CASA

Carole Blad Foutz with grandchildren

My Experience as a CASA Volunteer

I began teaching in 1969 and except for two years while taking two separate maternity leaves, I worked in the educational profession until 2016.  While teaching and as an administrator, I worked with many children who were living in homes which were not safe or in some way not supplying the needs of a child.  I became familiar with CASA (Court Appointed Advocates) by having a child which was a ward of the court.  I met with that CASA as I would have met with his parent.  I was impressed with the relationship they had as well as their meaningful work they were doing for the child.  As I worked closer to retirement, I decided that I would find a niche here. 

I trained for approximately 6 weeks which included classroom work and court observations.  Upon completion, the judge for Juvenile Court appointed me in court as a CASA. 

I have worked as a CASA now for more than 10 years.  During that time, I have had cases which eventually went to adoption, cases where another family member was appointed guardian, or the case was closed as the parents were deemed ready to provide a safe and nurturing home for the child.  At least 75% of the cases usually are closed with parents fulfilling the requirements DCS (Department of Child Services) has asked of them.

The personal contacts with these children and families have been very rewarding.  Yes, not always do I have positive experiences, but receiving pictures, notes, Christmas Cards from families I have worked with is very heartwarming.  I’ve had one family who adopted 3 male siblings, one year to 5 years old.  Every Christmas I enjoy getting their card with pictures and reports of their activities and accomplishments.  I can’t help but feel the “system” worked for them and their lives have a very promising future.  Therefore, I feel I can help in this process in a small way.

About CASA

I want to give you a little background of CASA, the requirements and the job description.  There is no typical CASA.  They come from every profession, and many are retired. 

The CASA Program began in Seattle, Washington in 1977.  A superior Court Judge experienced a disturbing and reoccurring problem in his courtroom.  He felt that pertinent information in cases regarding the lives of children seem inaccessible and unavailable causing him to make decisions regarding cases without sufficient knowledge.  The additional piece needed was someone involved the child’s case who could facilitate the child’s development, growth, and safe living.  This person would be an advocate for the child regarding decisions made in and out of the courtroom.

In Elkhart County the CASA Program began in 1983.  It is affiliated with both the State and National organizations.  There are more than 76,000 advocates working in nearly 1,000 state and local programs.  They are often known by different names but are all part of the NCASAA (National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association).  Since its inception, the CASA volunteers have helped child victims of abuse and neglect find safe, permanent homes in which they can thrive.

What does a CASA do?  The initial step is getting to know the child.  A child is initially declared a CHINS (Child in Need of Services).  This means that this child is in the child welfare system and is in need of services due to abuse or neglect.  That can mean many different things.  If the child is in a home that is not safe due to drugs, lack of a clean, safe environment, etc. the child a CHINS.  A volunteer then needs to find out as much about the case as possible.  A CASA has access to most documents and records both in and out of the court.  The advocate becomes a regular visitor with the child.  This may be in the home, foster home, or specific visitation agency.  When having a very young child/baby, most of the time you visit and get to know what the daily routine and life of the young child is like.  With an older child, you can take them to get something to eat, go to a park, etc.  You become their adult friend.

A CASA’s other responsibilities are to investigate and get to know all aspects of the case.  This means that you are directly involved with the DCS caseworker assigned to the child and family.  You must be very much aware of the parent’s mandated services.  This is a must with the courts and their path toward closing the case.  An advocate must provide documents and reports about visits and observations.  An advocate appears in court and the judge asks the CASA questions concerning the child and CASA’s recommendations.  Another important job a CASA may have, is to recommend services for the child to the court which the volunteer feels that would beneficial.

As we all know, kids don’t get to choose their parents or how they grow up.  We also know that a child begins learning from the day of birth.  Every day of a child’s life is so important.  A parent can send them to school for several hours a day, but the school will never replace their home or parent.  When that place or person fails, someone must be there for that child. The CASA Program attempts to help with that need. 

