1985 Easter Photos
Wednesday, February 14th, 2007
Easter fell on April Fools Day in 1985. Thus, less than a week after Great Grandma Murphy’s funeral and again we were having a gathering at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house on Kruss. I don’t have any specific memories of the holiday, but know that we conducted our usual Easter Egg hunt. For many years, someone would always prepare colored hard-boiled eggs and every family member would have one (with our name written on it in white crayon) hidden somewhere in the house of the Easter host. After we ate lunch, we would engage in a hunt to find our own specific egg. Finding others didn’t count. These were always enjoyable affairs that I remember fondly. Read the rest of this entry »
I was very familiar with the work of actor Bob Cummings when I sent him an autograph request on July 22, 1985. Although his name might be vanishing into obscurity today, at the time I was enjoying watching The Bob Cummings Show on television. Being a huge Hitchcock fan, too, I was also a fan of his work in Dial M for Murder. He was the star of another of Hitch’s classics that I hadn’t seen yet at this point, too: Saboteur. Finally, and perhaps most important at the time, he was an extra in Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert (although in later years he denied it, stating he was already an established actor when he came to Hollywood in the 1930’s). 
On Monday, February 5, 2006, I attended the funeral of Russell Willeman. The service was nice and full, as friends and family packed in to pay their final respects to this much-loved man. I was not able to make the viewing the day before, but from what I understand, enormous amounts of people paraded through the Littleton & Rue Funeral Home. It was obvious that that nearly the entire town of Springfield had been touched by Russell in some way. He had spent his career as a local high school Art teacher for 25 years. 
My Great-Grandmother Mary Edith Heywood Murphy passed away on March 21, 1985. She was 88 at the time. She was the first person I ever lost with whom I was close. I remember that it really scared me when my Mom told me that “Grandma” had passed away, without specifying which one. As close as I was with Great Grandma Murphy, it would have been even more unbearable to lose one of my other two Grandmothers. Her service was held on Monday, March 25th in Dayton and her final resting place was at the Mound Hill Cemetery in Eaton. 
Here’s another autograph that I received through the mail in the Summer of 1985, proving yet again that really famous people can sign autographs for fans – for free. I’m not sure why I chose Vincent Price to send a request to, but I would again guess that I saw that Carl had received a response to his request. I only knew Mr. Price as the star of the 3-D opus House of Wax (although I probably hadn’t seen it yet at this point), the crazy guy from “The Brady Bunch” Hawaiian episode, and the voice from Michael Jackson’s Thriller song. I sent the request on July 22 and received an almost immediate response, adding the photo below and two signed notecards to my collection on July 29. This hobby sure was getting cool!