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by kate
Comments Off on People in Our Neighborhood: John Reed/Arlene Youngman
People in Our Neighborhood: John Reed/Arlene Youngman
Talk about a coincidence and fact being stranger than fiction! Here’s a true mystery about a veteran’s missing memorial marker.
(11/05/1997 Wayne County STAR by Kate Chamberlin)
When Arlene Youngman’s older brother, John K. Reed died in September of 1978, his daughters, Donna Johnville and Gail Shepter, both of Webster, wanted to have a Veteran Administration’s marker put on their father’s grave. He had been a Sargeant in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.
They ordered the brass plaque, but it didn’t arrive in time for the funeral which was handled by Murphy’s Funeral Home, Ontario with burial in the Walworth Cemetery.
As a matter of fact, it didn’t arrive at all.
They tried to contact the VA and trace down the plaque, but, to no avail.
In military parlance, that’s called SNAFU (Situation Normal: All Fouled Up).
In June, 1996, Bill Youngman and his long-time friend, Bill Suwijn, were working in the Walworth Cemetery. They are both on the Cemetery Committee and periodically work on the grounds.
“Were is John’s VA plaque?” Bill Suwijn asked, noticing there wasn’t one on John’s grave.
Bill said, “It was ordered, but never came.”
It reminded Bill that when he and his wife , Arlene, were in Clifton Springs for a funeral, they’d seen a plaque with the name John K. Reed. Maybe it was Arlene’s brother?
Bill and Arlene Youngman contacted Patrick’s Funeral Home. The funeral director explained that He’d been visiting a monument maker in Warsaw and took this one as a sample, so, people could see what they look like.
The plaque is just sent and there is no way to trace it back if it is sent to the wrong place.
It is a standard VA brass plaque with the veteran’s name, rank, branch of service, date of birth and the date of death on it.
This one read: John K. Reed, Sargeant, United States Army, July 3, 1921 – September 12, 1978.
With verifying documentation, they confirmed that it was, indeed, Arlene’s brother’s plaque.
Finally, after 18 years, John K. Reed’s grave in the Walworth Cemetery on Sherbourne Road is commemorated with a brass Veteran’s Administration memorial plaque.
Now, everyone can rest in peace.
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by kate
Comments Off on People in oOur Neighborhood: Arlene and Bill Youngman
People in oOur Neighborhood: Arlene and Bill Youngman
Arlene Reed Youngman passed away on March 5, 2012 and is now reunited with her husband, Bill, who pre-deceased her. As a tribute to them, I have re-printed my article written from an interview with Bill in August of 1995.
William J. Youngman is one of the people in our neighborhood. He was actually born in Walworth; (on February 20th) right in the house at the east end of sherburne Road. His folks rented the house until he was about one year old.
Bill has lived in Walworth his entire life. He can remember visiting the site of the original Walworth Academy with his father before they built the “new” Walworth High School. (Which, we all know, is now the Academy Apartments.
“When I went to school,” he recalled. “There wasn’t any Kindergarten. There was one teacher for the First and Second Grades, one for the Third and Fourth Grades, another the Fifth and Sixth, and another for the Seventh and Eighth Grades. Then we switched teachers for our classes in high school.”
Bill attended twelve years of school, but lacked enough English credits to actually graduate. He went into the Armed Services, instead.
He was in the Infantry (boot camp) and trained with the Air Born Glider Troops. He finished out his two-year military stint in Ordinance (distributing parts and pieces).
After the war, he worked for several months with his father doing carpentry work.
He was then hired by Todd Printers. They printed checks and business forms.
During Bill’s 40 year tenure, he saw Todd’s be bought by Burroughs; who then merged with Sperry Rand. Unisys own the company when it was sold to Standard Register. Bill retired two weeks before the sale was final.
Bill and his wife, Arlene, have lived on Center Street for 45 years. Although Arlene grew-up in Lincoln, she attended the Walworth High School. They knew of each other during school, but he didn’t REALLY meet her until she was a Senior. She was working in the Senior’s Booth at the Fireman’s Fair in Palmyra
They were married on January 4, 1947. They have four grown children: Richard, is an attorney, Karen is an Assistant Vice-President for a Rochester insurance firm, Lori is an accountant and mother of Amanda and Jennifer. Lisa is a Speech Pathologist with BOCES #1 and the mother of Holly.