Many of us have extra time and energy in our retirement years, and you might find being a CASA volunteer rewarding for you, as it has been for me.   If you are interested contact me.  I’ll be happy to get you started. 

Enjoy our blog? Join us!

Carolyn Angel Anderson

We hope you’ve been enjoying the stories told by our classmates in the last couple of months. The goal of sharing is to reconnect and establish connections and desire to join us in our next class reunion. We don’t have specifics at this point for the reunion, but we anticipate that it will be at the Elks Club in South Bend. That has been such a popular place to meet. The potential date will be August or September of 2023.

In the meantime, we want to refresh our memories regarding the classmates that we knew years ago. So this is an invitation. Our committee has been working diligently telling stories about what’s going on in their lives.  If you haven’t read Paul Mecklenburg’s story about his connection to the Indy 500, take a minute and read that story now.  Paul’s story is incredible! There are many other wonderful posts on the blog by our committee, as well!  Take time to read them. 

But this is important! We suspect that you have events/stories that you would be willing to share as well. Would you be interested in joining us and telling your story? The commitment is simple. You agree to share a story and I will work with you and get the story up on our blog. If you’re interested, please respond to this post, and I will get in touch with you. Everyone has something interesting in their lives. We all would like to hear about it. Will you join us?

Month of May in Indianapolis

Outside Main Entrance Gate for Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 16th and Crawfordsville Road

I don’t know if there is any place that can claim a whole month’s activity like Indianapolis and its repeated year after year since 1911. We are talking about “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing – The Indianapolis 500”.

For me the family tradition goes back to my Grandfather’s Brother, Anthony Christian Mecklenburg (or AC as they called him). He started the South Bend Motor Works, but when Studebaker started up he went to Indianapolis and teamed up with the Stutz Motor Car Company as their Chief Engineer. He designed and built the Stutz Race Car that was in the 1st Indy 500 in 1911. Unlike all the other cars his Stutz had no mechanical problems. The Stutz finished 11th in the 33 car field driven by Gil Hodges (from France) the only foreign driver in the race.

Grandfathers brother driving his South Bend Motorworks Car before he began as Chief Engineer for Stutz in Indianapolis.

From here we jump to 1957, I was 10 years old when my dad took me to my 1st race. Haven’t missed 1 race and this year will be my 66th straight race. There were no fans in 2020 due to Covid Pandemic, but they still had the race.

I’m writing this on May 6th. May 7th we will attend the Mini Marathon, 16.1 miles that includes one lap around the 2.5 mile Speedway track. I still have strong connections to the Speedway. My daughter-in-law, Cassie interviews the drivers.

Helio Castroneves (4 time Indy 500 Champion, going for only driver ever to win 5th time this year) Being interviewed by my Daughter-in-law (Cassie, Martin Mecklenburg) 

My neighbors build and drive cars for racing.

Pancho Carter in drivers uniform in his First Sprint Car that was built by another neighbor Steve Stapp.

On May 14th the Indy Grand Prix will be held on the Road Course that runs through the middle of the

oval track using turn 1 and Main front stretch running the opposite direction of the 500, or clockwise.

Weekend of May 21 brings Qualifying over 2 days to set the field.

Weekend of May 27 sees Hundreds of Thousands people roll into the City for race weekend. The 27th has Carb Day practice, 100 mile Indy Lights race, pit stop competition followed by top entertainment bands from Country and Rock and Roll right into the evening darkness.

May 28th is the Nations 5th

largest Parade through downtown Indianapolis that will have 500,000 people lining the the 3 mile long streets. All of the drivers with family members ride in Chevy Camaro convertibles interacting with all the people, dignitaries such as Roger Penske, owner of the Indy 500 race facility.

May 28th “RACE DAY”. Exceptionally great Military Recognition (2nd to none) for all

Services Members. “Back Home Again in Indiana”, Memorial Taps for Service Members Lost, and “National Anthem” with high Performance Military Aircraft Flyover highly anticipated.

