A Cold Case Close to the Heart

Genealogical research is a big hobby of mine and I'm always digging into old newspaper articles to find out more about my ancestors or somebody else's. During this research, I often run into some very interesting articles. While doing some research the other day, an article about a cold case murder that took place in Hanover, MD back in 2006 caught my eye. The murder victim was a guy that I dated back in 1983 while I was active duty Air Force stationed at Fort Meade, MD. His name was Richard Preston Shaw and he was found shot to death on the morning of July 25, 2006 inside Annapolis Talent/Kids in the Biz - a children's talent agency that he owned at 7466 New Ridge Road in Hanover. Further research revealed that his murder remains unsolved to this date. I'm shocked and saddened about what happened to Richard! I remember meeting him for the first time in Annapolis back in 1983. There was a Fair going on in Annapolis and I was asked to ride in a convertable as "Miss Sunfish" in a motorcade that winded through the streets of Annapolis and then arrived at the Fair. After we arrived at the Fair and I got out of the car, I saw him standing there with a large camera in his hands. Richard was a professional photographer and ran a studio out of his home in Severna Park. He walked up and introduced himself and gave me his card. We chatted for a while and he asked if he could call me. We dated for a while and he took me to meet his parents and then his sister. Richard was really nice and I enjoyed his company, but I wasn't really sure that I wanted to have a serious relationship with a photographer in the modeling business. The last time that I saw him was at his house. He wanted to take some photos of me, which he did. He told me that I was uptight because I was adamant about keeping fully clothed during the photo session. I didn't like what he said and left without the intention of ever returning. Life went on and I dated other people until I met my first husband at a DC Star gig on Pulaski Highway. We ended up getting married in May 1984 and then I got an assignment to Berlin, Germany. I never spoke with Richard again but wondered at times whatever became of him. After discovering his cold case article in the paper, I did some more research to see what I could find. When he and I met, he told me that he had been married and his wife had left him. I found in the paper that his first wife had obtained a final divorce from him in November 1983. He and his second wife were granted a marriage license in June of 1992. They were in the process of getting a divorce at the time of his death. Here's a copy of Richard's Cold Case posted in The Capital Newspaper (Annapolis, MD) March 9, 2008, Page A11.

Here is an article about his murder mystery in the Balitmore Sun on 29 July 2006, page B2:

Here's a copy of his obituary in the Baltimore Sun on 1 August 2006, Page 87:

Two days from now will be the 16th anniversary of Richard's murder. I ended up getting in contact with his twin sister earlier this year and we had a lovely chat on the phone. She told me that his murder has never never been solved. He was going through a very bitter divorce at the time and his sister and I both wonder if that might have been related to his murder. There were some people who were unhappy with some of his business dealings that might have taken things a bit further as well. Only God knows what happened. Hopefully there was DNA evidence collected at the scene and it can be used one day to find and convict his murderer(s). I regret that Richard's and my last meeting wasn't the best one. My mother always told me to never let the sun set on bad feelings and she was right as always. It would have been nice to have at least said goodbye to Richard. I pray that his murder is solved one day and that he is at peace in Heaven.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

I went on a business trip last week to Seattle to attend a few days of meetings.  We had a very nice ride to the airport in an ExecuCar Lincoln Town car and took off from Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Airport at 4:10 PM on Valentine's Day.  We landed in Seattle to dreary grey skies and rain.  Unfortunately, the weather pretty much stayed that way for the whole trip with only a brief glimpse of the sun on one day.  I know for certain that I would need to take antidepressants if we had to live there!

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on West Valley Highway near SeaTac Airport.  Unfortunately, the hotel was undergoing extensive renovations and it was a mess!  Our room was okay, but the heat wasn't working very well.  The maintenance guy was very nice and brought us a space heater to make things better.  He also gave us some vouchers for Dinner at Basil's, which is the hotel's restaurant.  We had an excellent steak dinner with great service there on our second night in Seattle!

Although the weather in Seattle is dismal during the Winter, every meal that we had there was fantastic!  I highly recommend a place named Stanfords at 7380 Southcenter Parkway in Tukwila!  Their Filet Mignon is perfection and the Bread Pudding dessert is to die for!  It was so good that we had dinner there twice during our visit!  Despite the dismal weather, almost every person who we encountered there was very pleasant and helpful!

The highlight of the whole trip came on our last evening in Seattle.  I knew from some of the Seattle folks that I've worked with that Jimi Hendrix's grave at the Greenwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Renton was not too far from the Kent campus.  So, I Googled how far it was from our hotel and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was less than five miles away!   Since the cemetery closes at dusk, we decided to head over there right after I got off of work. 

We pulled into the cemetery and saw the memorial's dome right away.  The Hendrix Family has a nice welcome sign posted in the front.  It reads as follows:  "Welcome.  We are honored by your visit.  This memorial has been erected in the loving memory of Jimi Hendrix for friends and fans to come reflect.  We respectfully ask that you help us pay tribute to Jimi by leaving the memorial tidy and litter free for others to enjoy.  Thank you for your kind consideration.  Stay experienced, The Hendrix Family".

