OLD FRIENDS

    " Old friends, after all these years just old friends. Through laughter and tears, old friends. What a find, what a priceless treasure, old friends."
     The lyrics to a great song and thanks to Bill and Gloria Gaither for that.
     The Kornerman always appreciates the opportunity to renew old friendships and we've had that in recent days.
     So nice to see and visit with Mrs. Bill (Clarice) Sapp who is recovering nicely from a fall some time back. Lovely as ever.......a wonderful lady now living in the Metro area.
     Then, Thursday, Steve Shaler, BHS-59, comes knocking at my door. You'll recall in the last edition the Kornerman had mentioned that at Drake Relays time we almost always have some contact with the group that has an annual reunion in connection with the relays.
     In recent times, that meeting has included  Steve, classmate Tim Croxen and Barry Wills, BHS-59. In answer to my Korner question, Steve said the group has been getting together for the relays since their high school days, although Steve said he's missed a time or two while in the service.
    "Actually, it was Larry McAnally, BHS-59, who kind of got this reunion started. Larry passed away in 1993 but we've just continued our get-together," Steve explained.
     Also Thursday, the Kornerman got a call from Tom Peterson, BHS-67, who wanted to meet at McDonald's. Susan Anderson Mersereau, a Pete classmate also joined in. That pair were in town, Tom from Cedar Falls and Susan from Urbandale, to solidify some plans for the 50th class reunion which will be held here September 15-16.
     Then too, this week, I had a nice visit with John Nelson, the old (no, let's make that former) American Legion rightfielder. He claimed to have a good winter in Texas but we all know, "there's no place like home." He said he's a regular Korner reader.
     The Kornerman, as always, really enjoyed the visits with old friends and the many memories that were shared.
K-----K
     Your job won't take care of you when you're sick but your friends will. DO STAY IN TOUCH.
K-----K
     Nick Collison, who has many Boone connections, including the fact that his parents, Dave and Judy Peterson Collison, were BHS-72 graduates, may be at the end of a very successful National Basketball Association career.
     Nick just finished his 13th season.........all with the same franchise, which is highly unusual. He started with Seattle and that franchise later moved to Oklahoma City.
     Nick's latest contract with the Thunder has expired and is not expected to be resumed.
     He's 36 years old now but was quoted on the Thunder website saying, "I plan to play for sure. I wasn't sure going into this season how I would feel at the end of the year, but I still enjoy playing, and I enjoy being around a group. I enjoy being on a team, and I still think I have something to offer. Since I started YMCA basketball in 1988, this will be the second season I'm not 100 percent sure what's going to happen next. I was going to play for the Iowa Falls Cadets and then play for the Jayhawks (Kansas) and then the one year I didn't know was the NBA draft, and then I've had several contract extensions. It's a little different."
     Though he won't be back with the Thunder, he will be a free agent this summer for the first time in his career and some other NBA team may make him an offer.
K-----K
     What's the first thing people subconsciously notice about you? Your shoes. Wear nice shoes.
K-----K
     The Kornerman had mentioned two different ways of contacting Jerry Manriquez and his wonderful website. In answer to that, Vern Modeland, BHS-50, wrote, "strangely, I just now did it "my way" and got where I wanted to go so........try either way and I'm sure you'll get a correct path, one way or the other. It means the computer is smarter than we are."
     Vern signed out, "from the lush woods of Arkansas' Ozarks doing not much of anything."
K-----K
     Ronald Reagan said it, "I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress."
K-----K
     BOONE CONNECTED DEATHS: Nothing new to report.
K-----K
     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 710 Aldrich, Boone, Iowa 50036-4703. Phone number is 515-432-1530. To email your stories/memories/comments/SUPPORT......
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.