Alumni Banquet, Visiting Sandy Pond

A good meal with old friends - brother Pete still likes to sport the long hair...

Dad's boat - now it's my turn to take care of her.

Front: John Didden, Stephen Kappesser.

Back: Carol (Hilliker) Didden, Barb Clark, Dee (Miles) Yerdon, Roxanne (Janacek) Ferguson.

We recently visited old friends and family at Sandy Pond and surrounding area. I hadn't been there since 2005, after my Dad, Ed (Kap) Kappesser passed away.

Sorry to say it's been a hard 4 years for us since - Yahweh dragged us through the Valley and now we are MUCH stronger for it:

In 2006 Barb had to defeat breast cancer. I prayed I wouldn't lose her for I then would need to crawl into a hole and die.

It was a true blessing to be a short drive from Johns Hopkins Hospital, which is the best in existance (ask any doctor).

Barb endured a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation. She volunteered for a clinical trial in which they administered chemo and radiation simultaneously - a one-two punch. The doctors report that it is very successful so far - hundreds of women have benefitted from this treatment.

My Lord and our wonderful church family and friends (especially at Towne Baptist Church) pulled us through that deep, dark valley with many acts of raw unconditional love and kindness and even more prayers...Barb is still cancer-free.

At the same time Barb was sick, our young daughter Sherry got mixed up with some thugs and found herself in very serious trouble with the law, facing 10 years in prison for armed robbery. THAT was a nightmare. We prayed and asked all who we knew to pray...

The assistant States Attorney recognized the situation with Sherry so she convinced the Judge to have mercy - - so she did 30 days in the slammer and 2 years probation. Again, the prayers of many prompted our Lord to help Sherry. She's OK now - all that's in her past.

2007: I tore up my shoulder lifting a concrete slab building our raised-bed garden. I had to endure rotator-cuff repair surgery. Luckily the orthopeadic shoulder surgeon for the Baltimore Orioles baseball team (and Director of Shoulder Orthopeadics at Johns Hopkins) Dr. Steven Petersen, agreed to repair the shoulder. He's a good man...talk about answers to prayer. It's great to witness a guy who knows what he is doing. I was on disability for 12 weeks and it took 10 months for the pain to go away (Thanksgiving morning it disappeared!). I am still doing physical therapy. It's strong and getting stronger now.

This year God has blessed us with vigor, resources, time, and joy so we decided to finally visit the Pond again.

My siblings Kip and Amy are going through somewhat hard times now so I urged them to pray and their hard times will pass. I'd give them money but that would accomplish nothing. We all have our valleys.

June 26th Barb and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary at Sandy Pond. If you had told me 27 years ago that I'd be celebrating our wedding anniversary, I would have spit in your eye. Back then, anniversaries were for geezers. Not anymore.

The annual Sandy Creek Central School Alumni Banquet happened to occur on June 26th, so we hopped in the fambly truckster and whisked ourselves northward to attend.

We got to take a tour of the SCCS campus thanks to some fellow National Honor Society youngsters, and then enjoy the banquet among a few of my classmates from 1972: Dee (Miles) Yerdon, Roxy (Janacek) Ferguson, John Didden, Carol (Hilliker) Didden, Barb Clark, and my younger brother Pete.

Also chatted with Mama-Sue Bitz and said hello to Dr. Patty Ledden as they were inducted on SCCS' "Wall of Distinction". I have deep respect and love for Sue - she has a big heart and a keen mind.

They let me say the opening prayer for the banquet and to my surprise I didn't choke up.

I kept the prayer was short and solid - hitting at the heart of my Faith.

I prayed in the name of MY Saviour, Jesus Christ - an oh my gosh I said His name out loud at a sanctioned public school event. (So what are they gonna do, take away my birthday?)

Not a problem at SCCS - people there recognize and respect The Faith.

A couple of people complimented me on the prayer later - Christian brothers and sisters are everywhere -!

We stayed at the Acutec Lodge (it's a big cottage) on Sandy Pond's waterfront next to Jo Maas' home. My old friend Rob Smith's company owns this pretty place and he was drumming up business in Paris with his wife Nancy at the annual international air show so the cottage was ours for the weekend - thanks so much Rob and Nancy!

It is a beautiful place to stay...and of course we did not touch one drop of all the wine stored there (probably enough to stock a cruise ship...?)

Not that it's a bad thing to have a unique selection of the grape.

I visited with my old friends Jo, Brenda, Dan, and Pam Maas, who were throwing a graduation party for their progeny on the shore next door. I discovered that Brenda's daughter Alyssa can sing like a bird strummin' her guitar - keep rehearsing, girl. She sang many of my old favorites by Crosby Stills Nash and Young. I got to sing harmony on one tune...

Saturday morning I took a trip to the other shore and discovered my former crony and partner in mischeif Johnny McClellan drinking coffee on his patio at 6am. I hadn't seen Johnny for 27 years...we caught up for an hour and it was like no time had passed at all.

These people mean a lot to me and it was great to catch up a little.

