09

Stacy signed the Guest Book on 09/08/04, and as many of you have learned the hard way, that's an automatic entry
onto our Mailing List and Alumni Page:

Welcome, Stacy, and thanks! It's so good to hear from you! I also posted your notes on Antine's:

Thank you all for the recent financial contributions. Aside from filling an obvious need, they always rather delight my soul
just to know that you're thinking of me.

Carol, thanks for solving MY mystery. Here are a few more facts:

The pile was still in place into the 1960s. If you think back to when Queen Street had a bridge that went over
to Hampton Institute and Phoebus, there were lovely homes on the left (that site is called PeeDee Point) and the
streets included Academy Street, Massenburg Lane and Bank Street. It was also the site of the original Hampton
public school that later became a Hampton museum. If those homes were standing today, they would be worth over
$500,000. They were huge Victorians.

Now, looking to the right just before crossing the bridge, you would have seen the piles of oyster shells. The
McMenniman and Darling families were both involved in the sea food industry. McMenniman was a crabber, Darling
an oyster man. Neither did the physical work; they owned beds (licensed still by the state) and paid the watermen
who actually harvested the catch. Darling's business also included a marine railway. This is a massive above ground
structure with an arm that went out over a slip, cradled a hull then withdrew, taking the vessel back into the structure
so its bottom would be worked on, coppered or repaired, on dry land. The name railway came from the track involved
in the arm. There were 2 railways, allowing work on hulls of different sizes.
I believe the largest they would haul was 43'. This meant they could lift the Chesapeake Bay dead rise boats the
oystermen used. They could haul smaller, pleasure boats on the smaller railway. I can remember a 6th grade friend
whose dad was a dentist and the owner of a 35' cabin cruiser. She took me to Darling's one day to see their boat
on the railway (or maybe to prove to me that her dad had such a boat?)

James S. Darling was a founder of Hampton. His original home was second in from the corner of Armistead and
Victoria, a huge Victorian built of wood in about 1900. After some years, my ex-husband's grandfather (who had
a lumber and sash factory on PeeDee Point) built his home (a large,stately brick Georgian) at the corner of Victoria
and Wriothesly. Both homes still stand. Mr. Darling felt that Mr. Slaughter's home blocked the view he had enjoyed
of the river. So he purchased the land beyond Mr. Slaughter's, named it Cedar Point, and built a massive stone home
he called Cedar Hall. Darling Stadium is named for him. His son was a musician who became world renowned for his
harpsichord mastery and was the resident musician at Colonial Williamsburg for forty'leven years. (That's the way
my grandmother always said it.) Jock, as he was called, was also the organist at Bruton Parish.

I know of no one who knows the origin of the name PeeDee Point. William Claiborne, one of the original settlers
in Hampton, lived there and had some sort of business there and there is speculation that his business had some name
that locals abbreviated to "PD". However, in all publications mentioning the land, it is called PeeDee. It is the current
site of the City's small amphitheatre and some waterfront condos called Mill Point. My ex's grandfather's mill, opened
in 1908, moved to Phoebus in the teen years of the century. Frank Maida took over the mill buildings and opened a
technical instrument plant, which also later moved to Phoebus to make room for the redevelopment of downtown.
Maida is still in business and supplies high quality instruments world wide.

WOWZERS! Thanks, Kathy! I LOVE great details! This is now posted too:

Thanks, Nancy! It's really quite insane, isn't it? But I'm having the time of my life hearing from y'all after so many years!

Arizona - that's it! I knew it was somewhere way out west, and that it was somewhere I'd never been, but considering
how little I've traveled, that takes in quite a lot of territory!

These dreadful hurricanes! We're still keeping y'all in our thoughts and prayers. Check in often - not that I'm a mother hen
or anything! (Oh, quit that snickering!)

Thanks, Dr. Simpson! I'm glad y'all are enjoying the Newsletters! Best wishes with your Reunion!

You don't need to prick Dave's bubble concerning the oyster piles but the Air and Space museum sits on the former Tysinger dealership site and the Carousel Park is where Morgan-Marrow Ins. was. King St did and does still separate the two sites. Both businesses moved out to Magruder Blvd to accommodate the construction of the museum and carousel park. The carousel is the
one from Buckroe, all restored. Rides were $0.25 when the park opened but may now have risen to $0.50. Inflation!

Thanks again for all you do. I am amazed that you have time for any other life but I know you are active in your church and
keep a house that has to be neater than mine! (Most anyone's will qualify there!) And how you have raised so many children is
just unknown to me. My two are teasingly called Irish Twins, being 12 months apart and they certainly kept me busy. There
was a miscarriage between them as well so I never would have left the Ponderosa if all had been carried to term. I guess my
daughter would have just been a little younger than she is. Thank you again. KC

Ah, I'm afraid that fault lies not with David, but with me. Tysinger Dodge?!? That's where my daddy bought two of our cars! No wonder
I couldn't place anything in perspective; they changed all my bearings. I might as well have been on the moon!

HEY! Y'all will be so proud of me. I ran through the place like the White Tornado Wednesday! I even polished the sterling silver cups
in the bathroom! When Ilene Wasserman Dillard ('65) arrived for her visit, I didn't have to faint or anything! And we had a wonderful
three hour visit! Life is good!

