Was that a school bell I heard ringing? With September sneaking in and the autumn leaves starting to fall, it probably was. Causing my wandering mind to drift to the fall of 1947 when a couple of Grants Pass High School students became a pair to draw to: Mary Joyce Smith and Bill Landers. A line in the song, Summertime, from the opera Porgy and Bess goes..."Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good-lookin'." That was us (who says you have to be modest in a blog?) The top girl, blonde, head-turner and the student body President/football Captain styling in their senior year.
The important take away from that scenario is, after high school, and through the years that followed, Josie and I remained good friends. Along the way she hit the ball out of the park when she married Jerry Larson. He was a handsome, charismatic, funny, professional warrior who would rise to the rank of General in the United States Air Force.
A number of years ago, Josie and Jerry flew out from D.C. to meet Georgann and me, along with Larry Aschenbrenner (another classmate) and his wife in Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl where Oregon would play football against Colorado. At one of our social hours, Jerry asked me if I had ever been to the Air Force Academy and I told him I had. When the Academy dedicated Falcon Field in 1962, the University of Oregon was their opponent for the game and I was there as a member of the Oregon athletic department. I told the group that while I enjoyed the fact that Oregon won the game 35 to 20, my most awesome memory was being in the press box at half time and seeing two Air Force jets come screaming in from opposite ends of the field, about 12" above the stadium. They were trailing smoke, and then they shot straight up with one hell of a roar, leaving their smoke trails crossing (swear to God) precisely over the fifty yard line.
Josie laughed and said, "It might make your story more interesting to learn Jerry was flying one of those jets." (Sound of jaws dropping) Jerry said, with a grin, "I tried to talk my partner into doing the stunt flying upside down but he didn't like the idea." Larson was actually in command of the Air Force Demonstration Squadron Thunderbirds at that time.
At one of our class reunions, we had a bon voyage Sunday brunch in the city park. As the Landers and the Larsons were leaving, a number of Josie's and my classmates came running over and asked us to stand together for a photo op. We, of course, modestly consented and as we moved into position, Jerry leaned into my ear and said, "Try not to look too guilty."
Fun to revisit the fall of '47...Summertime "So hush little baby, don't you cry."
