until your 6:30 PM to see the big game while we sleep in and then watch it at 3:30 - which of course is the same but really less taxing on the "waiting for the game" lumbro-umbilocloidis system of the lower thoracic farsis. The game will be over so late back in FTZ that you will go to bed soon after, while still elated or dissatisfied...while we in WuMFiTZ will have three additional hours to "Party Like Its 1994" or Drink ourselves into sweet oblivion.

Stuff happens in your FTZ at noon sometimes....some really bad stuff sometimes...but we don't even have to be concerned cause "Hell, that's not for another three hours" - which is the common saying here in WuMF, (pronounced 'Wumf' with a lazy umf here) and by the time we here reach noon, you there have either fixed or made that old Noon-time problem much worse there and still...still...we have three ours to lounge while you straighten up your mess.

It's snowing here in WuMF. The game comes on soon. Just had lunch but we'll kill the chips n salsa and cold beer anyway cause we have that "Way More" thing to uphold.

Thank you for BTF. You "Being The Future" really makes things more bearable here.  Go Atlanta!!!

Joseph D. McCarthy

First some background.  I RESIDE in Sonoma County, CA.  It is the county just North of Marin County; which starts at the North  end of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Sonoma County and Marin County voted in 2001 to add a percent increase in the local Sales taxes in order to fund a rail line for passenger purposes.  The SMART (Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit) was established in 2002.

It is now 8:00P.M. (2000 hrs. for you military...) and I just heard the trainn whistle blowing as it neared a crossing.  Oh, did I mention that the train service was to begin in the spring of 2016.  As of now they (management and the Board of Directors) HOPE to have it in IT's full operation sometimethis year, they have been testing the train for a year.  The General Manager just received a Five year extension of his contract with a pay raise to $293,000  a year; and the right to hire a deputy general manager for around $228,000 per year.  Are you listening Tim.

Second, and the important part.  When SMART does start operation it will be the First and Only Commuter rail line in the Country.  Let me digress.  I have ridden the METRO/Metrorail in Washington, DC; I have ridden the TriMet & Max light rail in Portland, OR; I have ridden the MTA / New York City Subway in New York City, NY; I have ridden the CTA & Metra in Chicago, IL and North; I have ridden the Light Rail in Seatle, WA; I have ridden  Bart and Cable cars in San Francisco; Septa in Philadelphia; MARTA in Atlanta, GA; the Metro Rail in Los Angeles; the RTA/Streetcar in New Orleans; and the TTC in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  But they are not TRUE Commuter trains.  SMART will,  for the forseeable future, travel Twenty some miles from Santa Rosa, CA to San Rafael, CA BUT ONLY between the Commute hours of 5:30A.M. and 9:00A.M. then starting again about 3:30P.M. till about 6:30P.M., Monday through Friday.  And it will only cost $19.00 roundtrip.

Finally, it's time for a Geography Quiz.

   1. What is the largest city in the continental U.S. buld OVER a salt mine?

   2.  What is the Largest City in the continental U.S. which shouldn't exist where it is?

Fred Clem

Joe,

My guesses would be Cleveland and New Orleans.

Fred

David Mitchell

I think I have just watched one of the most stunning collapses I have ever seen. Shame on you Falcons.  So tired of the Belichek/Brady drumbeat that I could stand no more. So I only became your (temporary) fan a week ago and this is how you reward me? 

Adding insult to injury, you made me miss the regular time for "Victoria" (PBS) and now I have to stay up till 2:00 a.m. to see the late rerun of this week's episode. 

Life was much better when Peyton Manning was still on his throne and Downton Abbey was still running.

("Left Coast", my foot! - You people get to watch Monday Night Football and still get to bed by 9:00 - ingrates! )

Timothy Lavelle

I was going to do a prayer request but hopefully this will suffice. The word I get is that Clare (Humdinger) Bauer has a gambling problem and when Fred Clem offered her the Falcons and five against the Brady Bunch, she bet the house. Photos of the small cardboard box she and husband Jim are living in now can be seen at  Rolldembones.com. Very sad. Send money.

Joe M. - 223K a year - tell 'em I know trains and worked for Bechtel once. I feel your civic pain but have to ask you to google "the tunnel under Seattle". A fiasco of equally epic proportions. 1/9th - that's 11 flippin' percent, of the way into the tunnel the boring machine broke down for....dos of your 'Murican anos. The project will finish just five years late and way WAY the flip over budget.

Challenge: why would anyone move to 'the boonies". Joe lives in Sonoma and some of you may know it is one of natures special spots - really beautiful. Just north, like Joe says, of the country once known as Mercedes Benz and Crunchy Granola (Marin) for the wealth and ultra hippness...one p or two?? Hipness. Anyway....of the peeps there. Ahh, The challenge...check your own stats...