And my seven dear children raised me - or at least tried their best. I'm sorry to learn that you suffered a miscarriage. I had four of them
myself (that's right, that would be eleven pregnancies in nineteen years...). Two of them affected me much more emotionally than did the
other two. The third was on my 34th birthday, and I was fourteen-and-half weeks along with a daughter I had grown to love very deeply.
Going through a full labor on your birthday, and having nothing to hold in your arms when you finish, and hearing the sweet cries of other
little babies down the hall, combined with well-intentioned but strange remarks such as, "Aren't you glad it happened now instead of later?"
(well, NO, not really!) is not something I think was one of Life's Great Moments. But given another 23 years, I might get over it. Naaah,
probably not.

But I do love the ones I was able to keep. They were cute little babies who grew into wonderful adults, and I've enjoyed them all immensely.

Thanks, Melody! I've added you to the Birthday Page. And as you see, your lovely image came through just fine!

I neglected to ask you your maiden name. How will your old schoolmates ever find you without it? Fork it over, please, and I'll
add you to the Alumni Page as well:

You are so full of information! I was with my mom on Tuesday night and we got to talking about some of the old days
(she remembers those best!) and I will have to print out the picture of Jimmy and Wayne DeBerry for her as they went
to our church! Speaking of Calvary, I found some pictures my dad took and developed of the original structure as the
Educational Building was being built. This was about 1952 or 53. My sis was born in Feb. of '52 and she was not yet one,
so it might be '52. You can also see the old Colonial Store on the corner!! I loved this building best, and she also had a
picture of the entire Sunday School taken inside. The woodwork inside was so beautiful. It was small, but I think I liked
it better! I'll have to get that pic and scan it. Maybe some of our friends who went there can try to pick out their parents, grandparents etc. It was taken in 1944 I think. I can still remember running around the arches and playing in the baptistry!!!
Hard to believe it was so long ago!
Sarah

WOWZERS! These are waaay cool, Sarah! Thanks, so much!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/our-places-worship.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/calvary-baptist.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/old-stomping.html

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/colonial-stores.html

Carol, is there anyone from the 1960 class that might be having a school reunion? I sure would love
to hear about it.
Thanks, Glenn glenndye@msn.com

No one has yet mentioned it to me, Glenn. Anyone out there have that information? Anyone? Anyone?

I just looked at your website with the CRTC bus pix....I was amazed at the interest they seem to have generated....
no doubt a lot of folks have stories about CRTC "experiences"....most of them good, I hope.
You talents at putting all of this together are remarkable....I can barely operate a computer!
I am so glad that some of the pix I took so many years ago can be shared with others....through your interest and
talents.
Thanks!
Bruce

Oh, Bruce - thank YOU! This has become one of my very favorite pages, and the bulk of the images and expertise has all come
from you!

Bruce just sent us eight additional fabulous images! I've not posted them yet, because I keep having so many interruptions today,
I'm afraid to begin until I can concentrate on it. But they're coming soon - first QUIET moment I get. Thanks so much, Bruce!

http://www.nnhs65.00freehost.com/crt.html

I had to smile when you spoke about the hose and garter belt. Me, at 5'8" & 120 lbs, I wore a girdle and it was rubber.
Talk about discomfort, but you're right. One would never mention being uncomfortable. Heaven forbid!!! And, don't forget
the full slip that was nylon and also added to the heat problem. But then as now, BEAUTY IS PAIN. Trouble is now, in spite
of the pain, age is winning over the beauty part. My younger brother is forever making fun of me saying it takes forever
for me to get ready to go anywhere, but making up an aging face takes time, patience, and lots of beauty "stuff". I just can't
get to that "oh, the hell with it" place. Maybe it's being single, AGAIN. ;-}

I also remember the summer just before senior year, I bought my first two piece bathing suit. Fortunately it had a little over
blouse with thin straps that looked like the top of the bathing suit which I could wear leaving the house so Mama wouldn't see
the two piece part. What a scandal that would have been- (GASP) going out in public with my midriff showing. Now I don't
want to show it because there is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much of it.

Sadly, I still can't wear a dress without pantyhose when dressing for work. I see so many women with sandals, hoseless, and
wonder what it would be like to not feel naked dressed that way. I guess I'll always be, to some extent, the "Southern gal" I
was raised to be. Hair just so, make up on, everything fresh and ironed.

Giggles - thanks, Suzanne! May we never reach that point in life where we just don't care!

Hey - I just remembered something! I DID try that once! It was for about six months in 1973! Oh, no, not the heels and hose,
of course. I never gave THEM up at all, but I did go six months without makeup. I had long hair to my waist, and I tried that "natural"
look that seemed to be popular at the time. Let me tell you, I HATED it! That was when I discovered that the Real Me is Artificial, and
never made that mistake again. Passing a mirror was painful. It dealt an unhealthy blow to my self-esteem from which I'm not certain
I ever fully recovered. No, no, I'll have to go along with my grandmother, Hattie Warlick Payne Frix (1880-1943), on this one. She said,
"Never go so much as out to the mailbox or to put out the trash unless you're dressed, made-up, and with every hair in place. To do
otherwise is to compromise your integrity."

I have so very much more to give you, but once again I must stop. I'm sure I'll be able to catch this all up on Monday...

I hear people saying we don't need this war
I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
Now they say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say
If it was up to me I'd show it everyday
Some say this country's just out looking for a fight
Well after 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

Now I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fightin' for

Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Some went down like heros in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
And all the loved ones that we lost and those left to carry on
Don't you tell me not to worry about bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

09/11/04 - NNHS Newsletter - 9/11 Plus Three