Teresa Vasko
This is the hardest Christmas letter I have ever written. I pray that your New Year is filled with more joy than pain; more peace than struggles.
Glenn started the end of October by having a sudden downturn. Of the four weeks in November, I spent almost every day at the nursing home. He was in bed for days and not eating or being fed. Then, at the end of the month, I had hospice come in. He had lost 30 pounds. He started to come back and walk a little, but fell five times in a week. Now he has stabilized. He walks unsteadily in a 10-foot circle and has to be fed. There is very little response to people around him.
Then the anniversary of my sister Carol's death was on December 14th. I had a rough time getting into the Christmas spirit. I did decorate the yard and the house. I thought I had made it through when on December 27th, Angela called to say, "Sit down!." Billy was found dead December 2nd in Anchorage Alaska. He froze to death. Alcohol and drugs did him in. Angela did a lot of internet paperwork. There will be an internment in the spring in Alaska. Telling Priscella was the hardest part. I haven't mourned yet; I'm not sure now to feel.
Now the good news. Recovery from the surgery I had on November 12, 2010 has gone well and I have more energy and can do more. All four of my granddaughters are honor students. Samantha is in her second year of college. Kathryn is a junion in high school. She plays soccer and works summers at Santa Land in NH. Carrie play soccer for nine months and the other three months she plays basketball. This is Jim's last year of coaching her. Priscella is a straight A student busy with fishing and with her friends in the summer. She is becoming a talented artist. Adam is still on Martha's Vineyard cooking and running a pizza place. Angela is at the same job. Jim just started at Fairbanks Morse where Glenn's cousin, Dwayne, works.
I still have 3 dogs, 3 ferrets, one parrot, 4 finches, 3 parrotletts (miniature parrots the size of a canary) and a hedgehog.
GOD BLESS EVERYONE.
P.S. My address is the same, as well as e-mail, facebook@joanjohnson, Leesburg, FL
OBITUARIES
Billy Joe Johnson
1962-2011
Billy Joe Johnson, 49, died Dec. 2, 2011 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Born Feb. 6, 1962, in Lyndonville, VT, he graduated from Lyndon Institute in 1980. He spent three years in the Air Force and enjoyed the outdoors and people.
He is survived by a daughter, Priscella Stoltz of Seward, Alaska; parents, Glenn and Joan Johnson of Leesburg, Fla; sister, Angela Daniels and family of Waterford, VT; Uncle Harland Thompson of Long Island, NY; Aunt Teresa Vasko of Lyndonville, VT; Great Aunts Lois Cardwell of Newport, VT and Beulah Griffes of East Charleston, VT.
Services will be held in the spring at Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Anchorage Alaska.
(All the families and friends of The Gardner Newsletter extend their sympathy to Glenn and Joan Johnson, to Angela Daniels and her family, and to Priscella Stoltz and her family for their loss.)
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Things are the same. Things have changed. That's how the year has gone. Glenn is still in Arbor Village Nursing Home. He is healthy and walks around the unit a lot and then sits with his eyes closed. He mumbles and laughs at wherever he is in his mind. He doesn't know me or respond to me. The most response I have had lately was when I put a Hershey sugar-free chocolate in his mouth.
I had a cool winter for Florida; glad there wan't any snow. Had lots of mornings in the 20's and now in December we are back in the same pattern again. Glad I kept my down jacket.
I went to Vermont in June, the 4th rhough the 11th, and rented a camp on Harveys Lake. Samantha graduated from St. Johnsbury Academy, the oldest granddaughter. It was a five day event - Senior Prom Thursday - Friday - an underclassman concert, in which my middle granddaugher, Kathryn, sang in. Saturday was awards and Sam got one for drafting (which was a new fieldhouse) and there was a BBQ at camp for family and friends. Sunday was baccalaureate and Monday was the graduation. So I only had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to enjoy the lake and to kayak. I had planned on two weeks, but my sister, Carol Hinkel, was fighting cancer and I wanted to spend time with her. My brother, Harland, came up on Saturday with his wife, Eileen. First time we had been together in 14 years. Glad we did, as my sister died December 14th.