Followed by: “Gentlemen Start Your Engines” and 500 Miles of 235 miles per hour Racing that no other race anywhere can compete with.

If you can’t come, watch it on TV this year.

Hopefully I’ve instilled a little more excitement that you can watch. Look 👀 for me in “Turn One” with the 500,000 other fans attending😊🇺🇸🏎 HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!

Submitted by Paul Mecklenburg – Penn High School Class of 1965

Last Conversations

It is Easter and it is the perfect time to think about the last conversations we had with people in our lives. As I was thinking about preparing this post, I thought about two of the last conversations that I had with cousins, whom I did not know were dying. I wasn’t paying attention. I thought about my parents and my husband’s passing, containing so much confusion and grief, that I did not remember much about those conversations. And then I thought about my last conversation with our classmate, Janet Elaine Merrick. Janet had called to tell me that she was dying of cancer and wanted to have the last conversation. Although I do not remember the details of that conversation, I certainly remember her taking the initiative to call and tell me that it would be our last.

So, this month’s post for the Penn Class of 65 Blog will be to think about our last conversations with two of our classmates who have passed away in the last year, Linda Fuller Lindahl and Bill Doty. Both classmates had signed up to attend our class reunion in August of 2021. Bill did arrive and I am sure he connected with many of the 60 attendees that evening. Linda did not arrive.

I later learned from Linda’s son, Stanley, that Linda and her husband were involved in an automobile accident on the way to the reunion.  Linda had been extremely excited about the reunion and was looking forward to reconnecting with classmates. Her son told me that she lived for a couple of weeks after the accident but then passed away from her injuries. Linda’s husband survived and is now in a nursing home. I am glad that Stanley shared this information with me, as I would not have known.

Bill Doty was a classmate of mine starting early at Elm Road School. Once we got to Penn, I never saw him. Our high school was large enough, that we tended to know the people with whom we had common interests, i.e., sports, music, theater, science, business, languages, or practical things, like shop. However, Doug Jaques and Nile Thompson knew Bill well and attended his final celebration of life. I am sure they would be happy to share what they learned there.

You may be interested to read Linda and Bill’s obituaries, shared by family members. At the risk of seeming highbrow, I want to share a perspective on our “last conversations.”  The poet Rainer Maria Wilke was quoted as saying, “A person isn’t who they are during the last conversation had with them-they’re who they’ve been throughout your whole relationship.”

Our relationships with these classmates have covered many years. May you remember your relationships with Bill and Linda with joy!

ELKHART-William “Bill” H. Doty Jr., 74, passed away peacefully on February 28, 2022, surrounded by his family at his home.  He was born April 27, 1947, in Mishawaka to the late William & Abbie (Basham) Doty.

  Surviving are 3 children, Rachel (Phil Hahn II) Owen, Jill (Greg) Gregory, Carl Doty, and 3 granddaughters.  Also surviving is a sister, Kathy Mahler, brother, Tom Doty and his significant other Sheila Neff.

  Bill graduated from Penn High School in 1965 and joined the U.S. Army where he proudly served in the Vietnam War.  While in the Army earned the honor of becoming a double Purple Heart recipient. He and his business partner, Larry opened Land Auto Sales in 1970 and operated it for almost 4 decades.  He enjoyed horseback riding, camping, fishing, hiking, collecting tractors, tinkering with equipment and going to the casino.  Every Wednesday Bill would meet his Vietnam friends for coffee and to solve the problems of the world.  Bill was very outgoing, with a wonderful personality, a great sense of humor and he remained ornery until the end.  He truly never met a stranger and was an amazing person in general; his friends and family will truly miss him. 

  A celebration of life gathering was held Sunday, March 13, 2022, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the V.F.W. Post #360 in Mishawaka. 

  Memorial contributions may be given to Heartland Hospice.

  Elkhart Cremation Services was entrusted with the arrangements.

