Norma Jean's Column
for Southern Prince George's County
  

CLINTON COLUMN FOR APRIL 24, 2003

One of the people we are lucky to have as part of each chapter in the National Association of Retired Federal Employees is the person who is our Service helper. She researches and learns all the things we need to know about our finances while being retired, and what our children should know when we are gone.This past month, Ann Barnes, who is our Service Officer, gave us a talk on the kinds of things we should know to make the most of our retirement. It was a good speech, and it was too bad we only had about a hundred of our twelve hundred members in attendance. Chapter 1260 is the Southern Prince George's Chapter, and although we usually meet at the Oxon Hill Library, at this time, we are meeting at the Surratts-Clinton Library because Oxon Hill is being renovated. Our meetings are always the third Thursday of the month at 1 pm, and in May, we will be having our legislators there to tell us some of the things that we did not read about that went on during this year"s session. This year, our 30th Anniversary Dinner is on April 30 and it will be held at Rosecroft. If you are interested in joining us for that occasion, please call Jane Wright at 301-423-7539. If you are not yet a member of NARFE, and you would like to join, please call me.

NARFE Chapter 2262 will be having their next meeting on May 1, at 12 noon at Tucker's Restaurant on Marlboro Pike. If you live in the Upper Marlboro area, this is your chapter. As usual, there will be an optional cold buffet for $9, and you do not need to make a reservation. Call Lou Perrygo at 301-627-2911 if you need more information. If you would like to attend these meetings, and you do not have transportation, call Robert Jacobs at 301-753-4382.

At Chapter 2262's meeting in April, they had a speaker from the Greater Baden Medical Services. They are a non-profit, federally qualified health center, and work primarily for low income and/or uninsured families. If you need their services and you live in the area, contact Sheila Murdock at 301-599-0460.

If you are in District IV, you may be interested in the Crime Statistics that were printed in our most recent NARFE Chapter 1260 Newsletter. There were 37 homicides, 55 contact shootings, 1399 breaking and entering, 129 commercial robberies, 32 residential robberies, 8 courier robberies, 89 CAR JACKINGS, 491 citizen robberies, 3318 automobiles stolen, and 17 rapes. These are pretty scary statistics, and there were three car jackings in one week in Clinton, so everyone needs to be very careful and watchful at all times.

Happy Birthday in April to Ginny Wolford, April 1, Alvin Payne, April 2, Ronnie Terry, April 3, Linda Rayner and Jane Payne, April 3, my son-in-law, Tim Toepper, Arlene Wise and Dorothy Shackleford, April 4, Lucy Policicchio, Violet Hite and Kyle Wilkins, April 5, Betty Davis (from Upper Marlboro), April 7, Alyce Goff, April 13, Norma Liciaga, Raymond Colevas, Dolly Posey, Lillian Skinnard, Carol Sovine, and Clarissa Ogle, April 14, Beth Korgan, April 15, Marion O"Connell, April 17, Sandy Lohr and Ashley Trott, April 18, Debbie Hinson, April 19, Della Seymour and Florence Morie, Irma Wockley and Paulina Payne, April 23, Larry Cross and Lula Mae Hobbs, April 24, G. A. Defelice, April 26,and Edna Pavol, April 27, and Rosalie Seibert, April 30.

The folks who run the Marlborough Day Parade in Upper Marlboro are looking for a Democrat or two to ride in the parade on May 3. If you are a Democrat, and you are interested in doing this, call Dot Perkins at 301-627-4991. There are already some Republicans, and I would sure hate to see them get ahead of us.

"Day is done, gone the sun, from the lakes, from the hills, from the sky. All is well, safely rest, god is nigh. Fading light, dims the sight, and a star gems the sky, gleaming bright, from afar, drawing nigh, falls the night. Thanks and praise for our days, neat the sun, neat the stars, neat the sky. As we go, this we know, God is nigh." These are the words to "Taps." During the Civil War, a Union Army Captain, Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harris" Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of this narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier and the Captain decided to risk his own life to bring the stricken man back for medical attention.Crawling on his stomach through gunfire, he began pulling the soldier toward his encampment. When he got there, he realized the soldier was dead, and when he lit a lantern, he saw that the soldier was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out, and without telling his father, he had joined the Confederate Army. The Captain asked permission to bury his son with full military honors, and asked if he could have a group of band members play a funeral dirge. This request was denied, but, out of respect for the father, they said they could give him one musician. The Captain then asked a bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of his dead son"s uniform.This was the beginning of the song we now cry over at military funerals.

Norma Jean Fazenbaker's column can be found in the Clinton Gazette, Prince George's Post, Prince George's Sentinel, and the Enquirer Gazette. You can contact Norma Jean by email - click this link.

2003 Archives: Jan. 2, Jan. 9, Jan. 17, Jan. 23, Jan. 30, Feb. 6, Feb. 13, Feb. 20, Feb. 27, March 6, March 13, March 20, March 27, April 3, April 10, April 17

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