January and February, 2004
Nancy and Bob Murdock, Editors - murmuse@erols.com

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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE:

PREPARING FOR DEPLOYMENT (Jason Robert Murdock) Click

OUR CHRISTMAS (Daniel Leskinen) Click

ONLINE EDUCATION (Sent by Margie Aukstikalnis) Click

HOLIDAY GREETINGS 2003 FROM HUDSON,MA (Carol Howlett) Click

POST-CHRISTMAS ENJOYMENT (Ian Murdock) Click

AN EASY PASSING (Joan Calder) Click

EUEL'S MEMORIAL PAGE (Joy Anthony) Click

VISIT WITH JOAN AND EUEL (Chris and Donna Estep) Click

BUSY AND HAPPY (Dotty Salminen) Click

OUR 20TH ANNIVERSARY (Becky Murdock) Click

MERRY CHRISTMAS (Marjorie Hanson) Click

45TH ANNIVERSARY (Priscilla Januskiewicz) Click

GREAT NEWS (Valerie Davidson) Click

Click here for part 2.

CASEY'S ASSIGNMENT (Regina Howlett & Nancy Murdock) Click

BUSY YEAR (Jim & Carol Wilkinson) Click

OUR YEAR (Orrel & Charlie Frost) Click

A BLESSED YEAR (Roy & Tamera Murdock) Click

CHRISTMAS LETTER ALREADY? (The Tripp Family) Click

OUR YEAR IN REVIEW (Lorna Lass) Click

PREPARING FOR DEPLOYMENT
Jason Robert Murdock

I'm sorry I have not written in a long time. I have been consumed too much. I have been really busy preparing for deployment on Feb.3rd to Afghanistan for 18 to 24 months. I will be part of the greatest logistical transformation in U.S. history. At the turn of 2004 all of the troops overseas are going to be replaced by fresh ones and I am one of the fresh ones. I have my orders and it is a for sure thing.

We will be making the world a better place by removing land mines with sophisticated high tech equipment. I will give you guys a new e-mail on how to stay in touch in the next couple of months.

Outside of this breaking news, I have bought a townhouse out in the country in MN. It is beautiful - 2 car garage, 3 season porch, 2 bedrooms, vaulted ceilings, custom oak cabinets throughout the kitchen and bathroom, and a jacuzzi bathtub combo. My backyard is a very large field where I see much wildlife.

I have also met a girl. Her name is Bevin, and she and I have been really connecting and hanging out and talking a lot over the past 2 weeks.

I have a really good job, still at the same place I have been working for the past 3 years. I am the Senior Printer Technician, and my responsibilities include troubleshooting and repairing every type of printer or copier or fax or combo on the market, as well as training in new employees. I interface with the sales staff on a daily basis, answer telephone calls, and do over the phone troubleshooting. I order parts and interface with delivery and shipping companies.

I have been in this buisness for over 5 years now and I have developed certifications through HP and Lexmark. I like my job, it's challenging at times and the pay is pretty good. But I have made some contacts in this business, and a friend of mine is starting his own company, which I plan on joining when I return from Afghanistan.

My Dad looks healthy and I met up with him and his new girlfriend for a holiday dinner and gift exchange last week. It was a nice visit. I miss you guys and I hope you have a great New Year. May all your wishes come true and God Bless.


OUR CHRISTMAS
Daniel Leskinen

Our Christmas trip to Ithaca did not go as planned. To make a long story short, I did make it up there to see Mary, Wendy and David. It wasn't until Jan 1st, and Carolyn stayed home with a sinus infection and Stephanie worked on her school project. I will download some pictures and send them to you.

As far as Christmas morning goes, we had a wonderful time. Except that Carolyn, not realizing at the time that she was sick, doesn't remember much. My favorite line came from Annabelle. After she opened her stocking and most of her gifts, she calmly said, "I thought I was going to get a lump of coal."

I'm going to miss Gene's regular writings. I have most of them saved. Maybe some day, someone can piece them together and make a book with them.


ONLINE EDUCATION
Sent by Margery Aukstikalnis

Margie sent us a story about Missi Howlett from the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. Excerpts are printed here.

Winchendon resident Missi A. Howlett is among a growing number of college students who have completed courses online.

She received an associate's degree from Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner taking online and traditional classes. She also works full time at the college as assistant to the vice president for lifelong learning, helping other students to take part in online and continuing education.

"Since I work at the college all day long," Ms. Howlett said, "the last thing I want to do is go back there at night. My son is 9 years old. Nighttime is his time."

Convenience and the opportunity to obtain college credits offered by a variety of public colleges are among the main reasons students such as Ms. Howlett sign up for online classes.

Ms. Howlett, 32, is a nontraditional student. She graduated from high school in 1989, started part time at Mount Wachusett in 1990 and received an associate's degree in 1997. She is now working on a bachelor's degree and has less than 40 credits left to graduate.

"You have to be a self-motivated student and a good planner," she said of taking courses online. "You get a syllabus at the beginning of the semester and you plan your time. You have to think ahead a lot, as opposed to getting weekly and daily deadlines."


