Editor, Times-Union: We also agree with the letter (June 5) about the Warsaw School system losing a very special teacher. We were honored that both of our daughters had Charles Hunter as a sixth grade teacher at Lincoln School. He was a tough teacher, but that only makes students at that hard age better prepared students for middle school.
We as parents thank you for your loving and caring spirit, but most of all, your Christian testimony. We are proud to call you our friend.
Don and Lucinda Conley Warsaw
Awards Program
Editor, Times-Union: Lakeview auditorium was the scene May 28 for the 2002 Senior Academic and Scholarship Awards Program for the graduating class of Warsaw Community High School. This program does not just happen in isolation. We would like to thank all the community organizations that so generously donate scholarship funds to these students. Committees spend hours reading over thousands of applications to make dreams of future education come true for students in our community. The Kosciusko County Foundation does a superb job of coordinating all the various trusts they administer as do Lake City Bank and National City Bank. Service clubs across the county do fund-raising and promotions to fund their scholarships.
We also would like to recognize the families and mentors of the 200+ students who were honored. They have been the cheerleaders, coaches, disciplinarians and encouragers of these fine young men and women. The staff and faculty of our school have encouraged a hunger for knowledge and provided the tools for these students to become lifelong learners. Finally, we would like to recognize the students themselves. They have put education first and rewritten, studied and then studied some more to attain their goals. We all wish them success as they leave their high school experience and stand beside us as productive members of our community.
Diane L. Quance, Awards Program Coordinator
Warsaw Community High School
No Presley Coin
Editor, Times-Union: Later this summer Elvis Presley fans will be commemorating the 25th anniversary of his death (1977). In the meantime, I just saw an ad in a current magazine, which states, "Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, joins presidents on U.S. coinage." Now, do you mean to tell me that Elvis Presley, a "Rock and Roller," should go down in history along with such great immortals as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, FDR, etc.? Come, now!
In the first place I, for one, hate cults. They are unhealthy and irreverent, and sometimes cause individuals to lose their heads over - well, call it idolatry; furthermore, all of that god-like worship that has been going on for years regarding Elvis is a cult. There have been worshipful women who have lit candles at Elvis' graveside as though they were paying tribute to a "supreme being." In other words, so many Elvis devotees seem to think that Elvis was someone equal to God, but he just simply was not, and that's the honest, shocking truth.
In case we have forgotten, two other great stars of the silver screen passed on 25 years ago (1977) - Bing Crosby and Joan Crawford, and I've never heard of anyone burning a candle "in holy reverence" over their graves (although after having read Christina Crawford's scathing book about her mother, "Mommie Dearest," I expect that some Joan Crawford enemies would like to burn a fiery cross at her graveside).
Now, I just want to make it clear that I am not an enemy of Elvis Presley. To me, he was a terrific entertainer, and a kind, warm, gracious human being who was good to his fans, and who didn't have a conceited bone in his body. I knew a lady who told me that during the '60s, she visited her son in Washington during the time the World's Fair was held there. She was standing on the fairground watching a long line of people who were moving forward toward some far object that she could neither see nor have knowledge of. So, she joined the line and moved forward toward whatever the crowd happened to be headed for to discover that at the end of the line further up stood Elvis, receiving and shaking hands with all those hundreds of people.
Yes, Elvis Presley was a grand entertainer and a kind, gracious human being, but he was not God; furthermore, I'm certain that if he were alive today he would be the very first to admit to that fact.
Don Kaiser Warsaw
Tootsie Roll Drive Success
Editor, Times-Union: I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who made this year's Tootsie Roll drive a success. Because of the generosity of the Warsaw community and the hard work of all the volunteers, it was an all-time record. You continue to make Warsaw No. 1 in the state of Indiana for funds raised in this drive. We have presented Cardinal Center and Special Olympics with over $87,000 in the past five years.
We apologize to all persons who were delayed while we collected on those two days in May, and thank you for your understanding of this important project. Without your generosity Cardinal Center and Special Olympics could not offer all the services to those who need it in Kosciusko County.
Again, thanks and many blessings to all who helped and donated.
Paul DeLaMater Warsaw Knights of Columbus 4511
War Memories
Editor, Times-Union: I know that Memorial Day of 2002 is now history, but I can't let go of it without sharing with your readers the closing paragraph of my Elkhart friend, Francis Trotter, from his WWII memoirs, "Rumblings of the Thunderbird." In it he says:
"These memories of combat situations we have written, not to glorify war in any way. These painful things we recall to remind each of us of the cost of freedom. And to help us remember the sacrifices so many - whose names we will never know - made to preserve your freedoms and mine. May we all make an effort to appreciate and keep what came to us at such a cost! We can lose our freedoms! It almost happened to all of Europe in my lifetime. (I'm now 84; in what Tom Brokaw names "Greatest Generation.") Sad to say, it has happened to most of the world from time to time in history. Those of us who do not cling to our freedoms (and the many other Christian values many of us hold dear) enough to make a determined effort to preserve them will most assuredly lose them!" -Sincerely, Francis M. Trotter.
J. Robert Boggs Winona Lake
Kidnapped Missionaries
Editor, Times-Union: I'd like to take this opportunity to share with our community about our friends Martin and Gracia Burnham.
Gracia and I were roommates at Calvary Bible College, Kansas City, Mo. We have been friends for more than 20 years. Our oldest son was a newborn at their wedding and he graduated this year. Through Jonathan's lifespan was the time Martin and Gracia shared together.
Martin and Gracia were missionaries for more than 16 years in the Philippines. Martin was a skilled pilot and mechanic for New Tribes Mission. Gracia taught children at home and managed the radio. They had three children.
They suffered more than one year at the hands of extortionary bandit-type terrorists, linked to the training of Osama bin Laden in the Philippines.
Now Martin is home. As they ran from the 16th rain of bullet fire towards them, Martin was shot in the chest and Gracia in the thigh. Gracia watched Martin pass into eternity. He is no longer a human shield for bullets, he is in the presence of the One who created him.
Martin committed his life to Jesus Christ and it was not a wasted effort. He could live through the pain and suffering because he did not need to fear death.
If you have wondered about death and eternity, please be assured by the words of the Bible that tell us, "God loves you so much that He gave His only son so that if you believe in Him, you will never die, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
A family trust has been set up for Gracia and the children at: Burnham Family Trust, c/o Valley View State Bank, 7500 W. 95th St., Overland Park, KS 66212.
