Zooming with the Aces, #32 – What If’s

Photo Courtesy of Skip Granger

First Row, left to right: Fred Elder, Skip Granger, Dan Tontz; Second Row, left to right: Diane Zinn, David Robinson, Mary Lancaster Curtis. Lee Ayres joined later in the meeting.  Marilyn Tompkins Bellert is still in France, haunting museums and staying in iconic villages.

Topic of the Day: What If’s in Your Life

Dan Tontz, Dallas, TX: I want to compliment you on the questions, including the follow-up ones. My biggest regret in 1960 was getting out of high school and I should have sold my saxophone and bought a rock and roll guitar, and worked on becoming a great guitarist and singer, primarily to get into the southern California rock scene, see people like the Eagles, Neil Young, Jackson Browne and others. Living in Laurel Canyon at that time with all that music would have been wonderful. It just never occurred to me at the time; I was still all saxophone. I should have listened to Buddy Holly. He was singer, song-writer, and guitarist, and he was always my favorite, but there I was with my saxophone and there can only be one great saxophonist like Coleman Hawkins. That was my biggest regret and as a result of that I wasn’t able to do other things I always wanted to do like ride on a fire truck with the siren sounding.  If I’d become a rock and roll star, I could have bought the truck. I also always wanted to ride in a helicopter and feel the impact of it as it comes straight down. Fred, this topic must have bothered me because I had a nightmare last night about me becoming a young medical doctor and my  first work did not go well. I took my i-pad to work and found out I had already been assigned a patient. Apparently my training wasn’t adequate and I didn’t know what to do.  I panicked and felt sorry for the patient. The dream played over and over last night, but I got 7 1/2 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Mary (Mert) Lancaster Curtis,  St. John, KS: I’ve always wanted to travel around the world. I looked into a cruise. That hasn’t happened and it probably won’t. I’ve been to all seven continents, so maybe going around the world wouldn’t be all that great. My choices of places to see would depend on the company I was going with and the places they would stop. I don’t ever plan until I know I’m going. Those who know my wish think I’m a little nutty anyway, but I would still go if I had the right opportunity.  Skip suggested a new Pan Am 2025 trip around the world, but it’s only two weeks. That’s not long enough.

Skip Granger, Sun Valley, AZ: I went back to school yesterday – to a mixology class at our country club. It’s our third one. It’s all set up, so Mary Ann and I prepared to mix 3-4 cocktails. After drinking these, I thought about what if we still had our winery. This is the time of year when the grapes are ready to press. When you make 8,000 cases, this year I’m thankful I’m drinking wine and not making wine. My son-in-law’s birthday is today and he’s a singer.  He’s done quite well.  Last night he sang the national anthem for the Lakers and he’s done the Padres too.  He formed a group called “Straight, No Chaser,” and they’v appeared on a number of TV shows. He has singers on every cruise line in the world except one. It’s been fun for me to watch him be so successful.

David Robinson, Wichita, KS: I’m going to be the “downer” today because I’m going to talk about the one thing I regret. My life has been really good in every way, but I left my partner of twenty-five years, and I’ve always regretted that. He was probably the best thing that ever happened to me and I was very stupid in my reasons for doing it. He forgave me, more to make me feel better, but it caused him to go into a downward spiral.  He had Parkinson’s and our friends told me he just gave up. I hate relaying that to you, but it’s the only thing I could think of. We had a house, a business, he helped with my company. I try to make excuses for myself, but I really don’t have any. He was the most wonderful person, and I will regret it until the day I die. I did leave him for another person, and the good thing about that was that he brought me back to Wichita, and the other good thing was that he left me. He did get me signed up for the VA. I’d always had health insurance, and have always been very healthy. The only thing I’m on is blood pressure medication. I have wonderful friends here and reconnecting with you guys is great. I’m now volunteering at the aviation museum as well as the Frank Lloyd Wright house and that’s a fantastic group.

Diane Rusch Zinn, Lawrence, KS: I feel like I’m following in David’s footsteps because when we decided on this topic I thought this sounds like true confessions to me. One of my regrets is not finding enough time to spend with each of our children individually as they grew up. We had four children that were fourteen years apart and they were extremely active. We had a busy household and it seemed there was never enough time to do things one-on-one with each child. My children do manage that with their children, and I so respect them for that. I’m making up for it now that they are all grown up because we visit each other, here and at their homes.  I was always with them when all the grandchildren were born or if someone was sick, so we’ve had a lot of good one-on-one time as adults. I do wish Dick and I had  traveled more internationally in our 50’s and 60’s. My other regret is not having taken enough time to nurture friendships over the years, from high school on. You guys are a part of that now. I really enjoy these Zoom sessions and getting to know all of you that I didn’t know in high school. I did maintain close friendships with a couple of college classmates, but at East, basically only Marilyn Tompkins and Carolyn Wharton and Gene Carter. Fred suggested that I work with Mert on the world trip. I did have a dream once that I was in Europe and walked around to several small villages, stopped at peoples’ houses and asked if I could live with them for a couple of days to see what their life was like.

Fred Elder, Madison, WI: I really enjoy walking and at one time I decided I really needed to walk up Mt. Kilimanjaro. I never got that done; don’t know if I ran out of money, energy or what, but I can’t do it now. That’s off my list now, maybe in my second coming.  I like that kind of challenge and I miss the fact that I can’t walk as well as I used to. So that’s my true confession.

