Guest Book

Merry Christmas as we count off to the New Year. Where were we when we said, "what year will it be when I turn 50?" Kind of remembering as I did the simple the math, that would be 2004, and I snickered at the answer in unbelief. Well, it is rolling like the fog on the Mt. as the snow and ice is melting this evening. Take care and write about the new year!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Hello All....It's been a while since I've logged on. I just wanted to say Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to All. On another note...Here where I work, we hired a new technician. We were talking the other day and he asked where I grew up. Well, when I told him I went to MV he said so did he. He then asked if I remember who I had for Freshman Biology. Well, I had Mr. Swain. Lo And Behold....He's his son!!! His name is Tom and he graduated in '63...SMALL WORLD !!!

here's wishing everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. please be safe and Tom and I hope all your dreams come true! Also here's to another year with the great guestbook. Take care all........

here's wishing everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. please be safe and Tom and I hope all your dreams come true! Also here's to another year with the great guestbook. Take care all........

I know it's been a while since I've e-mailed my friends from this class. Even those who weren't my freinds. I want to wish y'all a "Happy Christmas!" and a "Merry New Year!" Also, did any of you partake in any memorial last week on the 25th anniv. demise of our generations most outspoken advocate for world peace? I of course mean John Lennon. He sure seemed to help drive our generation into a positive direction. Didn't he? I sure feel an immense loss w/him being taken away from us as he was much too soon! How do y'all feel about him? I am interested in y'alls point of view. Peace!, William

Hi it is almost Christmas, the last entry was on Thanksgiving. Wishing all a safe haven and it has been like an ice rink here for a few days. But the electric stayed alive and it was not at all like what it would be like as some of the other storms that have rolled through our nation and a particular location. Keep safe and rejoice as the days approach the yule tide seasons of joy and triumphant. Suzanne H

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone! I just got an e-mail from Roger Burt ('71) that someone was looking for me. Couldn't find the message. Has anyone seen it? Didn't know you all were still posting. I will try and check the messages more often. Nicky

Hurricane Wilma was not nice to the Woods household. We have lived in the same house for 17 years on a heavily wooded acre lot. Now we have multiple 20 foot poles without any branches. The tree surgeon recommends cutting them all down. The roof took a beating and leaks but is intact, which is more than I can say about my office. We had three new open air skylights after Wilma. We cooked with sterno and took cold showers for 11 days, but now everything is getting back to normal. It's the price we pay for living in beautiful South Florida. It's still nothing compared to what I saw going to pick up my daughter's belongings in New Orleans. It has been quite a year, and I have 16 family members coming for a Christmas reunion.

Feeling that the hope and faith will surround our hearts as we remember our friends and to help rebuild. Be it in body or spirit, it is in need of our thoughts and prayers. Thanks be to the One that gives us the strenght and hope as we call upon it in many ways. In times difficulty may our thoughts not be too far, and away. Cause one precieves the heart, and it tries to reach to those in need. Of many different kind of resue attempts and thur lots of personal and private storms of prayers and perserverence. .

I have just learned of Alicia's passing. We were close during 9th & 10th grades, and it was so good to see her at the reunion. Alicia and I worked closely together during the 80's when she was in Purchasing @ WMC. She will be missed. Along with Mike Davis, Taylor Behl, the missing teen from VCU, is the niece of my sister-in-law's sister. Our families appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Here is Alicia's obituary from Saturday's Winchester Star. I'm posting it here to get the info posted ASAP. I'll move it to the Missing Persons page when I have time. This is all the info I have right now:

******************
Alicia L. Williams Alicia Lerayne Williams, 51, of Wardensville, W.Va., died Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005, at her home. Mrs. Williams was born Sept. 7, 1954, in Alexandria, the daughter of Harry L. and Zinaida T. Bulynko Bibber. She was an information systems help desk technician at Winchester Medical Center. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Wardensville. She married David F. Williams on June 7, 1975, in Wardensville. Surviving with her husband, and her father, of Alexandria, are a son, Chase A. Williams, at home; three brothers, David F. Bibber of Dover, N.H., Richard L. Bibber of Homestead, Fla., and John C. Bibber of Woodbridge; and three sisters, Ethel G. Fehl of Aston, Pa., Tanya S. Thornton of Alexandria, and Tamara L. Ruby of McKinney, Texas. A funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Rosedale Baptist Church, Winchester, with the Rev. John Crisman officiating. Burial will be in Greenfield Cemetery, Wardensville. Pallbearers will be David Bibber, Richard Bibber, John Bibber, Henry Manson, Charlie Long, John Byrd, and Geoff Byrd. The family will receive friends from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at Loy-Giffin Funeral Home, Wardensville. Memorials may be made to Rosedale Christian Academy, 2581 Northwestern Pike, Winchester 22603.