HOLIDAY GREETINGS 2003 FROM HUDSON MA
Carol Howlett

The second half of the year has been quite hectic here. In June my aunt Olive passed away after being in a rest home for about a year (she was my fathers sister). I met some of my cousins that I didn't know about. One of them is into Genealogy like I am and we have shared some news of family dates etc.

We went to the Howlett reunion at John & Cathy's and had a great time chatting, eating, and exchanging pictures from prior gatherings. Chris & Angel bought a home in Palmer, MA. in July and we went to Chris's birthday party there. In August Dave & Rose had a double birthday party for Gage & Tamara at their house in Southbridge, MA.

Gaitlyn's birthday was in Sept. at their house. Brian's birthday party was at the Stow bowling alley. My cousin's wife who had cancer died, which was a blessing. Her husband of 44 years is having a hard time but their children are very close, which helps.

Son Doug's birthday party was at our home in Oct. Then we had our 37th anniversary. For my birthday we decided to take a day trip to Maine and do some shopping at the Kittery Corning outlet and of course we had to stop at Yummies to get some candy. I was hoping to find a sweatshirt but didn't find one in my size. I did get a couple for my birthday, though.

We decided to check out the Lobster Barn in York (we thought they didn't open until around 4 PM), but decided to take a drive to see. When we got to Bos'ns Landing (another good food place), they were replacing the bridge causing a slight delay but we continued to go to our designated spot. We were correct in our guess the barn didn't open until 4. Doug decided he didn't want to eat at a construction site and I agreed, so we went back to Portsmouth N.H. to Yoken's and had a great meal of Baked Stuffed Lobster.

My cousin Betty called me just before Christmas to say her mother had fallen and broken her hip and wasn't doing very well. She called on Christmas Day to say she had passed away. She was my mother's youngest sister.

I hope the new year will be better. May you all have a blessed and healthy New Year.


POST-CHRISTMAS ENJOYMENT
Ian Murdock

Hi! We are all enjoying our Christmas gifts. With a cold wind blowing outside, it's a perfect night to curl up with a good book! One problem: we can't get Tim's new quilted bedspread away from NaTT. (Say, if medieval Scottish kings wore kilts, did their queens wear quilts?)

I got, among other things, a DVD player, a Frisbee, and from Mer, a scrummy Knott's breakfast gift pack like they sell at Hickory Farms, whose delicious Gouda, coincidentally, came in a beef n' cheese gift pack from Darrel and was happily consumed by Beck and myself on Christmas night while Sean forced Tim and me to capitulate with his second Risk turn. Aargh! Maybe I shouldn't have focused so much on the cheese, but it's a comfort food from my Minnesota youth that means more to me than conquering the world.

NaTT and Tim did a gingerbread house, and it looks great! They used rows of gumdrops to represent Christmas lights, and bent baggie twistees into candy-cane yard decorations. Then NaTT drew a Santa on a small slip of paper and found some small cardboard reindeer, and pasted them all on the roof. Voila! Edible (sort of) showpiece! We are going to pack it up and bring it out again next year.

And speaking of the new year, have a great, happy one! I hope everything goes your way, with the exception of bad weather.


AN EASY PASSING
Joan Calder

I lost my Dad on December 10. It was a very easy passing - no pain - no drugs and fully aware. "Amazing Grace."

Ona and three of her girls were up here the first of November, and he went out to dinner and breakfast with us. It was great!

Hope this finds you and yours well. I am busy with two wonderful "Grands": Cloe Grace (2 years) and Charlton Thomas (6 months). Fantastic!

[Ed. Note: Joan's Dad was Emanuel Carlson Charlton, Bob's uncle.--NAM]
EUEL'S MEMORIAL PAGE
Joy Anthony

I am sending you two pictures for your memorial page for Euel. I'm so glad we went up to see Euel in November. Joan has a lovely setting for her new home and was glad to see us.

[Ed. Note: Click here to see the memorial Web page for Emanuel "Euel" Charlton. -- RDM]


VISIT WITH JOAN AND EUEL
Chris and Donna Estep

We received word of Euel's death on Dec. 10th from Joan. We are grateful that we took Mum to see him in November. We also saw Joan and her daughter Cristen and her two grandchildren, Cloe and Charlton.


BUSY AND HAPPY
Dotty Salminen

Your Muse and email tell me that you are both doing well. That makes me happy. I have a feeling that you both will live to your 90s like so many members of our families here!

I have had a good year and am blessed with four of my children living nearby. I do a lot of baby sitting for Viki and some for Randy and love every minute of it.

Being president of the Golden Age Club keeps me very busy and I still have lots of fun with my Hobby Club.


OUR 20TH ANNIVERSARY
Becky Murdock

Hello all; We had a great Christmas here, I hope you had the same. It rained all Christmas day, which I never remember happening, but Meredith said that 20 years ago it rained on Christmas. The weather made it seem that we had a white Christmas, although it was really a wet Christmas (we'll take what we can get). It has been rather chilly here lately....

