To Helen Bebout

June 6, 2007

Dear Helen,

How good to hear from you and that you continue to keep me in your loop. I deeply appreciate it.

Suzy and Larry are doing pretty well up in New Hampshire. They are building a new home on top of a mountain. They are calling it Star-swept Farm. All the work up there has kept them very busy the last few months…very therapeutic for them. Of course they do have times of great sadness and I suppose they always will. Jeri and I have our moments too. We sure miss little Cray. He was an angel.

Let’s face it, in one way or another you’ll probably never retire. Sounds like you are pretty indispensable to Capt. Searle.

Sorry to hear that you are limping so much now. I remember that you always seemed to have a little limp. Sure hope that it doesn’t cause too much pain.

Thanks for letting me know how Catherine is doing. She’s such a good, gracious lady. Please give her my best wishes when you see her again.

Concerning the Horners, Parker was one of my all time favorite people and I always liked Adriana too. Sorry to hear that Chris never came back well from that awful accident. I can vividly remember the way that he and Jennifer were as small children. Do me a favor and pass on my best wishes to Kit and Gloria and all the family.

Sorry to hear that Briggs is no longer. It was a real up-hill battle for a lot of years. You and many others gave so much to the congregation and her ministries. I hope you don’t think it was all in vain. Look at it this way: think of all the people that the church touched and blessed through the years and think of all the people that they touched because of the spirituality and blessing they found with Briggs. Concerning the Westmoreland UCC Church, I was always impressed with many of the things they were doing. It’s good to know that the Briggs ministry is still being carried on with Westmoreland .

You mention Carol, Sunnie, Dot and Naomi. Please give them my best. By the way…did Sunnie’s son stay in stock car racing?

It’s amazing to me how churches change through the years. The church that I served in Massachusetts sold their property to a restaurant. I think the congregation moved to the outskirts of town where all the new homes were being built, shades of Briggs moving out from downtown DC.

Jeri and I are doing fine in our new digs up here on 102 Street. We really enjoy our new place. Jeri is working part time now for her company. They didn’t want to lose her so they gave her a good package to stay with them after I retired. I imagine she’ll retire after another year or so. 

We’ve been traveling more.

Went to Georgia to see Mike at his new farm in the spring.

We just got back from three weeks in Puerto Rico on the beach, etc. It was so great. I still love to exercise so I swam hard every day.

In July we’ll spend some time with Suzy up in New Hampshire. Jim lives up there too now.

Then we’ll visit Scott and my Sister down in Texas.

We’ll spend most of August out in the LA area where Jeri’s family lives.

I love being retired. I’ll probably do some part time or volunteer work in the future but for now it sure feels good to do pretty much exactly what I want. Jeri and I are very happy.

You’re a dear friend Helen and you always were to me and the people I loved. Thanks again for keeping up with me.

Love from Jeri and me.