Family Newsletter

 

Hayter for January 19, 2025

  “Jill's Family Newsletter”     

            Raise your hand if you’ve got a large box or two of letters from old friends and family members stored away. I see no hands. That’s because it would be silly for you to raise your hand when no one is watching you.

            With the advent of emails, written letter writing has dwindled down to nothing. I tell you that, to tell you this—From January 1983 to December 31. 1999, my kid sister Jill maintained the “Hayter Family Newsletter.” In the first issue, she asked everyone to either call or send letters about what had been going on in their lives. She would collect all of the info and type it up on her manual typewriter. Then she’d make copies at the Post Office and mail them to each individual family. Talk about a lotta work!

            She referred to her project as, “The first and probably the last Hayter Family Newsletter.” Over 16 years, she sent us over 172 of them. The last Newsletter was an issue completed on the last week of December 1999. That was when Jill got a job and had to do a lot of typing for her new boss. But recently, Jill started emailing the old issues of her Newsletters, to help us remember the way we were.

            I now have in my possession “Issue 87” which came out on January 4, 1991. In this issue, Jill collected stories from the previous three years and gave us each a summation. In other words -- 1988 through 1990. I shall include parts of older issues in a few future articles.

           Right now I’m sharing info that I learned from the New Year Edition of 1991. I don’t remember hardly any of these events. -- In 1990, Big Al’s son Clint, hit a grand slam homerun. The kid was 12 years old and was on the All-Star baseball team. Kay and I lived in Georgetown at the time and didn’t make any of his games.

            In 1990 my big brother Dennis was awarded the Teacher of the Year trophy. He taught history and coached Junior High football. Oh, in ’90 his team won District. Word never made it to Georgetown. I only learned during one of our bi-monthly visits.

            That same year, Larry’s daughter Debra met Mickey Gilley. Again, I was unaware as well as uncaring. However, the girl was 28 at the time, so was old enough to have met Mickey at Gilley’s Night Club in Pasadena, Texas. Gilley made Pasadena almost famous, as did Coach Dennis Hayter.

            Big Al was in at least one movie and a TV series back in ’90. He was in the movie “Space Challenge”, also in a TV program called “Just for Kids.” Al must’ve been the starring celebrity of the week.

            Speaking of talent, in 1990, Dennis’ son Nalin was awarded Pasadena’s best 13-year-old bowler. I had no idea the kid could bowl. I have every confidence that his mom had something to do with him getting involved. One of those “If you don’t have something to do, I’ll give you something to do! Here, take this heavy ball that’s got three holes in it.”

And Cheryl, my niece, finished the San Antonio Marathon in three hours and 28 minutes. That time qualified her for the Boston Marathon. She never went to Boston. She either had trouble finding a sponsor or had some serious foot trouble that kept her from running. I wish you could’ve seen that girl’s feet. That’s the fifth reason I decided to never participate in long-distance running.

            Before Jill’s youngest son headed off to school, Jill hugged him and started kissing him on his face. Ethan soon yelled, “Not there, Mother!” When Jill asked why not, he said, “That’s where Aunt Kay kissed me!” The fact that I don’t remember ever kissing him, kept our relationship distant.

            In August 1988, Jill Jakob won the National Newsletter Association’s “Top Award” for her article entitled “Cheryl Aids Police.” It was published August 30. 1988 in the Family Newsletter. I’ll have to look that one up because I have no idea how my niece helped the Pasadena Police Force. Maybe she told on Big Al about lifting hubcaps. (Attempt at humor). Of course, the only times Al ever got arrested were in the movies. Few times did he get to play a good guy. Al’s too good at displaying a convincing look of bad. Of course, so did Clint Eastwood.

            The family member who provided the least information about her goings-on was my eldest sister Lynda. I wish I had taken a moment to include something about Lynda that I have included in my articles a time or two. I mentioned how Dennis and I used to wait off Spencer Street for the bus to bring Larry and Lynda home from school. Larry always hopped off the bus and hurried home, paying no attention to his two grubby kid brothers. Lynda stepped off the bus, and divided her textbooks up so that Dennis and I could each carry them to the house. It was such a big deal for us. That was back when older kids didn’t give two hoots for two snotty-nosed kids whose shorts were as dark as dirt.

Lynda was not trying to impress the kids on the bus or our family at home. She was showing her love to her two grimy little brothers standing in the dirt waiting for their lovely and kind sister to get off the bus.

            The story about Dennis and me waiting for Lynda to get off the bus didn’t appear in any of those three particular Family Newsletters. I included it in some of my articles. And, as mentioned earlier, I’ll likely find some other stories from Jill’s Family Newsletter. If you don’t have one of those, maybe you can start one. I won’t ask you to raise your hand.       

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