It's my mother on the runner of a Model T

Can you believe a picture taken back around 1924 is still this clear? I think that's my mother on the left with the huge bow in her hair. When my mother was this young she lived in New Brunswick, Canada. I am clueless as to the identity of the little girl on the right. Mother was an only child and I don't know of any little cousins of the female persuasion in her age group. But no doubt my mother will let me know. Just think y'all - some day your kids or your grand kids will look at some pictures of you as a small child and marvel at how ancient everything looks in the picture!

Ah! My prom night...

I went to high school in Crossett, Arkansas x years ago (I just can't bring myself to count that far back!). My class had about 3 girls for every guy. The odds were rather pathetic to say the least - come to think of it, the odds have never really been in my favor! So June and I went looking for younger boys to take to our prom. I took her old boyfriend - now, don't go being mad at me - she had broken up with him and Johnny and I were just friends and June said she was okay with me asking him! I remember Mr. Gates (I had a huge crush on him in the 10th grade - it was rather embarrassing even then!) pulled Johnny aside and told him the store tags were showing on his suit. I thought that was so sweet - he had bought a new suit to take me to the prom! I took this picture to my sorority reunion in Chicago last month just to tease June (I also took her prom picture) and she was immediately drawn to his white shoes! Gawd, the 70s were possibly the time of the worst fashion for both men and women!

And here sits a bevy of beauties and their dates ...

That would be from the left, Grover and Elizabeth, Peter and me (Peter later married Holly), Holly and her date (after a while, we couldn't keep up with all the men that stood in line to date to her) and Susie and her date (maybe it's old age but I seem to forget more and more names every day!). Apparently, these are all guys we invited out on a date - I know I had a huge crush on Peter at the time and he only had eyes for Holly. Sounds like any number of crushes I've had in my life - I would pine away after these guys and they would lust after any number of my friends. I had a true talent for becoming best of friends with the beautiful girls and never being noticed by the guys. And now I have no friends and old age prevents me from being noticed by guys. You just got to hate it for me!

Aren't we looking pretty good at the DeeGee/Delt social function?

I can't seem to remember what we called those parties. You know, the ones where the fraternity invited a sorority to drink a lot of beer and maybe they would get lucky. At Arkansas, I think we called them functions and they were required to attend. Some of them were painful. This is Elizabeth Shelton. We were good friends that lost touch. And then just about two months ago, I got an email from someone asking if I was the Janet Wishart that attended Oregon State University and lived in the Delta Gamma after transferring from Arkansas. Yes, it was me! I was so excited to hear from her after all these years. She sounds as great as ever. We went to Europe together after we graduated from college. She met her husband and ended up moving to New Zealand and birthing three kids. I'm still waiting for pictures and more information. I've got a bunch more pictures of her that I need to post here so she can see them and remember the days of our youth. What fun times we had!

Rah, Rah, Sis Boom Bah!

Or something like that. Here I am in all my high school cheerleading glory. Heck I think my legs look better now what with all my weight training effort! This picture was taken after the football and basketball seasons - as if you need proof that once the exercise slacks off, you h.a.v.e. to slack off the food intake! What a fat pudgy little face I have! And the hairdo - this was the beginnings of the infamous 'dodo roll' from my freshman year! Lord, the grief I took about it even back then!

Thar' She Blows!

Here I am at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This is one of the most beautiful places in the world! And when I was there (about 6 years ago) it was relatively unspoiled by civilization. I don't know what it's like now. My Mexico adventure is quite a story - and I like to contribute it all to Jim Bob. And just for your information, not all airports have ATMs! And I am willing to bet that is still true today as it was six years ago in Cabo San Lucas. But a fat lot of good that did me. I landed in a foreign country and could not speak a word of Spanish (well, that's not entirely true, but what good does "adios, amigos" do you?) and had $20 US dollars to my name but of course I had my ATM card! The person that was supposed to meet me at the airport wasn't there - and I had no phone number or address. Lesley and her family didn't arrive on the plane they were supposed to arrive on. And at the time, the airport closed at sunset - no lights on the runway. Panic set in!

