Jack’s Winning Words 9/6/22

“Don’t let yourself forget what it was like to be sixteen.”  (Unknown)  Do you remember when you were 16?  For me, it was the middle of WW 2.  The Holocaust was real!  Glenn Miller was the favorite band and the popular songs were Mairzy Doats (I still sing it), Good Night, Irene and Pistol Packi’ Mama.  FDR was President.  Rosie the Riveter was introduced to us…and so was food-rationing.  There were race-riots in Detroit.  Some great musicians were born: Jim Croce, Janis Joplin,, Barry Manilow and Mick Jagger.  I contracted polio (which redirected my life).  I’ll never EVER forget what it was like to be 16>  What was16 like for you…a positive or a negative?  ;-)  Jack

FROM BEE CEE :  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD <3 !!!===JACK:  Thanks for remembering!

FROM CR:  Vietnam war, televised coverage, anti war protests, environmental awareness movements, Earth Day, Nixon president, Watergate, Roe v Wade decision, <5 years prior, United Methodist church allowed women to be ordained as pastors, <5 years prior R. Kennedy and MLK, Jr assassinated, minimum wage $1.60/hr which I thought beat the heck out of babysitting for 50 cents/hr. 😊 ===JACK:  Oh, to be sixteen!  Each year has its memories, good and bad and in-between.  Life goes on.  I like the song, "One day at a time, sweet Jesus."

FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  Good morning, Pastor Freed, and Happy Birthday!!!===SK:  I go back to feeling sixteen when our familiar rock and roll songs are played. I went to a show called “ hits of the 60’s” and all the fun of high school and first boyfriends, dances at our local ballroom. Those were the funnest of times. How about you?===JACK:  For one thing, I didn't have as much fun as you seemed to have.

My mom always used to sing Mairzy Doats while she was working in the house.  Never knew how it was spelled but it sounds like that.  I only remember 16 as being a blur of busyness as mom was having the 2 youngest siblings.  I do remember getting my driver’s license.  The patrol man or someone talked me through the parallel parking so I could get it—he said I wouldn’t have to know how to do it anyway in our area of rural Iowa.  All that stuff was part of my life and formed me into the person I am today so in retrospect it was positive but I wouldn’t choose to be reincarnated as a 16 year old—experiencing the facts of life in our family was kind of intense and not leisurely and relaxed, as I think I remember.  More like things were out of control or something.  I imagine having polio was sort of similar.  Glad you survived it.  Enjoy a very nice birthday celebration,===JACK:  Although I was more than 16 when we met, I'm happy to have you in my memory bank.  Marzing Doats was a fun song.  Translation: Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy.

FROM HONEST JOHN:  I was 16 in 1955….Ike was Prez….it was the end of my Sophomore year in high school…..was playing #6 on the tennis team….had started in debate….loved life…..good times!===JACK:  My sister, Nancy, from naperville is here for a visit.  She remembers Joan....your sister?  It sounds as thought age 16 was a good time for you.

FROM EDUCATOR PAUL:  Happy birthday dear friend. Hope today is all you want it to be.===JACK:  Thanks for the well wishes.

FROM JOE ANN:  My Dad would often sing Mairzy Doats. I wonder where that song came from. Do you know Jack.?===JACK:  You would have had singing this song along with the kindergartners..."Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."===JA:  Oh my Jack! That song is amazing. I bet my Dad is singing it up there to any angel who will listen to it.===JACK:  If it's Heaven, there's got to be music...all kinds - not just hymns.

FROM DAIRYLAND DONNA:  Happy birthday dear Jaaaa-ack, happy birthday to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Donna 😊🎉😍🎶===JACK:  You've still got it!===DD:  You've got that wrong Jack. You're the one who still got it. 😊👍😃===JACK:  ...as l;ong as I can sing the song: "Roll out of bed in the mornin' with a great big smile and a good, good mornin'.  Get up with a grin.  There's a new day a-tumblin' in. etc."

