Murdock Muse
September-October 2005, Part 2

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Ona Fellows 1911-2005 2002 photo. Memorial website

R.I.P. ONA CHARLTON FELLOWS Bob Murdock Ona Fellows was my late mother's sister, and my favorite aunt. She was 93 when she departed this life on July 25 in Halifax, VT, and was the third Charlton of her generation to live past 90. Christel, my mother, was able to celebrate her 90th birthday and Emanuel lived to age 95. Ona is survived by four daughters: Joyce Anthony, Priscilla Januskiewicz, Mary Ellen Cosgrove, and Donna Belle Estep. She was the widow of the late Donald M. Fellows, who died in 1980. Nancy and I enjoyed seeing Ona occasionally over the past few years, most recently in 2003 at the home of Donna and Chris. We played Scrabble, and Ona was very good both at remembering words and inventing new ones. She displayed her famous sense of humor, too. She said "I think I just heard Amos!" "Amos who?" said I. "A mosquito," Ona replied, with a twinkle in her eye. Ona's obituary was printed in the Boston Globe and other newspapers, and you can see it in Ona's Muse Memorial website, along with photos, eulogies, and other rembrances. A NICE MEMORIAL SERVICE Priscilla Januskiewicz We had a nice memorial service for my mother, Ona, in Shelburne Falls on July 29, 2005 with about forty people attending. The pastor and his wife came from Groton, Mass. to lead the service. Donna's husband, Chris, spoke about Mum's wonderful sense of humor and Donna's son, Jamin, gave a testimony as well. An organist from Shelburne played some beautiful hymns and led the singing. Each of the four daughters had chosen a hymn. We had several photo albums and framed pictures on display. After the service, we all went to the Shelburne House Bed and Breakfast, which is the house where my father, Donald, was born. The new owner, Elaine Hinze, graciously offered to prepare a buffet of finger foods for everyone and she and her daughter did a great job. The food was delicious. We all enjoyed a tour of the newly-renovated house and grounds, also. It's beautiful! Later in the afternoon the whole family went to the grave site in Shelburne where we buried the pink urn next to my father. We sang two hymns and then dispersed. Some of us gathered at Donna's house in nearby VT for supper before heading home. It was nice to re-connect with our Fellows cousins and with Euel's daughter, Joan, and her daughter and two grandchildren. HOWLETT REUNION 2005 Nancy Murdock We had a really nice time in NH: very relaxed. We began with a fine BBQ meal on the deck at Polly and Carl’s, where we also had a chance to visit with Clyde, his daughter Claudia, and her husband Dennis. Dennis had some impressive short movies of their granddaughter Isabeau, including a special one with her chasing a butterfly. He gave us a batch of photos on a CD to bring home, and Bob quickly stored them on the hard drive, so he could pull them up without searching too hard. One day we went to visit Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, where I found a number of fabrics that would add something positive to my stash. I had to restrict myself to half-yards, though, because we have to squeeze to pack in anything new. Then we went over to Sam and Rosie’s, a little lunch place we had enjoyed last year, and it was as good as our memories. We had to wrap some of it to bring to the motel, the sandwiches were so big. Had to leave space for one of their delicious desserts, of course! The ride through the towns was very attractive, especially with all the little glimpses of lakes. It’s easy to see why people might want to vacation in the Lake Region. The reunion itself was well done by John and Cathy. They had a big, sturdy tent, which pretty much guaranteed that no rain would fall, of course. The food was superb and varied, and we all ate more than we had planned. Lori had made her great Rum Cake, which tends to slide down much too easily, even after sampling everyone’s potato salad and macaroni salad. Johnny manned the BBQ, bringing ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, mushrooms, eggplant, vege-burgers - you name it, he cooked it, all very delicious and perfectly cooked. I’m not he ever got time to eat any of it, because his was a full-time job. The children took front-row seats for Sean’s display of fireworks. The adults divided their time between watching the display and admiring Sean’s enthusiasm, as well as catching up on everyone’s news and surreptitiously pretending we weren’t really eating that much. We were fortunate to have two family icons with us: Clyde Howlett at age 95, and Thelma Schuck, age 85, sister of Warren Leary Jr. We have a picture of the two of them enjoying a chat. (Click here. We also appreciated