Class of 1955, Rose Hill, Kansas

I have been very sick this past year. I finally checked myself into the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, AZ on June 13 and ended up in the Mayo Hospital in Phoenix on June 17. I was diagnosed with Giant Cell Arteritis (inflammation in the temporal arteries). The inflammation moved into my brain and I lost control of my right side and balance and couldn't walk. I was transported to the Health South Rehab center where I spent 15 days learning how, among other things, to walk again. I was in a wheelchair during that time and so very sick. I came home on a walker and I am now using a cane. The disease narrows one's arteries. My temporal arteries have narrowed and vertebral and subclavian arteries have narrowed, cutting off much of the blood supply to my brain and other parts of my body. The vertebral artery on the right backside of my head is completely blocked with no blood supply to that part of my brain. One of the arteries to my left kidney has narrowed. All this indicates that I have had this disease for several long years. I knew something was wrong for a long time, but the doctors didn't. So, it wasn't diagnosed until the disease reached its peak and I happened on doctors who knew what they were doing. I am really lucky because they told me I would have died if I had waited any longer. I knew I was dying and worked getting my business, will and all other things in order before I left for Scottsdale. A miracle has taken place and I am so very fortunate to still be alive. The prayers of my family and friends and those people I didn't even know have worked. I was so sick at the 2005 reunion that it was hard to function. But I had learned how to do that from being ill with this disease for so long in the past. I am now doctoring with a doctor in Denver who is much closer than the Mayo in Scottsdale. Well so much for that...I hate to even talk about it, but I have now. The only medical treatment for this disease is large doses of Prednisone. At the beginning, I was on 60 mgs. During the last three months, I have been decreasing the dosage by 5 mgs every 2 weeks. I think I will have to increase again because the symptoms have become more intense again with the low dosage.

Dear Family and Friends,
The month of December has flown by. I am very slow this year and am scrambling to finish all the things I have to do before 2010 begins. There are only four days until Christmas! Wow! Well, you are probably tired of this already. Most of us seem to be in the same boat so I know I have company. This year has been a good one for me.
I have escaped from being in the hospital or undergoing any kind of surgery. Most of my maladies have leveled out some. However, doctor’s appointments, swallowing lots of medications and physical therapy do take up too much of my time. Yet, I am very thankful to be alive and able to do some of the things I like to do. I have joined the ranks of the hard of hearing. I finally broke down and purchased a couple of hearing aids. Love them big time. The auto-immune disease that I have has caused my arteries to narrow and therefore do not receive the right amount of blood flow to various parts of my body. The same goes with my eyes. Chuck’s COPD seems to have leveled out and is much better.
I keep busy with ministry at the church and in the community. Chuck has just finished his six-year service on the Church Session. He continues to keep the pool tables hot at the Senior Center. Like, every afternoon of the week.
On April 4, we celebrated our forty-fifth wedding anniversary. Our children organized and hosted an anniversary reception at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Ks. Many, many people attended. It was unreal, but full of fun. Two weeks later, we received a phone call from one of our sons, Doug Hankins, who lives in Wichita, telling us that his twenty-one year old son (step-son) was in the hospital and dying. We packed our suitcases again, threw them into the car and headed back to Wichita. Danniel died on April 21 and his funeral was on my birthday, April 28. Losing a grandchild through death is one of the worst experiences we have had to endure in a long while. The grief of his parents, Wanda and Doug, his brother, Jay, and sister, Jessica, has been great and not without consequences.
Our trips to Wichita did not end there. We continued to make trips to Wichita throughout the summer because of illnesses and deaths of family and friends – six trips in all. We were tired and ready to stay home for a while. Although I must mention one of those trips was for me to participate in an Ordination service of a young woman, Dawn Flippin, who grew up in the Covenant Presbyterian Church and was a member of the youth group with Joe when they both were just young and ornery kids. She is now serving a church in New Jersey. That trip was a joy.
Joe completed a master‘s degree in Christian Ministry from Friends University and is a certified Lay Pastor. It was a two-year program. He has two more years of seminary to complete in order to become an ordained minister. He has been accepted at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Ok. and will begin his studies in January. Here we go again, another ornery youth group member who grew up in the Covenant Church and now with a family has been called into God’s ministry.
Joe, Tina, Zachary, Charlie, Michael and Libby came for a visit during the Thanksgiving weekend. While they were here, we took a car trip to Eagle Nest and Taos to do some shopping and sightseeing. What fun! Joe and boys will be here again for Christmas.
Our boys are doing fine and working. Praise God for that. We see them when we can. Brad Wiseman and family live on a farm close to Kansas City and he works at Garmin. Delene raises longhorns. Doug Hankins and family live in Wichita and he works at Spirit; Doug Wiseman and family live in Chicago and he works for Bomdardier. Debby works at Macys; Brian Hankins and family live in Wichita and he works for Holtzen Woodworking; Curt Wiseman and family live in Fort Worth and he works for Lockheed; Joe and family are in Wichita and he works at Cessna. Tina runs a day-care. Come and see us.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Christmas has come and gone and the New Year is going strong. I was sick through Christmas and New Years with sinus infection and asthmatic bronchitis. However, we were able to spend Christmas at Joe and Tina’s house and at Doug and Brian’s homes. Now, in 2011, I have already had a cataract removed and a lens implant in my right eye and tissue grafting on a tooth. I will have the other eye done on January 21. After all is said and done, I hope to be over the hump very soon and ready to run with 2011.

