365 Days to 30/365 People Who Were Along for the Ride

Day #358 - Fred H.

Can you name the three astronauts that were members of the Apollo 13 crew? Fred was one of them. He graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma, and when I worked there he was given one of the distinguished graduate awards (yeah, I think being an astronaut makes you pretty distinguished).

I remember being so nervous to meet this guy. He’d had a movie made out of something he did in his life, for pete’s sake! But he couldn’t have been nicer or more humble.

Day #349 - Tonya Harding

I met Nancy, I had to meet Tonya too, right?!? I actually met Tonya, backstage at a show, after the whole Nancy Kerrigan drama. And I have to admit…She came across as a lot nicer than Nancy. N.K. made some comments in my ear shot that made me think she was a snob. Tonya was nothing but gracious and actually pleasant. Now, that was probably just those five minutes I was around her…But nonetheless, she was!

Day #344 - Debbie S.

Well, who knows where life will take me? But Debbie S., the daughter of one of my mom’s oldest friends, will always be the first wedding I photographed.

Day #343 - Diane

Diane is the wife to Bob, and together they own a good percentage of Bethany Beach retail space, including the five and dime that is a central part of the town. Bob and Diane were (and I assume still are) quite a team. You didn’t mess with Diane – she was a tough boss and kept people on their toes, but she was very loyal to her employees that decided to stick around. I will see her in town from time to time – she has long since forgotten me, but I haven’t forgotten her!

Day #137 - Camp Counselor

**In catching up on this blog, I realized that I skipped Day #137, so I’m inserting it here!**

When I was little, I went to a camp called Camp Arrowhead for several summers. I never really liked sleepaway camp – I was always desperately homesick (I wonder if my mom has any of the letters I wrote home begging her to come pick me up?)

When I was nine, I think, I was at Camp Arrowhead for a few weeks. One night my cabin went out into the woods to cookout. I don’t remember how it happened, or why, or if it was my fault or the counselors, but somehow, the camp counselor dropped a pot of boiling water right on my foot.

It hurt a lot. That I remember. I got a piggy-back ride all the way back to camp, that I remember too. I remember spending the night in the infirmary and coming back to my cabin the next day on crutches.

And I remember how furious my mom was that the camp never called her.

But I hope the camp counselor has forgiven herself. I know it’s something that would haunt me, but really, I was never going to be a foot model anyway (toes are entirely too long), so the scar gives me a little bit of character. Really.

Day #316 - George W.

George was the President and CEO at the Naval Academy when I worked there. I won’t lie – sometimes he was hard to work with and even harder to please. He kept me on my toes though. I sometimes joked that I was going to get a bracelet inscribed with “WWGWD?” What would George W. do? One of my favorite job responsibilities was producing the Go Navy Radio broadcasts, which George was the host of.  He was always very complimentary of my work for this (which was rare for him to be so complimentary to anyone) and at our last broadcast did a little sign off to his “producer.”

Day #299 - Sandra K.

Sandra was a girl who lived in our neighborhood growing up and was a year or two older than me. I wouldn't say we were friends - it was that awkward age difference thing. Somewhere out there there's a photo of Sandra as a Girl Scout pinning a Brownie pin on my sash. Ahh, those were the days. :)

I also remember that Sandra would drive me to school in her parents ANCIENT station wagon. You know the one. It was huge. And beige. And could fit like 900 people in it. Remember the ones with the bench in the back that faced backward? Yup, that one. And I remember that she would listen to the radio station that was considered the "old people" station. Funny what I've remembered about her!

Day #271 - Captain Slade Cutter

Captain Cutter was a World War II war hero. I met him toward the end of his life, when he was given the Naval Academy’s Distinguished Graduate Award.

He was not very involved in the planning of the ceremony as he was in pretty bad health, and did not give his own acceptance speech. But in my humble opinion, the most touching moment of the ceremony was when the person giving his acceptance speech finished, he went over to Captain Cutter and the Captain looked up and said, loud and clear, “Go Navy, Beat Army!”

Day #268 - Pat E.

I was a good kid. But I had my moments as a teenager. Some (ok, many) of my summer nights between my sophomore and junior year in high school were spent at the stadium of the Blue Rocks, the minor league baseball team in Wilmington, Delaware. I had a friend, Lauren, who worked at the stadium and often hooked us up with fun door prizes, and other, ahem, opportunities.

One of those opportunities was meeting Pat Evans, a minor league player from I don’t know where. I have no recollection of how we actually met but I was smitten. Looking back I just laugh at myself. He was gorgeous – I remember he had great blue eyes. But he knew I was young, too young for him. I made up some story about being a freshman at Villanova, a story I’m sure he’d heard a million times before. Ahh, at least he humored me!

Day #248 - Skid H.

Skid was my boss at the Naval Academy. When I applied for the job (moving to Maryland from Oklahoma), they received 175 resumes for the position. And they told me that. Talk about intimidating. But I knew my stuff. I had been doing what they were looking for for three years at the University of Oklahoma, had a tie to the Naval Academy with Ken graduating from there, and was ready to go.

Skid’s favorite saying was “hair on fire,” which he shortened to “HOF” in e-mails and other correspondence. It was funny because he was writing that a lot especially around the time when I joined the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame, and I always giggled a little when he said HOF.

We didn’t agree all the time but I did feel like Skid would listen to me. My last act upon leaving the Naval Academy was to make sure that he was listening to me about one particular thing. And I have always felt good since then for standing up for myself and those who work hard, whether it made a difference to him or not.