THIS IS SURRATTS FOUNDATION E-NOTICE 2003-11 OF NOVEMBER 1, 2003

Hello Hornets:

Here are some items that may be of interest:

1. ANNUAL CAMPAIGN CONTINUES. Thanks to the selfless generosity of the donors listed below (who range from the Class of 54 to the Class of 82), our informal annual campaign is off to a great start. The annual campaign is a great way to "give something back" to your alma mater. If you enjoy or appreciate any of the initiatives of the Foundation -- from the annual scholarships to the major events to the regular gifts to the School to these little e-Notices -- I hope you'll consider participating in the 2003 annual campaign. (A donor form is reprinted below and available for printing off the web site at www.surrattsville.org )

2. CLASS OF 83 REUNION DEADLINE. The Reunion Committee for the Class of
83 reports that the deadline to register and pay to attend the 20 year reunion has been extended. Classmates may send the registration fee by November 10 for the November 15 dinner/dance. Attendees must pay and register in advance in order to attend. Any questions may be directed to Traci DeDominicis Renner at surratts83@aol.com.

3. SCHOOL BAND INSTRUMENTS NEEDED. One important Foundation initiative this year is our attempt to acquire some much-needed instruments for the great band at Surratts. If you have an ideas about where we might find some "gently-used" (or new) band instruments, or if you have one you'd like to donate to the Foundation, please send me an email at hsmith@smithdowney.com.

4. REPLAY OF DOCUMENTARY FEATURING HORNET. As reported in the last e-Notice, the recent PBS Frontline documentary "Clear the Skies" prominently featured 2003 Foundation Achievement Award recipient Col. Bob Marr (71). This moving documentary will be re-shown on Tuesday November 4 at 8 p.m. (at least on the D.C. PBS affiliate, WETA), in case you missed its original showing and would like to tune in.

5. CLASS OF 1993 SEEKS MEMBERS. Carla Whitehead Getrouw (93) reports that the Class of 93 reunion committee is looking for classmates. Please contact Carla at cgetrouw@aol.com if you have any information on a member of the Class of 93, or any of their family members.

6. ANOTHER LINK WRAY SURRATTS CONNECTION. As reported in the last e-Notice, Rolling Stone magazine named two Surratts-connected guitarists, Link Wray and Danny Gatton, to its 100 greatest guitarists of all time list. I received this interesting email in response to that item: "Hi Henry: FYI, you mentioned Link Wray in the most recent e-Notice. His niece, Sherry Wray, graduated in Surrattsville's Class of 1968. Her father was Link's brother, Vernon Wray. Sherry has been a lifelong friend of my sister, Patricia Sanders Vaive (also Class of 68.) Take care, Kathleen (Sanders) Cianci (76)

7. HORNETS IN THE NEWS BIZ. In response to a request in the last e-Notice for info on Hornets in the news and entertainment industries, I received this nice e-mail: "Dear Henry: Great news about our entertainment winners! I am producer of the Emmy Award Winning Fox8 News in the Morning in Cleveland, Ohio, the number one morning show in Cleveland and also the number one Fox morning news program in all of the U.S.! I have won several Ohio Broadcasting awards from my time as a radio news reporter as well. I have my master's degree in broadcast journalism from Miami University of Ohio. My sister Diane Mills Peacock (85) recently embarked on a career in TV news as a graphic designer at the ABC affiliate in Lawton, Oklahoma. She is training to be a director. Best, Renee Mills DeLuca (82)"

Congratulations to these two Hornets on their successes in the news industry!

8. MORE DRIVE-IN NEWS. Proving that reports of the demise of the drive-in movie theater industry were premature, I received yet another report from a Hornet about a drive-in: "Hi Henry: We have a drive-in here in Fantastic Fayetteville, Arkansas, home of the Arkansas Razorbacks, ranked #8 in the nation. This area is the 6th fastest growing area in the country. It was also recognized as the #1 economic region in the country. With all that growth, we still have our own drive-in about two miles from our house. I'll try and send a photo or two from time to time, including the drive in! Frank Connors (70)"

9. A HORNET HOOPS INVITATION. I received this email from Todd Fong (80),
toddfong@hotmail.com: "Hello Henry: I would like to offer free tickets to our home men's basketball games here at the College of Southern MD.  Our game schedule is at www.csmd.edu. Also, if anyone would like to organize a Surrattsville night, I would be happy to supply the tickets while they last. Thanks, Todd Fong, Head Men's Basketball Coach, CSMD, 800-933-9177"

10. CLINTON, AND HORNETS, FEATURED IN WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE. I imagine many of you saw the article in the September 27 Washington Post real estate section entitled "Splendor in the Grass and a Sense of History in MD", spotlighting Clinton. Prominently featured in the lead to the article and in a nice photo was the venerable Clinton Hardware (aka Ripple Hardware), whose proprietor is Dennis Billman (71). Regular patrons of the store were quoted as saying "From the smallest screw to the big lawn mower, you can get it here, and you get personalized service," and "You get better, more personal service here than you do at the larger stores". (Take that, big box category killers!) The article contains a nice, brief history of the town of Surrattsville/Clinton, and mentions the School and B. K. Miller Meats & Liquor. There's also a nice quote from Billie Winstead (37), who related some ghost stories from the Surratt House and a story about how an older family member and her classmates voted to retain the name "Surrattsville" for the School.