Franklin County, Oh: Population = 1.23 Million    Square miles = 544    Density = 2261 peeps per sq. mile

Sonoma County, Ca: Population = 500K     Square Miles = 1768    Density = 282 peeps

Lewis County, Wa:  Population = 75K     Square Miles = 2436    Density = 30 peeps

That makes you folks in Columbus 70 times more dense than Lewis County peeps. These numbers were supplied by my close personal friend, B. Foot, who runs Fish and Wildlife and bartends at "Sassies" on weekends. B. Foot wants me to help him write a book "Six ways to cook Eco-Tourist". I am thinking it over. Out.

Joseph D. McCarthy

Tim PLEASE don't take the name of PEEPS in vain.  I use to love those marshmellow concoctions.  While living at working in Bethlehem, PA for 19 years I passed a firm called Just Born almost every day.   They make Peeps at that "factory".

But enough of that.  Fred, you were mighty close to answering the first geography question; but no cigar this time.  And in advance, I want Mark to know that I enjoyed the various teaching assingments I had in and around a certain Southern California area. 

However, to answer the second question first.  Los Angeles was built on a desert.  They have water because Northern California SHARES.  However, Southern California did give us such things as George Lucas and a couple other small time producers.

Fred, to answer the first question I have included a scan of a booklet I have had for about fifty years. 

Fred Clem

Joe,

Detroit's salt mine is no longer active.  The one beneath Cleveland is still producing.

I figured New Orleans shouldn't  exist since much of it is below sea level.  Katrina proved it was a bad location.

Fred

Joseph D. McCarthy

Fred

As always you have discovered the one flaw in my geography quiz.  Detroit WAS the largest city built over a salt mine.  Cleveland today almost makes it into the top fifty cities.  However, you are correct as always that it is no longer actrive.  As to New Orleans being built below sea level,  a number of cities are built below sea level.  They are however self sustaining.  Los Angeles was built in a very dry climate that has always needed everything imported in order to sustain life.

But that is my belief.

David Mitchell

Dammit Joe, You've been holding out on us. I've been laying awake nights for years wondering how I can get my hands on a copy of,,,what was it?  Oh yea, "SALT CITY BENEATH DETROIT". 

-------------------

p.s. Hey guys, there's always Florida's new "Brightline". Lets see how many quadrillion those guys can burn?

Michael McLeod

Did anybody else's mom go around occasionally tossing latin phrases into the conversation?

One thing my mom would always say was: "turpis lucre gloria" which means "For the sake of filthy money."

I think, at the time, I assumed every catholic mom did that.

Mine was a bit more likely to do it, though - she came close to being a nun, went to catholic boarding schools, graduated from St. Mary of the Springs, lived next to Holy Rosary - I mean RIGHT next to it -- and her mother regularly had the priests over for sunday dinner. I mean, I saw that Bing Crosby movie where he was a priest and it just looked like real life to me, like something not that far away from how things were, at least around my grandparent's house and in that time period.

Only difference being that Bing Crosby was better looking than any priests we ever saw.

David Mitchell

Mike, I missed that experience. My mother was Methodist (until she converted later in life). Some wonderful old-fashioned wisdoms, but no Latin.

But we did have many of the priests (local and visiting missionary friends of dad's) over for dinner (or even a week's stay) quite orten. That seemed so natural to me that Mary and I (first wife) used to have our priests over for dinner, or Christmas tree trimming, or cookouts with friends in Denver pretty often. They are actually just human beings.  

Brings to mind an "episode" between my mom and Father Foley one time. 

It was a mother's luncheon at OLP grade shool - early fifties. Mom was there with many of her good lady friends in the parish. Father Foley arrived and was greeting them all before the meal when he made a deiberate point of my mother being Protestant. (He had done this before but never in front of a crowd.) He said to my mother, "Dorothy I'm worried about your immortal soul". My mother was a very cool, calm, and kind person, but she grew up in some hard times and was pretty strong and tough - and had a mind of her own. Apparantly, without missing a beat, she fired right back, "It's my own immortal soul I'd be worried about if I were you Father!" 

Apparantly, that rocketed her to instant heroic status in the opinion of her Catholic friends in the Mother's Group - Kay Litzinger, Mary Connor, Stella Cox, Evelyn MacNamara, etc. And, after a follow-up "Don't you ever......"  visit from my dad, Father Foley treated her with great respect. And he became a regular guest at our dinner table for years to come - along with father Tagge(?), Father Torrer (before Father Foley drove him nuts and he landed down at I.C.), and Mom's favorite - tall, handsome, young "Father Kenny". 

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

My mother was also raised a Methodist, Dave.  She converted (obligatory) in order to marry my Catholic father. I don't remember her ever speaking to us in Latin, Mike but she did often ask if she was speaking to us in Greek when none of the six kids jumped into action when asked to do something.

I have fond memories of Father Byrne (pastor of St James the Less) and Father Raiser (IC priest and my father's cousin) joining the rest of the huge Kelley clan at my grandparents' home on Morse Rd for Sunday evening card games.  Kelley Casino included several tables for playing poker, canasta and fish depending on your age and mood.  Not a play station in sight!