I keep busy preaching once a month, celebrating Communion services at the Nursing Home, the Assisted Living Facility and in private homes. The church had been without a pastor for a couple of years so I was asked to take charge of the adult education program until the church called a pastor to take over. The church now has a part time pastor and that means I am still on call for preaching and certain other ministries. My biggest loves are leading an ecumenical women’s Thursday morning Bible study (Lydia’s Daughters) and a weekly Prayer Shaw Ministry (Threads of Love) group. I organized the groups several years ago and they are still going strong. I could go on and on about these two groups, but I will not bore you with that any longer.

Chuck? Well, when that guy retired he retired and that is about it. He plays pool in the afternoons at the Senior Center. That is his main activity. He does some work at the church and around the house. He does a lot of reading and watching sports on television and keeps well informed. He says he is happy with his situation and so am I. He does help me haul things back and forth from the church. We attend stage shows together at the Shuler Theater here in town and other social activities that interest us.

Early in June of 2010, we took a train trip to Chicago to see son, Doug Wiseman and family. Our 13-year-old grandson, Zachary, went with us. We drove to Wichita to pick up Zach and boarded the train in Newton, KS at 3:30 a.m. Our son, Joe, had the privilege of taking us to the train station. LOL. He also picked us up at the same time when we came home. We had a grand time with the family and Zach enjoyed hanging around with his three girl cousins. They did some sight seeing, but mostly did the Mall thing and swimming. However, they thought up many other things to do so that was fun for them, also. On the third day we were there, we rented a van and took an overnight trip to Minneapolis, MN to see Doug and Debby’s new grandson and our g-grandson, Will, who had just been born the last of May. Of course, we saw Will’s, mom, Jennifer, and his Aunt Bethany. His dad, Tim, was out of town. Missed seeing him. We all went to the Mall of America where we had lunch and spent some time sight seeing.

In September, our granddaughter, Jessica, presented us with a new g-granddaughter named Addilyn Grace. We traveled to Wichita to greet her. Addilyn and Jessica had conflicting Rh factors and Addilyn had to be in the hospital for a few days. Bless her. She was an excellent patient. After Addilyn was released from the hospital and recovering nicely and after spending some time with the rest of our boys and families, we traveled to visit my sister (Karen and husband Dave) in Osage Beach, MO. While there, Karen and I spent a night and day in Branson, MO. and an afternoon and night at her daughter, Laura’s, house in Monet, MO. Her home is located on several acres in a beautiful area outside of Monet and is huge. It was so good to be with her and her family.

