Excerpts from Harry Dewitz' 10/11/98 E-Mail:
Made it to the festival Sunday for a few hours, and we had fish sandwiches from American Legion. Also saw the auto show at the high school, as [Brother] Tom [Dewitz] and Candee [Harder Dewitz] were there with their 1986 Monte Carlo SS showcar. Not sure if they got an award, as we left [just prior to the presentations] [They received first place in their class, see Candee Harder Dewitz' excerpt below]. ...
... for your information -- a closer [volleyball] match for some people [to see our daughter, Laura Dewitz, play Big Ten intercollegiate volleyball] would be Indiana University v. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor on 10/30/98 at 7 PM Eastern Time. [Laura Dewitz' Page | Indiana U. Volleyball | Indiana U. Ladies' Volleyball Schedule]
-- Keep in touch, Harry and Judy [Dewitz]
Excerpts from Candee Harder Dewitz' 10/15/98 E-Mail:
After the parade on Saturday, [Husband] Tom [Dewitz] and I decided to go have a beer at the local pub, Miles Fabian's Happy Hour. We were there only a few minutes when I saw three guys you [Web-Rocket-1967] happened to mention [private 10/07/98 e-mail distribution] would be in Oak Harbor for the festival. Lo and behold, it was Roger [Bloom, Class of 1968], Dick [Martin], and Tom [Banchich]!
Roger [Bloom] has not changed a bit. Dick [Martin] had on a ball cap and wasn't wearing glasses. When Tom [Banchich] spoke, I recognized his voice immediately. We had the opportunity to talk with them for awhile and exchange stories on where we all have been and what we're doing.
We, of course, ran into others that still live in the area.
The weather was perfect, the event was well attended, and the fireworks show on Saturday was spectacular, even better than the Fourth of July display.
Just a tidbit about the car show: [Husband] Tom [Dewitz] took first place in his class of stock 1980-1998 with our '86 Monte Carlo. He was extremely pleased. I told him I didn't want to burst his bubble, but I think popularity might have had a bit of influence on the final tally. Also, Todd Fehlhaber took first place with his Pontiac Laguna.
Thanks for keeping us all informed. ...
-- Candee [Harder Dewitz]
Excerpts from Dick Martin's 10/16/98 E-Mail:
... My first visit to a fall weekend in Oak Harbor in last 30 years was highlighted by spectacular weather and as much sunshine as I am used to in Denver. [Tom] Banchich, [Roger] Bloom, and I hooked up at Bloomy's house on [East] Water Street, and we made our trek down memory lane ...
Our first stop was the American Legion fish fry where Gumby [Bob] Gleckler [Class of 1968] was serving up the perch and fries. Banking the money and meticulously writing out the orders was "Friendly Uncle Tom" Palmer [S-OH Class of 1943], who looked good and in charge of the Legion's cash flow. Curt Brough was briskly moving raffle tickets, and we all bought our share of them. He said his nephew, Bob Reitler, had been in town recently.
We also ran into the Thierwechter Family and said hello to Marty [Martha Thierwechter Guehl], who is still living in Findlay. [Tom] Banchich's snake collection came up in conversation (as it did all day!), and we moved on to the Oak Harbor Hotel. There we found Jimmy and Pauline Goldstein having a good looking piece of pie and ice cream with his mom and sister, Jill, who was busy running the kitchen. They were on break from some yard work at their home, and it was great to see them. I advised that my Dad and Mom [David and Ginny Martin] had told me how much they join Jim's and Pauline's [Goldstein's] singing in the Methodist church choir. Not unlike his son, my dad's singing talents are rather limited. However, Jimmy [Goldstein] suggested he could stand front and center with the choir and "lip sync"!
We moved on to the main stage area and assisted the Boy Scouts in stirring the apple butter -- a delicacy that was new to me. I bought a jar, and my boys have been wolfing it down all week with toast at breakfast. We were advised that Roger Carpenter continues to lead this highly successful troop, and volunteers of our generation were hard to come by. (Roger must have had some of the boys on a quick 50-mile bike ride somewhere).
We moved over to the parade which was quite impressive. There were queens representing towns, produce, and poulty from all over! Great bands, too, and some cool floats. We ran into Sue Peters at the end of the parade, and I hope you can get in the loop with her e-mail address soon. [Would one of Susie Q.'s friends please ask her to send her e-mail address to Web-Rocket-1967!] [Hooray! She e-mailed us on 06/20/99!]
We continued on to the old high school, and made our way over to the Kozy Corner. The shakes were disappointing -- small and runny. However, they were banging out apple dumplings for the influx of the parade crowd and participants -- including a great group of senior band members from out of town.
