Bill Kirby: Readers travel from Hawaii to Iceland, recall baseball and Lawrence Welk
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"A gentleman is a man who knows how to play the bagpipes, but doesn’t."
– Dan Neil
Our "homeroom" of famous past classmates grows.
Judy Schoonover, of Grovetown adds two from her youth in Quincy, Illinois. One is Bob Havens, first chair trombonist from the old Lawrence Welk Orchestra.
She said he is often featured and you can see him in reruns of the popular show from years ago.
He also put out his own record albums.
Judy also added another close friend – Elvin "El" Tappe (rhymes with "happy"), a former major league catcher with the Chicago Cubs.
He could field, but was not a great hitter. In fact, he never hit a home run in the big leagues. He knew the sport, however, and would go on to manage the Chicago team in the early 1960s and also serve as a scout.
His claim to baseball fame was convincing Chicago owner Phil Wrigley to let the Cubs be run by a "college" of coaches. Basically, the team's games would be managed by a rotation of its coaches.
It was innovative, but unsuccessful.
Linda Adams, of Augusta, shares two former Aiken High classmates. The late Thomas W. Weeks was a judge and member of the State College Board of Trustees. Hank Leifermann was a news correspondent for United Press International and Newsweek, and frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine. He wrote the book that "Norma Rae," the Academy Award-winning film starring Sally Field, was based upon.
YOUR MAIL: Steve Blackmon, of Washington, Ga., sent a nice letter from Southern Manor.
Jim and Pat Bible send a postcard from Hawaii and "wish you were here." They are visiting her brother on the "Big Island."
Justin L. Pamplin sends a postcard from New Orleans before setting out on a cruise on the Norwegian Breakaway.
Norman Taylor and Margaret Jewett Taylor, of Evans, sent a card from Iceland (the land of difficult spelling), where they saw:
Numerous waterfalls including Gulfoss …
The black sand of Reynisfjara beach.
Dyrhólaey Lighthouse
the Northern Lights
The sixth largest steam power plant in the world.
Geyers
Hallgrimskirkja Church.
Closer to home, Sandra and Shirley from Augusta pass a long a card from Lake Hartwell.
TODAY'S JOKE: Farmer McDonald's barn burned down, so his wife, Mildred, called the insurance company.
"We had that barn insured for $50,000," she told the agent. "I want my money."
"Hold up a minute," the agent said. "Your policy doesn't work that way. An independent adjuster will come out and assess the damage and value of what was insured, and then we provide you a new barn of similar worth."
There was a pause, and then Mildred said, "If that's how it works, then I want to cancel the life insurance policy on my husband."
Bill Kirby has reported, photographed and commented on life in Augusta and Georgia for 45 years.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Readers travel from Hawaii to Iceland, recall baseball, Lawrence Welk
