Anchors aweigh!
Recently a cruise took the place of a flight to Europe for some who fear the unsettled condition of the world. So it was that a group of Laredo women set sail from Galveston on the Rhapsody of the Sea for a week. While the sea was somewhat choppy, none of our people suffered from seasickness. They returned full of praise for the experience.
The ship sailed around the Florida Keys, making a port in Key West and Cozumel , where they went ashore and toured, visiting shops, and buying jewelry and bright bits of clothing.
At night there was a nightclub with much entertainment, instrumentalists, vocalists, and comedians.
The group celebrated Annabelle Hall's birthday while on board. Julia Muller Ruhlman organized it. Included were Prissy DaCamara Hancock, former Laredoan of Castroville, Lee Terry of Brazoria, sister of Howard Ruhlman, and Rosa Alicia Moreno and Sylvia Salinas of Laredo .
News from Laredoans
in San Antonio
Alumni of the Nixon High School Golden Spurs will enjoy hearing about their former director of 20 years, Estela Zamora Kramer, who now lives in San Antonio with her son, Walter Kramer, in a nice apartment.
Walter coaches sports for a San Antonio middle school. He stayed home because it was his mother's 70th birthday. His apartment, which features a great stone fireplace, was decorated with large clusters of floating red balloons in celebration.
On this day she prepared a small meal, inviting Nelda Guerrero Drury, former Laredoan, and your reporter to lunch. She loves to cook and produced a memorable luncheon. Talk was of old Laredo and all the wonderful people whom we knew.
Nelda is just now immersed in work, chairing two programs. She taught dance at San Antonio College and though retired, still works on their dance program. Their recent folk dance festival featured a Serbian Extravaganza, with dancers and music from Toronto , Canada at the McAllister Auditorium.
Brand loves decorating
Josephine Brand writes of the Luncheon Club, which met recently. A bucketful of green and white cabbage flowers and Irish potatoes with green streamers and shamrocks centered the table. Miniature steins at each place held green and white mints. The menu consisted of Irish stew, peach halves filled with green mint jelly, tiny biscuits, and for dessert, crème de menthe parfait. Suzy Mayo also worked on the decorating.
Josephine will celebrate her 97th birthday on July 27. She was one of the graduating class at old Laredo High in 1927. She writes perfect letters which we share with her good friend, Annie Bruce Babb, also a resident here at the Meadows.
Ruth Fierros writes sonnets
Ruth V. Fierros, former head of the Martin High School English Department and prolific writer, is now exploring the sonnet form, already producing 74, which she will probably publish. She has published three volumes of poetry and an autobiography.
She reported attending the Colonial Pageant, to which she invited her son Philip of Houston and his friend Geralyn Monteganni. They had a marvelous evening which she described so well.
She looks forward to attending the graduation of her granddaughter, Melinda Rodriguez, from medical school in Galveston June 3. Melinda will do her residency at a military hospital in Dayton , Ohio .
Rosa Alicia Moreno
helps a friend
In a letter we learn of the good deeds that Rosa Moreno is doing.
“I keep pretty busy overseeing María Luisa ‘Bebe' Treviño. I am her guardian, caring for her round the clock. Four ladies take turns doing 12-hour shifts each. Bebe broke one hip early last year, then the other in October. However, the doctor is amazed at how well she is doing. She even takes baby steps with assistance. In addition to her care, I manage six small apartments she owns.”
Lowrys to have
family wedding
Bill and Ollie Lowry, former Laredoans who now live in New Braunfels, will have a grandson marrying. Wade Edwards Lowry will marry Raegan Ann Spears April 16 at the 7F Lodge near College Station. Both the couple are graduates of Texas A&M. In early March the Lowrys went to Kingsville to attend and shower for Raegan.
Texas Independence Day
marked with two programs
The Alamo in downtown San Antonio was the setting for ceremonies on Sunday, March 7.
The first in the morning was staged by the San Antonio Living History Association.
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas put on the afternoon program at which Sen. John Cornyn spoke, likening the bravery of our soldiers in Iraq to the bravery of the Alamo defenders.
A roll call amid flags made the event memorable. Violin music and the minuet recalled the olden days, according to Mary Phelps Hansen, former Laredoan and a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (she traces her ancestry to John McClannahan, who lived here during the Republic years, 1836-1845, when Texas was annexed to the United States). Membership in the Daughters requires one ancestor who lived in Texas during those nine years.