Kathryn is now a sophomore and doing well in school and sports. Boyfriends come and go. Carrie is still at Waterford grade school. She does well in school and is outstanding in any sport she does. Sam is now a freshman at Lyndon State College, working and keeping an old beat-up truck running. Angela still is part-time with the Post Office and works for a garage as a secretary. Jim is keeping the state buildings running in "St. Jay" as an electrician.
Esther and Priscella are still in Seward, Alaska. Priscella is still getting A's in school and her art skills are getting better all the time. She swims at the pool and plays with friends in the summer. She is always fishing. We don't know where Billy is; he left a year ago last July.
I had a CAT scan in December, 2009 and I needed an operation for a hiatal hernia, but it took until October to find a surgeon who could do the job. So, on November 12th I had the surgery. I am still recovering; I was on a liquid diet for a month. Now I can eat again in time for Christmas. My stomach and part of my intestines were up in my chest. I can breathe again.
I EXPECT 2011 WILL BRING GOOD THINGS FOR ALL OF US AND A HEALTHY YEAR. GOD BLESS.
Joan
jj44ocr@juno.com
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Read Joan Johnson's Christmas 2009 newsletter by clicking here.
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Click here to read Teresa and John's 2009 Christmas Newsletter.
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| Teresa and John Vasko |
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Merry ChristmasA Blessed New Year!Where is Joan this year? I am back in Leesburg, FL. I sold my boat and bought a 2/2 doublewide in Spanish Village, four miles south of Holiday, on Route 27. I am on the outer edge near lots of fields and woods. Great place to let the dogs run. I CHICKENED out. I couldn't face another winter up north. Yes, I said dogs. In February I bought off the internet a pomeranian, black male, "Little Bear." He is not training well; I thought he was dumb, but now I know he is just stubborn. I got him because Miss Pepper stopped playing and just got lazy. It worked. They play together and Little Bear enjoys the ferrets as playmates too. My zoo has grown. I still have two ferrets Cindy and now Rickey, a year old male, a rescue. Ali passed in July. My neighbor had baby parrots and now I have a green cheek conure. Then the vet's son no longer wanted his blue-tongued skink - so he joined the zoo. My Christmas present to myself is a baby albino hedgehog, Snow. All this keeps me busy and smiling. Glenn is still at Grafton and he now has a private room that is decorated in Red Sox stuff. I would move permanently to Florida but I haven't found a placement down here in Florida, so I am between both places. Glenn has his friends in the unit plus is helpful with the staff. He enjoys the farm and has a favorite cow and pig. He loves being a helper on trips to WalMart. The staff took him home to see a moose and her calf; another trip he went to some Little League games. Adam was home in October for a week, - first time in over two years. He is learning to be a chef. He cooked two meals for the family and Glenn and I. He is doing very well; I was impressed. He says he has found his niche. Sam is still busy with sports and working at a Subway. She has her license and has done well so far. She is a junior this year. She has a steady, Chris. Kathryn is in 8th grade, ready to move on to high school. She has her dress for graduation. They wear two - one gown for the ceremony and one for the after-parties. She has a steady, Mike. Carrie is busy with sports and dance. She is learning to be quite the photographer and does great in school. Priscella - Billy's daughter - is now 5 and is getting tall. She and her mom, Esther, are still in Seward and Billy is in Anchorage. Esther hopes to make home to St. Michael this summer. Priscella has become a noted native dancer. GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!! Joan Johnson
VASKO Christmas 2008 (Click on the picture to view it full-size.) |
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Merry Christmas from Teresa and John VaskoClick on the small picture below to see it full-size. |
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Merry Christmas
A Blessed New Year!