We moved back to town and stopped at Flat Iron Park -- our own "field of dreams" from 35 years ago, where many a whiffle ball and touch football game were played.
[Web-Rocket-1967 Note: Flat Iron Park was the playing field for the East Water and Maple Streets guys. To the north, Weller's Field (in front of the old J. C. Weller Company, which canned pickles, tomato catsup, and pumpkins) served the purpose for the Jefferson, Townline, North Church, and North Locust Streets guys -- Jim Benadom (Class of 1968), Jeff Burmeister, John Kratzer (Class of 1968), David Krieger (Class of 1966), Tom Leaser, Jim Marik, Dale Miller, Doug Palmer, Larry Paulette, Rick Paulette (Class of 1968), Terry Teagarden (Class of 1969), et al., where Sandy Palmer Ciolino (Class of 1968) served as the cheerleader and baton-twirling majorette for "both" teams, being the "only girl" in the neighborhood.]The trees have grown so much that I doubt that the local youth could put a game together there. However, a few locals advised that "sandlot" ball had disappeared with the advent of Nintendo and computer games. (Funny -- thought kids may be different in Oak Harbor from Denver -- Mario and video games rule everywhere.)It was time to catch the midway again, and we rolled into the Happy Hour Inn, where proprietor Miles Fabian advised that it was "always happy hour at the Happy Hour." There we were spotted by Candee Harder Dewitz who had been made aware of our plans to visit Oak Harbor by your e-mail communications. ... We had a really nice visit with Candee and her husband [Tom Dewitz]. Didn't spot any other classmates, but plenty of folks were there!
Didn't run into anyone else, but sure we'll see others on next visit. The Apple Festival is the real deal!
-- Later, Rich [Richard Wade Martin]
Excerpts from Roger Bloom's 11/11/98 E-Mail:
Carol and I just got back to Mali after a nice long vacation. Travel included a week in Washington, DC, to hobknob with the home office [U. S. State Department, Agency for Independent Development (AID)], Ohio, and 11 days in France, touring medieval castles in the south. The highlight, of course, was Apple Fest and Dick's [Martin's] and Tom's [Banchich's] visits. Dick has done an admirable job of describing the day [above]. Tom, also, is composing a magnum opus for our reading pleasure. Being the college prof and historian that he is, it should be a masterpiece. He said it should be out any day now.
We all saw "Uncle Tom" [Palmer, Class of 1943] at the Legion fish fry. As usual, he had his hands on the money. He recognized me, and we chatted a bit. I said I would send you an e-mail to let you know of the encounter. We ran into a lot of old friends as Dick reports. Other friends not acknowledged in his e-mail included Fred Meckfessel (68) and his sisters, Shari and Kim; Linda Axe (68) and her sister, Barb, and brother, Steve, and Dave Brough (70), just to name a few.
I thought it was truly amazing we met so many people. I guess the moral of the story is that the Apple Fest brings favorite sons and daughters from Oak Harbor back to the fold, if only for one day. [Tom] Banchich is already planning for next year. We, also, should again make an appearance. In any case, a good time was had by all.
Talk to you later, Roger [Roger Allen Bloom, Class of 1968]
Who's going to the Oak Harbor Apple Festival?
[Posted 10/08/98]Private e-mail was sent on Wednesday and Thursday, October 7 and 8, to distribution list to let us know which classmates and friends of our class are heading to Oak Harbor for the 1998 Apple Festival .
If you would like a copy of the e-mails, just request any listed classmate to forward them to you.
Have a great 1998 Apple Festival!
[Following is the precursor narrative to the 1998 Apple Festival period.]
If you're going to be in Oak Harbor in October, especially for the Apple Festival, and would like to see some of your local and out-of-town classmates who may be visiting our home village at the same time, send an e-mail giving the dates that you'll be available for visiting and local telephone and address contact information.
An outline of who'll be visiting and their local contact information will be kept in a text file and e-mailed privately to those classmates with known e-mail addresses. (This will be kept private and off the web site for security reasons -- we don't want bad guys messing with your domicile while you're visiting your home village.)
As time elapses and our lives become more hectic, the probability that we can all clear one day every five years for our class reunion becomes, unfortunately, less likely. Therefore, as a compensating measure, if we discreetly let each other know when we will be "home" and amenable to some classmate get-together fun, we can pull it off with Internet and e-mail technology.
The out-of-town classmates would be very grateful if local classmates would give some advance ideas of special events that may be planned for the Apple Festival period in The Village and Ottawa County and Northwest Ohio in general. Thanks for any information y'all may share.
This technique was utilized for the July 4th holiday period, and several classmate conversations and gatherings were facilitated via private e-mail [one poll and three semiweekly updates] leading into the holiday period and Internet postings of public and quasi-public events after they had occurred.