Wine Tasting in Sonoma County

Back in the days of Delta Escape Weekends, the boys and I took off to San Francisco. And we actually had a great time - I think our friends were taking money on whether or not we'd come back and all still be talking! Scott, being the oh, so clever boy he is, decided that each of us had a day where we planned what we wanted to do - including where to eat so that avoided all kinds of arguments. This was Ty's day - we went wine tasting - we were initially going to take the train but the bus never picked us up from the hotel. So I was the designated driver (and yes, that's a glass of wine I am holding in my hands) - I didn't mind - I still had a great time (and only had about three glasses of wine over a six hour period!) Scott had a fun thing to do on his day - we rented bicycles and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge over to Marin County and took the ferry back. On my day we just shopped... though in my defense I asked them what they wanted to do and that was number one on the list. I thought about maki

An athlete resting among the redwoods in Muir Woods.

The athlete would be me. This picture was taken after the Bay to Breakers Race in San Francisco (I'm still dressed in my running tights). We were on our way to Napa Valley via Muir Woods. I am saving y'all from the tree troll picture of me. I think that was the worst picture that anyone ever took of me (and that would be Jim Bob - or maybe it was Kathy that was behind the camera that day!) It was very frightening! But I took Holly's advice - immediately destroy any picture of you that doesn't flatter you. Okay, I did let Connie, Jim Bob and Kathy see the picture. Even Connie who always has something nice to say couldn't stop laughing. So now no one will ever see the worst picture ever taken of me - and trust me when I say that! And yes, there are a lot of really awful pictures of me floating around out there!

Laurie Beeson - a Delta Gamma sorority sister from Oregon State University

It has been years since we were in touch. Early this year I got a telephone call from Laurie and we've kept in touch sporadically this year. She's had a very interesting life - math major in college; Peace Corp volunteer (taught math in Africa for 4 years (I think)); returned to college to get a degree as a nurse practitioner; returned to the Peace Corp (in the South Pacific provided medical care for the Peace Corp volunteers); got married in Africa to someone from Oregon; worked for the State Department in Turkmenistan and Uganda; and now they've settled in Boring, Oregon. And then I'm supposed to relate what I've been up to - so I end up relating an exaggerated tale of woe and all people think about me is how miserable I am ... hmmm. Maybe I should work on my life story! Anyway, Laurie organized a little get together for me with some sorority sisters that still live in the Portland area. It was very much fun! Thanks, Laurie! (oh, and that's our waiter from Raccoon Lodge in Raleigh Hills!)

Well, Sleeping Beauty it's not!

I do wish I could say one portion of the body does appear larger than in real life, but, hmm, don't think so! The bane of my existence apparently has been an issue all my life! Of course the diaper doesn't help! That's probably my drool towel underneath me. The stuffed animals that are missing from the picture are my sock monkey (I absolutely loved my sock monkey - in fact I'm looking for one right now. If you know of any place I can get one, please let me know!). The closest thing I have to a birthmark is the mole on the back of my left knee, as one can see if one looks at the picture closely. Yup, it's still there, I just checked!

Backstage at the Paris Fashion Shows this isn't!

According to my mother, I often "helped" her on laundry days. I would sit in the middle of all the dirty clothes and put as many of them on me as I could. Looking at some those dirty clothes I am currently repulsed! Nowadays, I'll often pick up some clothes off the floor in my bedroom and shake 'em out to see if I can squeeze another day out of them. Perchance this was the precursor to such questionable fashion sense that I display today! Now I will not use my towels more than once - once they touch my clean body and/or hair - off to the washer they go. But I'll squeeze a couple of days out my jeans or sweatshirts (no, not my underwear or workout clothes - well, I will wear my workout clothes again if the closest I get to working out the day before is changing my clothes and throwing myself onto the couch! - I have more than my fair share of those workouts!). I looking at that picture and sure hoping that's just dirt on those shorts!