The trailer I brought to pick up Dad's old boat was inadequate so we towed nothing home - laughing about our new "invisible" stealth boat...
I'll pick up the boat later - looking forward to making her seaworthy again.

I took photo opportunities all over: Wigwam Hotel, Sandy Island Beach, Greene Point, Seber Shores, Sandy Creek, Pulaski, Smartville, Wheat Hill at sunrise, Little John Preserve, and Greenboro. These were all my favorite places - home of many fond memories and friends ...wish you were there...

I'll post photos later...

WE'RE VISITING SANDY POND THIS WEEKEND

We haven't visited Sandy Pond in 4 years. We are going to this coming weekend.

We will be attending Sandy Creek Central School's annual alumni banquet on Friday, and visiting several friends on Saturday.

I'd like to take Barb dancing somewhere Fri & Sat nights but I don't know where there is live country music or classic rock these days.

She loves to dance.
And I like dancing with her - especially the slow dances.

Also, staying at Acutec Lodge on water's edge (next the Jo Maas's home). That is a special treat. My old friend Rob Smith let me have it for the weekend. Rob's a good man - - even though he's a Steelers fan. HA!HA!

Hope there's a coffee maker there, because I don't want to waste a lot of time sleeping.

CARPE DIEM...

Pain Burns Away Fear...

From: Charlene Cole

To: skappesser@hotmail.com

Subject: July 18, 1968

Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 19:26:15 -0400

Hi, found the clipping and will attach it. This copy will be better than getting it off a microfilm reader.

Charlene

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From: skappesser@hotmail.com

To: ory67kool1@hotmail.com

Subject: RE: July 18, 1968

Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:47:22 -0400
.

Thank you so much Charlene! I did not expect this - it is a very pleasant surprise today.

The news story erred in that we finished (not started) our swim at Scotty's Boat Livery (later after Scotty Hayward passed on that livery became Kappy's Boats - there's Sandy Pond Memories BLOG posting about that).

We started the swim along the opposite shore due east, where the "Ghost Channel" appeared one year (see that Sandy Pond Memories BLOG posting too).

Let me tell you what the story doesn't say.

The news story doesn't say that I was coached intensely by my older brother Kip all the way across the Pond.

Kip was in Dad's boat as a safety observer. (We might have been kids but we weren't stupid.)

The story doesn't say that I was no athlete and skinny as a rail so after about a half an hour of swimming my arms started cramping in a big way. I wanted to stop. I had to stop... I could barely stay afloat much less propel myself towards the goal. Fear manifested itself.

The story doesn't say that Kip yelled and cajoled me from the boat, saying anything to motivate me to ignore the cramps and keep going. (Some of it was nasty and I cannot repeat it to a lady).

Of course I kept going somehow and finished the thing. I will never forget that grueling swim that day - probably one of the hardest things I had done up to that point... It took about 2 weeks for my arms to feel normal again.

The 3 boys in my company were summer friends whose families had summer cottages on the Pond.

Mickey Matvyak, Michael Savage, and Bill O'Connor were more athletic than I and recovered much quicker.

After this little trial, I consciously put on some muscle by working out during the year that followed.Funny thing is that I believe I could do it now, 41 years later, thanks to the Navy survival training, a lot of swimming experience, and better upper body strength... It was so nice of you to research this for me.

Thanks again!

Best Regards,

Steve

Stephen Kappesser

WEBLOGS:http://sandypondmemories.blogspot.com/
AND
http://grandpastephenspage.blogspot.com/

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under Heaven... Ecclesiates 3:1

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From: Charlene Cole

To: skappesser@hotmail.com

Subject: RE: July 18, 1968

Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:34:17 -0400

You are so welcome....It was much easier to locate in the newspaper collection at the History Center than on a microfilm reader. Can I print "the" story and "your" story in my column? Did you go to school with Jack Parker? He just died. Charlene

From: skappesser@hotmail.com
To: Charlene Cole
Subject: RE: July 18, 1968
Date: Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:08:37 -0400

Hi Charlene- You are so gracious for asking my permission - - of course you include the story in your column - a "blast from the past" so to speak, but since I moved away from Sandy Pond so very long ago (1980) when I entered the Navy, and I've only visited a few dozen times since, there's a good chance that I have faded from the collective memory of Sandy Creek / Sandy Pond.
... There is a story from the 50s that was in one of the Syracuse papers. My Dad Ed Kappesser was a Trooper in those days and he investigated a freak accident. Apparently a military aircraft was engaged in live-fire target practice on the Lake and a few rounds from its weapons landed in a cottage on the shore. Thank God nobody was hurt but it was a big story there for a while. The newspaper interviewed my Dad and I remember Mom saying he was even on TV - which was a real big deal in the 50's.

Gotta go - plenty to take care of, even on Father's Day!
God Bless,
Steve


RE: July 18, 1968‏
From:
Charlene Cole
Sent:
Mon 6/22/09 12:25 PM
To:
Steve Kappesser (skappesser@hotmail.com)

The Alumni community remembers you and I am sure many others. My readers like to read about people from the area. If you find that story at the library and need a better copy let me know.

Charlene