One of their fun get-away activities is to go to a cabin in Canada with his brother, Gordon, and his family. The next time you see Bill, ask him about the time they got the chipmunks drunk!
Along with raising his family and being employed, Bill is active in the Walworth Lodge, a Past Commander of the American Legion Post #1710, served on the committee for the Boy Scouts of America for 5 years, bowled with the Thursday Night Mixed League for 36 years and is presently President of the Walworth Cemetery Association.
“I have a lot of information on the cemetery,” he said, dieing to talk about it. “It was established in 1852, but there are head stones in there dated 1826. It must have been a family burial place well before it was formally established as a cemetery.”
The Walworth Cemetery is located off Sherburne Road and commands quite a lovely view of the hamlet.
Funds for the maintenance of the cemetery come from a 10% fee on each purchase of a grave site. That money is put into an endowment fund. Only the interest from the endowment fund is used for up-keep.
Donations toward this end are also gratefully accepted.
I assured Bill I would dig into this issue at a later date.
In the meantime, Thanks, Bill, you are a Walworthian with the accent on WORTH.
Guide Dog Chronicles: Anticipation
Guide Dog Chronicles
Anticipation – Again
By Kate Chamberlin
“What can the dog do that you can’t do now?” A lady at church asked me.
Where should I begin? How can I explain that it isn’t just a matter of increased independent mobility to go for the mail or even the bathroom, to be able to safely return to volunteer tutoring and mentoring in the elementary school, as well as go for healing walks? a dog can break the downward spiral of depression, isolation and obesity. A dog can be the constant, uncritical companion. She’s there for you when you can’t reach out. She supplies a person’s need to be needed and sense of responsibility.
At times, being totally blind is over-whelming and quite intimidating. It requires a push to re-open doors, restore confidence and bring new love into a person’s life.
On March 19, I will begin home training with
a guide dog from the Upstate Guide Dog Association (UGDA). I feel anxious about being able to commit to another dog. My high expectations from my very successful eight years with my first dog trained at Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB), Future Grace, a 60-pound Golden Retriever are tempered by my recent emotionally devastating mismatch with my fourth GEB dog Joey, an 85-pound Black Lab. I know my new UGDA guide dog will be a smaller female, about two years old and either a Yellow or Black Lab, but I won’t know her name until we actually start training. You can bet your bippy her middle name will be Grace.
The really neat part about home training with a guide dog is that my husband will go on several walks with us and the trainer will coach him on when to speak up and when to shut up, which will bode well for the future of our marriage!
I am grateful to the many wonderful folks who have offered
me their elbow and escorted me to and fro during the past fourteen months, but there is nothing like picking up that harness and doing it myself.
When the official fourteen days of home training are over, it will take another three to six months of working together to become a true team. I still need your help. Don’t be shy about telling me if you’re holding the door open, or if we’re approaching stairs, or letting me know what is on my right or left.
Please remember that when my guide dog is wearing her harness, she is on duty and may not socialize with you. My safety depends on your not distracting her by talking, petting or feeding her even though she may give you that dole-full, pleading look.
We’re both concentrating on getting from here to there in
one piece, but if you speak up saying, “Hi, Kate.” and then your
own name, we’d love to stop for a chat.
(NOTE: A version of this essay first appeared in my weekly column: Cornucopia, 03/17/2004 Wayne County STAR Newspaper. UGDA is no longer in business.)
Third Eye
Third Eye
By Kate Chamberlin
My husband had the dubious privilege of having the latest, high-tech device scan his colon. The procedure is called a colonoscopy and the device is called a Third-Eye RetroScope.
