Happy New Year 2011

I appreciate so much Roy Vasquez for making a number of these pictures available to me. We had a great time meeting some old Pillsbury friends at Dave and Cindy Becklund's home in Littleton, Colorado, back in June. Roy's the man! Sure do like his hat!

The Becklunds' hosted us royally and here are the old roomies enjoying Dave's breakfast goodies. Dave is a superb cook!

Harold and Bonnie Marcilliott enjoying the beautiful weather following their Sunday evening service.

Butch Rodman, and his wife Kay, lives in the Denver area and they were able to come for the get together.

Here is Connie with Dave and Cindy at their front door. We enjoyed our stay at their beautiful and unique home.

This fall we spent a week in Watertown, Wisconsin and had some time with Fred and Judy Moritz. Fred is teaching each fall semester at Maranatha's Seminary. We had a nice lunch with Fred and Judy, and snapped this pic at church on Wednesday night.

Roy sent these last two pictures from his visit to the Twin Cities this fall. This pic is from his visit to see Roger and Jan Creamer at their house in Excelsior, Minnesota. With Roger and Jan is Jan Anderson Moen.

Roy was very impressed with the lovely home that Roger and Jan have in Excelsior. Roy indicated that they have been very creative and resourceful in the way they have developed and improved their property.
Would love to have some more pictures from you to post.

Spurgeon Boys? & Freshmen Quartet

Roy Vasquez has sent me some outstanding photos. Here is one that is just great! It seems to me that this is a Spurgeon Society grouping. Am I correct, or is this a general group of us Pillsbury boys?

Over Christmas Connie and I took a 3,400 mile trip to the Midwest to be with family. But we also had the privilege of having lunch with Roger and Jan Creamer. We almost missed the lunch appointment because our Southern Diesel Ford F-250 had trouble starting in the Minnesota cold. We were glad that Roger and Jan were patient. They looked great and we had good fellowship with them.
Here is a classic snapshot from Roy. Our Freshman Quartet (Roger Creamer, Butch Rodman, Terry Lassiter, and myself) spent a weekend at Roy's house in St. Louis Park during Roy's senior year in high school. In the picture are Roy's mom (Rita is still living in No. California) and his brother Dean who gave his life in Vietnam, plus his sister Linda who passed away several years ago.
Among some old slides I found this excellent picture of Roger teaching a morning Bible class on a Colorado camping trip in the summer of 1970. I was youth pastor in Normal, Illinois, and Roger came along with our group to be the daily Bible teacher.

Thankful Memories

It has been a busy fall! Connie and I have just returned home after exhibiting at seven conventions over the past nine weeks, and traveling 5,000 miles. We are glad to be home so that Connie could get relief through a root canal on the day before Thanksgiving.

Just this week we received the news that Susan Foster passed away after a long battle with liver cancer. Pray for Max and family as they mourn their loss, and trust in the Lord for His grace. Susan's obituary can be read at: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/obituaries/article_7d36977c-d974-11de-b205-001cc4c03286.html.

Just after we left home in September I received an email from June Barlow Matthews and was not able to post this photo she sent at that time. I am sorry that I buried this photo on my computer for a number of weeks. Here is June with her brother Jack, and sister Judy.

I love the pictures you send!! Thanks to Connie Day Soiberg for encouraging Pat Whitten Thomas to send several wonderful pictures. This fall Camp Assurance in Georgetown, IL, had our old prof Richard Brady speak for their Senior Saints Day. Here is a great picture of Steve and Cindy Nelson, Richard and Jan Brady, and Pat and Ken Thomas.
Steve Nelson is retired from the pastorate, but still plays the accordion and fills pulpits in the Danville, Illinois area.
Connie Day Soiberg also sent this nice photo of Sandy Lackey with her husband Jim Binkley. The Binkley's divide their time, I believe, between the Seattle area and Arizona.

Keep those pictures coming!

