All posts by Dona

Art in the House

Memories, Musings,

A few years ago at an arts and crafts show in Washington, DC a relatively new friend who’d never been to my house asked me if I had art in my house. It was a question I was unprepared to answer and said no, except for my daughter’s paintings and drawings, we really had no other art in the house. My friend went on to tell me about the art pieces in her house but I wasn’t listening. I was thinking of the art in my house and how I should have answered the question differently.

At the time I had:

  • Jeremy’s “Dona at Stonehenge” (as well as at least three of his other paintings)
  • Robert Addison’s “Moonlit Carousel”
  • Mary Hamilton’s “Wolves Dining Out (Observed)”, and “The Invitation”

We also had various pieces of pottery and carved wooden pieces handmade by artists.

Since my friend’s question we’ve obtained (mostly as gifts) several other pieces of art created mostly by artists we know.

Every time we do receive a new painting, print, carving or piece of pottery I think back to that question, “Do you have any art in your house?” and silently say to my friend, “As a matter of fact, I do. I have a lot of art in my house.”

Note from Mary Woiwode

Memories, Things, ,

Several years ago I wrote a blog post I titled Regret. It was about regretting that I didn’t get to dance with Larry Woiwode at his sister Mary’s wedding. Mary was a student teacher in my 6th grade class and her brother came to class and discussed what it was like to be a published author. Read the original post if you want to learn more.

This post is just about the sweet note she wrote me.

Our class must have done something for her. Maybe for the wedding, maybe just as a goodbye gift. It was sweet that she sent each of us a personal note.

Finding Johnnie

Blogging, Death, Obsessions, People, , ,

Note: I wrote the following a few days ago, before I made contact with his son, Jack, who confirmed that the letters were written by his father.

When I moved my blog from self-hosted to WordPress.com many of the photos were misplaced. I’ve been going through older posts and fixing any missing photos. That’s when I happened upon the Letters from Johnnie posts again. And again I wondered what ever happened to Johnnie Gannon.

I’d searched for him shortly after finding the letters and blogging about them, and again every so often when I remembered him. I was never near successful until recently.

If you recall, in the last letter I posted (I actually found more later but never got around to posting about them), Johnnie mentioned that his tour might be extended. I don’t know if that actually happened, but he ended up making a career in the Naval Medical Service Corps, retiring as a commander.

I know this because I found his obituary. And his Find a Grave page.

He did go back to Washington, DC where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from The George Washington University. He then earned a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.

Then, believe it or not, he lived in Bethesda for a while until he retired to Beaufort, South Carolina.

He was married twice. In 1960 he married Margaret Odessa “Peggy” Pope who was born in Montgomery County, Maryland. She and Johnnie had two sons. I’m thinking he probably met her when he was working in at Bethesda Naval Hospital. (Jack confirmed that Margaret worked at the Naval hospital too, as a business analyst). Margaret died in 2001.

John then married Joyce Anna Nestle but lost her in 2003.

I searched Facebook and think I found one of his sons’ Facebook page. I just now looked again and he’s posted his parents’ graves. And they are the same graves as on Johnnie’s Find a Grave page.

John Gannon died in 2014, two years before my mom died. But he was still alive when I found and posted about the letters. I wish I could have put them in touch before they both died.