Great Grandmother Moffat called me tonight to tell me that my Cousin's Daughter's husband died yesterday in Tulsa. Deanna Boyd's Husband Richard died after noon yesterday. They have one son and Deanna if I remember correctly had just bought her own business, or started one. Her Mom and Dad live in Norman, Clinton and Joanna Wilson, my Uncle John's oldest daughter and husband.
Salt of the earth... great family, and it does in fact rain on the just and unjust!!
Our prayers are with them in their time of loss...
I am speechless... my heart breaks for them.... all.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Disabled vets chapter needing to raise money to replace transport van totaled in Jan. 4 accident
Disabled vets chapter needing to raise money to replace transport van totaled in Jan. 4 accident
by Cass Rains
Staff Writer
Enid’s Disabled American Veterans chapter will have to foot the bill to replace its van used to transport veterans to Oklahoma City for medical treatment after it was totaled in an accident Jan. 4.
The accident has put the group into a fundraising bind, needing to raise $13,500 by the end of April.“We need some help,” said Mike McCauley, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 66 treasurer. “The only way to replace the vehicle is to buy a new one.”
The early morning accident sent five people to area hospitals, including the group’s hospital transportation coordinator Gary Frank.Since June, Frank said, the van had traveled more than 39,000 miles to take 1,276 veterans to the Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Oklahoma City.
DAV officials received the van in June after Enid and area residents and organizations donated money to replace the group’s previous van, which was several years old and had more than 150,000 miles on it.
Major donations came from Northwest Oklahoma Osteopathic Foundation, which gave $3,000, and a woman who wished to remain anonymous who donated $5,000.
Frank said the cost of an average trip to Oklahoma City from the group’s coverage area, which stretches from Okarche to the Kansas state line and from Interstate 35 to Guymon, is about $35.
“It’s a pretty good savings for the veterans,” he said.He said the group transports any veteran who needs medical care. The service is critical for veterans who are on fixed incomes or unable to drive themselves, he said.“There’s a lot of people who wouldn’t get any medical care if we couldn’t help them,” he said.
Veterans Affairs paid for fuel costs and maintenance for the 2007 Ford E 350 van. McCauley said insurance would not cover the cost to replace the van. Chapter 66 has about 400 total members, 200 of whom are considered active.
Frank said the earliest the chapter could purchase and receive another van through Veterans Affairs is June. He said the group was fortunate to have received support from the community in the past.“We put the van they bought us to good use,” he said. “It was just an unfortunate accident.”
According to an Enid Police Department report, Paul Rice, 75, was driving the van south on South 10th about 5:24 a.m. Jan. 4 when he got too close to the shoulder on the west side of the road, hit two bridge barriers and rolled the van onto the driver’s side.
Four of the five passengers in the wreck were treated and released at area hospitals. Bessie Bamburg, 59, remains in intensive care at Integris Bass Baptist Health Center, Frank said.
McCauley and Frank said the group will meet to discuss fundraising options.
Anyone who wishes to donate or help with the purchase of a new van can contact DAV Chapter 66 at 580-242-3808.
The address is
DAV Chapter, 66601 N. 26th Street, Enid, OK 73701
They will appreciate all the donations they receive.
The money is to help replace the van used to take disabled veterans to the VA hospital in OKC.
Jake's new office....
NO NO NO.. the fire .. smoke that I took photos of is not a fire that Jake started.... NO NO NO>>>> hehe...
Anyway.. as I went to walk this am.. there was no breeze... etc.. and as I was coming back to our home.. I saw the smoke on the horizon... and believe it or not, we have had 30 mile an hour gusts this am.. and the wind is steadly increasing... but good news.. I walked to the front yard to finish up and there was almost no smoke left.. in the 30 mins it burned, whatever it was... as with most fires.. they look closer than they are. I bet this was about two miles northeast of our home or more.. but when I first saw it, the smoke was a diesel black, to burnt charcoal gray!! and it looked very close...
Guess our days are getting longer, but we also have ole man winter coming again... i think.. sigh.. but you know, we will only be a month into winter in a week... and the coldest yuckest weather is about 6 weeks in .... sigh.. sigh...
anyway.. have a great day!
The Apple of our eye.... turns.. ophs...
How about an apple for our "Favorite Teacher"?
Here ya go Mrs. Moffat, we just wanted to drop by and say......
Mrs. Tammy Moffat has a Birthday Tuesday.... and we wanted to take a second to say ..... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her... and wish her many more...
We are proud of you...
We love ya...
Happy Birthday!
Dad and Mom Moffat
The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain
The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain
As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.
This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.
One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.
Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.
As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.
Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.
Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
I know the Pledge may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.
One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.
That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could. The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better.
He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.
So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.
You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.
This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.
One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.
Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.
As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.
Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.
Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
I know the Pledge may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.
One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.
That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could. The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room. As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better.
He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.
So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.
You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
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