We spent Thanksgiving at Joe and Tina’s in Wichita and dinner with the other boys and their families. Tina cooked a delicious dinner. I think I gained 10 lbs. Ha. While there, we went out to dinner with Curt and his family, Chuck’s youngest boy from Fort Worth. He was in Hutchinson visiting his mother and made the trip to Wichita to be with us. About twenty of us went out to dinner. Such fun!

I am sure all of you had a wonderful Christmas with your families and friends. We pray that you experienced the peace of that Holy Night and that your hearts were filled with joy. And may you also experience the peace and love of God throughout the New Year.

Love to all, Juanita and Chuck

Here we are again at the end of another year and all too soon. The years pass so quickly when we are having fun. I told Brian on the phone the other day that it seemed like just a year ago we were all ten years younger. We all know that isn’t true so here I am sitting at the computer again and telling you about another year’s past.

We have had a busy year visiting family and friends and family and friends visiting us and celebrating birthdays. That seems the best way to spend one’s year as far as I am concerned. Much better than wasting one’s time with doctor’s appointments and hospitalizations. Although, we have had our share of those. In January, I had cataracts removed from both eyes and lens implants in each eye. What a blessing that has been. I can see again. The GCA disease that I have had done a number on my eyes.

In March, Karen and Dave were on their way to visit us from their home in MO, but Dave ended up in the hospital in Hutchinson, KS and after he was dismissed they went back home. (tears)

In April Chuck and I celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary by doing nothing but staying home. In May, John and Carolyn from MI, and Barbara and Bill from TX, visited us and we all had an enjoyable time.

In the month of June, we traveled to Fort Worth, TX, for Cooper’s high school graduation ceremony. After all the celebrations we traveled to Wichita, KS to attend Zachary’s confirmation service at Covenant Presbyterian Church. What a blessing those trips turned out to be. Later in the month, we traded my convertible in (oh, hum) and to my dismay, we didn’t buy another convertible. As it turned out we bought a Chrysler 200. Not as fancy, but it is doing us well so far. I found out this is not convertible country. More like four wheel drive country. So life goes on.

In July, we met Joe, Tina, Zachary and Charlie in Liberal, KS, where we picked up Zach and Charlie for a three week visit with us. We had a blast, fishing, swimming, playing board games and doing whatever else came to our minds. We took the boys home to Wichita in time for Zachary’s 15th birthday on the 31st.

August was a slow month. However, I did have my yearly cancer check-up and all turned out clean.

Karen and Dave finally were able to visit us in September for a few days. While they were here a very loving cousin of ours died. I was so glad Karen was here. Regardless of our sadness, we had enjoyable times together. Also, during the year, my friend from grade school died. Another sad time. And again, a former daughter-in-law died in November. (Tears for all of them)

In October, Chuck had a cataract removed and a lens implant in his right eye. All is well. Delene and her friend Leah visited us from the Baldwin City, KS Area. What a fun time we had while they were here.

Jessica, Gery, Brayden and Addilyn came from Wichita for Thanksgiving. We had a great Thanksgiving meal cooked by yours truly with Chuck’s help. We were very busy every day and night they were here. We had a great time.

As of today in December, I am recovering from a medical procedure that was performed on Monday the12th. We will spend Christmas in Wichita at Joe’s house and will see all the Wichita sons, grandchildren and G-grandchildren. We plan to bring Zachary and Charlie home with us for a short visit during their Christmas break.

Among all the activities we have experienced this year, I am still active in the Church ministry with Bible studies, a Prayer Shawl Ministry, preaching, funerals, weddings and whatever else might come along. The Session of the church has honored me with the title of Pastor Emeritus.
Chuck keeps busy, reading, eating, sleeping, doing chores around the house and playing pool with his buddies at the senior center. And, of course, watching sports (whatever the season is) on the tube.

We hope your Christmas is meaningful to you and you can be with family and friends on this most blessed Christmas Day. So, I now sign off for the year 2011 and hope the year 2012 brings you much happiness, prosperity and peace.
Merry Christmas and a very Happy New year.
In remembrance of the Christ Child’s birth, Juanita and Chuck

I do believe that Christmas comes earlier every year. It is getting to the point where it is hard to keep up. Maybe Christmas is speeding up and we are slowing down. Do you think?

