Spring, 2010
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MUSE INDEX Dropdown menus LINKS Previous issues What's New Who's Who Birthdays and Anniversaries Muse readers' own websites Muse History Spring 2010 Photo Gallery Nancy's Quilts |
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE: MUSE NEWS (Bob Murdock) Click R.I.P. WANDA SCHINDO (Bob Murdock) Click WANDA WAS A LEADER (Teddie Doane) Click 2009, A YEAR OF BIG CHANGES (Nancy A. Murdock) Click HOWLETT REUNION ET AL (Sarah Howlett) Click END OF YEAR REPORT (Charlie Frost) Click UPDATE FROM ARIZONA (Margery Aukstikalnis) Click AVIATION HISTORY (Gene Murdock) Click FROM REDWOOD CITY (Valerie Davidson) Click IRONWOOD UPDATE (Nancy A. Murdock) Click GOOD WISHES FROM FRIENDS (Bob Murdock) Click ROY CHECKS IN (Roy Murdock) Click DECEMBER WHITE (Nancy A. Murdock) Click Part 2 (Readers' Articles) WHAT'S IN A NAME (Nancy A. Murdock) Click I AM WOMAN (Nancy A. Murdock) Click WALKING THE LABYRINTH (Nancy A. Murdock) Click |
By Deborah, 2009 Gallery photo
Northern Lights" Gallery photo Quilt index |
Gallery photo |
Bob Murdock On December 27, 2009 my niece Wanda entered the kingdom of Heaven. She was the eldest daughter of my sister, Dotty Salminen. Wanda died of heart failure two days after Christmas, but she was spirited to the end. Here is her Facebook entry for December 24: "Wishing everyone a happy, hectic, wrapping paper strewn Christmas filled with love and joy. God bless us every one!" Wanda's many friends on Facebook responded quickly. Here is a sampling of what I found: From Rebecca: To my Godmother Aunt Wanda: I know you are resting comfortably now, and catching up with Tem! It comforts me to know that I now have another guardian angel to watch over me. We love you! Our thoughts and prayers are with Hunter now... From Tamera: RIP, dear Wanda. I hope a family member will save all of these well-wishes for some added little comfort for her remaining close family members. Too young to die. :( From Barb: God bless you Wanda, you will always be in my heart. I remember your gentle kindness, your intelligence - you did the NY Times crossword puzzle every week. And I will always remember your wonderful sense of humor and smile. You are home now, and at peace. From Cindy: Wanda, I was sad to find out ....you my dear are in a better place...you were missed at the party the other night....to your family god bless - they have been through so much. From Gloria: Your laughter will be missed. Thank you for being you. Rest in peace. From CaroLynn: I hope that you and John and Tem are having fun right now. I hope I will see you again someday. Miss you... From Will: God bless you, Wanda. Rest in peace. From Mary: I miss you. You are in the arms of angels. Response from Hunter, Dec. 30: I just wanted to thank everyone for their heartfelt condolences. It's been a difficult couple months, with both my grandmother and mother passing in such a short period of time. I'm currently working on clearing out my mother's apartment hoping to have everything finished before the weekend. Wanda's sister Teddie Doane wrote a nice eulogy, and that's the next article in this Muse. Another sister, Sally Bacon, sent me a copy of Wanda's published obituary: "Wanda Lynn Schindo, 61, passed away Sunday, December 27, 2009, at home. She is survived by her son, Hunter Schindo, of Brooklyn, NY, her mother, Dorothy Salminen, a brother, Randy Salminen, and four sisters, Sally Bacon, Teddie Doane, Viki Blakley and Penny Salminen. She was predeceased by her son, Temuchin Schindo. Wanda enjoyed reading mysteries, doing the New York Times crossword puzzles, playing with her cat, Missy, and gardening. A funeral service will be held at Bangs Funeral Home on Saturday, January 2, at 11 a.m." |
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Teddie Doane Wanda was a leader. Some might use the word "instigator!" When she and Sally and I were about 3, 5 and 7 she was the one who led us up onto the chicken house roof with our tricycles and doll carriages to play. When Mom spotted us she was horrified. She tied a piece of rope around each of our waists and the other ends to the front door! Wanda would lead us off to play down by the river or out in the woods to the top of the "cliffs." What adventures we had! When she was 16 and I was 12 we went to a gas station in Gardner where she rented a motorcycle for an afternoon. We had a ball! I don't remember if we wore helmets but I do remember the horror on Mom and Dad's faces when we drove up the driveway on Twin Hill Road! Wanda would often call to ask if I remembered the lyrics to songs from our childhood. The most recent was a song that I believe Barb taught us about going to heaven. Wanda had a great alto voice, she could harmonize, she played the accordion, traveled abroad and would complete the Sunday crossword puzzle in INK! She was so proud of Hunter and raved about what a wonderful son he was and how good he was to her. Wanda loved life and was loved and will be missed by many. Wanda's last words to me on Christmas Day were, "Teddie, you're a nut and I love you!" and she laughed that deep guttural laugh of hers! Oh, how I'll miss that laugh. "Oh you can't get to heaven in a limousine 'cuz the Lord don't sell no gasoline!" |