visiting with my sister-in-law Paulette (Andy's widow) with her son Scott and his family and her friend John. We missed out on seeing Doug and Carol, because Rob, their driver, had a sick baby (Thor). Maybe we’ll get to visit with them on our next trip. We saw Steve and Terry, and Tom and Marcia, in May. One big advantage of living in MD is that we are only a day’s drive from all of my siblings and most of Bob’s. It's a long day, but well worth it. We took everyone out to The Common Man restaurant for Sunday brunch. They offered any kind of omelette we wanted, serve-it-yourself strawberry shortcake, and the usual spread of main meal items as well as assorted desserts. We had a good table near the shortcake service, so no one would remark how many times we returned for more. The day after the reunion we met at Polly and Carl’s for a great supper of our picnic leftovers (I had made enough macaroni salad for a small army, Polly had done a terrific potato and egg salad, and Claudia had contributed a fresh fruit salad with field greens), augmented with fresh summer squash and fresh corn, and ice cream with strawberries for dessert. Is it any wonder we had a great time on our vacation? Food, glorious food, and lots of our extended family to visit with. What a good deal! HOWLETT REUNION NOTES Bob Murdock By my count, there were 42 at the 2005 Howlett Reunion. That includes Riley, mostly Beagle, who often thinks he's a person. He went from table to table, hoping....hoping. Click here for a roster of those attending. Sean was in full glory with an arsenal of you-know-what. So what if it wasn't the 4th of July - it's a tradition to have fireworks at the Howlett Reunion. Lori and Michael are enjoying their jobs in people care, and appreciating their roomy house in Norwood, MA. Patrick, 13, has been going to summer day camp in Norwood. Now he's in the 7th grade. Nick, who just turned 5, is starting Kindergarten. Kris said that Tommy was in YMCA camp this summer. They went swimming twice a week and went on field trips. He will be 3 in September. Scott Howlett has his own business, R.S. Engineering. He works out of his home, designing control systems for industrial equipment, right now as a a subcontractor for Bridgestone. They make inflatable rubber dams, imagine! Scott's work has taken him to Phoenix, AZ and Chile, South America. Regina works three days a week at Providence Hospital as a Cancer Registrar. She does records research for cancer patients. Casey is in 7th grade, She loves animals, would like to be a vet. Last school year she made the honor roll four times. Jeremy, 9, is doing well in school, too. He loves four wheelers and dirt bikes. "Can't keep him still," said Scott. Jeremy is very helpful around the house. In Rennie's family, Matthew is now in 8th grade, Buddy's in 10th, and Shannon we hope is at Worcester Tech. The prospects looked good when I talked with her. That's my alma mater, so I will be following her adventures closely. We will get an update for the next Muse. Nancy Leary wasn't there this time as she was working - she's a records clerk at Huggins Hospital. "That's in Wolfesboro, NH, the oldest summer resort in the country," said Warren. It was nice to see Claudia (Clyde's daughter) and Dennis Lindsey, all the way from West Covina, CA. First time Dennis has been in NH. While here, he made good use of his Apple laptop computer. It's a Powerbook, with OS 9.2. Dennis works for the Long Beach School District in building maintenance. He's in charge of a maintenance bus, which goes from one school to another. Long Beach was the second school district in the country to adopt this system, after San Diego. Claudia said their granddaughter Isabeau, who celebrated her first birthday April 20, is quite well behaved. She does well at playing by herself and is already talking, two to three word sentences. Click here for group photos taken at the family reunion. SCHOOL PLANS Valerie Davidson July 19: I'm up to my eyeballs in summer school at the moment, although I have a 3-day weekend between the two sessions right now. In my more overwhelmed moment I think along the lines of, "NOW you've gone and stepped in it..." - but for the most part it's going quite well. I'm teaching English 10 both sessions, which is made easier by the new textbook (by Federal mandate, given our District's faulty "PI" status). For first session I had a class of 44 students, although our contract limits class size to 36. You have a "choice" of insisting on the contract limit, but - hey, first they let the students into the classroom, and then they propose to start trimming the fat. That seems a little harsh, so of course I relented. Bear in mind, I've been accustomed to classes of half that size (or less!). We have 17 4-hour days per session, making