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As you know, we had been spending winter in Holiday Resort, Leesburg, FL and summers on Harvey’s Lake in West Barnet, VT. The times between Roy’s opening in the spring and cool weather in September until we left for FL, we lived at the house. Glenn’s Alzheimer’s has gotten steadily worse each year and the stress of caring for him had gotten to be a major health problem for me.
So what is new? I am in Vermont for the winter again. The house and camp at Harvey’s Lake are both sold and we are trying to sell the place in Holiday Resort. Glenn is now in a nursing home and I am living in a travel trailer on Partridge Lake, Littleton, NH. My mailing address is the same.
It was a tough decision for me, but my life vs. his care came to a head. The first month for both of us was tough. Now we are both doing well. Glenn has his own room covered in 2007 Red Sox posters. He is kept busy and gets out every day. We have all visited regularly and he loves to go out driving. He spent the whole of Thanksgiving with Angela’s family while I was in FL cleaning out the trailer down there. He loves to get cards and we go over them each week when I bring down the ferrets and dog. He has between 9 to 10 ladies waiting on him, cleaning, making his bed and keeping him busy. He has men to sit with and be with who are in the same condition as he is. A nutritionist makes him special bread, pancakes and waffles that have no wheat flour (almond or rice) and they take him out on day trips. They have “ice cream parlor day” twice a week where you make your own sundae.
Well, there was a foot of snow last Sunday and there is a lot of styrofoam insulation, so the trailer is as warm as it can be. My medical problems are being treated and I seem to have a test every other week.
Billy, Esther, and my smart and pretty granddaughter, Priscella, are doing well in Alaska. I am planning a trip to Esther’s family in St. Michael Island in the summer. Priscella is in kindergarten and doing very well. She is outsmarting her folks already!
Angela is now a postal worker doing rural route subbing as well as inside work. Jim is still with Lydall as head master electrician. Adam is in Martha’s Vineyard on his own. He works part time at a grocery store and as a ferry worker helping to pilot the ferry. Samantha is a sophomore at St. Johnsbury Academy and gets honors regularly. She does basketball and soccer and she is busy with friends. Kathryn is getting to be the tallest of the girls and she is into sports and just being a girl, like her sister. She is into guns and has just received my old 4-10. She is her dad’s sportsman. Carrie is still the BOSS! She has slimmed down and is growing. She does all the sports, including wrestling against the boys. She came in third at the state meet this spring. I look forward to seeing her wrestle.
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the little gifts God puts around us. I especially like watching the ice come into the lake. The hooded merganser left the day before so I should have known it would happen. It happened in a blink of an eye and it was so clear that it was like someone had put a sheet of glass over the whole lake.
God bless you all!
Joan and Glenn
Ali (our 7-year old ferret), Cindy, now a year, and Miss Pepper, the dog
Glenn A. Johnson
Meadow 101a
Grafton County Nursing Home
3855 Dartmouth College Highway
N. Haverhill, NH 03774
Joan Johnson
P.O. Box 207
Lyndon, VT 05849
(603) 444-2124
The lost
Round Robin returns home!
Lyndonville, VT
Dear Round Robin Readers,
Thanks for including me in the loop. I enjoyed reading the letters - and the timing is perfect. WE have our first teachers' meeting of the year tomorrow, so I'll answer them now before I get too busy. This is the first time in 36 years of teaching that I have been anxious for school to start. The sooner it starts, the sooner it will be over. This is my last year in the classroom. Yeah!!
Irene, the pictures of the wedding are lovely. She is a beautiful bride. Looks like it was a beautiful day. Kids - our daughter and her "significant other" bought a house. I wish she would marry him. They live outside of Oakland, CA (San Leandro) so we don't see them often. Aren't weddings great, Dixie? Wish my kids would try it. JJ also lives in California - in Napa.
