Blog 97 Good News and Some Reflections

Good news!
This is a post with no new obituary. However, David Segura has done some research on our lost list, as has Kathy Lentz.
I just have not followed up but will when I get around to it. David, you may recall, is a Jeff Class of ’67 grad and is writing a history of the first fifty years of Jeff history.

Fiesta Past and Present~
I was reminiscing today with Edward Davis about Fiesta in years gone by. In my recollection from our Jeff days, Fiesta kicked off with a wreath-laying at the Alamo. That was on a Monday of the week in which April 21^st occurs. That night was the river parade with the introduction of King Antonio. The coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo took place on Thursday night and the Battle of Flowers was on Friday afternoon, hot and sticky more times than not. Today the celebration lasts twelve or so days with hundreds of events scheduled. Now the Queen is crowned on Wednesday night to have a day to recover from the hangover of the after-party. And there are five or six queens for just about everything as well as two or three kings. And breaking with tradition, the Battle of Flowers parade now starts at 9AM to avoid some of the heat.

Are things so bad?
Several times recently, I have commented that given the state of the world today, I am happy that I will not be around in twenty years to see it. I suspect our previous generations have been saying that for at least the past hundred and fifty years. I read something yesterday that causes me to think that things are not really so bad. As one example, in 1990, more than a third of the world lived in extreme poverty, whereas today, about a tenth do. Diseases have been wiped out or greatly curtailed, although parents who were protected from childhood diseases through vaccinations now know better that science, exempting their children from shots, and some diseases are returning. At any rate, I have resolved to be more positive in outlook.

More photos.
The photos posted in the last blog shifted around from the layout that I sent, but you astute people probably figured out who was who. Here are some more.

Texas Myers & Jane Cobb
Betty Russell & Patsy Patterson