each day the equivalent of one week of regular school. That means a daily dose of one week's worth of grading and one week's worth of preparation and planning. Movies are frowned upon, but I wouldn't be able to keep up with the ambitious load without a generous smattering of films. Many of the students had failed the course, but many others were simply trying for a better grade. A total of 37 finished the first session (of the original 44) - and every single one earned a passing grade. To do this, the 3 lowest performers were required to write one (or two!) extra formal 5-paragraph essays at the end of the session. I am becoming a writing specialist, partly because the students so value the work we do with their writing skills that before you know it they have ceased to grumble - such that when the final exam rolls around, consisting of 5 possible 5-paragraph essay tasks (choose one), there isn't a murmur of discontent, only a certain confidence that comes across in the essays they write. I've done this with a total of 5 classes now, and the response is extremely gratifying. However, the reason I have imposed this major task of summer school on myself is because I want to shift gears and move to middle school. My main reason is that I'm very concerned about literacy issues, and it is really heart-breaking to see how the ELs (English language learners - in other words, the bilingual students, including those who speak Ebonics at home) struggle, and then fail, fail, fail. They are reading so far below grade level, but the measures being taken under Federal and State pressure don't address the problem of engaging, inspiring, motivating - instead, emphasis on testing, etc. I am horrified by the changes instituted at the high school where I spent the last few years working with these very same students now being targeted for onerous remediation. Better, I think, to move to middle school, where the gap is smaller, and I hope I can make a bigger difference. Many experts claim that 10th grade is too late, anyway. Also, 10th graders are the most difficult to teach, but I'm lucky to have a 10th grade curriculum with students who are a year or two older (because they're making up the class in summer school). Consequently, I am dealing with mostly juniors, who seem two years older even when the difference is only a year! I have to get back to my curriculum planning now - I had only one semester's worth of stuff, because we began with the textbook second semester. Actually, I'm not required to use the textbook (yet), but it comes with all kinds of worksheets, tests, etc., so I'd be a fool not to take advantage. I enjoyed being able to teach the same stuff a second time, the first chance I've had to discover the joys of using existing lesson plans. However, that is now behind me, and now I have to forge a new bunch of stuff. Incidentally, in order to make the switch to middle school, I'm intending to simply work as a substitute teacher for a while this fall. It's the best way to become acquainted with schools and administrations, not to mention adjusting to the younger ages. The school district I have in mind has four middle schools, and was pretty desperate for middle school substitutes all last year. I expect to get more days of work than I did as a high school substitute, so I won't need the second job (traffic school) this time around. Most teachers who are familiar with middle school think I'll be happy with the switch. Larry spent 5 years as a substitute in the same district I am considering, and has encouraged this idea all along. [Ed. Note: We are really proud of what Valerie is accomplishing in her mid-life career change!--NAM] TRIP AROUND NEBRASKA Gene Murdock I leave in the morning (Saturday, July 16) for my annual trip around Nebraska. This year I'm going out to Grand Island via I-80, then taking State 2, the scenic route across the middle of the Sandhills. I'll stay in Alliance, NE Saturday night after visiting the local museum, the old Air Base, and the Stonehenge monstrosity made out of old cars stuck in the ground. Sunday I'll drive south down to Sydney, pay a visit to the BIG Cabella's store, head west to Kimball, then north to Scottsbluff. From there I'll take 29 north to the Agate Fossil Beds, then pick up US 20 east (The Cowboy Trail) and stop in Chadron and visit the Museum of the Fur Trade. From there I proceed east on US 20 to the Ashfall Fossil Beds, and then pick up US 275 and follow it home. Saturday night I will be in the Holiday Inn Express in Alliance, Sunday night in the Best Western in Chadron, and Monday night probably in Norfolk to pay my respects at the Johnny Carson memorial. My companion audio books will be