 

Lee Ayres, Fresno, CA: (Lee joined in during the middle of our reunion discussion and offered this.) If I had been able to more successfully reinvest the proceeds from our real estate investments back before the great recession, I would have been able to do a little more than I’ve done  with community service work. I really don’t think I would change the script on occupation, although I must confess I’m in awe of my two sons who both independently got into big ticket sales and are making significant incomes. It’s been fun to see them do that, but I don’t know if it came along for me I would have chosen it. Today I’m late because I was at a meeting with a school administrator about an innovative education program and I’m looking forward to working on that. That’s an example of the kind of thing I’d like to spend more time on. There’s a phrase we developed in city management called Priority by Opportunity. You may have a thousand things that need attention but there’s only a few where the money and political will can be aligned. Right now where we are with low performing school districts, my thought is to leverage the agriculture community around us. It’s an $18 billion industry in the two counties around us and if we could do some good work there, it might help us elsewhere as well. That’s an advantage to getting older. There are always things to do and no one is taking the lead on it. So I have at least put it on the table and picked the right superintendent. So far, so good.

Back and Forth – Suggestions for our 65th Reunion

Mert – Have it in one place instead of going back and forth across town. If you have a Zoom, have it in a different room or at a time that allows better participation between the persons at the reunion and the persons on the Zoom.  For those of us at the reunion, there were too many distractions to be involved with the Zoom. Mert told about her great-grandchildren, sixteen in all, after the coming birth in February.

Dave – First, get a general idea of how many people will attend. Keep the venue as simple as possible – only one or two places.  Some may still want to golf, so we would have to see about the interest in that.  There are a couple of new venues right downtown. One is a new Marriott at the corner of Broadway and Douglas where Russell Stover’s used to be. The woman who has developed a lot of downtown Wichita, including Innes into the Osteopathic Hospital, did this. An Ambassador Hotel is right across the street  where Dockum’s was.  A downtown walking tour would be wonderful  and I would be happy to lead that.  Then we could have lunch at my favorite place in the old Broadview.  Henry’s is now a Wichita State Culinary School, with a rooftop garden restaurant. A  new extension of KU Medical School is where the Allis Hotel used to be. The old bus station is now a beautiful architects’ office. The Orpheum is currently closed for a multi-million dollar restoration. So, by the time we have our reunion, downtown could be a wonderful experience. Skip suggested a tour of eating spots.  Mert commented that only persons who could walk well could do this. The Drury Broadview by the river is a wonderful hotel and place to stay because their prices are good, good parking, breakfast included.

Dan – I was at the last reunion and was very happy with it. I enjoyed both nights with the extended happy hour and the buffets. The place in west Wichita was nice with us providing our own entertainment. There was a lot of opportunity to move around and visit with others. We could have a little live music, but it’s not necessary. I would like a site-seeing tour of Wichita. I’m limited on my walking, so hiring a company that would tour the places we want to see would be great.  Maybe have an opportunity to get off the bus at stops if we wanted. We would have to put some money in to make it work. I’d like to see places like Joyland, Kiddieland,  & Courtney Davis.

Dave, again – I do like Dan’s idea about the bus tour. Another place to visit would be Wichita State; the campus has grown a lot. The other thing I thought of is the Aviation Museum – the beautiful old Art Deco airport that was the original in Wichita. It was a main cross-country stop for flights and many celebrities flew in there. It’s been beautifully restored, and they do events. We could have a cocktail dinner/buffet there. The tarmac is open, so you can go out and look at the planes. That could be a possibility for a venue. It’s out by McConnell AFB  and opened in 1935. In the early 50’s, my dad took me out there to hear Barkley, Truman’s vice-president. It is closed to others if an event is scheduled. Parking is easy or we could take a bus or car pool. I’ll be happy to put anyone up who needs a place to stay.

Fred remembers flying from the airport.  Dan commented it was on South Oliver and a big Boeing plant was nearby. They had the best root beers there. 

Diane – These are all incredible out of the ball park ideas. Part of the problem would be getting people in Wichita to set up all of this, determining cost and availability. I had something far simpler in mind because of people our age not wanting to drive across town or at night, so we need one place to stay with accommodations there for our meetings and meals. I know we’ve done the one by the river, and there should be an adjacent hotel we could use for additional rooms. Also, there is the Old Town Hotel where we had our 45th reunion, and there was a Marriott nearby where some of us stayed. I know that for  our 62nd, it was difficult for some people to drive across town, especially after dark. I like David’s idea of the two downtown hotels, the downtown  walk and the aviation museum, but I don’t know if that’s feasible, expense-wise. 

Fred – Those who want to see the aviation museum might have to do it on their own, or maybe we could do a bus tour. I like the idea of being in one location. but that may make if more expensive and less desirable for some, especially at a major downtown hotel. I like the idea of seeing the aviation museum. Remember, some people will just come one night.

Lee – I agree with Diane that we need a Wichita based team to look into this. It seems David could do this. Leverage what David knows and see what we can set up. Skip hopes Ronnie Troy could be part of that as he was quite helpful before.

Final Words

Lee – It’s good to be alive, given the alternative. The world gets more interesting every day.

Skip  – What if I hadn’t had my cataracts removed. I now have 20-30 visions, but use readers.

Mert – As long as we keep our health, we can do all these things. If we don’t, that’s a different story.

Dan – I’m going to read this. It’s called the “5 P’s.”  Proper planning prevents poor performance. When we talk here, I think most of us are planners and we’ve been rewarded through the years by getting things done.

Dave – As the most attractive and successful of the group, thank you including me. I really enjoy these Zoom meetings  and being a part of a gang. I’m looking forward to the reunion next year. I’ll check on charges for the aviation museum.  Dan wants to know if they still serve the good root beer, but Dave said you have to go to Russell KS where the closest A&W is.

Diane – Everyone just take good care of yourself and keep up your good spirits.

Editor’s Note: Some background noise during the Zoom may have prohibited hearing the comments accurately, so please let me know what to change. – ddzinn@aol.com.