The item for the day is the Carthage College Directory of 1961-1962.  This may be the 2nd one of these I have found, so I won't waste any time with it.  It prompts no memories today.  It has been some time since I have caught up on current events, so I will use my time here today to do just that. 

When last we spoke of these things, I believe I was birdwatching.  Spring migration is now long over.  In the meantime, my mother has died, I went to a Dead show at the Columbia Gorge where Robert Hunter sang a song for me, and spent a week at the Oregon Country Fair, where the highlight of my day was 6:30 a.m. when I came off my midnight to 6 security shift at the Dragon Gate.  I had a comfy bed in the woods, lots of Deep Woods Cutters, a great tent and a good book.  I thought about mom.

I don't know if I thought about this during OCF, but I think about it now.  My mother on a canoe trip into the Boundary Canoe Waters Wilderness in northern Minnesota, southern Canada, with Dad and the fambly - except me.  I have flown the nest.  I hear this story from a brother.  Mom has gone to pee or something in the woods.  She returns with a bear story.  She had settled herself on a handy stump, and was in the process of utilizing it when she heard a sound behind her.  Turning, she saw a large black bear at the edge of the small clearing which held the stump.  Needless to say, the bear left, because Mom walked out of the woods a survivor.  "Weren't you scared, Mom?" they all asked.  "Well, no, not really scared," my intrepid but staunchly modest Lutheran mother replied.  "I was just SO embarrassed."

A cute little card from my fiancee's parents who are on the road in a camper going to see their son in Virginia.   "Slept in our bug last nite. and have had all of our meals in it so far are finding it very comfortable."  So - this cannot be a "bug", VW style.  Could it be a VW camper?  Did they have those in early '60's?  Were there VW's at all yet?  Why would they call it a "bug".  Inquiring minds are curiouser.  We'll never know.

A picture of my brother, Paul - the second oldest brother.  Third in line.  He is about 11 or 12.  Just the other day, I received from him copies of my mother's obituary which he wrote the night she died.  I can think of no better way to talk about Paul, than to share this obit with you:

Ellen Bates died June 30, 2004, in her 90th year.
 
Ellen was born on the farm in Badger, Iowa, on October 23, 1914.
 
She went to school in a wagon pulled by a blind horse that knew the way across the creek and to the one-room school house.
 
Ellen graduated from high school and attended a two-year college.
 
In the war years, she moved to California where she met her husband to be, Ted Bates.  Ted and Ellen were married on April 10, 1942.
 
After the war, they moved to Ellen’s hometown of Badger, Iowa, and operated a small grocery store for a few years.
 
In 1950, they moved to Ted’s hometown of Decatur where Ted and Ellen’s father started a concrete products manufacturing plant.
 
After raising her six children, Ellen got her drivers license, went back to college and became one of our nation’s first Headstart teachers.
 
Ellen was a devout Christian, who was always involved in church leadership as an active member of the Lutheran Church Women’s organization.  Ellen loved to sing church hymns, bake pies, watch birds, and listen to the loons of Lake Benedict.
 
Ellen constantly read the newspaper to her children during meals and promoted a strong sense of social consciousness.
 
In retirement, Ellen and Ted moved to Benedict, Minn., where they cared for Ellen’s parents in their later years.
 
For more than 25 years, northern Minnesota was their home and popular vacation destination for all six children and grandchildren.
 
Ellen’s house was always a refuge where her children and grandchildren were welcomed and mothered with a boundless generosity of spirit.
 
Over the years, Ellen assisted her children in their many and various household moves and new baby arrivals.  In the past few years, her children and grandchildren were able to provide her some of that same comfort and love.
 
In the fall of 2000, Ellen and Ted moved to Carbondale, where they initially lived with their son Paul and his wife Barbara.
 
For the past three years Ellen and Ted have lived at the Carbondale Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
 
Ellen passed peacefully in the company of daughter-in-law, Barbara, and devoted husband of 62 years, Ted.
 
The staff of the Carbondale Nursing and Rehabilitation Center provided much comfort during this time and are greatly appreciated for their kindness and support throughout the past three years.
 
Ellen is survived by her husband, Ted; six children; 14 grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and a brother.
 
Her children are Barbara Stoner of Seattle, Joan Sozen and husband Mete of West Lafayette, Ind., Randall Bates and wife Vicky of Chicago, Paul Bates and wife Barbara of Carbondale, Dennis Bates and wife Ann Hazelrigg of Williston, VT., and Brian Bates and wife Lori of Benedict, Minn.
 
Ellen’s brother, Lowell Ponsness of Renton, Wash., also survives.
 
Grandchildren include Caroline Stoner of Seattle, Christopher Stoner of Madison, Wis., Adria Hilsdorf-Smith of San Diego, Ayshe Sozen of Houston, Darius Dale and Allison Bates of Chicago, Megan Geyman of Carbondale, Dylan Bates of Joliet, Laurel Bates of Carbondale, Julia Bates of Carbondale, Taylor Bates of Williston, VT., Hallah Bates of Williston, VT., Derek Bates of Walker, Minn., and Jennifer Bates.
 
Great-grandchildren include Jackson, Aaron, and Grant Geyman of Carbondale, and Maya Bates of Chicago.
 
Ellen was preceded in death by her parents, Louis and Clara Ponsness and her sister, Thelma Olhausen.
 
Ellen is remembered for her tremendous kindness and generosity that was extended to family and strangers alike.
 
Her spirit lives within all those that she touched.
 
The Lutheran church was a constant in her life, with active membership and service to her community in Badger, Iowa, Decatur and Walker, Minn.
 
Her faith was her compass and has surely taken her home. 
  

Great gods on a bicycle!  Great gods on the whole Tour de France!  I find here a note which, in the interests of the image I wish to leave to posterity, I should probably burn.  It is the kind of thing which, were I running for office as a proponent of my usual love for all things countercultural, eschewing all things bourgeois, if found by the opposition, would be waved in the face of the American people by my sneering opponent before the gluttonous cameras of CNN.
 
It is from the Beta Phi Epsilon Fraternity (lovingly known on the Carthage campus as the "Squires") and reads as follows:
 
"Miss Barbara Bates,
 
"On behalf of the men of Beta Phi Epsilon Fraternity I wish to convey to you our sincere appreciation for the favor extended to us by you."  (Sounds like a gang bang, eh?  But no...sorry to say...read on)  "Your cake for the Devil's Darling Dance indeed helped us to make the dance a success.  Thank you again."
 
It is signed by the Vice President of the Fraternity.
 
My only excuse is:  it was my fiancee's fraternity.  And the devil made me do it. 

Okay, a little more to the mystery.  Her name is Sharon.  Terry, I guess, is her boyfriend, who is, I think, at Carthage.  She must have come down to see him and stayed with us.  This was the age of chaperonage, my friends.  "It sounds like all the fun happens when I'm not around.  I hope you girls weren't involved in this!?  I sure wouldn't want to think badly of you two?!"  What fun?  Why wasn't I involved?  I hate forgetting all the good times.