Mishawaka – Linda Marie (Fuller) Lindahl, 74 years old, passed away Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at Memorial Hospital in South Bend. She was born November 1, 1946 in Mishawaka to the late Roy Lee and Claire Louise (Fordyce) Fuller. On April 8, 1972 in Mishawaka, Linda married John Charles Lindahl, who survives.

Linda loved to travel. She recently became a travel agent and was able to fulfill that desire. She traveled to the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, and many other locations. She also had a passion to collect different trinkets from all her destinations. She collected post cards, lighthouses, and even salt and pepper shakers. Linda also loved animals of all kinds – especially her own dog, Zachary.

Along with her husband, John, Linda is survived by her sons, Stanley Roy (David Chiang) Lindahl of Elk Grove, CA and Stephen Ray (Maria) Lindahl of Azle, TX; three grandchildren, Joshua Cole Madden, Tatum Rai Lindahl, and Samuel Lee Lindahl; and a sister, Kay Carmichael of Bloomfield, IN. Linda is also survived by her beloved dog, Zachary. Linda was preceded in death by her parents; her daughter, Lorrie Marie; and her brother, Donald Lee Fuller.

Per Linda and the family’s wishes, there were no services. Palmer Funeral Homes-Bubb Chapel and Southlawn Cremation Services assisted the family with arrangements.

Memorial donations may be made in honor of Linda Marie (Fuller) Lindahl to the ASPCA, PO Box 96929, Washington, DC 20090-6929. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.palmerfuneralhomes.com

Yoder’s Evacuate Colorado Fire

Jeannette Sears Yoder and Jane Sears McCoy

Written by Jeanette (Sears) Yoder

Louisville Colorado is home to Stan and Jeanette (Sears) Yoder.  I was asked to write about the devastating grass fire that burned thru parts of Louisville and Superior, two small towns in Boulder County divided by the Denver to Boulder freeway. We lived through this fire! Here is the story.

On December 30th, 2021, we woke up to high wind warnings with wind coming out of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  That is not unusual, so we went about our plans for the day. Stan and I live in this small Colorado town, Louisville, along with our daughter Megan and Granddaughter, Scarlett. Our daughter Theresa, husband Chad and Granddaughter Mia lived in a house down the street.

Our two daughters had purchased a home in the neighboring town of Golden that they are remodeling. That morning Stan and Chad left Louisville early for Golden to work on the home that our daughters had purchased. Theresa and Mia had supplies to get on their way out to the house. Theresa and Mia called to tell us about the fire and the heavy smoke on the road.

Megan and I had stayed in Louisville to get some things done at home. When I opened the door to let the dogs in later that morning, I smelled smoke and started looking for where it was.  The sky was full of smoke.  The wind was moving the fire in several directions gusting up to 100 mph.  The police and firemen only had time to drive through the neighborhoods with speakers yelling “get out, get out now!!!”  

Megan and I grabbed a few clothes, meds, pet food, pet beds, two dogs and one cat. With this small number of essentials, we headed to Theresa’s, (her house was only a block away) to get her cat, dog and a few more things we would need.  Theresa and granddaughter Mia had been caught in the heavy smoke on the freeway to Boulder and were not allowed to come back into the neighborhood. 

Thank God for cell phones! Megan and Theresa began communicating on what to get and how to get away.  Megan and I loaded what we needed in 20 minutes and evacuated in two cars.

While all this was going on, we called Stan and let him know we had to evacuate.  He immediately booked rooms for all of us in a hotel east of Louisville.  We were to head there and meet the rest of the family.

Megan and I found bumper-to-bumper traffic as soon as we got on the main road that led out of the neighborhood.  We inched forward letting cars from side streets in as we went.  We were told to go North or East to get away from the fire, but by the time we made it to where we could go east, the street was packed with cars.  We were directed to turn left, heading west.  As we headed toward the foothills, you could see the smoke and fire approaching the road we were on.  The first street where we could turn North was jammed with cars.  This evacuation was not going to be fast, or easy.