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Nancy A. Murdock After 35 years of working for the Social Security Administration, I finally retired on September 30, 2009. Several groups of friends and co-workers gave me a fine sendoff. I even received messages from colleagues at the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with whom I had worked on International Direct Deposit of Social Security benefits. I do miss them all, but it was time to give more attention to my family and get used to an entirely different way of life. Part of the grand plan was to buy a house. We hadn’t owned a house since we moved from Minnesota to Hawaii in 1973. Our son Darrel said it was now time for us to move to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. With the help of Darrel and his wife, Mary, we were able to get enough information to decide on our current home, at 219 W. Harding Ave, Ironwood, MI 49938. The house appears to have been painted and had new carpets and linoleum installed before it went on the market, so it was nice to find it in really good condition. We’ve been here since early December now, and we can tell you that it really is as cold and snowy as you’ve been told. We seem always to wear an extra layer of clothing and still go searching for another layer. It is a nice place, though. We have contracted for a year’s plowing of the driveway and the front yard. That $400 has turned out to be a really good decision!! The people all seem to be kind and friendly. We’ve been too busy unpacking all those many, many boxes to get well acquainted, but we have at least now reduced the stacks to the point where we can find our way from one room to the next. We had never really made the kind of move where we had to be concerned with all the complexities of life in the 21st century. But we did get here, and most of our belongings did also. At first, we thought my SEWING MACHINE hadn’t made it. But then Bob got curious about a strange item in one of the many boxes in the blue room, and when he turned it around, we found it was my beloved Bernina!!! We quickly found our new church, the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration. The congregation is small, maybe 12 to 20 actually attending each week. There is no choir, which was a blow to me. I was looking forward to choir rehearsals, etc. I guess I got really spoiled at Christ The King Church. However, the people who have stayed with the church while all the mainline churches have been dramatically reduced in membership and attendance were welcoming and nice. Apparently the situation here is that the storefront churches are increasing as the mainliners are leaving or not attracted. We understand that there are usually discussions available at our church, but with the special holidays, those are now on hold. We look forward to Thursday evening’s Christmas Eve service this week. So far, I don’t have a very big list of accomplishments to account for having retired. However, Bob seems to pick up on what needs to be done. So he has developed a list of companies, stores, etc., that we need to keep in touch with. Beyond that, we mostly just do whatever needs to be done or whatever we want to do. This is a radical outlook for someone who worked at an important job for 35 years after the children were no longer in need of everyday full care. Bob has been retired since 1973, so he used to be the one the school called if any child from our apartment building in CA needed to come home. Once we moved to our apartment in MD in 1987, we got into a real rut, and now it seems we’re developing a slightly different rut. We’re looking forward to installing all our paintings, framed photos, and other artwork. That should keep us busy for a while. We miss you all, and we have been happy to receive greeting cards from many of you recently. We finally have a landline telephone, and Bob still has his cell phone. House: 906-364-7199 Bob: 443-604-5253 Nancy is returning her cell phone, in order to avoid throwing it through the window. It has shredded her calm temperament. Since Comcast doesn’t operate up here, we are now with Charter. Our email is as follows: Bob’s: murmuse2@yahoo.com. Nancy’s: nanquilt@gmail.com. We send our love and best wishes to each of you, and we look forward to seeing you when you want some great landscape scenery. The Murdock Muse is at http://d21c.com/murmuse/index.html. |
