Denny was up before me. Now that's unusual. He said his legs/back was hurting. I told him it has gotten worse since he went to the doctor on Thursday. :) He went back to bed for a while. We did nothing all day ... and we did not start that until after noon. :) But 2 major things did get done. I did finish the letter to the Gamma Phis. I sent it to Jeanne and Jan. We took naps ... Uffta! I slept under a blanket, a down quilt, and a quilt made by Jean ... and my toes were still cold when I got up. Darn Winter. Then Jensens came over and started to work in the CSA barn. Boy, did they get a lot done! After they took a big load to the trash hole, Denny and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the blizzard out the sun room windows and looking at pictures of Texas, etc. Boy, did we have fun in Texas! We got/sent a couple of texts to people who spent time with us there. Seemed pretty crazy ... watching the snow ... in a room filled with 1100 plug flower plants and 25 dahlia bulbs just waiting to go in the ground ... and a fake fire place/heater ... watching a film clip of the waves pounding the shore at Boca Chica Beach ... and looking at happy pictures/memories. Nice day. We got a call, no church tomorrow. Blizzard. But we did not have a skier go down the street in front of us in downtown Minneapolis like our Minnesota kids. :)
This is the story I hope to share with Gamma Phi Beta gals that are meeting October 5&6 to celebrate 100 years that GPB sorority been at ISU.
April 2018
Dear Gamma Phi Beta sisters,
Can it be possible that 45 years have passed since our days at
ISU? It seems as though my life “fast forwards” in the time it takes me
to stand and slowly turn my body around in a circle. I am looking forward
to seeing many connections when the Gamma Phi Beta gals get together Oct. 5 and
6. I want to encourage you with a true story of how our GPB lives have
intertwined.
There were many sisters in the Gamma Phi house at the time I was
at ISU, but I kept in contact with only a few after graduating in 1973.
Perhaps, that will make our gathering in Ames even better because I have no
clue what the majority of you have been doing. I am looking forward to sharing
and spending time together where I can catch up on your lives.
After I graduated, Denny
Johnson and I got married. We lived for 2 years in Winterset, next we
lived 2 years near Decorah, and then we moved to Ida Grove, Iowa in 1978.
Northwest Iowa is a great place and at that time I put Jan (Fisher) Cook on my
Christmas card list. She lived in Cherokee which is only about 40 miles from
Ida Grove and I had hopes of keeping in touch and possible making NW Iowa / ISU
connections. We started exchanging Christmas greetings that
included pictures. Very infrequently our paths would cross; I saw her at a Cherokee
high school track meet where my child was running, and she just happened to
stop by the track. I saw her at a basketball tournament game that our school
played at the Cherokee High School. It was a treat when it happened.
Every year in December the picture of her family was taped on our refrigerator
with the other Christmas cards. It was fun to see our families grow.
Fast forward life. Our oldest son graduated from
Northwestern in Orange City. Our next daughter graduated from Central in Pella.
We had our second son graduate from our alma mater ISU. :) Then our baby
daughter, Mandy, got her RN BSN from University of Iowa. :( Oh, my! Four kids, four different colleges and one of the colleges was Iowa. :( Just kidding.
Well, like many Midwest youth as they grow up, Mandy was thrilled
to get a “Living the Dream” job in Colorado. She moved to Denver to be an
RN in Neuro-Intensive Care at University of Colorado hospital in 2008. She
loved the city, the activities, the mountains, and the fact that Midwestern
young adults gathered to watch the Hawks/Cyclones/Huskers/etc. play football or
basketball on big screens. She met lots of young professionals that
were eager to have fun. They gathered to hang out and camp in the mountains.
One camping trip the Midwesterners carpooled and the guys who were giving Mandy
a ride had to wait a long time for
her. When the guys saw her stash of camping gear in the back of her Honda, they
knew the wait was worth it: volleyball net, camp stove, big cooler, frisbees,
12-person tent, power generator, fold up table, baseball bases, balls, air
mattresses, etc. She was ready for anything.
Fast forward life. One night in September 2010 Mandy called
to say she was on her way to a benefit for disadvantaged youth in Denver with a
lawyer who grew up in Cherokee, Iowa. His father was a lawyer in
Cherokee.
I asked, “What does his mom
do?”
Mandy asked him and then
replied, “His mom is a Speech/English teacher.”
I said, “Oh, you are going
with Jason Cook. His mom and I went to college together. We were in the
same sorority. His picture has been on our refrigerator every Christmas
since before you were born. Please ask Jason to text his mom, Jan, and tell her
“Hi from Faith.” Isn’t life interesting? Who would have thought
that my daughter would meet Jan’s son 1000 miles west of Iowa?
One year later Mandy and Jason decided to come
to the ISU / U of I football game September 10, 2011 in Ames. This is a quote
from my blog: The picture is of the Cooks and the Johnson's.
Jan and I were college sorority sisters. Mandy met Jason out in Denver and they
have done a lot of things together. So, when they decided to come to the big
game we got an invite to the Cook's tailgate before the game. Small world.
Two years later September 9, 2013 we took a picture from the Rival
Football game. Mandy gave Jason the duo
bike after they had gotten engaged.
Jason was thrilled with the camping gear that Mandy brought to the
marriage … as thrilled as he had been when they first met on that camping trip
in Colorado. In October 2014 they relocated in Cherokee. Jason had a
tough job interview with his dad and two uncles, but he got the attorney job
and Miranda (Mandy) Cook is now a nurse practitioner. There are two happy
Gamma Phi Beta alums in NW Iowa. First
of all, our kids got married and are living close to us. Secondly, as of July 2017, Jan and I were
especially thrilled when our grandson Jack was born.
“We’re sisters ever true, Friendship
for me and you,
A love that will not falter as the
years go by”
Here’s to looking forward to GP
100!
Faith (Newhouse) Johnson
Omega Chapter Iowa State
University 1973
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