The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris, Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten, Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Shadow Warriors (the U.S. Special Forces) by Tom Clancy. Plus the usual assortment of music CDs. LATE AUGUST AT MINNEOPA Darrel Murdock We hadn't been camping yet this year, and the firewood in my truck was begging to be put to use. The same heat waves that stopped us from camping had dried the Red Maple logs and tinder that had been cut just three months ago from the mammoth trees in our front yard. The weather forecast promised partly cloudy, high seventies, low humidity weather for the weekend; that was all we needed to convince us to get packing. The target this time would be an old favorite: the Red Fox Campround at Minneopa State Park. We like the convenience of that location; only a 90 minute drive, hot showers and nice sites near the beautiful double-dropping Minneopa Creek, the Seppman Mill and interesting overlooks of the Minnesota Valley Prarie. On the way there we checked out a new state park to see what was there to photograph. It is a strip of a park with several highpoints, called the Minnesota Valley Recreation Area. We parked by the main office and chose a trail to the nearest lake, looking at wildflowers along the path. When we arrived at the lake we spotted a Blue Heron and were fortunate enough to get a few shots of it sitting and then flying off over the smooth water. After declaring we would return to the park when the fall colors are lining the lakes, we were on our way to Minneopa where we chose a semi-secluded campsite very close to the shower/toilet facilities. We went to the office by the waterfalls and secured the site for a mere $15, then took a peek at the falls before returning to set up camp. Since a wedding party was about to commence with the service, we decided to check out the Seppman Mill after we had a bite to eat. On the road there we were treated to more wildflowers, and a few Fried Oak Trees also. The sky was beautiful as we snapped away at the mill, and we took a trail that we hadn't noticed before that offered some nice views of the Minnesota Valley Prarie. Later in the evening after we went for a third time to visit the falls and tried out a night setting on my newer digital camera. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. We finally were able to try out the Red Maple firewood as the sun faded into the horizon. It was amazingly sweet smelling and steady burning. Without tending, the fire burned for hours and glowed through the night with very little smoke. It was so much better than a pine-based fire, we vowed to cut more as soon as possible. In the morning we enjoyed Texas Toast, sausages, and eggs over easy before embarking on the final photo mission; the other side of the High Falls in the morning sun. We had actually never taken the path that runs along the other side of the lagoon below the High Falls. Along the way, the creek bubbled soothingly through the forest, demanding a video be taken of the tranquil setting. The final target was in our sights now, and our cameras were put to the test as we captured the glistening water of the post-heavy rain, late summer beauty that was the Poster Child of the Minnesota State Park annual vehicle sticker; the Minneopa Creek High Falls. [Ed. note - See oodles of beauty at Darrel's website. - - RDM] FELLOWS FAMILY NEWS Mary Cosgrove & Donna Estep Mary, July 4: Donna became a grammy 6/25. Her youngest (Kurt) and his wife Sarah had a girl, 7.5 lbs...Anna Belle...They probably will visit VT this month..Kurt has a class there and he just landed a full time job, teaching English to 10th,11th and 12th graders. We are going camping for 2 nights next Sunday. We've just discovered an interesting (to me) international club who are passionate about Dutch Oven cooking. There is a cooking gathering coming up in the Netherlands..wish we could go! Donna, August 29: We are planning another trip to Chicago from Sept. 8th through the 13th to see that wonderful granddaughter, Anna Belle! Yes, it is nice to have another Belle, isn't it? I was thrilled with that name. Having Anna born one month before our mother's death was a very healing event. [Ed. Note: Belle Fiske was the maiden name of Grandpa Charlton's mother. At the Charlton Reunion in 2002, Gene gave a talk about the name Belle and its significance within the family.--NAM] JOPLIN UPDATE Roy Murdock Everything is going well here. I'm golfing a lot, and will be playing in a tournament on Monday. Tami, Jerry and I are in a bowling league that meets every Wednesday evening. Khendra has started another year of college and is enjoying her clases. She also has had the same boyfriend now for over a year and they are pretty serious about their relationship. Top / Muse Home / Who's Who / What's New