[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Laurie Ette

I would be so wonderfully proud to have Jimmy Doolittle as part of my family. Truly, a great American hero and a leader of great American heroes. (And to think Spencer Tracy played your great-uncle in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.)

A few years ago, I attended a Doolittle Raiders' Reunion. On display, there were those 80 silver goblets, one for each of the Raiders. Each goblet engraved twice with the Raider's name. One engraving right-side up and the other upside-down. When a Raider had died, his goblet was turned upside down.

I cannot remember how many of the Raiders were there. It was a few years ago.

But as you probably know, last year the remaining Raiders decided it was time to open that 1896 bottle of Hennessy cognac and drink the final toast. There were only 3 of the then remaining 4 Raiders in attendance.

That was a private reunion with only family members invited. (Maybe you were there.)

For any readers here who might be interested, I am including a link to an Air Force website. They have made a video of the final reunion and the final toast available on the site. In the middle of the page, you will see where to click to watch it. Just past 30 minutes into that video, the Doolittle Raiders' historian speaks. He tells a good story about a much earlier reunion.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/doolittle.asp

I was not there, but I read about it and saw something on the news. Thanks very much for the link. My brother was named after him. When I was young in the '50s, he was a bit of a recluse in our family--and no wonder. He deserved his time alone.

[robertj1954]

I have a "Blowup" hole in every round of golf I play!

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by robertj1954

I have a "Blowup" hole in every round of golf I play!

I would probably have only blowup holes if I tried.

[TexaninVA]

Originally Posted by John_W

I was fired from my job by President Reagan.

Does that mean you were an Air Traffic Controller who went on strike?

[Matzy]

Today I would be 171 years old when I would believe the (accidentally) printed date on my first drivers license in 1961. The administration discovered the mistake and I had to give it back in exchange to a new one 2 weeks later.

[Halibut]

I have six toes on my right foot.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by Halibut

I have six toes on my right foot.

You are in good company.

11 Famous People With 11 Fingers or Toes - 11 Points

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

I drew about 20 patients at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hospital in Reno, Nevada. These were working off photos by a talented photographer. I had been volunteering there for a year of Saturdays to see if I wanted to go into medicine. This was around 1977-1978.

When I left they had to hire a University of Nevada, Reno art student to come and draw the patients because new patients would want their pictures on the wall too.

This was on the intensive care unit so some of the patients I drew during that period died during that 1977-1978 period.

The oldest was from the Spanish-American War and must have been nearing 100. The youngest was a Vietnam War veteran who had played walrus with a pool stick and gotten bumped so that the stick went up his nose into his brain.

I still draw portraits once in a while but am very rusty.

I had had an art show while at Earl Wooster High School in Reno, Nevada in 1976 but the art teacher forced me to put up my drawing of a cactus with cactus spelled out under it. I had misspelled cactus with "cacutus" insisting that the "u" was silent. Nobody said much of anything except that my English teacher Mrs. Barbara Mitchell wanted a drawing of a model I had done--working off a magazine picture-- which she said looked like her recently deceased daughter Michelle Mitchell.

This drawing looked just like a married woman I worked with at Information Access Company (IAC) from 1984-1986. This company was in Belmont, CA about 20 miles south of San Francisco and about 7 miles north of Palo Alto.

I entered law school at the University of Minnesota in 1986 and there was a woman Mary Jane W., in the "C" group of about 50 law students who looked hauntingly like the drawing and like the woman I had worked with at Information Access Company. MJW also seemed smart, funny and kind. The U of MN woman though was much thinner and more elf like than the IAC marketing pro.

I became a little obsessed with this U of MN Law Student MJW but she always treated me nicely and with respect. I made a few passes - some very ungainly and immature-- but we went our separate ways in 1989.

In 1992, in San Francisco at the American Association of Law Libraries convention that summer I went looking for employment in a law library.

The woman from IAC --the married woman-- was pitching their product the Legal Resource Index to law librarians. As I said, she had been in the marketing department at IAC.

One of the law librarians, Suzanne T., from the University of Minnesota Law School approached this IAC woman and asked her what she was doing in San Francisco at a law library convention. She had mistaken these two blonde women-- the IAC marketing lady and the U of MN Law Grad. Michelle Mitchell had been a redhead but the drawing I did was all in pencil so it made her look like she could have been a blonde. Pretty much the whole U of MN Law School body, including Suzanne T., had known I had had a crush on this elfish blonde law student MJW.

I never mentioned the drawing though nor any resemblances until maybe 2002.

We three U of MN law school grads were all Class of 1989 but the Law Librarian Suzanne T., still employed at the U of MN Law Library had mistaken identities and the IAC woman then explained that I had had a crush on yet another blonde Sandy--single though when I was there- at IAC.

It is strange what affects a drawing done in youth can have.

I tried a few times to get the lady lawyer Mary Jane W., who graduated from the U of MN Law School to help with my access to practical information for survivors of crimes project 224 613, but she just would send it back "return to sender" or threaten me with stalking cease and desist orders for no reason so I just gave up. I thought threatening stalking charges was really extreme especially when all I did was write a few letters with copies of letters I had received from various authorities. There was not much of a personal nature in any of them. The picture I did in high school that looked like three women-- Michelle Mitchell, the IAC marketing woman, and Mary Jane W (Class of 1989, U of MN Law School) still haunted me back then and still haunts me now.