Ian and I celebrated our 20 year anniversary on Christmas Eve (where has the time gone)? There wasn't much time, or money left, so we will try to do something in January. We were thinking about maybe going to Las Vegas overnight, since we had such a good time before. We want to go to the Liberace musuem, which we saw on TV. It is supposed to be haunted, and you know us - we are always up for a good mystery. Well, I will close; I have been fighting a sinus headache all day, and I feel it's time for another aspirin, so I will close for now.


MERRY CHRISTMAS
Marjorie Hanson

December 20. I cannot believe its Christmas already and I am not ready. I really enjoy your letters so I will try to send you one too. It is fun to see the pictures and get the news of everybody. Robert's Carolyn just got out of the hospital and their baby Riley is in the emergency from the flu last night. He was born in July and is adorable.

This year I did a lot of traveling to New York, Budapest, Romania, Vienna, Bucharest, Czech Republic, Prague and Philadelphia. Rob my son went with me most of the time and Trish and Keith Lovell and David Barkley went to Vienna and Budapest with us. Keith was judging a dog show in Hungary 3 days with 50 judges. The Best in Show Dog won a $15,000 Lipizan horse, and Reserve won a Donkey.

We were included in all the dinners with many languages spoken. Keith and a friend of his from Australia met us in Romania where Keith and I were judging some dog shows. Their hospitality was great. I was really thrilled to have my exhibitors who came from many areas of Europe such as Russia and Czech Republic etc. tell me they came to show under me especially because "I was American." They were all very friendly even the losers! I really enjoyed talking with them, and Rob and I had a lot of fun.

The Kerry Blue from Russia that I gave the Group to won Best in Show. My Australian friends are such fun. Keith and David met their spouses at my Coronado condo where they visited for a couple of weeks; then Keith, Trish and I went to Philadelphia for the Montgomery kennel club Show. Carol, Rob and I had a wonderful trip to Wichita, Kansas to celebrate Hap Bledsoe's 80th birthday. Carol helped his wife Cynthia with decorations for the fabulous birthday celebration and we stayed at his best Western Hotel, which has a large patio with all kinds of bronze statues. We all had a tour of the Bledsoe Plaza and skybox, which was wonderful, and his cemetery, which has plastic flowers, so everybody feels loved all the time.

My dog kennel is rescuing dogs and helping out by offering shelter to the animals that needed shelter due to the San Diego fires. Outside of a few help problems and the rest of the family having the flu, we have been very lucky. I get to rock Riley, my favorite pastime, listen to all of Payton's new expressions, have Robert and Carolyn's help with property management etc.

Rob has his broker's license and is managing apartments. Carolyn has taken her last class toward her Masters and is doing real estate. Christie graduated from Chapman College this year and has her real estate license too. We are all very proud of her. Wishing you are very Happy and Healthy New Year and do come and see us. [Ed. Note: Rob is Carol Murdock's brother, and Robert is Ian and Carol's son. Payton is Robert's daughter, and Riley is his son.--NAM]
45TH ANNIVERSARY
Priscilla Januskiewicz

Thank you very much for the 45th anniversary wishes! We actually celebrated the night before, since we seldom go out on New Year's Eve. We had a nice dinner at the Mile-Away Restaurant in Milford, NH, with Roy's brother, David and his wife, Karen. This restaurant is located one mile from the old town of Monson which only lasted from 1746 to 1780.

The house attached to the restaurant is one of Monson's original houses built in 1746. The barn, built in 1810, was converted to a residence in 1939, and then to the Mile-Away Restaurant in 1967. It has several fireplaces, antique floors, and wood paneling, and it specializes in Swiss Continental Cuisine. Roy ordered "The Berliner" which is sausage-stuffed schnitzel, and I had Prime Rib with rice pilaf, but had to bring some home.

The next morning, Roy and I drove to Putney, VT, to meet Donna, Chris and Mum. They treated us to a delicious lunch at the Putney Inn (another very nice place to eat), and then we brought Mum back to Nashua for a couple of days before she goes to Joyce's house.

It's hard to believe that 45 years have gone by since the day we said "I do" at the old Manzano Air Force Base in Albuquerque. We still enjoy shopping at the military exchanges, especially the ones in Hawaii!


GREAT NEWS
Valerie Davidson

12/19/03: I have GREAT news, received just in time for the holidays. I've been hired as a REAL teacher for next semester, at my favorite high school, the one Jerod attended. It's 3 miles from home! I think I'll have four classes of sophomore English, two of which are modified for English Language Learners. This is about as soon as possible, considering that I haven't finished my teaching credential yet! I had an instant rapport with the Department Chair, and she went to bat for me, based on my work as a substitute teacher. (I recently also spent two months at the same school as a "long-term sub" in Special Ed., which was great training for any future teacher.)

Last night I wrapped up my semester in the credential program, after submitting a massive lesson plan to my English Curriculum & Instruction class at SFSU. I hope I never again have such a demanding class, but it was extremely valuable and I learned a lot. But I'm glad as can be to have it behind me!

Here's hoping you have a delightful holiday season, and I'll be in touch soon.


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