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Sarah Howlett First of all, congrats on your big move! I've always wanted to visit the Upper Peninsula- hopefully I can arrange a visit sometime. I'm afraid it won't be anytime too soon, since my recent life changes aren't leaving me with much "fun" money! I hope spring in the Upper Peninsula is nice! Speaking of nice weather- don't forget the family party is this July 10th, with a "Halloween in July" theme which was picked out by Lori's youngest son Nick. I'm sure you've seen the changes on my Facebook page, but in case you haven't, I've gone through a BIG change! My husband of 8+years & I decided to divorce in February, and since we live in the "Live Free or Die" state, filed jointly (and amicably) without involving lawyers; it was final in less than a month! We are both living in the house still, until it sells, and then I plan to move to Portland, Maine, close to work. It hasn't been easy... but I know things will turn around eventually. My sister & oldest niece Amanda have been great sources of support along with the rest of the family, and my coworkers have been wonderful also. Since I truly love & enjoy my job & have great coworkers, I'm feeling pretty good about (eventually) moving on to Portland. It's further away from my family than I'd ever choose otherwise, but Portland is a really cute city and I'm looking forward to it (and a little- no, a lot!- terrified since I've made it into my early 30s without ever living alone!) And after 4+ years of driving an hour+ to & from work, I'm really looking forward to losing that commute! For now, my snail mail address remains the same. I will update you when that changes- hopefully our house won't take as long to see as I fear it will :( We've canceled the land line so I'm just using my cell phone now, and my new email is: palesarah@gmail.com. Please don't forget to send me the Muse, I really look forward to reading it! Skimming through back issues has actually been very helpful in my new/old hobby- genealogy. I don't remember if you remember the little family pedigree diagram I squished onto an 8x11" piece of graph paper back in 8th or 9th grade (1990ish?) but it's always interested me. So I've recently taken on the project of integrating cousin Clyde's info, my Dad's info, and other family tidbits onto an http://www.facebook.com/l/fc47e;Ancestry.com family tree- if anyone would like access to it, please email me. I only borrowed Clyde's book and I know my dad has a box full of family note & tidbits, and I do intend to get it all in one place, soon. I would appreciate any info on the most recent Howlett generation's (my cousins and under) marriages & children, if anyone would like to forward that on. I've found some, but I know there's more to include. |
and Nick White |
Charlie Frost It’s been an active year of work and travel for us. Although Janice is on sabbatical for the 2009-2010 academic year, she has been busier than ever on the Truman State University campus, developing her gecKoMath website, submitting applications for grants, presenting training institutes for Missouri elementary math teachers, and mentoring graduate students. In February she was in Germany supervising our education interns serving at US military base schools. She has given presentations to Missouri school teachers in Kansas City, Columbia, Lake of the Ozarks and, of course, Kirksville. One of the highlights of our year was an October trip to South Korea, where Jan presented a report to math educators on how Korean math concepts have helped American teachers raise elementary student performance. We were hosted in Seoul for several days by a very kind professional colleague. On December 18th we picked up his teenage son when he finished his school term at the Cono Christian School in Walker, IA, near Cedar Rapids. Janice's friends in Waukegan, IL, put us up for five days until the boy's flight left Chicago on the 23rd. We are all happy he made it home for Christmas. On the way back to Kirksville we stayed at an historic motel on old Route 66 in Springfield, IL. My father and mother took a trip along Route 66 from Chicago, where they were living in the late 1920s, to Lebanon, MO. In May Jan and I attended the Naval Academy graduation, where her nephew and other midshipmen were congratulated by President Obama as they received their commissions. In November we flew to Washington, DC, for the bar mitzvah of another nephew, staying with Jan’s younger sister, the boy’s grandmother. In August we flew to California to visit with Jan’s son John and his partner Gregg in Santa Barbara. We fulfilled our long-deferred wish to see the Getty Museum on that trip. On the way back to the airport we linked up with old Shanghai friends now living in Duarte. My granddaughter Colleen was married to Nick White in York, Maine, in September. It was a perfect sunny day for an outdoor