Published: November 23, 2005 10:16 am

PAT SMITH: Updates from our friends, wherever they may be

It’s always a pleasure to report what some of our young people, current or former residents, are doing. One has been recognized in a book, another was honored for leadership, another has been promoted and the last is a comment from a reader about a young man I wrote about a few weeks ago.

I can report that the book edited by Cheryl (Schroeder) Hosmer, former resident of our county and daughter of Betty Schroeder, is in print. The title of the book is Steve McQueen - Portrait of an American Rebel Revised and Updated. The author is Marshall Terrill and the publishing company is Plexus Publishing Limited in London.

Cheryl said it’s pretty exciting. She edited the foreword and last chapter "The Tao of Steve." The credit given to Cheryl reads: "Friend and grammatical guru Cheryl Hosmer did a fantastic job in her role editing the new foreword and end chapter in record time."

Cheryl was also interviewed for Brette McWhorter Sember’s book titled Your Plus-Size Pregnancy and is quoted quite extensively. You can find the book on Amazon.com or at Barnes and Noble and also on Sember’s website: www.YourPlusSizePregnancy.com. I look forward to seeing what Cheryl’s next project will be.

*Two weeks ago 20 young professionals from the Portland/Vancouver Metro Area were honored by their community for leadership and service. They received the "Accomplished and Under 40" Leadership Award from the Vancouver Business Journal. One of those young people was former resident Greg Shine, MA Chief Ranger of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site & Vancouver National Historic Reserve.

The gentlemen who nominated Greg suggested that the community liked his work on special events and history, including the WW II event (America’s Celebrate Freedom Salute: 60th WW II Commemoration) that took place from Aug. 26-28 at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. Greg said, " The WW2 event went splendidly and was an amazing experience. My biggest thrill was meeting Robert Maxwell, the Congressional Medal of Honor Award recipient." I can only imagine how Greg felt when meeting Maxwell who, on Sept 7, 1944, saved the lives of three soldiers. Sally and Bill Robbins are Greg’s parents.

The 60th World War II Commemoration at Vancouver was unique in that military and homefront veterans, families and friends were there. We are lucky that there are still veterans of WW II around so we can let them know how much we appreciate what they did. As Chief Ranger of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and Vancouver National Historic Reserve Greg served as the National Park Service lead. It was the largest such commemoration. You can find information on what took place at the event's website at /www.americassalute.org/app.

By the way, Greg had read the first of the two columns about Barton Mitchell and the Lost Papers of General Lee. He said he remembers Mr. Harry Risher talking to the class about it when he was in the 8th grade history class. He said he remembers the historic sign in downtown Hartsville that told the story of Mitchell. That’s an example of how much good influence a teacher can have on a student. I suspect that Harry inspired many of our young people.

*You may remember JK Murphy, reporter then editor of the Daily News. Thanks to Norm Voiles I learned that JK has been named publisher of the Gwinnett Daily Post (NE of Atlanta). JK wrote in an email to me that he has many fond memories of Greensburg, the Daily News and the people of Decatur County. He and Pam (Simmermeyer) visit Pam’s family here occasionally. I knew JK before he and Pam married and was delighted to hear about their kids. He wrote, "Rachel got her masters last spring and works as a clinical psychologist in Indianapolis. Amanda is in her senior year at West Georgia University. She is going to be a teacher. Patrick is a freshman at Gwinnett State College. Pam is director of a day care. They have about 250 kids each day."

*After reading the column about Phil Clark, son of Larry Clark, Clarksburg’s George Morgan wrote that he worked with Phil’s father for a number of years at H&M Tool and Die. "I mention him by name in my morning prayers every day because of what he means to me. He is one of the most inspiring young people I’ve met in my life. While still working with his father Larry, I loaned Phillip my trumpet so that he could start taking trumpet lessons at school, and join the band. He FAR exceeded anyone's concept of how much dedication he would put into learning the instrument. His senior picture from school is with an American Flag in it.



HHH

Daily News columnist Pat Smith can be reached via e-mail: pat.smith@seidata.com