Missed getting a Christmas card from Clayton. I am glad that you are OK. I called an older teacher once and started by asking her how she was. "Do you want an organ recital," she asked? It is what happens when we age. I had cataract surgery on both eyes this year. I guess that just verifies that I am a "Gardner" girl, right, Ruth?
So nice to see you this summer, Lois. I have had a great vacation. As Cynthia says, "Have a great summer because next year it will just be summer." Guess that means no vacation, or every day is a vacation.
You are always so busy, Beulah, when do you retire? You were away when I headed up north to visit. Maybe I'll see you next time.
Raymond, did you hear that the Pope had the bird flu? He got it from a Cardinal.
My prayers are with you and your siblings, Adele. It is very difficult, but you will never forget the help you have to your mom. I visited by brother a couple of times this summer, and he is progressing slowly with the disease.
So that's our update on life. Thanks again for including me. What about one for Elinor's children!?
Love to all,
Teresa
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Click on the image to read Teresa's card.
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In her card, Teresa writes ... Our young were both home this year. Cynthia came from California for Fall Foliage in October and brought Will for us to meet. Maybe when I retire, we'll go out there for a visit. The highlight of my year was that I was tested and "do not" have Alzheimers. It doesn't mean that I won't get it when I'm 80, but what a load lifted from my mind. I still have my memories. Our present to ourselves is a new computer. John kept the old printer working for over 8 years. He's spending a lot of his time getting the new thing up and working. I am thankful that he got all of my print shop stuff transferred in time for me to make this card. Love, John & Teresa Vasko |
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Here is a letter of appreciation for the newsletter from Gardner cousin, Teresa Vasko.August 29, 2005 Paul, I really appreciate the Gardner Newsletter and all you do to get it to us. Not into writing now, but thought you might use this old picture I found. It was actually labeled: "Homer, Clayton Gardner at West Hartford after load of furniture." Teresa Vasko |
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Christmas, 2004
Our kids are in California and we are here in Vermont. I'm still teaching and John is working on the rental properties and we spend time with our adopted grandkids (tenants).
Christmas, 2003
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Cynthia, JJ, Teresa and John Vasko (Click on the thumbnail to see picture full size.) |
Things are the same here! That's good! The kids are in California. Cynthia was here last Christmas and JJ was home for awhile in the spring. The real news is that we traveled to visit them this summer. We were gone for a month and saw sights we'd only read and dreamed about. If pictures are worth a thousand words, this may be one of our longest Christmas letters. Looking forward to the holiday season and hearing from you. These pictures are the real us! Maybe during vacation - I do plan to write something for the newsletter. Teresa and John |
John, Cynthia, Teresa and JJ Vasko (Click on the thumbnail to see picture full size.) |
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Christmas, 2002 Merry Christmas to all! Do you recognize your Christmas card from last year? Definitely into recycling here. Only news here is that Dad passed away on the 12th of June, which was Cynthia's 25th birthday. It was time, but a hard thing, as some of you know, to have both parents gone. Both kids came home for the funeral. It was great to see them. JJ is with us now on a break before he goes to Spain for a couple of months. He and John put a new roof on the house. We are all busy. I am still teaching for a few more years. We will be alone this Christmas for the first time in our 34-year marriage. Love, John and Teresa Vasko |
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I pray that you have a wonderful Christmas. We are looking forward to Cynthia being home. It will make the holidays special. I spent eight days in California in February with her. What fun! We will be with JJ in western New Jersey for Thanksgiving. Raylene and Mike Ludgate are having us stay with them. That will be very nice. Its a good thing we have kids who moved away so we have some place to go. Dad is physically well, but stays in bed as much as he can. He does not know me, but loves to have visitors. I walk out to visit twice a week. I remember helping my mother write her Christmas letter ... it's hard for there is no much news. Things are the same, and that's a good thing. I read that Christmas cards are junk mail from people you know. Hope this one brightens your day. Love, Teresa and John Vasko |
Gardner Newsletter: George Bush touted “education reform” as a major theme during his candidacy for the presidency. His father, ex-President Bush, was known as the “Education President.” Do you think the politicizing of education really makes for better schools and has any impact on the quality of education our young people receive? Please state your case, yes or no
Teresa: I’m not politically active … too busy correcting papers.