wedding. Jan and I took lots of pictures with her new camera. I continue to flunk retirement. Taught comparative legal systems at Truman State last spring and international relations (substantially diplomacy and international law) at our local community college in the fall. Will be teaching criminal intelligence analysis again next semester at Truman and will offer a new course in international criminal law in the spring of 2011. While crossing the Harvard Yard and passing the Law School during a trip to Cambridge last fall I was reminded of that crusty, cantankerous law professor played so famously by John Houseman in The Paper Chase. An interesting role model, perhaps, but I just couldn’t carry it off. Janice and I wish you the blessings of the Holiday Season and “All the Best” in 2010. We’ll spend about ten days at Jan’s house in Honolulu before the spring semester kicks off. |
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Margery Aukstikalnis Feb. 21, 2010 - Are you settled in from the big move? It is amazing how long it takes to find places for everything, even if there is more room. And then try and find the item you need after it has a nice home…. Somewhere. And, watching Baltimore, Philly, DC and even Florida get plummeted with historic snowfall, looks like you fared well, in that department. Cold, though? I wondered if the Great Lake offers some warming effect on the nearby land. Looking forward to hearing how you are adapting. I sure am enjoying Facebook. I have “met” some grand nieces and nephews I didn’t even know about. And cousins! Some of the younger kids are a little too vocal, but I can block them or ignore them, or, in the case of my own grandchildren, even scold them, but for the most part I am simply enjoying learning what a marvelous family we have! Lots of talents, intelligence and humor shine through the daily chatting. And I have become addicted to Scrabble! We have had the wettest winter since 1946, which, in AZ is a blessing. The desert bloom should be fantastic this year, and I am ready, camera in hand! Lots of plants are greening up already. The birds are plentiful, and we FINALLY have a pair of robins in our yard. My vet tells me they are rare here. I look forward to hearing from you. Hope all is well with you both. May 14, 2010 - The solar cooker didn’t work as well as I had hoped, mostly because there is so much wind here every single day! I’ve put it away for now, and as Jack finishes the siding and trim of the outside of the house, he is planning on building me a little wind shelter that will still get most all the benefit of the sun. I thought about insulating the solar box further, but it still tends to want to blow away. We lost most of the ridge cap shingles in a recent wind storm. It was twelve days before there was a windless-enough day for Jack to get up on the roof to replace the shingles! It was a new roof last year, too! The same storm picked up my glass-topped patio table and carried it 50 feet into the bushes, but left the lightweight folding chairs leaning against the house right in place. El Nino brought enough rains this winter to create a fabulous desert wildflower bloom. I have found a few kinds I’ve never seen before. The prickly pear is just starting to blossom now, and is beautiful. We have a desert evening primrose which opens in the evening to carpet the ground in large white flowers, where, the yellow Mexican Poppy closes up its own thick carpet from the daytime display. We have a gorgeous Datura plant, a couple Mexican Thistle, Lots of ground verbena, one prickly poppy, and many daisy-like, sweet-pea like, and dandelion-like flowers of all different colors. I told Jack it’s like we have a 39 acre flower garden!! Just lovely! The yucca and agave have mostly bloomed, the grasses and ocotillo are blooming now, the small cacti and cholla are budding, and there is more to come. |
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Gene Murdock May 10, 2010 - On Saturday the 8th I headed out to the Aviation Museum for a special celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first airplane flight in Iowa, and the 20th anniversary of the Iowa Aviation Museum! In the drive out there I set my GPS on verbal instructions for the whole route because I was listening to an audio book of Julia Child’s early years in France. It is fantastic! The activities at the airfield didn’t really start until two p.m., but I got there early at about eleven a.m. so I would have time to meet and greet all my friends, get a good parking spot, and do some work in the library. The conference table next to my book stacks was already occupied and laid out for Clarence, who was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 11, 1941, and had lots of materials to mark the occasion with books, photos, maps, etc. Soon another guy came in, obviously a pilot, and