NEWS FROM NEAR & FAR

Anita Hart Fuller

I will be able to tell the rest of the story about the Yarnell man having a heart attack after I see Mother in Searcy tomorrow. His wife's name was Sara and she was a good friend of Mother's and Virginia Bradberry, wife of County Judge Floyd Bradberry. They had a daughter, Carmen Yarnell, that's all the names I can remember. Tell Ernie not to hold his breath, since he posed this question in April 2004 - but I'll have the scoop in a day or two.

Good job AND I am glad I was proven wrong (about only Don or Harold Gene contributing to Halloween thoughts), and glad no one called my offer of a sizable bet! I'm sure Don Thompson will get cranked up in a few days, and surely Paula can contribute some of her memories of Halloween past. I'll get Bill(y) Fuller to send something.

Where would the annual Halloween carnival have been held? All I can remember is going into a dark room and feeling eyeballs rolling around in a saucer (peeled grapes, of course). Now that was virtual reality, although we didn't understand the term back then.

Bob and I had a conversation about the Halloween carnivals: he thinks they were either at the Armory (now buried under the Walgreen's Drugstore, never to rise again) or maybe the Legion Hut, or at a sort of "warehouse" thing at the Fairgrounds, or by the football field.

I've emailed Bill Fuller to help us out, so maybe he'll come thru.

Thank you, Ann Shannon.....

Tom, one of these days we need to get together, for I have some real good photos that would be great to be on SearcyYesteryear.

Tom Pry

The next meeting of the White County Historical Society will be next Monday, 10/24, 7 pm at Harding Place. Be there. Give me the photos, and I’ll give you your Christmas present I’ve been lugging around since last November.

Ann Shannon Snodgrass

Jim Bost's dad and my dad were close friends, but I, too, lost track of Jim after high school. Eventually, his mother moved across the street from my mother and through them, I heard bits and pieces of his life -- that he became an M.D. and then was in the Air Force -- but I never saw him.

Then, early in 1996 when my husband and I were teaching in southern Germany, I read an article in the "Stars and Stripes" that identified some changes in Col. James W. Bost's medical command. Bost is not a common last name; the middle initial was correct; and my curiosity took over.

I called the military office and identified myself as Dr. Snodgrass who wanted to speak with Dr. Bost. Luckily, the secretary assumed I was an M.D., made the phone connection for me, and in moments, I heard Jim's voice.

We made a date for lunch and met in the foyer of the Ramstein Officers' Club. We shared a monster hug -- tears and laughter -- observers probably thought we were family. While all of us were stationed in southern Germany, my husband, Jim, and I enjoyed several get-togethers with Jim and his wonderful wife, Emily.

When you read in the newspaper about troops being evacuated to Landsthul Regional Medical Center near Kaiserslautern, Germany, then before he retired you would be reading about Jim's responsibility for MedEvac in Europe and Asia. Good man!

These are the kind of stories I absolutely love. Loose ends wrapped up, complete with happy endings. Thank you SO much, Ann! And, now, what’s YOUR story? -tlp-