11. SEARCHING FOR 72 HORNET. I received this email from Bruce Wood (70):
"Hi Henry: If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Kellie Anne Stewart (72), I'd appreciate them emailling it to me at bruce.wood@lmco.com . Also, it was nice to see the positive item on Bob Marr in the most recent e-Notice. Thanks, Bruce"

12. HORNET ARTIST'S WORK FEATURED. Twenty pieces of art work of Harry Revis (57) will be shown November 1 at the Valley Lee Firehouse in Valley Lee, MD and on November 8 and 9 at Tall Timbers Marina in Tall Timbers, MD. (The Marina serves lunch and dinner on Saturday and brunch on Sunday.) I hope some of you in the area will have a chance to see Harry's great work.

13. MERLIN VOCABULARY. I received this cute item from Leslie St. Clair (70), that might be of particular interest to those of you with some experience in Balmer: "If you've grown up or lived in Maryland for any part of your life, you'll find this hits rather close to home. The Merylin (Maryland) Dialect is spoken by a mixed population which inhabits a triangular area on the western littoral of the Chesapeake Bay, bounded roughly by a line commencing at Towson's Toyota, then westward to the Frederick Mall, thence following the western border of the cable TV franchise and the string of McDonalds' along Route 50 to the Bay. All of these lands and the natives thereof are known as the Land of Merylin. They divide it further into semi-tribal areas called Cannies (e.g.,Ballmer Canny, PeeJee Canny, Hard Canny, etc.). The dialect area is centered on a market center called Glimburny, where the people come on weekends to trade their goods. Because of the numerous words and phrases common to both Merylin dialect and modern English, linguists have long postulated that there is some kinship between the two. Speakers of Merylin dialect are all able to understand standard English from babyhood, chiefly because of their voracious appetite for television. However, they invariably refuse to speak standard English, even with outsiders who obviously are not understanding a word they say."

Sample Vocabulary

Balmer - Our city
Merylin - Our State
Arn - What you do to wrinkled clothes
Bulled Egg - An egg cooked in water
Jeet - How we say "Did you eat"?
Chest Peak - A large nearby body of water Colleyflare - A white vegetable Downey Owe Shin - Summertime destination (such as Ayshun City) Droodle Pork - Druid Hill Park Faren Gins - Red trucks that put out fires Hi Hon - How we always say "hello"
Holluntown - Highland Town
Meedjum - The grassy area between lanes of a highway Nap Lis - State of Merylin capital Ole Bay - What our crabs taste like Oreos - Not a cookie, but our baseball team Payment - That strip of cement that you walk on PohLeese - Those guys in uniform that git ya when you're speeding Share - Hot water that cleans you in the morning Flares - Such as tulips Tarred - What happens when you work too hard Warsh - What we do with dirty clothes Warshaton - The capital of our Country Warter - What we drink (can also be Wooter) Winders - Those glass things that we look out of Paramore - Power mower Brawl - Broil Sem Elem - Seven Eleven Allanic - an ocean Arnjuice - from the sunshine tree Arouwn in all directions - norf, souf, ees, and wess Aspern - what you take for headaches Bald - some people like their eggs this way Bawler - what the plumber calls your furnace Beeno - a famous railroad Calf Lick - bleevers are Protestant, Jewish, and ...
Canny - a state gubmit division, such as Anne Arundel or Prince George's Zink - what you warsh the dishes in Arsters - Can only be harvested in months with R's in them


I hope this e-Notice finds you all enjoying the kind of beautiful Autumn we've been having here!

Best regards, Henry Smith (71)


2003 FOUNDATION ANNUAL CAMPAIGN DONORS

Pat Becker Oles (71)
Henry Smith (71)
Donna Rae Sturtevant Smith (70)
Kristine Seaquist Easley-Agee (70)
Lee Pascasio (64)
Steve Profilet (71),
In memory of Doris Profilet Coral
Ann Kupfer (65)
Carol Tisdale Whitsell (64)
Richard Neilan (82)
In Memory of Charlie Waddell Homer Revis (56)
Joan Revis (61)
Eileen Johnson Ford (75)
In Memory of Charlie Waddell Anon
In Memory of Col. Francis O'Clair
Robert Kane (68) Paul Monaghan (59)
Helen Bovhjerg Niedung (54)
Edward Jaffe (65)
Scott McWhirt (71)
Michael Cassidy (87)
Jim Turner (71)
Barbara Misiewicz Bailey (63)
Carol Fite Mothershead (65)
Larry Mothershead (65)
Melissa Gilcrest (69)