started looking around and chatting with both of us. Then I realized it was Rob Ator from Minnesota, who was going to fly his Pitts bi-wing airplane in the air show portion of the program! Then another guy came in and introduced himself as the “Air Boss”, the director of the air show. Later another chap came in along with Lee Ann, the museum director, and the whole group sat down and did a flight briefing covering all the rules and the things that could happen. Holy Mackerel! Here is little Gene sitting in with a Pearl Harbor veteran and a flight planning crew, listening to the briefing. Fortunately they didn’t ask me for any weather advice! The air show went well. The clouds were just high enough that he could do most of his usual routine and he thrilled everybody. It was a cold, windy day and we were all standing outside shivering, but it was well worth it to see him fly straight up until the plane stalled, then recover and dive straight back down to earth! Next on the schedule was a performance of a great patriotic singing show by the Omaha based group, the AVI8ORS. Three gals and a guy, dressed in WW II Army Air Corps uniforms, singing the songs from the 30’s and 40’s with choreography, humor, and dialogue. I had seen them before in Glenwood and I sat in the front row to see them up close and sing along with some of the songs. Wow! The next events were a program honoring the early flyer, Art Hartman, and the anniversaries of the Iowa first flight and the Aviation Museum’s existence. Following that a Luau!! The whole day was called a “Hawaiian Fly-in.” The volunteers and staff all wore colorful leis with a big tag saying “Iowa Aviation Museum Volunteer.” Many wore grass skirts, but I passed on that idea. Unfortunately, after the AVI8TORS program it was about four o’clock and I had a two hour drive home, so I had to leave early and miss out on the rest of the program but I had enjoyed luaus on Guam, so it didn’t hurt too bad to go. |
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Valerie Davidson I'm impressed by what you have accomplished, and I hope you are enjoying settling in to your new fantabulous home and glorious retirement together. Sounds wonderful to me! Mom, do you remember the Bielefelder Kinderchor album? When I had that downstairs bedroom, in second and third grade, I remember night after night of requesting that you play that album for me as I was going to sleep. I still have the album, and it's still playable. Every note, every nuance, is familiar to me. I hope to get a CD burned from it one of these days, to preserve it forever, I love it that much. In fact, I have really come to appreciate Amazon.com for its ease of finding used books and CDs, and it has become my number one favorite place to shop on-line, and so I recently went searching for CDs of the choir. It turns out that there was a period of time during which a certain guy was the conductor and the choir turned out several amazing albums. Some of that music is available on CDs, and as I was hunting them down, I came across other folks who have very fond memories of the choir from childhood. I just received my first purchase in the mail today, a Christmas collection. I remember listening to possibly this exact one in the language lab at Cooper during some of my free "mods." Several of us who were enrolled in foreign languages used to congregate there and check out music tapes that we would listen to with headphones. Another of my purchases will be coming from Switzerland, where they had a fan base. Anyway, long story short, listening to this lovely Christmas music gave me the urge to write my well wishes for you in your newest adventure, just one more of many for the pair of you. It ought to be a white Christmas, right? |
in Ironwood |
Nancy Murdock March 1, 2010 - We are still finding out new facts about our area (Ironwood, MI, and neighboring spots, especially in Wisconsin). Today we were talking about where was the nearest place to buy certain items at the grocery store. Yes, it is in WI, not MI. Hurley, WI is the nearest city, if what we need is not available in Ironwood. Then, talking about our medical facilities, we realized the closest one(Hurley Clinic) is in WI. Fortunately, the roads get plowed shortly after the snow comes down. This is a very big “plus,” because it has snowed very frequently. The “boots” I wear out in the snow are actually my white Reeboks. Not the new ones we bought in Williamsburg, but some that have done well for me. I just put on a pair of heavy wool socks and then the Reeboks, so I don’t have to cope with freezing snow on bare ankles. People seem to wince when they see I’m not dressed for this area, but so far I’m doing okay. I don’t actually march through waist-deep snow, though. In fact, we don’t even use the front door, as the front lawn is where a lot of the snow is moved