I am beginning to feel a bit like the Angel of Death ... so much of what is posted to the blog now involves notice(s) of the death(s) of one or more of our classmates.... Still, I do believe that the continuing evolution of the blog, to cover as much of the history of the Class of 1963 of Childress High School as possible does warrant such difficult posts, because I think it is in our nature to want to know what has happened to friends and/or classmates we once saw nearly every day of our younger lives.... And if there is other news to post which may be interesting or important to us, I will endeavor to do so as long as I am able, and I encourage anyone who has a relevant story, or information, or whatever to contact me so it may be posted here as another knot in the thread of our lives.... But for now, I bring you news of the deaths of two more of our classmates and friends....
The voice called, and I went.
I went because the voice called.
(Hannah Szenes)
DR. JERRY NEWBERRY
November 25, 1944 - July 31, 2015
Jerry was born in Childress, and died at his home in Spokane, Washington ... leaving behind his wife and our classmate, Diana Veal Newberry, their daughter Kim Gines and her husband Matt and their three daughters, of Deer Park, Washington. Jerry and Diana met each other when they were five years old, and married on August 26, 1967 in Childress.
After graduating with honors from CHS, Jerry took his undergraduate degree and did post-undergrad studies at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Jerry then attended medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and upon graduation moved to Portland, Oregon to complete his internship. Subsequently he returned to Galveston for his two-year residency and also did a fellowship with renowned heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey. He and Diana moved to Spokane, where he practiced Anesthesiology for 25 years before retiring from practice. In retirement he was an ombudsman for the state of Washington, assisting the elderly with medical matters.
Jerry and Diana loved the outdoors, fishing trips with the family, their annual visit to Hawaii, and saw much of the world, including Paris, France.
It is said that many doctors go into the profession because they feel a calling to help and heal and succor others, and I like to think this was the case with Jerry, as his work with the elderly after retirement would seem to indicate....
Deepest condolences to our friend Diana, and their family, and to all of Jerry's friends and colleagues....
WANDA SUE PRYOR CASIAS
November 21, 1944 - January 31, 2012
Although Wanda did not graduate in Childress with our class, she was our classmate through Childress Junior High School before moving to Amarillo with her mother, though she did spend some time with us at CHS.... Our Junior year annual has two pictures of her in our Junior Class Play (though not with our other class pictures).
Wanda and I had been fairly close (both in proximity and in friendship) until she moved after eighth grade, since she only lived a block over from my grandparents' house on Avenue D. NW. She was another of my grandmother's "adoptees" among certain of my friends. And while Wanda and I basically lost contact with each other in the years after graduation, she would always make a point of stopping to see my grandmother whenever she passed through Childress and I would hear some news of her that way, until my grandmother died in 1979. The last time I spoke with Wanda was by phone ca. 1973, not long after she had married John Casias on March 3, 1972.
I had thought about Wanda on and off over the years, and I recently just googled her name, and found an obituary and a related story which detailed her death, which saddened me tremendously.... I found that after feeling called to the ministry in May of 1980, Wanda and her husband John decided to minister to the people of Mexico, which they did for 30 years, prior to their simultaneous deaths on January 31, 2012. They were murdered in their home by someone on that day, and their bodies were found by one of their sons (one of the 10 children they left behind).
Although the news of the method and nature of Wanda's and John's deaths did bring tears for the vibrant, intelligent girl I had known so long ago, it didn't surprise me very much, because the Wanda I will remember had always been involved with care and concern for her fellows and for mankind.... She understood, as we should all understand, John Donne's words: "Never send to ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." And so I, and her other friends, must take solace in the thought that she found that "calling" ... that desire and impetus to help others ... and draw on their examples to do the good thing, the right thing, the honorable thing, as best we can....
I will end this post with more beautiful words by Hannah Szenes, which I feel are appropriate here:
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.
Blessed is the heart with the strength to stop its beating for honor's sake.
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.
May we all listen for the voice deep within us, the voice that calls us to higher service than ourselves ... and may we heed that call for the betterment of others and for this world where we now live....
)O(