Meg said we need to go to the next northbound street because the fire was so close.  Part of the time we lost sight of each other’s auto, but our cell phones kept us connected.  The next northbound thru street that would get us to an eastbound street had lighter traffic. We could at least move now. However, it took three hours to get to the hotel.  We watched on TV as the neighborhoods around our homes burned to the ground. We were hoping for the best.

Early the next morning Stan took off to see if we still had houses.  We were fortunate.  The fire had burned to the south, west, and north of us. 

We had no gas.  The power company provided 2 electric heaters per house to keep pipes from freezing and we were getting snow.   After 2 nights with pets in hotels, we moved back to the house.  The electric heaters would keep us warm enough.  They lifted the evacuation a few days after we moved in when the gas was safe to turn on.  We boiled water for about a week after that. 

Many homes burned to ashes.  For several days, the fireman were watching hot spots. The water system lost pressure due to fire fighting efforts so we were under a boil water order.  The city gave us cases of water, 1 case for every person in our house.  For the 1000+ families that lost everything, it is devastating.  The houses that somehow survived have soot and ash issues with the seal of windows broken by the wind.  It will be many years to build back the neighborhoods that are just gone, entire blocks gone.  The community is strong and we see a lot of people helping others.  The schools were cleaned and reopened on time with counselors to help the kids.  As I walk past the burned areas, I can see green grass starting to come back.

Burned areas in our neighborhood from a February walk

A Memorial Trip for My Daughter – Tania!

Dale Coddington

I would like to thank all my classmates that supported me with donations to Hospice and prayers for my safety. 

I don’t think I had even heard of Covid. It was February 8th, 2020, my 73rd birthday. About 25 friends had gathered with my wife, Carole, and me, to see me off to ride my bicycle from St. Augustine, FL to Coronado Beach, CA. I was fundraising in memory of our daughter Tania for Hospice.

You may recognize a couple PHM Class of 65 members in the picture below. Dennis Velte, Ed Bessinger, and Randi Souza were among the friends that came to wish me well and see me off.

All was going well except for too many flat tires until the middle of March and somewhere in Mississippi. There was talk about this virus called Covid.

It wasn’t always smooth. Our goal was to travel 50 miles a day. But, there were two modes of transportation, i.e., one person driving a motorhome while pulling a car and the second riding a bike, making it complicated. Specifically, we couldn’t always find appropriate accommodations. So we improvised. Our longest day was 78 miles, the shortest was 13 miles.

One of the things on our bucket list is to tour all the State Capitol Buildings of the US. We could do Mississippi and Louisiana before Covid shut them all down. 

We met many great people along the way, including campground owners who would donate a campsite to our cause, but once Covid set in, that came to a screeching halt. We then stayed in Church parking lots, Walmart, and Cracker Barrel lots. Since Walmart was starting to close at 7 PM, the lot was empty. There were also very few cars on the road. We would see about 15 trucks for every car. 

About halfway through Texas, everything was shutting down, but I was able to get new tires for my bike that eliminated flat tires, except for one, for the remainder of the trip. The campgrounds where we had reservations were canceling them.

At one point in Texas, we stopped for three days to evaluate if we should continue or not. We decided The Lord had led us to do this, and He would get us through it, so let’s keep going. 

My decision to go east to west was based on my concern about Texas Hill County and the mountains. A big mistake! My biggest physical challenge was the wind in west Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. There were days with 35 mph headwinds. On one day, I had to call Carole halfway through the ride to come and get me. I wanted to say that I had ridden my bike the entire distance, so I left the car where we spent the night and went forward in the motorhome with Carole. Then I rode my bike “with the wind at my back” to the car and rejoined Carole and the motorhome later.

Here we are in New Mexico, and Carole gets an infected tooth. Because her top teeth were horrible, she decided she would eventually get implants. The dentists were all closed. By now, New Mexico was utterly shut down. We couldn’t even find anyone to work on the motorhome. 