“The Third Eye ® Retroscope® from Avantis Medical is FDA 510(k) cleared,” states their website (hit on Mar01-2012. “This new direction in colonoscopy screening for colon cancer. The only colonoscope system that delivers a continuous retrograde view of the colon to offer improved visualization. It integrates state-of-the-art technology with the gold standard colonoscope procedure by using a reinforced catheter, which is passed through the working channel of the standard colonoscope until it extends beyond its distal tip. As it emerges, the device automatically turns around 180 degrees to aim back toward the tip of the colonoscopy and the endoscopist locks it into place.
“Then, as the colonoscope is withdrawn from the colon, the Third Eye comes along with it, providing a continuous retrograde view to complement the forward
view of the colonoscope. When a lesion has been detected in the retrograde view, quick and easy removal of the Third Eye Retroscope frees up the working channel for polypectomy snare or biopsy.”
I was probably about nine-years old when Cherie Smith and I walked down to visit another friend. We found several girls in her bedroom and one in the closet. The girl in the closet was head down with her bare bottom up. A funnel had been inserted and they were pouring water into her.
Cherie and I left as fast as we could, but the phone lines must have been blistering, because when I got home my mother had a lot of questions.
A case of curious girls doing naughty things? Perhaps, but how fortunate some continued their curiosity of the human bowels and developed the colonoscope and the procedure to use it called a colonoscopy. Colonoscopy is a lot more refined that a funnel in the butt!
“It is a procedure that enables your physician to examine the lining of the colon (large bowel) for abnormalities,” states the patient fact sheet. “By inserting a flexible tube that is about the thickness of your finger into the anus and advancing it slowly into the rectum and colon.
“The colon must be completely clean for the procedure to be accurate and complete: For 4 days prior to colonoscopy, avoid all vegetables except potatoes. Avoid bran, wheat bread, fruit skins, oatmeal, and fiber supplements such as Metamucil or Citrucel.
For 4 days prior to colonoscopy, stop iron supplements (multivitamins containing iron are OK). For 4 days prior to colonoscopy, unless your doctor specifically instructs you otherwise, do not take any form of aspirin, or any type of arthritis medicine, pain medicine or headache medicine other than Tylenol. Darvon, Darvocet, Percocet, Codeine, and Prednisone are OK. If you take Coumadin: stop it 4 days (4 doses) before colonoscopy, unless otherwise instructed by your doctor. For diabetics- If you take pills for your diabetes. take ½ the usual dosage on the day of the laxative preparation and the day of the procedure. If you take insulin, stop regular insulin and take just 1/2 of the dosage of NPH (N) insulin on the day of the laxative preparation and the day of the procedure.
Take all other medications, especially heart, blood pressure, breathing, and seizure medications on your usual schedule.
The day before your colonoscopy, follow a clear liquid diet. Clear liquids are any that you can see through, such as clear soda, apple juice, Jell-O (not red), water, light tea, broth. NOT coffee, cream soups, puddings, etc.”
After reading this to me, my husband said that he could see through my Michelob Lite so it was a clear liquid and that our chips were potato; hence, I had a diet of beer and chips for four days. The time passed quite pleasantly for me!
“Step 1,” the fact sheet continued, “At 6 pm the evening before colonoscopy, take 1/2ounces of Fleet’s Phosphosoda mixed into 8 ounces of cold water. Follow this immediately with another 8-ounce glass of cold water. Wait 20 minutes, then have 8 ounces of cold water every 20 minutes until you have had an additional three 8 ounce glasses of water. (Total glasses of water = 5, including first glass with the Fleet’s phosphosoda.)
“Step 2: Repeat Step 1 about 4 hours prior to your appointed time for colonoscopy the next day.
“Watery stools, sometimes cramps, most often begins 30 minutes to 2 hours after Phosphosoda medication is taken, and usually continues for 2 to 4 hours. If you are nauseated by the first dose of medication, dilute the second dose in 12 ounces of colder water, and sip it very slowly. Follow your doctor’s instructions carefully. If you do not, the procedure may have to be canceled and repeated later.”
I was very careful to eat very little during the first four days and , then, I diluted the Fleet=s Afast@soda and experienced no discomfort. Be warned though: Stay near the bathroom. My first release was only 12-minutes after drinking the almighty liquefying potion.
