One of the few pleasures of old age is having grandchildren who come for the Thanksgiving holiday – and no longer demolish your house – but replenish your woodpile, repair any number of busted-up stuff, explain how to access DVD’s and then how to return to the TV mode!  They not only explain ‘…one more time’… how to send an attachment along with your e-mail, but they show you how to take a picture with your cell phone – and save it in your computer….and. A daughter brought a thick file of “…letters you wrote to me, Dad, when I was in college, and also when I’d moved to Minneapolis.  They’re so wonderful,,, I’ve always saved them.”

A son reset the timer for the coffee maker – which was still set for Daylight Savings! Another son accessed the ‘Cheap Seats’ thing on the Internet for bargains on plane tickets.  After a long weekend of being brought up to speed on the too-high-tech-for me-stuff it’s tough to admit to being a twenty-first-century retard. But, ain’t we lucky to have ‘with-it’ progeny.

Code Sternal, senior at Trinity (Hartford), six foot-five varsity rowing team, rowing at Headley (England) this summer, was explaining ‘body weight’ and fat-ratios etc. at the dinner table. The ‘seniors’ were hoping their ‘body-structures’ were not the source of this topic. Seems body-weight is calculated by electronic wires and a lotta fancy facts ‘n figures. Code’s Mother, Nancy Heck, Oakwood High School ’67, knew all about such things. Hank Hull, OHS ’71, said in the Marine Corps they’d been weighed in water.  “Yeah,” said Code, ‘That’s the only accurate method.”  And finally, Grandma could jump into the conversation! “That’s Archimedes ‘displacement’ discovery. He (270 BC) proved the Syracuse king’s crown was pure gold (no silver added) by measuring the amount of water displaced by a lump of pure gold and the crown. That’s the old ‘Eureka, I have found it!’ story.  Finally my minor in Classical Greek had gotten me some attention!”  

Remember Charles and Teruko Pace?  They were a most attractive and popular young couple who lived on E. Schantz years ago. Elias  and Laurence Warwar, and Mike Peters (DDN cartoonist and winner of two Pulitzers) were all part of the Schantz Ave. neighborhood parties that were being talked about last Sunday. The Paces now live in Seattle, Washington and have not been back to Dayton since they moved in 1978. They were visiting Laurence Warwar, who’d invited all of the old gang for one of Laurence’s-famous-feeds.  

And what a wonderful reunion it was! Teruko & Charles greeted everyone with: “You haven’t changed a bit!  I’d have known you anywhere!”  And the same was certainly true of them!  

Lorenz had pressed all of her family into service – Dr. Samia Warwar Borchers, Attorney Sam Warwar, Dr. Ronald Warwar, and Attorney Mona Warwar Mekues – who was up from Atlanta, GA.  And, of course there were many attractive grandchildren helping Grandmother.

Dr. Ben Schuster was back from NYC were he’d had his family at the Metropolitan Club for Thanksgiving.  Patty Ballard, Dr. Kent & Wendy Scholl, Marti & Fred Ohmer, Dr. & Mrs. Henry Maimon, Dr. Nakauchi, Eazy Peretti, and Dr. Baskara & Sujatte Reddy were counted as present.

And Laurence’s ‘spread’!  Everything was:  “Made by Laurence!”  The beef had been ‘corned’ – by Laurence.  The breads, the rolls, the cakes, the roll-ups, the…casseroles, the soups, the….

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