More Pictures

I have hoping for some more pictures to come to my mailbox from you folks out there! Sure would like to get more, but I have a few that I will post now and by faith trust that more will come later.


Here is a picture sent by Connie Day Soiberg, that includes her and Sandy Lauritsen Lackey. They both live in the greater Seattle area and we are glad for this great picture.
Just got this picture from Eva and Sam Telloyan. Included in the picture is Eva's mother and Sam and Eva's daughter Naomi and family -- the Tim Van Loh's. Tim is a pastor in the Lansing, Michigan area. Years ago I visited that church and know that it is in a picturesque setting. They all live together and continue to serve the Lord.
Here is a picture from the past. This comes from an old 35 mm slide that I scanned on my new slide scanner. The picture was from my youth pastor days in Normal, Illinois. Mark and Kathy Brush, and Harold and Bonnie Marcilliott had come to our house for a visit. Both Mark and Harold were youth pastors in Illinois at the time of this photo.
I continue to plead for pictures! Send them and I will share them!

VISITING THE KETTENRINGS

On Friday, August 14th, Denny and Sherry Whitehead arrived at our place in Rocky Mount for a visit. They pulled in a little late due to weekend traffic on I-95 north of Richmond, VA, but that's the joy of traveling on east coast highways.

They had just come from several days with Gail and Paul Fosmark up in the Maritimes. You can read about their exploits with Paul and Gail at http://gailsgarden.blogspot.com/. The Fosmarks showed them a great time taking them over to Prince Edward Island, and then to "The Farm", which is Gail and Paul's beloved spot in the New Brunswick countryside.

On Saturday we drove about two hours east to Columbia, NC, where Joel and Pauline Kettenring live on the beautiful Albermarle Sound. We arrived in time for lunch at a quaint place in Columbia. The Kettenrings looked great (as you can see) and we had a wonderful time of fellowship.

We had the privilege of going out to their home, which is a couple hundred feet off the Sound. Their place is about 40 miles from the ocean and the Outer Banks. They have a great view of the water! Here are Pauline, Sherry and Connie enjoying the patio and garden.

This is their house and Joel is explaining to Dennis the joys of living "Down East", as the locals call the region.

After lunch Denny got a haircut (for $5) from the oldest barber in the state of North Carolina. This gentleman was 92 years young -- and he was good!

While Denny was getting his hair cut, Joel and I were hanging out in the Barber Shop swapping stories with the locals. Would you believe two old Minnesota preachers in Carolina?

Probably the highlight of the day was seeing "Mister" (that's his name -- the dog, that is) climb up on Grandpa Kettenring's lap for an afternoon nap. I'm sure the Kettenring's would love a visit if you are in their neighborhood.

PILLLSBURY CHOIR -- 1959 or 1960?

Here is a photo of the Pillsbury Choir that was directed by Joel Kettenring taken in the old parking lot at 4th Baptist Church in North Minneapolis. This picture was taken by Don Nelson and I found it in a stack of photos that I inherited from him.

It looks like Del Budke is the driver of this Owatonna Public School (from Mason Bus Lines) school bus. How many people you can identify in the picture? Click on the picture to enlarge it and then scroll to the right, or see how large your browser will allow you to blow it up further. Let me know who you find in the picture!

MORE PICTURES

Here are a couple of pictures that we collected over the last month. I keep on begging ya'll to send me pictures. The first one is of Dave and Grace Goodman. They sent me this photo last month, but it has been captive on my sick laptop. This week I had a delightful visit on the phone with Dave, and he resent the picture so that I could share it with everyone.

Then I obtained a great picture of Roger and Jan Creamer -- via Denny and Sherry Whitehead. We saw the picture while we were in Florida and I asked Denny to scan the photo and email it to me. I also contacted Roger to get their permission. It is a great shot!

I'll also add the photo that Connie and I took in our home just before all the Christmas festivities began. Please send me your photos so that we can share them with everyone. Also, send me email addresses of folks that you have contact with who spent time at Pillsbury during the early days. God bless you all!