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1997 1995 Can you believe it? We couldn't get through one month of 1995 without losing one of our friends. Jim Riley, another old Seaside friend died in his sleep and we attended a memorial service for him in Seaside Park. The Government has been very liberal since the depression years and has taken on more and more responsibility for our lives. It has become very large and has originated so many welfare and other mandates that more and more people look to the Government to solve their slightest problem. Even illegal aliens are "milking" the system. A tremendous deficit has resulted and a dollar now buys about a 20th as much as it did in late thirties. This increase in wages and prices seems to be most noticeable during the last two decades. In 1992 Bill Clinton, a democrat, was elected President and with a majority in both houses. He made many promises that appealed to poor and middle class. However it wasn't long until he began many programs that didn't backup his promises and caused the people to take action. As a result the election in 1994 was a Republican landslide with a Republican majority in both houses. Now it's up to the Republicans to eliminate big government and deficit spending. How it is done is causing much debate in Congress and some concern over the economy. Last year we started looking at Rush Limbaugh's TV show. It has become very popular and we believe his efforts to explain what goes on in Congress had a lot to do with the Republican landslide in November. His format is to show TV clips of past comments etc. by members of government to emphasize how they lie and change their stand on various issues. I am concerned that the Republican majority is trying to make too many drastic changes at one time. They are causing a lot of criticism which may come back to haunt them during the elections of 1996. There is much to be done. We made the decision to enroll in US Healthcare, an HMO. and I gave it a try by having a physical in January. It seems to be excellent and I think it will save us money and be less paper work. Our social life continued to revolved around meeting our old friends for lunch in interesting locations. On one occasion we joined the Reitingers at a Professional Engineer's outing to the Campbell Soup Co. Museum to see the display of antique silver tureens. A nice lunch followed and I enjoyed being with engineers that I hadn't seen for a long time. In February, the Freygangs were in town and we enjoyed swapping information about our lives since we had last been together. Gus had his two knees replaced and was getting along well. March turned out to be a busy month starting out with a visit to the Art Museum to see the Barnes collection. It was interesting, however, we found that many of the paintings were too "far out" for our taste. This was followed by attended Jeff Lipman's open house in New Egypt. He has built up quite a successful antique business. Rohm and Haas once again had me in for a couple of days. I didn't mind but told them I didn't want to become involved more than a day once in awhile. Our friend, Sue Sutton, died after a long struggle with cancer. She was a great person and we enjoyed knowing Bill and Sue and the time we could visit them on Orcas Island. I guess we are a little crazy. We drove 130 miles to have lunch near Longwood Gardens with our old friends the Reitingers and Scotts. Many of our friends hate to drive any more, but as long as it doesn't bother us, we are going to make the effort to see our friends and to keep active. While in the area we called on Harold Cobb, one of Mary Liz's cousins. They have very nice house in a retirement community. I finished out the first quarter of 1995 with a visit to Dr. Spiegel. He says there is a little change in my throat but not enough to be concerned about. He gave me the full examination this time and plans to investigate my inability to smell. There doesn't appear to be any apparent reason for my problem and he wants me to have blood tests and an MRI of my brain to give him some data for a future examination. Since there is an excuse for the MRI, I think it is a good idea to have a look. There were no problems with the MRI and nothing came of the effort to solve my smell problem. We had an unexpected pleasure in May. Chris and Scott came to see us for about four days. We had a good time with them and included a trip to Seaside and even went to Atlantic City. The trip was over too quickly but we sure enjoyed seeing the boys. Another old friend, Dan Clayton, died and we attended the services in Seaside May 22nd. Like all of these sad occasions these days, we saw many old friends and talked of the old times together. The summer was enjoyed quietly with our old friends. We did spend some time at Seaside with Charley Kline and with the Sayias. I called it quits at Rohm and Haas and am now truly retired. Mary Liz arranged a trip at the end of October. She has become very interested in working with a Dr Dimond on their mutual genealogical efforts. We drove to Greensboro N.C. and spent several days in the area looking into some leads on the Diamonds. It was quite interesting and we enjoyed being on the prowl again. Once again we attended the services for another old friend. Helen Nicholson had been very ill since we saw them in Seaside and was buried December 2. Joe plans to sell his home and will move to a retirement apartment. It seems that all of our friends are winding up in retirement homes. Dr. Grey Dimond called to let us know that he would be in Philadelphia and he invited us to have cocktails at his daughters apartment. It was an interesting afternoon. The other guests were well known doctors of the area. |