Saturday, September 24, 2005
Weekend of Champions
Stamford, Texas: September 24, 2005
A fifty year anniversary celebration took place today to honor the Texas State Champions for AA Football for the years 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1959. Delton was a member of the 1958 and 1959 teams. A social hour and banquet was held at the Stagecoach Inn in Stamford. Coaches Bill Anderson and Larry Wartes were featured speakers as well as members of each state championship team (Jackie Mills, Mike McClellan, Jimmy Payne and Bobby Gamblin). Legendary Texas Coach Gordon Wood was represented by his son Jim. Gordon was coach of the 1955 and 1956 teams. Delton played for Gordon during his sophomore year and Coach Wartes was head coach of his 1958 and 1959 teams. A special video was shown highlighting each team’s accomplishments.
The Stamford vs. Jacksboro Homecoming football game was played that afternoon. Each championship team and player was recognized at the game. The combined win/lose record for the championship teams was 58-1-1. Delton was an End and one of his receptions played a key role in the Championship game against Brady. This highlight play appears in the book King Texas Football. Out of the people that Delton associated with in this group, players and coaches, there are six people recognized in the Texas High School Coaches Hall of Honor, one U.S. Congressmen and a Federal Judge. Many others went on to very successful careers in business and agriculture. Their experiences during this time on the gridiron contributed greatly to their success.
Delton’s dad, Doc, was very proud of all his sons and especially loved watching them play football. He passed away last year and we all know he would have greatly enjoyed coming to this celebration event. Delton’s mom, Josie, participated in the event along with wife Joni and brother Ron.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
On Our Way Back to Texas - The Rocky Mountains
September 11-15, 2005
We spent 2 nights in Seattle after returning from our wonderful cruise to Alaska. We caught up on our laundry, business and other daily tasks. Then we started our long drive back to Texas.
We had about 2 ½ weeks to get back to Stamford where Delton was looking forward to his September 24th high school reunion for the championship football teams 50th anniversary.
We drove for 5 straight days, driving about 250-300 miles each day. We when got to Loveland, Colorado, we decided to stay for a while. We were at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and knew this was a place to enjoy.
We stayed at the Riverside RV Park for 5 days and took day trips into the Rocky Mountains to do some hiking and biking.
We drove up above the tree line on the Trail Ridge Road on one adventure, which took us into some very cold snowy weather. I couldn’t believe it was September and it was snowing – hard. The road was narrow with big drop offs and no guard rails. We drove very slowly and the view was spectacular, but Joni couldn’t see much since she was driving and wouldn’t take her eyes off the road….. She only looked when we stopped!
Eli and Lisa Bernard, our education pastor and friend from First Baptist Church Trophy Club had just moved to Loveland, so we decided to stop on their doorstop and surprise them. We had a great visit and they invited us for diner the following night. It was fun catching up on the latest news from the last few years.
After leaving Loveland, we had a few extra days before the reunion, so we decided to visit our friends, Walt and Gayle Fenoglio in Glorieta, New Mexico. We spent one day picking raspberries with them, did some hiking in Glorieta and played cards with Gayle and Walt and some of the volunteers in Glorieta.
Delton’s friend and co-worker from IBM, Gary Miller, lives in Albuquerque, which is close to Glorieta, so we decided to see Gary and his wife Ellie. They live in an adobe house with a beautiful view of the mountains in their back yard. Delton enjoyed catching up on old times with Gary.
After spending 5 days in Glorieta we were ready to head back to Stamford for the reunion. We stopped off in Lubbock to visit Larry and Linda. While there we got our refrigerator fixed, the Jeep inspected and Delton got his address changed on his driver’s license.
We spent 2 nights in Seattle after returning from our wonderful cruise to Alaska. We caught up on our laundry, business and other daily tasks. Then we started our long drive back to Texas.
We had about 2 ½ weeks to get back to Stamford where Delton was looking forward to his September 24th high school reunion for the championship football teams 50th anniversary.
We drove for 5 straight days, driving about 250-300 miles each day. We when got to Loveland, Colorado, we decided to stay for a while. We were at the foot of the Rocky Mountains and knew this was a place to enjoy.
We stayed at the Riverside RV Park for 5 days and took day trips into the Rocky Mountains to do some hiking and biking.
We drove up above the tree line on the Trail Ridge Road on one adventure, which took us into some very cold snowy weather. I couldn’t believe it was September and it was snowing – hard. The road was narrow with big drop offs and no guard rails. We drove very slowly and the view was spectacular, but Joni couldn’t see much since she was driving and wouldn’t take her eyes off the road….. She only looked when we stopped!
Eli and Lisa Bernard, our education pastor and friend from First Baptist Church Trophy Club had just moved to Loveland, so we decided to stop on their doorstop and surprise them. We had a great visit and they invited us for diner the following night. It was fun catching up on the latest news from the last few years.
After leaving Loveland, we had a few extra days before the reunion, so we decided to visit our friends, Walt and Gayle Fenoglio in Glorieta, New Mexico. We spent one day picking raspberries with them, did some hiking in Glorieta and played cards with Gayle and Walt and some of the volunteers in Glorieta.
