June 11, 1991
Dear Bill,
Gosh, it was so nice
to get the newsletter and what a trip I took down memory lane.
Doesn’t seem that it is possible that it has
been 40 years since we all graduated from high school. I even
drug out the old annual and wasn’t too sure which one I was until I
remembered that Kathleen Spitz and I were the tallest of the gals.
Think I will start off with family history in Aruba. Dad arrived in
Aruba in September of 1939. Mom, Bob and I arrived in May of 1940.
As I recall, we arrived the day Holland was invaded on the Esso
Aruba, We lived in Lago Heights until there was a vacancy in the
colony and then moved to Bungalow 49. Lived next
to the Armstrongs. Later we moved
to Bungalow 339 and then next door to 341 where we spent many years.
We were three days out of New York going back to Aruba on December
7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Can remember Dad talking about
the Grace Line (Santa Rosa) making the trip in record time. We were
in Aruba for the duration of the war. Remember very vividly when the
lake tankers were torpoed outside the
reef and all of the other many incidents we had at that time.
Sometimes, I think that I am worse than an old soldier telling my
war stories.
Do you remember Miss Parham in the third grade and those infernal
flashcards to help us learn the multiplication
tables. Miss Olson in the fourth grade.
Had trouble with my penmanship then and I still do think Mildred
Wright was our 6th grade teacher. Will never forget Maude Thomas and
how she made us keep our fingernails short for typing. Have to
admit, she made a good typist of me. Do you remember Miss
Stadleman and all of the lines we had to
memorize from the “Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner” and how she had us
write the Iliad and Oddesy in modern
terms.
I left Aruba in
1948 and finished my last two years of high school and graduated
in Springer, New Mexico. Lived with my
cousins. Brother Bob stayed with the folks in Aruba and
graduated in 1954. How he loved softball.
Had a scholarship and went to Eastern New Mexico University in
Portales, New Mexico. Graduated with a
degree in Business. Graduated June 2, married June 4, and
started working at Clovis Air Force Base on June 6. Jim enrolled
in medical school the fall of 1955. I worked at a bank while he
was in school in Kirksville, Missouri. He did his internship in
Lamed, Kansas and then back to New Mexico we came. Socorro to be
exact and here I still am. Our daughter, Lauren Lee, was from
here in 1961.
Mom and Dad (Gladys and Frank Gladman)
retired and moved to Amarillo in 1959. That is just 365 miles
from Socorro so we had lots of family visits. We moved them over
here in 1982 and had the horrible task of having to put them
into the local nursing home. Mom passed away in 1984.
Just a little short of being 80. Dad
had been physically incapacited by a
massive stroke in 1974 and he spent the last 5½ years of his
life at Good Samaritan Village. He passed away Oct. 1988.
My husband, Jim Ruff, passed away very suddenly on March 5,
1987. 56 years old - massive heart attack.
Being a country doctor takes its toll and I guess I feel
very cheated by life. We had talked
about what we would do w—en he retired and what we would do on
our 50th wedding anniversary. Shattered
dreams. I have been the director at the Socorro Senior
Center since then and it has been good for me.
My brother Bob (3 years behind us) is a stock broker for Dean
Witter and lives in Sugarland,
Texas. Commutes in to Houston. He has
two children and two grandsons. Talked to him this morning and
he is going to the reunion in Aruba later this month. Wish I was
tagging along. Would be nice to see Aruba again and see how much
it has changed. Can’t imagine it without the
Lago refinery. Do you remember the strike when they took
a bunch of us out of school and we worked down in the refinery?
Do you
remember the old ESSO Club and the open air
movies. That was lots of fun.
Gracious, what fond memories your newsletter triggered.
My daughter moved back to Socorro two years ago. She
graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1985 and is
graduate admissions officer at New Mexico Institute of
Mining and Technology here in Socorro. It is nice to have
family in the same town.
Can’t think of anything else to rattle about at the minute
so will sign off. Am looking forward to
the next newsletter. If you folks are anywhere in the
vicinity, please stop by. Socorro is just 70 miles south of
Albuquerque and right on 1-40.
Would love to have you.
As always,
Shirley
Gladman Ruff
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