I made a call to our dentist in Mexico, and they said that they could see her since it was an emergency. She could get her implants, and we only lost a week. 

The next obstacle was, are we going to be able to get into California? Since I had started with my rear wheel in the Atlantic, I wanted to end with my front wheel in the Pacific. No problem there, but as we approached San Diego, we were told the beaches were closed, and there was a one thousand dollar fine if caught. 

After a call to the Coronado Beach Police Chief, I was good to go. I was to call when I got there, receiving an escort to the beach. That was on Friday. On Monday, when I was to hit the beach, I received a call from him saying that there had been problems over the weekend, and he could not approve of my going onto the beach. After realizing I would do it anyway, he assured me I would be approached but not given a ticket. I was invited to his office, where I was given a memento to the city. 

The trip was good for me. I had plenty of alone time to remember our beautiful daughter. Between her and the Lord pushing me, I was able to make it over the mountains and through the headwinds. 

My granddaughter, Abby, asked us to make this trip to thank Hospice. Hospice had been very helpful for her. We did not know that Hospice gave service to the dying, AND they are there for those left behind. Their counseling services made all the difference in Abby’s grieving process. So we made the trip; it resulted in $25,000.00 for Hospice.

I could go on and on about the experiences we had and the wonderful people we met along the way.

The one question I could answer for anyone wanting to know. Would you do it again? I would love to repeat the experience but only on an E-bike!

A special thank you goes out to Spin Zone Cycling and Fitness and Cannondale for their sponsorship of clothing and a beautiful carbon fiber bicycle for the trip. 

This was our mission! Mission accomplished! You will be remembered, Tania!

From a 15-minute trip to outer space to living on Mars…

Jean Smith Emmans

Do you remember that first spring when we were walking through the halls at Penn High School and heard that Alan Shephard had made the first manned spaceflight?  It was May 5, 1961.  A lot has happened since then and in 2024…

We’re going to Mars!

And I have been right in the middle of all that change!  Who would have thought that someone who doesn’t care for math and science would be in Alabama and working for NASA?   But I am (ask me about how I got there later) and I am very excited about working for NASA.

But, before we go to Mars, we need to go back to the moon and build an outpost …and that is in the testing stage now. The first flight of Artemis 1 is set for late spring or early summer. It will be an unmanned flight to circle the moon and come home to test all the hard work we have done over the last few years.

I went to work as an accountant for a NASA contractor – Jacobs, formerly Jacobs Engineering Group, in 2000. I retired in 2012.  I was asked to come back to work on a special project eight years ago and am still here. One of my favorite projects is to help with our college intern class every summer – their hours are filled to the brim with exciting work with engineers and scientists and tours of the labs and test stands based at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.  Watching a bunch of college students making their way in this world of space exploration is inspiring.

For the last few years our group has been working on the Space Launch System (SLS). By the way, NASA speaks in abbreviations. Everything, and I mean everything, has an abbreviation. We even have a dictionary of abbreviations so you can learn the language. But I digress….

Our company manages several key pieces of this endeavor. We have the ITAF- SIL, which is the Integrated Avionics Test Facilities – Simulation Integration Lab. This facility matches the diameter of the SLS and is a digital twin of the brains of SLS. This facility not only includes flight computers and avionics identical to SLS, but also emulators for the rocket’s boosters and engines, the Launch Control Center, and the Orion crew capsule.

We have test stands built to test the engines that will propel the rocket into space. They were built years ago and were used to test engines for the shuttle launches. They have been refurbished and are now used to test the much more powerful engines that will send future astronauts to the moon and Mars. I live a few miles away and can hear them testing – from a few seconds to several minutes.

We also have a Human Factors team, which plays a key role in developing the size and shape of articles so that all the astronauts will be able to work easily in space. One wouldn’t think it would matter about the size and shape of a hatch – but it needs to be accessible to a 6’4” person as well as a 5’2” person.

