According to Jeanette Winkel, his friend and dance partner, we lost another long time dancer on Friday May 7^th. Bob (Frank) Cloward, died at his home in Apache Junction. He was a regular at many of the dances, including Merrymakers, Towerpoint, Red Mountain, and the Arizona Classic Jazz Society. In recent years he was a part of the Merrymakers Veterans Day tribute.

His son and family were due here today and I will pass on any additional information.

Our condolences to his family and friends. He will be missed on the dance floor.

The dance community lost another dancer (especially from the Wednesday afternoon dances at Aster Red Mountain Senior Center). Michael J Dascher, on March 26, 2021. He was 76. Services were held in Wisconsin. Our condolences go out to his companion and dance partner, Marla Carling. Here is a link to his obituary, which contains a picture.

?

Sent from for Windows 10

?

On February 18, 2021, we lost another former Merrymaker (long time treasurer of the organization). Our condolences go out to her family.

?

"Barbara Loveall Obituary - (1936 - 2021) - Decatur, IL - Decatur Herald & Review"

Get

?

Dorothy Reutzel passed away peacefully on Tuesday, 02-23-2021 after a long battle with cancer.?

Our condolences go out to Erv. Dorothy was a beautiful person ?(as you can see in this picture) and will be missed.

We lost another musician yesterday. Wally Schwartz, leader of the Sunland Dance Band (Red Mountain Senior Center (now Aster) on every Wednesday afternoon and Granite Reef Senior Center on many Thursday afternoons, and for many years part of Burgie Crandall’s Lets Dance Band on Tuesday afternoons at the Mesa downtown Senior Center.

Here’s a picture of him with our own beloved Betty Page at a Thursday dance.

He will be missed. I hope we still have bands when this pandemic is over!

Condolences can be sent to Sharon Schwartz

3621 W. Cholla St, Phoenix AZ 85029

FROM ONE FRIEND TO ANOTHER

Betty Page is 93 yrs old today and she’s pretty much isolated.

If you’d like to send her a card, her address is 7416 E Windsor Ave, Scottsdale, AZ 85257

Her phone#: ?480 947 7041.

I talked to her today and she’s doing fine.

?

?

?

Beverly Rubenstein, Vyda Bridwell and I took Manuel out for a “farewell” lunch on Thursday, September 17th. I presented him with a collage of 180 of his East Valley dance friends, past & present, as well as the cards and notes I had received for him. He was overcome with emotions over the generosity, love and well wishes from the people who contributed to his VERY generous gift to help in his relocation back to Mexico, showing how much we loved and appreciated his music.

?

We reminisced about his 17 years as a musician here and the wonderful friends and memories he has made. He certainly misses all of us and being able to play for us.

?

Depending on what happens this year, he is hoping to be able to return as a snowbird to play for us in 2021.

?

Safe travels Manuel!

Mary Volberding

?

?

Here is a link to pictures for those of you who attended a dance at Granite Reef where Troy was taking pictures, including the last dance there, The Black & White Ball. His pictures are now available as a free download from his website, ? At the top right of the website you will see: ?client access ?click on this and it will take you to a page which includes a picture on the left of Ruth & Bo. If you put your mouse over it, it says Granite Reef Senior Center. Click on that and it will ask you to enter a password - that password is: ?lovetodance?all lowercase and all one word. After entering the password you will be taken to the individual photo shoots. Click on the group or groups you are interested in and enter your email address for each group. If someone doesn’t have an email address, they can enter anyone’s email and it will still work. ?You can pick individual pictures (or all pictures) and a link to those to be downloaded will be sent to the email address used.

?

?

?

Pictures of Billie on her birthday, plus collage of 97 dancer friends (from Tuesdays & Thursdays).

She got 24 cards!
She was so happy

?

Thank you to everyone who sent her a card.?

?

?

On August 9 it is Billie Baldwin Dwyer’s birthday. She will be 97. She has been in lockdown and has not seen anybody since March.

If we could all get together and send her cards that would really bless her heart. See attached picture, if you don’t remember her by name. Always a beautiful smile. She used to come to several dances every week with her friend and dance partner, Jack, who unfortunately she doesn’t have any contact with anymore. Her address is 262 East Brown Rd., #122 Mesa Arizona 85201. You don’t have to go out and buy a special card, even a note card or a piece of paper for her would be appreciated.