I can't decide - do we look like the Joad's or Bonnie and Clyde (think rabbit equals machine gun)?

Now I know we all joke with our parents (especially our mothers) about how they dressed us as children, but I do like I've got a legitimate case on dress code violations! The only excuse I can think of is that my mother let me dress myself. Love my brother's Farmer Brown tan. God, we really look like white trash! I suppose that is why my father felt that he must put this vision to celluloid. Just so I can look back on this whenever I'm feeling pretty smug about my stylish ways! Well, I cling to the thought that I could only get better!

I must not have any pride because I am actually posting this picture of me on the web so anyone can see it!

Now, if my father was still alive, he'd have a lot explaining to do! Could he possibly take a worse picture of me? I am personally appalled at the stomach - aren't you supposed to look better from the side? And you want to know the thing that bothers me the most - my body is beginning to return to this glorious state - and with my hair cut, amazingly enough, I strongly resemble this picture now (except my face is far more wrinkled!). And I no longer have my hand in some guy's pants! To top off this picture, two things - I'm from Arkansas and that's my brother! Gross!

The Third Installment of Morena Dishman's College Years

That's Elizabeth Shelton and Morena Dishman. I was there, too, but someone had to take the pictures! Not that they are of any great quality! The best thing about going to school at Oregon State was the fact that we were an hour and a half from the beach and an hour and a half from the mountains! So here we are at Cannon Beach on a road trip. You remember some mornings you'd just wake up at school and think, 'Road Trip!' and off to the beach (or the mountains) you'd go! I know I say it every time, but those years at Oregon State were some of the best of my life! Great friends, great memories!

What is Morena looking so coy about?

As if she needed an excuse! We were having a roommate picnic that night - Morena Dishman, Cathy Leason, Holly Daley and moi! I think we had the quarterly roommate switch coming up pretty soon. We sure had a good group of roomies.

As I promised, I am featuring more pictures of Morena - her name generated lots of hits. Maybe it'll spawn some more hits! I'm not above much to get more hits on my site. However, the only body part I will be featuring will be my nose!

While some may not believe it, I think Morena may actually be studying...

Okay, that doesn't sound right to me either! Here we have Morena Dishman and Cathy Leason, my roommates (along with Holly Daley who was no doubt, out on a date!). This was taken in the Oregon State University Delta Gamma House. That was a great group of roommates! I had just transferred to OSU and moved into the DeeGee house. Beason set me up in a great room! Those girls really made me feel welcome, even though they thought I was a little dorky because I was in my preppy stage at the time. And the West Coast just never bought into all that was preppy!

I'm thinking I'll be 'featuring' some more pictures of Morena. Apparently she is a fond memory to a lot of people and while they were doing a search on the internet on her name, they landed on my site - (I have a picture of a bunch of DeeGees in my Memories of Years Past 'section'). Now, once would not be out of the norm, but three different people in one week - and that was just the ones that asked me how to get in touch with her! Well, that's a lot

A Posed Picture if I Ever Saw One - Oregon State University Delta Gammas

It's a bunch of Delta Gammas from Oregon State University! Let's see if I can get the names correct - Back Row: Jill Finch (don't know her married name), Morena Dishman (don't know her married name), Lorie MacCalster (I should know her married name - she married her college sweetheart and he was a sweetie!), Holly Heberling Daley (I do know her married name!). Front Row: Cathy Leeson Behan (I do know her married name, too!), me (I have no married name - I know, I'm feeling the self pity myself!) and Lori Beeson (she just told me her married name but of course I can not recall it at the moment but she's living in Boring, Oregon! - I plan on visiting her the next time I go out to Portland!)

Allright - Whose Wedding is This?

Obviously this was in The First Baptist Church, it was for someone's wedding and it's in Crossett. The problem is I can't figure out whose wedding! I'm leaning towards Carol's ... any help?

Once a Beauty, Always a Beauty!

I'm still trying to figure out just when and where this picture was taken. I've decided I took it - the shadows and just general poor quality of the picture - it has to be one of mine.