It started snowing early this morning and at this moment in the afternoon it has stopped. It is too bad the snow is not continuing. We need the moisture very badly. Maybe our turn will come again. It did snow in the mountains and other higher elevations. That is a blessing because we need the snow in those places for spring run off for our drinking water and in our lakes.

We have made several trips to Wichita this year to visit our family and friends. In February, we helped Charlie celebrate his seventh birthday on Valentine’s Day. Yes, he is our Valentine and a loving one at that! We are usually there long enough to celebrate other family member’s birthdays in February and we have a bunch. February must be a good month for births. In fact, we have bunches of birthdays in every month but March. How strange.

During our trips, we always visit my brother, Wayne, in the Nursing Home. He has MS and is about the same day after day. It is good to see him. We also, attend church with Joe, Tina and family at our home church (Covenant Presbyterian Church) and sometimes travel to where Joe is preaching. We will be in Wichita for Christmas this year and plan to attend Christmas Eve service with family. We will see our other son’s and families while there. I didn’t realize how hard it was to move away from family until we moved ourselves to New Mexico. I don’t recommend it.

I keep busy in the church, preaching and leading Bible studies, officiating at funerals and weddings and any other events that come along. I organized a Shawl Ministry (Treads of Love) five or so years ago and we knit and crochet pray shawls for those in need of the warmth of God’s love. We also supply baby blankets for the new babies at the hospital. Just recently, we have been asked to supply prayer shawls for the Raton Ambercare Hospice. We do keep busy. I am so thankful that Raton has a Presbyterian church that I can do ministry at even though I am retired. I have learned there is no such thing as full retirement in ministry. I have been given the honor of Pastor Emeritus.

Chuck keeps busy in the church. He is serving a second term on the Session and is Chair of Property and the Property Committee keeps very busy. He and his helpers renovated the old Manse we rent out and that took most of the month of October.

Our church was broken into three times in November. Chuck has been busy working with a lock smith changing the locks and we all have been working to keep the church safe from anymore break-ins. The third break-in took the cake when they stole food from the Hunger Pantry. The computers and sound board to our sound system can be replaced and so can the food. But, it was the principle of it all, stealing food from hungry people. As I always say, what about the children, the hungry children?

In May, I had the privilege of officiating at our grandson, Michael’s wedding. He and Libby were married at the Wichita Gardens. It was a beautiful evening and a fabulous celebration. We are now expecting a g-grandson the last of February – in case you are counting.

Another wonderful event occurred in November while we were in Wichita for Thanksgiving. During that time we celebrated our grandson-in-law, Gery’s, American Citizenship. We are very proud of him. He has worked so hard getting to where he is since he has been in America. Gery is Jessica’s husband. I also officiated at their wedding several years ago. They have a boy and a girl now.

In July, Zach and Charlie came for a two week visit. They visit every summer and we always have so much fun fishing, swimming, playing games, visiting friends and eating at our favorite restaurants. We took them home in time to celebrate Zach’ sixteenth birthday on July 31. My niece, Shelly and her husband, Pete Allenbach also visited us and what a great time we had together

I also drove to Lawrence, KS to meet a dear seminary friend, Rev. Karen Devaisher. She flew in from Avon, IN and performed a wedding in the University of Kansas Chapel. We had a memorable time together and hope we can meet again in the near future.

We experienced a sad time in May when my sister, Mildred, died of non-Hoskins Lymphoma. Her funeral was on 31st. She will be missed by many of us. My oldest brother, Melvin, died several years ago and life is not the same since he and Mildred are no longer with us. There are only five of us left.

Well, I could go on and on and mention many other events that have happened in 2012, but there is not paper enough to write it all down. Besides I don’t want to bore you. Enough said for this year.

Blessing to each of you as you celebrate Christ birth during this Christmas Season. May God go with you always.

Hugs and Prayers, Juanita and Chuck

I was a bit late, but here is my Christmas letter.
Blessings, Juanita