I know it’s early but I wanted to give everybody enough time to contact others.

Let’s see if we can’t make this a very special birthday for a wonderful dancer friend.

?

I received the following from one of the Valley’s favorite musicians, Manuel Dorantes:

?

“I wish I would have good news, but, as everybody knows about this COVIG19 situation, I have not work since March at any dances, and also my other work for Yamaha, the same, since I had to visit music stores to check inventory, needless to say, when the stores are close, no job for me too.

I will go back to my hometown Querétaro, Querétaro (City and capital state).

San Miguel de Allende is a HUB for Americans and Canadian citizens, they populate this town at least is the 65/70% and to get there, now you must fly to?

Querétaro, since is only a 45 minute drive to San Miguel, before, you had to fly to Leon Guanajuato, but took over 2 hours to get to San Miguel.

?

I will have the same emails. since México has different Cel Networks, my cel will be different.

I will keep you post it

Manuel Dorantes”

?

Manuel will definitely be missed and we wish him the best for the future.

?

I know this has nothing to do we dancing, but I’m choosing to share it with all of you.

I talked with a man today, an 80+-year-old man. I asked him if there was anything I can get him while this Coronavirus scare was gripping America.? He simply smiled, looked away and said:

"Let me tell you what I need! I need to believe, at some point, this country my generation fought for... I need to believe this nation we passed safely to our children and their children...I need to know this generation will quit being a bunch of sissies...that they respect what they've been given...that they've earned what others sacrificed for."

I wasn't sure where the conversation was going or if it was going anywhere at all. So, I sat there, quietly observing.

"You know, I was a little boy during WWII. Those were scary days. We didn't know if we were going to be speaking English, German or Japanese at the end of the war.? There was no certainty, no guarantees like Americans enjoy today.?? And no home went without sacrifice or loss. Every house, up and down every street, had someone in harm's way. Maybe their Daddy was a soldier, maybe their son was a sailor, maybe it was an uncle. Sometimes it was the whole damn family, fathers, sons, uncles...

Having someone, you love, sent off to war...it wasn't less frightening than it is today. It was scary as Hell. If anything, it was more frightening. We didn't have battlefront news.? We didn't have email or cellphones. You sent them away and you hoped...you prayed. You may not hear from them for months.? Sometimes a mother was getting her son's letters the same day Dad was comforting her over their child's death.

And we sacrificed. You couldn't buy things. Everything was rationed. You were only allowed so much milk per month, only so much bread, toilet paper.? EVERYTHING was restricted for the war effort. And what you weren't using, what you didn't need, things you threw away, they were saved and sorted for the war effort.? My generation was the original recycling movement in America.

And we had viruses back then...serious viruses. Things like polio, measles, and such. It was nothing to walk to school and pass a house or two that was quarantined.? We didn't shut down our schools. We didn't shut down our cities. We carried on, without masks, without hand sanitizer. And do you know what? We persevered.We overcame.

We didn't attack our President, we came together. We rallied around the flag for the war. Thick or thin, we were in it to win.? And we would lose more boys in an hour of combat than we lose in entire wars today."

He slowly looked away again. Maybe I saw a small tear in the corner of his eye.Then he continued:

"Today's kids don't know sacrifice. They think sacrifice is not having coverage on their phone while they freely drive across the country.

?

Today's kids are selfish and spoiled. In my generation, we looked out for our elders. We helped out with single moms whose husbands were either at war or dead from war.Today's kids rush the store, buying everything they can...no concern for anyone but themselves. It's shameful the way Americans behave these days.? None of them deserve the sacrifices their granddads made.

So, no I don't need anything. I appreciate your offer but, I know I've been through worse things than this virus. But maybe I should be asking you, what can I do to help you??? Do you have enough pop to get through this, enough steak? Will you be able to survive with 113 channels on your tv?"

I smiled, fighting back a tear of my own...now humbled by a man in his 80's. All I could do was thank him for the history lesson, leave my number for emergency and leave with my ego firmly tucked in my rear.

I talked to a man today. A real man. An American man from an era long gone and forgotten. We will never understand the sacrifices. We will never fully earn their sacrifices. But we should work harder to learn about them, learn from them...to respect them.

Paul A Bennett

?

?

?