Dear Members,
The presentation of the 2019 Grants was, once again, one of my favorite Community Assistance League meetings of the year. The meaningful work being done for the community by such a variety of groups and individuals in our little town never ceases to amaze me, and the fact that CAL has the means to support them, makes it even more meaningful. Thank you all for the volunteer hours you put in at Bizarre Bazaar, and thank you to Bobbie and her committee for their hard work!
In other news, the CAL Board should soon have news for you about BB’s future home. I will inform you as soon as this comes to pass. I appreciate your patience and your faith in the Board to make such an important decision.
On my own home front, I have been in Spokane clearing out my father’s office and library over the past several weekends and have discovered that he led a secret life or two. There were books. . . and books. . . and books. He was an eclectic reader, but there was a preponderance of WWII and aviation volumes. As a pilot in WWII, that period of his life was essential to his being. There were also, the ham radio equipment, which was a mystery to all of us, and the 35 years of QST, a monthly ham radio magazine. Last winter, when in a fit of magazine reduction, we were adamantly told NOT to throw them away, that they would be valuable to some ham radio aficionado. It may be, as Robert took them away. At several points in this process, my mother exclaimed that she had no idea that he had spent so much money on books. I finally told her to be happy that he wasn’t spending money on girlfriends and that mollified her. Two of Dad’s lives, the voracious reader and the ham radio operator, I had known about as I saw him read, and when I was in high school he had required made me to learn Morse Code—dit dah dah dit.The third life was one that I didn’t realize the extent of; he wrote. . . and wrote. The family has read his memoirs of WWII, a record we are thankful to have. He also wrote a novel, about the War, of which I remember my mother saying, “Not enough sex. It’ll never sell in the Bible Belt” (I hope I haven’t offended anyone). And there were the rejected manuscripts back from the publishers.
But I was stunned by the manila files containing more writing: in some were published articles; in others, pages and pages of writing on yellow, legal paper of trips and events; in others proposals to authors of something he could write. I never knew that he was so prolific.
I have saved the letters he wrote me after I left home; but now, I have so much more to read and learn about him. He was a solitary man, difficult to engage in conversation, and his pursuits support that. I look forward to my days of reading his writings and hope it will bring me closer to knowing the man.
In the spirit of good writing and reading, we have had some ideal days for just those pursuits, rainy, cool, green days to water our creativity.
Happy spring!
Sherry Ennis
President