IKE monies have paid for several trips to math conferences where I have felt very professional and received wonderful new ideas for teaching.
Locally, the Vermont legislature instituted portfolios. It’s a good idea that is extremely expensive and time consuming.
The bottom line is what happens in the homes and classroom. Politics does not directly affect these things.
Gardner Newsletter: Please make a “wish list” of five (5) things you would like to happen that would make for better schools and students. You may start each sentence with, “I wish …."
Teresa: I WISH … parents who give birth would really want and love their children.
I WISH …teachers got more respect.
I WISH … class sizes were smaller. (I have classes of 16 this year. It’s much easier than the normal 25+.)
I WISH … All people knew how much God loves them.
I WISH … and, of course, we could use more money.
Gardner Newsletter:
What do you think are some of the most disturbing
developments in the field of education that plague teachers in this modern era?
How can we fix them?
Teresa: The lack of parenting has such an effect on the student’s ability to learn. Many of my students are so undisciplined and unfocused that educating them is almost impossible.
We need to, somehow, strengthen the American family.
Gardner Newsletter: If you had just one piece of advice you could pass on to one who has just received his/her teaching credential, what would it be?
Teresa: Be honest, with yourself and with you students. Kids spot phonies quicker than we adults do. Love the unlovable.
If you go into education for the rewards, you will be disappointed.
(Editor’s Note: Remember Uncle Clayton’s words in the very first issue of the newsletter? “One should not go into teaching unless they are willing to work hard and accept the idea that helping young people to grow into healthey and informed adults is more important than earning lots of money. If you want to make lots of money, become a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, or a Bill Gates.”)
Years ago, I went to a chain store to buy a certain doll. My daughter wanted one. They were on sale and I rushed right after school on the first day of the sale to purchase it. The dolls were all sold out and the sales girl laughed when she told me they had all been sold by 10:00 a.m. I wanted to speak to the manager, but they gave me a phone number to call with my complaint.
All the way home, I prepared my speech to give to this person. She was the nicest person I have ever spoken with on the phone and she diffused my anger. When she finished I said, “I can’t be the only person who is upset by the unavailability of this sale item.” Her response was, “For every irate phone call we get, we know there are 100 dissatisfied customers.”
Well, I have turned that around; and I say, for every positive comment I receive about my professional life, I feel there are 100 others who feel the same way, but don’t bother to say so. It’s helped me a lot!
Gardner Newsletter:
How about a few tips on how parents can become involved in
their children’s education without becoming adversaries?
Should parents treat school administrative personnel differently than
teachers? If yes, why?
If no, why not?
Teresa: Second part first …. All people should be treated with respect (easier said than done). We all do our best; at times it may not be good enough, but it is the best we can do at that time.
My favorite saying on this topic is … “Instant availability without continuous presence is probably the best role a parent can play.”
Gardner Newsletter: Please recall one of your favorite classroom anecdotes that you regard as a “highlight” of your career. It would be nice if it could be something that happened during the “Holiday Season."
Teresa: I taught our minister’s son in the 7th and 8th grade. It was during Christmas vacation that he took an IQ test in the Reader’s Digest and he scored really well. He told his mom, “Mrs. Vasko taught me to look for the tricks in things.” I think it’s the best compliment I have received on my teaching.
Gardner Newsletter: Please list your background and teaching experience and anything else you may wish to pass on.
Teresa: Lyndon Institute, Vermont – 1959 – 1963
Hanover High School, Hanover, MA – 1967-1969
Turtle Creek Middle School, PA – 1969-1971
Lyndon Schools – 1973 – Present.
Teaching has been a wonderful career. My best years were when I had my own son and daughter in class. I knew all of the kids.
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