Joseph Donahue

I had completely forgotten about Fr. Raiser Donna. I think he was the assistant pastor at IC. The pastor was Fr. Crosser, a man who was aptly named. 

Michael, my mother never spoke Latin but my father did speak in tongues, especially after finishing a bottle of Carstairs whiskey with Carling Black Label to wash it down. 

My mom taught at IC for a number of years and I do recall that we would periodically have several of them over for lunch on Sunday. It was awkward for me as I would have lunch with a nun who just a few days prior had whacked my knuckles for one reason or another. I do recall that every Christmas my mom would take a present wrapped very much like a fifth of liquor to the convent. Perhaps they spoke in tongues also.

Mary Freeman (DiNovo)

Not sure if St. Andrew class pic posted, but found this in Gus' pre marriage stuff. 

Michael McLeod

Whoa. All this talk about protestants. I remember feeling obligated to convert them. I had a friend across the street that I harrassed as a grade schooler. I was convinced I was saving him from the flames of hell. To no avail, I might add.

Sounds innocent now, but of course, what you eventually realize is that know-it-alls are the cancer of our species; the reason why people start wars and burn witches. and that's as close as I'll come to speaking of current events.

But speaking of methodists, my dad was also one of those 'till he made the obligatory switch to marry mom. He would sing this song sometimes:

Sister Lucy, she had a golden chain

Sister Lucy, she had a golden chain

Sister Lucy had a golden chain, 

and every link was just the same

No hiding place down there.

No hiding place down there (hallelujah!)

No hiding place down there (praise the lord)

I went to a rock to hide my face

and the rock cried out: "oh, what a face!"

no hiding place down there.

There was also a verse that went: 

Of all religions I profess

Of all regions I profess

Of all religions I profess, I must profess a methodist

No hiding place down there.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

I remember running home from school in tears when I was in the third grade.  When my mother opened the door I announced what my teacher had told me on hearing that her family was Protestant. You can imagine how pleased she was to hear that her parents and siblings would go straight to hell unless they also converted. Amen to your comments about the know-it-all people, Mike but I must admit your father's song is a bit of a mystery to me.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Just needed one more reading.  Got it!

Michael McLeod

Honest Donna I wish I could sing it to you, then you'd really get it. I imagine it being sung in a little wooden church out in the woods somewhere. I am sure it goes way back, that hymn. It's funny. There is humor in it. But it does have that old-school message in it: you can't hide from God. But even that is done with humor - that's just a hilarious image, somebody being so ugly (and of course, sinful) that they scare the rocks.

and thank you kathy

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Maybe Janie could arrange to have sound on the Forum for you. Janie? :-)

David Mitchell

Donna and Mike,

This is a touchy subject.

I remember feeling sad and confused when I realized my front yard football buddies on Yaronia Drive would not be able to go to Heaven with me. And my best friend and his whole family down in Circleville. But I was actually not aware that my mother was Protestant until almost high school. It simply never came up around our house, and Mom always went to Mass with us. (okay, yes, I was a very naive and sheltered kid). When it occurred to me that she could not go to Heaven I was devastated! She knew something was bothering me, and asked what was on my mind. I put her off for a while but eventually had to confess. When I told her I started to cry in her arms. In one of her many beautiful moments of teaching me about life, she hugged me close and asked, "David, just how many people do you think the Catholic Church has sent to hell anyway?"

It took me just a moment to get her point. I was elated !

And that was one of those sweet moments in life where she helped me understand the real truth, as opposed to the "alternative facts". 

---------

And Mary Kay, Thanks - the St. Andrews photo is a classic!

Janie Albright (Blank)

Thanks, Mary Kay! We are making progress but lots of 8th grade photos to go. Get busy gang! Check the photo gallery to see what we have thus far  

On the note of Protestant parents, my mother was raised a Lutheran but did not attend services there or in the Catholic Church.  She particularly could not stand the tyrannical Fr. Byrne at St  Michaels however when I was 17 she took instructions from Fr. Fortkamp and converted much to everyone's surprise.  She was even confirmed at the Cathedral. 

David Fredericks

On the subject of converts, my Mom was a Methodist.  My Dad used to joke she was the best Catholic in the family (no meat on Friday, mass every Sunday, etc.).  At an early age, the nuns told me to pray for her conversion. Well, I did for almost 40 years before my prayers were answered and Mom became a Catholic. I'm sure the parish priest at St. Michael's had a lot to do with it.  As a side note, can you imagine going to confession in your 90's?  What's there to confess ?  Mom would ask me to take her, and of course I had to go also. Maybe she was doing it for me.  

Janie Albright (Blank)

Great article about our hometown in the Washington Post. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/lifestyle/vacation-ideas/things-to-do-in-columbus/

Michael McLeod

wow - great article. thanks for posting. I sure do get homesick sometimes, but next time I'm up there with my significant other I can see some places there I'd love to take her to.