FROM BB IN CHGO:  Jack, funny but I recall almost nothing.  A big blurr… ===JACK:  Doesn't Google jog your memory?  I suppose that you were in a Chicago high school.===BB:  .Palatine H.S. and working hard to get out in 3 years rather than 2 so I could attend med school.  Not living in the present; not for a minute.===JACK:  No goals in high school for me.  I didn't know the name of a college.  Higher education was not on my bucket list.  How life changes....Right?

FROM ST PAUL:  hey,  Happy Birthday,  OLD man!!!:):):)   and thanks for the history lesson today.   i am a bit younger than you but even my life was affected by some of the events that you mentioned.  i was born two weeks before D Day.  i was a baby and thousands of men were dying on the Beaches of Normandy.    How thankful I should be for their sacrifices! ===JACK:  I experienced all of the Great Depression, all of WW 2; all of lots of things that affected my life.===SP:  you should go on that silly TV show "Survivor"  and show them what a real survivor looks like!  ===J:  I have to acknowledge the presence of God in helping me to get through some pretty hard times...generally and personally.

FROM DS IN SOCAL:  Jack, learning that you had polio when you were young is a big surprise to me.  I remember  Tom Rogers having to live a great deal of his life in an "Iron Lung".  His brother, and his family were very close with my family and I recall how tough it was.  Those were the days when we couldn't go swimming in certain places.  Very scary until they came out with the polio vaccine.  When you were coaching us I had no idea that you had-had polio.  I take it that it was a more mild form of it than Tom Rogers had.  ===JACK:  My sister Nancy is here for my birthday.  She and her husband, Herb Carlmark, were caregivers for Tom and became very close friends of his.  My polio affected the deltoid muscle in my right arm and caused me to learn to be left-handed in sports.  The polio disease caused me to rejected by the military (4-F) and also caused me to rethink my life.  Mrs Tillberg called one night and asked me to think about becoming a pastor...and the rest is history.  Was Nancy in your grade at high school?  Graduated in 1947 ===SOCAL:    I'm at VA now getting some new hearing aids===JACK:  That reminds me...mine are due for a tune-up.. 

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Celebrations in moderation, I trust.....not like you might have when you were 16===JACK:  There may be snow on the roof, but the firse still burns inside..

FROM WOODWIND JACKIE:  Interesting recollections!===JACK:  The actual life has been even better.

FROM SY:  Hope you have a day and year as SPECIAL as you!===JACK:  So far, so good.  No 95 spankings, yet.

FROM CPA MIKE:  Great topic. Might be my favorite and most memorable age. We won the city baseball championship and I bought my first car a 1956 Plymouth.===JACK:  I always appreciate my conversations with you...virtual or real.  You are one of a kind.

FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  hope it was lovely!   i colored this on recolor coloring book app. hooked on that and NYT wordle.  do you like macarons? if so, what flavors?===JACK:  At first I thought that that was a picture of the back of your head...and that you had colored your hair.  The birthday party was great, and I did have some chocolate macaroons, made by my sister.

FROM ATTY MD:  Hello Mr. F -- this is Mary D, a long-time friend of Jeanne's.  I still love reading your "winning words," but today in particular, I wanted to wish you a very happy 95th birthday!  I hope you are having a great day.  And, for the record, I too sing Mairzy Doats from time to time..... haha!!!!===JACK:  Maybe wecan sing it as a duet sometime.  The birthday celebration was great.  A few family and friends were missing because of othe commitments, but the ribs from Famous Dave's were great.....and I haven't forgotten you.

FROM DAZ IN COLORADO:  16 was learning to drive in a 32 Chevie and taking the drivers test which included a stop at the top of a hill.. Start up without stalling the engine was required. No automatic transmissions.Those were the days.===JACK:  David has a stick shift BMW.  He likes it better than the automatic.  I suppose that there will be no shifting with electric vehicles.  I'd like to see what would happen is some of today's kids were asked to drive a stick shift..