We are super excited that NASA will launch Artemis 1 in April. Artemis 1 is the first unmanned test flight using the agency’s Space Launch System super heavy lift launch vehicle and the first flight of the Orion crew capsule.  It will launch from Kennedy Space Flight Center (KSC). Find out more at NASA.gov/Artemis.

This picture on the right is of the ITAF-SIL – the brains of the SLS rocket.

The picture on the left is of the Saturn rocket.

The Space & Rocket Center (U.S. Space & Rocket Center | Home of Space Camp) is one of the top space related destinations in the country. You should take the time to visit if you are ever in the area. And, if you decide to visit, look me up…. I’ll be happy to brag about our town.

Why did Michigan kids go to Penn?

Happy New Year to all.

Hi gang, it’s David Bradford, Carolyn invited me to write about the Michigan kids. That includes Nancy Ritter, Jane and Jeanette (Jet) Sears, Jennifer Hartzell, Bob (the doc) Cropsey, Glen Sparks, Mike (Milo) Ely, and last but not least myself.

I am certain that most students, since 1958, have wondered ”Why do they come here from Cassopolis, MI?

David Bradford


The answer is, property taxes, yes believe it or not. Geneva was a k-8 school the 8th graders would move to 9th grade in Cassopolis. For a few years prior to 1958 the annexation hassles began, some people annexed their individual properties. The annexation was voted down several times. I remember hearing the adults say if we annex, property taxes will go up. Many people said that Diamond Lake was a prime reason. Most of Diamond Lake was in the Geneva school district. High property values more tax money for Cassopolis.

In 1958 Cassopolis announced they weren’t able to take any more tuition students from any of the grade schools due to overcrowding. If the school districts would annex they could then go to Cassopolis. So the Geneva School Board was looking for a school to send the graduating 8th graders to.

Penn opened in 58, they had lots of room for 5 or six kids from Cassopolis so the twins’ dad ”Big Hank” bought a 59 Ford Country Squire station wagon and transported them back and forth.

We got the bus in 62, 20 passengers. Sophomore year, Big Hank didn’t drive the first year we rode the bus. Unfortunately, the driver was a Bible-waving fundamentalist Baptist minister. Loyd Early, most of us called him Brother Early. He was not well-liked at all.

That’s enough for now.

Go Kingsmen ”65”

Paul Mecklenburg’s 1st post on Penn’65 class blog

Paul Mecklenberg

Well here we go. After a half hour of assistance from Carolyn I finally got to where I can write something. At this point I’m not sure I’ll ever get back to this site again, but at least I can write something now. I’m just concerned I have no computer literacy at all😜.

We just did the 1st Zoom call this afternoon. Good to hear everybody. Just using my I-phone made it more difficult. The Zoom instructions asked me to call 1of 10 numbers so I could get the audio for the Zoom. Once I tried to get back to Video I needed the ID number, that Carolyn confirmed but I had no way to put those numbers back in followed by the # sign.

Oh well, I’m supposed to do a February report, so here goes, Sports related. The next big event will be the SUPER BOWL, after the best 4 Divisional games I’ve ever seen last weekend. If the Super Bowl ever comes close to these 4 games, it’ll be the best Super Bowl ever.

Don’t know if anybody is a INDIANA Basketball fan, but I am. Our new coach (Mike Woodson) plays Bobby Knight basketball, who Woodson played for back in the 1980’s. It shows, “DEFENCE” because IU’s going to get in the NCAA TOURNAMENT again after a long absence. Tournament starts March 16th with National Championship game April 4th. Indianapolis will host 1st and 2nd round games, March Madness begins. Get your bracket filled out.

Hope all classmates are doing well. Looking forward to reading future blogs. Thanks to Carolyn for organizing the Penn ‘65 blogs and putting up with everyone’s lack of computer knowledge.