When and if I ever get caught up, I plan to check out some of the addresses sent to us by Janice Schultz Patschke, Class of 1955 of Austin.  We need all the help we can get to keep from losing our exes.  Janice sent more updates this week and we thank her very much for her hard work.

Ted Merz, husband of Glenda Lehman Merz, Class of 1968 fell at his work.  Had to spend a couple of nights and days in the hospital but is home now.  No broken bones and that's good.  We wish Ted a big "Get Well" wish.  He's also dad to Micah Merz, Class of 1993 of Shertz and Nik Merz, Class of 1996 of Austin.

By the time you read this, Leroy Niemtschk, Class of 1942 should be back with his wife in the rest home in Taylor.  He had to spend a couple of weeks in rehab before going back.  We hope Leroy continues to improve and gets along o.k.

Pat Logan, Class of 1949 of Temple called and we had a good phone visit.  He knows where Edwin Stigall, Class of 1949 lives, but didn't have an address.  We lost Edwin this year as his Homecoming invitation came back.  He lives at Hot Springs Ranch in Arkansas.  It was good to visit with Pat and Caddie Kasner Logan, Class of 1951.  They sold their house here in Thorndale and we sure hope that doesn't mean we'll be seeing less of them.

Noticed in the newspaper that Barton Felton, Class of 1972 took Grand champion Honors in the Classic category with his Nacono pecans.  This was in the Milam county Pecan Show and this means he will advance to compete at the Eastern Regional Pecan Show in Brenham.  Congratulations to Bart and we wish him good luck in Brenham.

We hear through the grapevine that Janet Laffere Schwarz, Class of 1968 of Austin is out of M. D. Anderson Hospital in Houston, but has to stay close for a while for more treatments, etc.  We need to keep Janet in our prayers for this long and difficult time ahead of her.

There was a real cute photo in the newspaper of John Dyess, Class of 2002 holding about 12 inches of his hair after it was cut off.  He was donating it to Locks of Love.  Nice of him to do this.

Ordered some of that good Rodenbeck sausage and when it was ready, Millie Schneider Rodenbeck, Class of 1954 called to let us know to pick it up.  While we were on the phone, she gave me lots of great family news. Stephanie Gilchrist Bleeker, Class of 2002 of Rockdale became an LVN and is now nursing in Rockdale.  Stephanie received the Artie Fay Patschke Tate Scholarship given by her brother, Marvin Patschke, Class of 1942 of Fort Worth.  Artie Fay was in the Class of 1950 and passed away April 13, 2001.  Wade Gilchrist, Class of 2005 is now at Tarleton State in Stephenville and of course, is still playing baseball.  Summer Felton, Class of 1995 of Bryan was honored as Guest Coach at the A & M football game.  She teaches and is also working on her PhD at Texas A & M.  Trey Felton, Class of 1996 is back on this side of the ocean, out of the active Air Force and now working in Austin.  Our thanks to Millie for all this good news and our congratulations to all these exes.

Nice photo in the newspaper of Cecil Cook, Class of 1972 with four other men at the Alcoa Plant.  They reached a safety milestone of over a year without a recordable injury.  They were honored with a catered luncheon and t-shirt with more celebrations to come.

Another nice photo in the newspaper of a group of crews from Alcoa who went to Firefighter Training School at Texas A & M Fire Training Grounds.  Among this group was Karl Thiele, Class of 1988 of Lincoln and Eric Melde, Class of 1998.  Eric received the Coach White Memorial Scholarship.  Our exes do get around and we are proud of each and every one of them.

Our Christmas parade along with many other activities was held this past week-end in Thorndale.  Cloudy but a nice warm day.  There was a mishap during the parade and several folks were hurt.  The most serious was Nancy Barron Heleman, Class of 1957 who was helicoptered to Scott and White Hospital in Temple.  We need to keep Nancy in our prayers as we understand both her legs were hurt and this will take a while to overcome.  Get Well Soon, Nancy.

Christmas will be here before we know it.  Time really flies, doesn't it?  Seems like it really sneaked up on us this year.  My sister, Betty Reavis Morlan, Class of 1959 of Ohio will be here for the first time in many years for the holidays.  Also, Billie Jo Fisher, Class of 1993 of New York City wil be here, too.  Needless to say, we are so thrilled.  We are so blessed that our loved ones can be here.

Haven't been sending our articles to the school to be published on the internet, but will do so if anyone wants the back articles.  They are in the Thorndale Champion, but not anywhere else.  As soon as we get this e-mail situation worked out we will go back to the norm.  You can call us at 512-898-2072 or write to Thorndale Ex-Students Assn., P. O. Box 393, Thorndale, TX  76577.  We appreciate all the calls and letters we get for the news in this article.  We love to hear from our exes.

If you have any information for us or if you need information from us, just give us a call or let us know in any way and we'll do what we can to help.  We love to hear from our exes.