Website www.517prct.org
Mail Call Ben517@aol.com
Mail Call Archives www.517prct.org/archives
Roster www.517prct.org/roster.pdf
517th Annual Florida Mini-Reunion January 17,18,19, 20, 2009
Banquet on the 20th (Tuesday) and Departing on the 21st (Wednesday)
Hosted by: Leila Webb, Location: Ramada Hotel & Inn Gateway
7470 Highway 192 West
Kissimmee, Florida 34747
Tele: 1(800)327-9170 FAX 1(407)396-4320
web site: WWW.ramadagateway.com
Contact: Leila Webb, Helen Beddow and Lou Darden
4155 Kissimmee Park Road
St. Cloud, Florida 34772
Tele:(407)892-3595
Room Rate -
$65.00
Registration Fee - $40.00
National Reunion Palm
Springs, CA Salt Lake City West
Coast Party July
2009 April 20-24,
2009
Rick
Sweet Happy New Year to all of
you.
http://wandascountryhome.com/newyear/recipe.html
I emailed Larry Zickefosse with the information
on obtaining a book Letters Home, A Paratrooper's Story. I told him he
could email me at lcurtis@utah.gov for information. Larry, and family,
thank you so much for your interest in this book about my Dad and the 517th
PRCT.
Also, I want to wish everyone in this wonderful 517th
Association a very Happy New Year. I hope to see all of you at the
National Reunion in Salt Lake City, July 9-13, 2009. Myself and Mike
Wells, son of Chester Wells, H Company are in the process of working out details
for some fun activities while you are here in Salt Lake City. I noticed on
mailcail some are interested in doing family research at the world's largest
genealogy library. It is only a city block away from the Radisson Hotel
where we will be staying. A few years ago I found information about my 4th
great grandfather who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill in the Revolutionary
War, and his son who fought in the War of 1812. Until I visited there I
never knew this information. It has been great to find out more about my
heritage. It is surely a great resource, and it is all free.
Lory Curtis, son of Bud Curtis, HQ, 1st Bn.
I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful
life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've
become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.
I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my
bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so
avant-garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be
extravagant.
I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too
soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with
aging.
Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer
until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful
tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost
love ... I will
They, too, will get old.
I know I
am sometimes forgetful.
But there again,
some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important
things.
Sure, over the years my heart
has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when
a child suffers, or even when somebody's
beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and
understanding and compassion. A heart
never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being
imperfect.
I am so blessed
to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful
laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.
So many have
never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn
silver.
As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care
less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore.
I've
even earned the right to be wrong.
So, to answer your question, I like
being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going
to live forever but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what
could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every
single day (if I feel like it).
MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP NEVER COME
APART ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S STRAIGHT FROM THE HE