I am so sad to read this. Alicia and I were best friends in 8th grade and shared many adventures. I am very grateful that she came to the 30th reunion and we had a chance to reminisce over the old photo album I had brought with me containing so many pictures of her and her family. Is anyone considering attending the funeral tomorrow? I am going to see if I can make arrangements to go. ss

All, Just some sad news that I read in Saturday's paper. Alicia Bibber Williams passed away on Thursday Sept 15. I don't know any details other than what was published in the paper. She and her husband David Williams (also from our class) lived in Wardensville WV. Here's the link to the newspaper http://www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/050917/Obituaries.asp

Folks, Mike Davis needs our prayers. The college freshmen that is missing in Richmond, Taylor Behl, is his wife's cousin's daughter. Mike says they are very close to Taylor and her mom. They have been down there for the past 1 1/2 weeks now. Ann is handling the media about it, and it is a nightmare for them. So amid everything else, please send a prayer and thought for them.

Don, I'm so glad your daugter is alright. I have a friend who's son was in a similar situation and got on Saturday and is now living with his brother's family in Arlington. Amanda, thanks for reminding us how fortunate we are and not to sweat the small stuff. I'm glad your family is ok too! Our university, RIT, has taken several students who were registered in N.O. and we're collecting contributions of $$, toiletries and other supplies. The Christian Faith Community here is bringing up 150 families to start anew in Rochester, NY. Of course there are many other outreach activities and I'm so glad to see/hear the country pull together during this difficult time for our neighbors. God Bless!

Dewey, I hope a lot of the New Orleans refugees get farmed out to other cities. New Orleans has one of the worst school systems in the country, even the middle class go to private schools. It's a Democratic stronghold and they have resisted any attempts at voucher programs, or alternative schools. The amount of money spent per child is high, but just like Washington D.C. (highest in money spent, but at the bottom in all areas of testing), they are corrupt with a huge administration that doesn't do anything. Competition improves every product we use, but there is little competion in the public school systems.

Thanks for the local update, Amanda. Glad to hear you're OK. An oak tree in the living room sounds pretty bad, but at least you still have a living room! I can well imagine the density of refugees there. I'm in Denver and I saw on the local news that they're putting up ~1,000 refugees in a dorm at the old Lowry AFB in town. Denver is a long way for a LA or MS refugee to come. One guy on TV was saying that he no longer has a home or anything in New Orleans, so he might as well look at settling down in Denver. I imagine that's not an uncommon sentiment and soon people in all parts of the country may find themselves running into the "Children of Katrina".

A word from Mobile, AL. Thanks to all who’ve prayed and stood vigil with us during Katrina’s attack and aftermath. The sadness in the air is almost palpable as we on the gulf coast come to terms with what’s going on around us. My family and I were at Wal-mart (an ever constant sample study of Americana culture!) last night collecting supplies for the evacuees in our area and noticed that ¾ of the vehicles had MS and LA tags – they have no grocery, drug or convenience stores. The parking lot was criss-crossed with miles of cars waiting in the gas lines – if gas can be found with less than an hour wait it often runs out before all are served. And…..we are pretty much back to normal (except for the very large oak tree sitting in our living room! – what we get for living 100 yards from Mobile Bay!). The folks in Biloxi, Gulf Port and of course, New Orleans are suffering tremendously. Many aid projects are being launched from here – our church is sponsoring one of them and I’ll start making runs into Biloxi tomorrow with supplies. Many of us are housing dislocated families as well – ours will arrive tomorrow. We’ve evacuated several times over the past year and never take the threat lightly but the damage and aftermath are inescapable no matter what precautions are taken. I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you guys for your thoughts and to give you each a closer perspective and one tiny (no tall jokes please) bird’s eye view. Don, your daughter’s circumstance is an economic situation that has long reaching tentacles. So many no longer have schools, jobs, planned futures or lives, as they’ve know them or expected them to play out. Many aspects of our society will never be the same. Thanks for letting me vent a bit and thanks guys for being a constant presence and source of encouragement.

NICE idea, Don. Good luck with it. Another project I've heard of for housing refugees is at http://www.hurricanehousing.org.

I have started a campaign for each city to adopt a refugee family from the Astrodome. We will be flying families out to south florida cities. Each city will be totally responsible for one family, whether it takes months or a year to get them settled. It will sure beat living in the Astrodome. I am responsible for the family for our town, Parkland, Florida.We hope to get this in the national news today. Contact your churches, civic groups, and mayor, then sponsor a family.

My youngest daughter had been working in New Orleans as a special ed teacher for only 2 weeks before Katrina. We moved her into her apartment this summer and had a nice vacation in New Orleans. We were planning to visit again this Labor Day weekend. It's so sad. She's home now. She became very attached to "her kids" and finds it hard to believe that the city is essentially destroyed. I was concerned about a terrorist blowing a whole in the levee, once the water starts pouring in it is going to be nearly impossible to plug the hole. Living below sea level surrounded by water never seemed like a good idea.

For anyone interested, Pure Prairie League AND Poco are playing at the Birchmere on Wed, July 13, at 7:30 PM. $35 ticket. It's a good feeling to know.