Delton’s friend and co-worker from IBM, Gary Miller, lives in Albuquerque, which is close to Glorieta, so we decided to see Gary and his wife Ellie. They live in an adobe house with a beautiful view of the mountains in their back yard. Delton enjoyed catching up on old times with Gary.
After spending 5 days in Glorieta we were ready to head back to Stamford for the reunion. We stopped off in Lubbock to visit Larry and Linda. While there we got our refrigerator fixed, the Jeep inspected and Delton got his address changed on his driver’s license.
Monday, September 05, 2005
Cruise to Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska: September 5, 2005
After months of anticipation we were finally on our way. We drove our car to the Sea-Tac Airport and boarded the Princess Cruise Line bus which dropped us off at our ship in Vancouver, BC. Delton was excited because Alaska was the only state of the 50 that he had not set foot in. He had waited for many years to make this happen.
We had several other family members coming along to make this very special. Delton’s mom Josie; brothers Ron, Larry and Max; sister-in-laws Linda and Rita; uncles and aunts Robert and Ruth Isaacs, Dorothy Bailey, and Tommy and Betty Keenum joined us in Vancouver. The aunts are all Josie’s sisters which made it special for her. Joni loves the water so cruises are always fun for her, although she would have liked the weather to be a lot warmer.
The ship left the port on Monday afternoon, August 29th, from Vancouver with stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, College Fjord and Whittier. From Whittier we rode a bus to our final destination of Anchorage. This is a one way cruise so we took Alaska Airlines back to Seattle. As always the most enjoyable parts of the cruise are the eating and entertainment; aside from the excursions. We had a lot of each and despite a lot of walking on the excursions managed to gain a few pounds.
When in port the some of the ladies wanted to shop, so the guys reluctantly tagged along. There were not very many hardware stores for the guys, mainly jewelry, t-shirts and the typical tourist traps. Other than dinners together and a few shows everyone seemed to have their own glitch for doing things. The sisters like to shop and they drug Robert and Tommy with them. Larry and Max with their wives had their thing going. Ron was gracious to hang out with us in whatever we did. We like to hike!
Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway are all located in the Inside Passage of Alaska. Ketchikan got its start during the 1897 Gold Rush Era but for the past several years its mainstay industry is tourism. The brothers and sister-in-laws wanted to see the salmon run so we headed up to Creek Street. The tide was going out so all of the salmon were hiding behind rocks to wait for calmer streams. We saw hundreds of large salmons. All the girls but Joni quickly tied of this, so shopping began. Since Creek street use to be the old “Red Light” district for the miners we had to take that in. At the Dolly House Museum we had a little lady entertain us as we strolled by. Then the gals, except for Joni, drug us off for more shopping. Joni preferred hiking and looking at the sites.
Juneau was also founded because of gold. The gold mining industry was halted in 1944, but continues to play an important part in their economy, as does fishing and tourism. Joni, Ron and I decided to take the Mount Roberts Tramway which was just a block from our ship. We were able to see bald eagles both going up the tram and coming down. On top we had a great view of the city and bay area. It was a beautiful site. There were also trails going further up the mountain which we explored. We stopped at Father Brown’s cross which is at 2,050 feet with a great view and then went on up the mountain for another couple of miles and over 3,000 feet elevation. We enjoyed the hike and exercise. After coming down we explored the city.
Skagway got its start because of gold, but in a little different way. The gold was discovered in the Yukon Territory and Skagway was the passage to get there. Two routes were taken to get to the Yukon. One was straight up and over the mountains and the other was up the valley. Both were very hazardous. After a few years a narrow gauge rail line was built up the valley. We took the White Pass Scenic Rail ride to the top of the White Pass and learned a lot about the history of this area. At the top you could still see the trail that the miners used. There was a movie made about the other trail, but I cannot remember the name of it. My mom, brothers and sister-in-laws all made this trip with us. It was great sharing this experience together.
After Skagway we headed to open waters in the Alaskan Gulf. We had two stops along the way, first at Glacier Bay and then College Fjord. Both bays offered great views of active water front glaciers. We were able to hear the thunder created by the splitting ice and see calving take place. Calving is where ice breaks off the glacier and forms an ice berg. We had a great sunny day at Glacier Bay. On the way out of the bay we were able to see our first bears and also some whales. They were quite a ways off so it dampened the excitement. The next day at College Fjord was overcast and cold. However, the glaciers were something to see.
Our last port was Whittier. We moved our luggage off the ship and checked our bags into Alaska Airlines. From Whittier we took a bus ride to Anchorage. It was a beautiful ride up the bay with more whale sightings. One of the buses in our group had a run-in with an RV. The bus lost one of its mirrors and had a few excited passengers. They are still looking for the RV. He was in a hurry to get wherever he was going. In Anchorage, we mostly did the tourist stuff and some shopping. At the end of the day, we took a bus ride to the airport and caught our flight to Seattle. This ended a great trip and loads of fun.
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