“ A Colonoscopy is usually well tolerated and rarely causes much pain,” asserts the fact sheet. “There is often a feeling of pressure, bloating, or cramping at times during the procedure. Your doctor may give you medication through a vein to help you relax and better tolerate any discomfort from the procedure. You will be lying on your side or on your back while the colonoscope is advanced slowly through the large intestine. As the colonoscope is slowly withdrawn, the lining is again carefully examined. The procedure usually takes 15 to 60 minutes. In some cases, passage of the colonoscope through the entire colon to its junction with the small intestine cannot be achieved. The physician will decide if the limited examination is sufficient or if other examinations are necessary.
“If your doctor thinks an area of the bowel needs to be evaluated in greater detail, a forceps instrument is passed through the colonoscope to obtain a biopsy (a sample of the colon lining). This specimen is submitted to the pathology laboratory for analysis. If colonoscopy is being performed to identify sites of bleeding, the areas of bleeding may be controlled through the colonoscope by injecting certain medications or by coagulation (sealing off bleeding vessels with heat treatment). If polyps are found, they are generally removed. None of these additional procedures typically produce pain. Remember, the biopsies are taken for many reasons and do not necessarily mean that cancer is suspected.
“Polyps are abnormal growths from the lining of the colon which vary in size from a tiny dot to several inches. The majority of polyps are benign (noncancerous) but the doctor cannot always tell a benign from a malignant (cancerous) polyp by its outer appearance alone. For this reason, removed polyps are sent for tissue analysis. Removal of colon polyps is an important means of preventing colo-rectal cancer.
“polyps may be totally destroyed by fulguration (burning), but larger polyps are removed by a technique called snare polypectomy. The doctor passes a wire loop (snare) through the colonoscope and severs the attachment of the polyp from the intestinal wall by means of an electrical current. You should feel no pain during the polypectomy. There is a small risk that removing a polyp will cause bleeding or result in a bump to the wall of the colon, which could require emergency surgery.
After colonoscopy, your physician will explain the results to you. If you have been given medications during the procedure, someone must drive you home from the procedure because of the sedation used during the examination. Even if you feel alert after the procedure, your judgment and reflexes may be impaired by the sedation for the rest of the day, making it unsafe for you to drive or operate any machinery.
“You may have some cramping or bloating because of the air introduced into the colon during the examination. This should disappear quickly with passage of flatus (gas). Generally, you should be able to eat after leaving the endoscopy, but your doctor may restrict your diet and activities, especially after polypecto-Colonoscopy and polypectomy are generally safe when performed by physicians who have been specially trained and are experienced in these endoscopic procedures.
“One possible complication is a perforation or tear through the bowel wall that could require surgery. Bleeding may occur from the site of biopsy or polypectomy It is usually minor and stops on its own or can be controlled through the colonoscope. Rarely, blood transfusions or surgery may be required. Other potential risks include a reaction to the sedatives used and complications from heart or lung disease. Localized irritation of the vein where medications were injected may rarely cause a tender lump lasting for several weeks, but this will go away eventually. Applying hot packs or hot moist towels may help relieve discomfort.”
Well, my colonoscopy is behind me (sorry about the pun), the gas has passed, but (one “t” please) that isn’t the end of the tale (or should I say tail?).
“Although complications after colonoscopy are uncommon,” warns the fact sheet, “it is important for you to recognize early signs of any possible complication. Contact your physician who performed the colonoscopy if you notice any of the following symptoms: severe abdominal pain, fever and chills, or rectal bleeding of more than one-half cup. Bleeding can occur several days after polypectomy.”
Fortunately, gentle reader, my time has lapsed and I didn’t have any complications. I’m clean and clear and so is my husband. How about you?
If you happen to have Dr. Kaul and the nurses, Joanne and Sheila, you’ll be in good hands.
SOURCE: American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Thirteen Elm Street, Manchester, MA 0 1 944
Telephone: (508) 526-8330
Supported by a grant from Eli Lilly and Company; and, yes, yes, my own intimate knowledge of the Colonoscopy.
NOTE: A version of this article first appeared in my column “Cornucopia” on 11/14/2002 Wayne County STAR Newspaper.