to by the plow. But the driveway is kept plowed, and we can drive into the garage and walk right into the house. It took a while to get used to, but at least we do use the glass part of the front door for the outdoor thermometer. I think Bob has already bought three thermometers since our arrival. Fortunately, he seems to love shopping! We can tell what the temperature is anywhere in the house. I’m currently in the “heated” basement, where I have learned not to go unless I am wearing some outdoor wear, such as a jacket we received from contributing to the Beijing Olympics. I wear only nice heavy joggers from the waist down to the shoes, so getting ready to go outside doesn’t become a major event. For those of you who live in MD, we are glad you finally got relief from the tons of snow that added up to more than we were getting for a while. One of the men at our church here said we were the first people he had known of to come to the Upper Peninsula to get warm! Our former church, in MD, was closed for three weeks. Our friend Michael, who keeps us informed of what is going on back there, was very pleased when the church reopened. I think he called me at about 6:00 AM the next day, so we wouldn’t miss out on the news. I believe our snow to date for this winter in Ironwood adds up to something like 166 inches. Bob keeps me informed of the weather news. |
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Bob Murdock From Polly (Nancy's sister) and Stan Joubert, Dec. 6, 2009: We are glad to hear you ar safely in your new home. We are in FL now for the winter months enjoying flowers still blooming although it's chilly today at 58 degrees. The rest of the week is supposed to be in the high 70s so we still have some good weather for now. We heard from Rennie and Kevin and they both had about 4 or 5 inches of snow yesterday. I'm sure you will both be busy unpacking and scouring the surrounding areas for good things to do. We wish you the best. Have a happy holiday season and a Merry Christmas. From Jane McCauley (Hubbardston, MA) Dec. 2, 2009: Hope you are all settled in your home in Ironwood. May you enjoy many years of happiness there and stay in touch and keep on quilting Nancy. You will need many quilts to keep you warm this winter. From Bill Moore, church friend in Baltimore, Dec. 5, 2009: We’re missing you already at CTK. Today is our first snow in Baltimore since last spring. It looks like there’s lots of snow in western Michigan, but at least Michigan drivers are more intelligent about snow than Baltimoreans. I hope that you don’t have to drive today, anyway. I’m surprised that the Comcast near-monopoly hasn’t penetrated Upper Peninsula Michigan yet. Maybe it’s small potatoes compared to its other big-league takeovers. My sister, Kathy, who lives in the Detroit area, uses wowway, and swears by it. I’m not sure if they serve the U.P. You might also consider getting yourselves a gmail.com email address. Gmail goes everywhere, and unlike Yahoo, it doesn’t clog up your screen with ads and popups. Keep in touch. From David Leake (Don Lytle's cousin) December 2, 2009 Wow! You are picking up stakes and moving to frozen Michigan? Wasn't Hubbardston cold enough for you after all these years? You may remember, we corresponded a couple years ago about my cousin and your friend, Don Lytle. Roz and I left Maine in 1981 because the cold was getting to us after living there a dozen years. We've been in Florida since 1983. It got down to the 60's (40's at night) a week or so ago and we broke out our winter jackets. Best wishes, and, all kidding aside, I hope you enjoy your new home. |
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Roy Murdock December 27, 2009 - Khendra's new job as a legal assistant it going very well. So nice for her to be employed full time. She and Jason are planning to go to their favorite store today, Vintage Stock. Tami is doing fine with her new pacemaker and her home oxygen support. We recently added a nebulizer machine to help try to keep her lungs clear. She has good days and bad days. On Dec 7, she celebrated her 68th birthday. Lately, she has really been enjoying Facebook, where she plays online Scrabble and other games, and interacts with extended family and friends. |
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Nancy A. Murdock It’s easy to find beauty With snow all over town – Big puffs of clean white Build up under the tree Like a large, clean comforter. It offsets the thermometer’s report That shocks family and friends. The sky is comfortably blue, With one skinny cloud Bisecting the whole light blue canopy. The tractor plowed Driveway and front lawn - But no marks break The beautiful white Over the bushes By the front steps - Beauty is important to life. –Nancy Murdock Friday, 12/18/09 - Ironwood, MI |
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