I have not seen this picture though since visiting the Mitchell home around May of 1976 to give them it and offer them my condolences for their murdered daughter (killed on 2-24 in 1976) and thank them for a small scholarship they gave me and another Earl Wooster High School student., John P. This Scholarhsip was a Memorial Scholarship in Michelle Mitchell's name. Michelle Mitchell had been murdered on the night of my birthday of 2-24 in 1976 near the University of Nevada, Reno campus. The case was re-opened a few months ago in 2014 as it looks like her murder is related to a series of slayings in the San Francisco Bay area in January-April of 1976 called the Gypsy Hill murders. Gypsy Hill Murders - Overview

Jennifer V., my live-in girlfriend from 1989-1990 while I was a law librarian at the University of Minnesota flew to Rohnert Park, CA to meet the parents during the Spring break of 1990. She was a law student who was from the U of MN Law School Class of 1990 and had been one of my students at the Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners legal clinic.

She knew Mary Jane W., (U of MN Class of 1989) as they were both in Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners and Jennifer had even asked Mary Jane W, if she had any interest in me before Jennifer V., asked me to move in with her as she needed a roommate. I thought that was a very strange way to ask for a date but after very little inner debate I said yes. Our romance went pretty well until...

... we were driving near the San Jose, CA area in the Spring of 1990 and got out to look at some kind of fruit stand. There was a very attractive blonde off in the distance walking around and she reminded me of the drawing that I did of the model back around 1975. This was the drawing that Barbara Mitchell thought looked like Michelle Mitchell. Anyway, I stared a little too long at this blonde which seemed to upset Jennifer V., quite a bit. She thought I was thinking about Mary Jane W., as I had never told her the story about the 1975 drawing. She did know about my obsession with a niche in practical information for victims/survivors of crimes but I had not done any research yet about how this problem might be solved. This came from my quest for practical information for survivors of crimes I started on February 28, 1976 at the Washoe County Public Library in Reno, Nevada.

Of course, there must have been other problems in the relationship to cause an overlong look at another woman to bring emotional friction.

I really started to work on addressing the niche in practical information after buying the 1991 Directory of Victim Assistance Programs and Resources from the National Organization for Victim Assistance. This had about 8000 listings of such service providers. I started writing these via snail mail in 1992 asked them what they would like to see in libraries to help survivors/victims of crimes as well as outlining some of the problems I had had being honest about difficulties I had uncovered backing this up with letters from various authorities.

One of these was the Law Librarian of Congress, M. Kathleen Price., who had written me (after I had written the Librarian of Congress James Hadley Billington http://www.loc.gov/about/about-the-librarian/). She had written me probably around August of 1992 that such information is important to make accessible to survivors/victims of crimes BUT that it would take the collective effort of all libraries to do this. I had worked under M. Kathleen Price when she was Director at the University of Minnesota Law School Library. After the Law Library of Congress, she then moved onto NYU Law Library and then the U of Florida, Gainesville Law Library. http://www.aallnet.org/main-menu/Mem...s/MKPrice.html

My Dad would often joke that I had bitten off way more than I could chew spending so much of my time, money, and energy trying to get libraries all over the world to address this need while I waved this Law Librarian of Congress M. Kathleen Price letter around. I kind of believe that this dish though should be the interest of anyone who might become a survivor/victim of crime or have loved ones that might.

I still feel that so much more could be done by librarians to improve access to information for survivors/victims of crimes. In Florida, a good step I pushed in 2000 was a link to the Florida Victim Services Directory http://myfloridalegal.com/directory from all kinds of libraries. This still seems like a good sign to show that libraries are very cognizant of the needs of survivors/victims of crimes. Lip service is good but actually doing something very concrete is what is still needed.

[LI SNOWBIRD]

Unfortunately, this random fact is not about me personally. It's about a relative Cornelius Melyn who is is my great grandfather nine generations back who came to New Amsterdam. He was the third patroon of Staten Island and owned 90% of it and was quite an adventurer

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Halibut

I have six toes on my right foot.

Are you a Hemingway cat, Halibut? I thought you were a fish! PS: I miss your fish avatar! It always made me smile.

[JC and John]

I attended a Beach Boys (the real) concert, in the courtyard, at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC. Watched them set-up, sound checks and all. Great concert. Truly cool! Passersby didn't know what to think. JC

[TheVillageChicken]

Originally Posted by JC and John

I attended a Beach Boys (the real) concert, in the courtyard, at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC. Watched them set-up, sound checks and all. Great concert. Truly cool! Passersby didn't know what to think. JC

My wife turned down an invitation from the White House for us to attend the indoor Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. I concurred.

[perrjojo]

My husbands 11th Great grandfather was Governor William Bradford. His 5th great grandfather was Zadock Woods, one of the original settlers of Texas. He fought for Texas Independence from Mexico and died in battle. One of my ancestress rode with Quantral's raiders and Jessie James. Guess he has the more impressive pedigree. :-)

[Tweety Bird]

10's and 20's.
My birthdate: 6/20
My mothers birthdate: 7/20
Husbands birthdate: 2/10
Step daughter bday: 10/20
Step sons bday: 11/10
Cousins bday: 6/10
Mom and dad's anniversary: 8 /20

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Tweety Bird

10's and 20's.
My birthdate: 6/20
My mothers birthdate: 7/20
Husbands birthdate: 2/10
Step daughter bday: 10/20
Step sons bday: 11/10
Cousins bday: 6/10
Mom and dad's anniversary: 8 /20

You should play the lottery!