Welcome Sign to the Memorial

As we approached the memorial, I thought to myself that it reminds me very much of Stonehedge:

Entrance to the Memorial

As we got closer, we saw the first etching of Jimi. There is a marble block that looks like a table inside the memorial, which is placed directly over where he is buried.  Visitors often leave beautiful flowers and fan bags here containing photos of Jimi.  When we got to the front steps, the lovely smell of incense greeted us.  There were flowers on the table and several other places within the memorial.

Front of Memorial

We walked inside the memorial and looked around.  Here I am standing in front of one of the three beautiful etchings of Jimi in the marble on each of the three columns:

Mae standing by Marble Etching of Jimi

Many women have kissed Jimi's face on this etching:

So many kisses on Jimi's face!

Here's a closer look at this etching.  All of the etchings in the memorial contain writing in Jimi's hand.  This one contains the Story of Life lyrics:  The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye;  the story of love - is hello and goodbye, until we meet again.

The Story of Life Etching

Here's a picture of the plaque underneath the etching.  It contains what looks like the original draft of  the lyrics for the song Angel:

Angel Lyrics on Plaque

Here's a picture of another beautiful etching of Jimi with his guitar. The writing contains some of the Straight Ahead lyrics:  Straight ahead, woman and child, man and wife.  The best love to have, is love of life. Pass it on.

Pass it On

There's a marble plaque below this etching that contains the lyrics of Voodoo Child:

Voodoo Child (Tight Return) Lyrics

Here is Tegan standing by the etching on the third column, which contains the Message to Love lyrics: Message to Love, everybody come alive, everybody love alive, everybody hear my message.

.Tegan and The Message of Love

The plaque below this contains the lyrics to Little Wing: Well, she's walking through the clouds,

With a circus mind that's running wild, Butterflies and Zebras, and Moonbeams and fairy tales.
That's all she ever thinks about, riding with the wind, When I'm sad, she comes to me,
With a thousand smiles she gives to me free. it's alright, she says it's alright,
Take anything you want from me, anything, fly on little wing.

Little Wing Lyrics on Plaque

Jimi's signature is on a panel outside the memorial:

Jimi's Signature

There's another panel on the outside of the memorial with a beautiful etching of Jimi:

James M. "Jimi" Hendrix - 1942 - 1970

We went outside the back of the memorial and saw a beautiful marble sundial:

Tegan standing by the sundial

Here's a picture of the side of the memorial, where "Jimi Hendrix Memorial" is engraved on the side.  There's also a handicap ramp installed for visitors in wheelchairs.

Jimi Hendrix Memorial

The rest of the cemetery is very beautiful as well.  There is a large South Vietnamese section with a pagoda and unique gravestones:

South Vietnamese Section of the Cemetery

Dusk was almost upon us by the time we made our way out to the sundial, so we had to leave before the cemetery was closed for the night.

We said our goodbyes to Jimi and were very glad that we were able to have such a special Jimi Hendrix Experience!

A Rough Start

The year 2016 has started out a bit rough for me.  I'm very thankful for all of the blessings that I have in life, but I'm worried about keeping my current job.  I've been at the same company for 11 years now and can honestly say that it is the best place that I have ever worked!  However, sometimes there is a lack of new work orders which can result in layoff notices. 

Thankfully, I'm unaware of any layoff notices being issued at our site to date.  I was on a very demanding project for all of 2015 but that ended last December.  Myself and a few others were supposed to start on a new project at the beginning of this year, but we ended up not being able to work on it due to a lack of funding. This left us scrambling to find charge lines to fill out a 40 hour week.  Unfortunately, during the first few weeks after coming back from the holidays, some of us found it necessary to take personal time off  due to this lack of work. 

To make matters worse, several of us have a new manager.  None of us know him as he's just coming in from another site.  He dropped by and introduced himself to his direct reports early on this year and we've only heard from him twice regarding required training and Code of Conduct signing.  I told him about the lack of work, but haven't heard anything from him since he introduced himself.

Bottom line is that I don't feel like there's anybody looking out for me at work.  I've went around to different managers to find some work and have ended up getting some temporary jobs.  However, nothing long term has come up yet.  About three weeks ago, I asked if I could do some work on the previous project that I worked on, but they still haven't got back to me on it.  I have a feeling there might be something political going on there, but hope that this isn't the case. I've also applied for positions outside of our site and have been under consideration for these for the last 5 weeks, but I haven't heard from anybody on these to date.

I hope to not have to look outside the company, but will need do so if things don't get better soon.  I'm doing everything that I can to get something steady going here!  All I can do now is have faith that everything will work out for the best!

The Texas Bluebelle Story

Up until a few weeks ago, we had a silver 2011 Volkswagon Jetta four door sedan with a manual 5 speed transmission.  Although she wasn't a really fast or flashy car, she was very dependable and economic, especially with the astronomical gas prices that we've all had to contend with over the past few years!  Plus, she only had 32,323 miles on her odometer and had a lot more life left in her.  We had planned to keep her around as our economic get-around vehicle while we saved up to get something with a bit more Vroom under its bonnet.

Well, as we all know, sometimes life has a way of changing one's plans in unexpected ways.  While on the way back home on June 15th from a trip to Atlanta, I got a call from my son informing me that the engine blew up in his 2008 Mazda 6.  So, long story short we paid off the balance owed on the Jetta and shipped it to my son's apartment in Maryland. 

Here she is all packed up in the tractor trailer and ready to go to Maryland:

Heading to Maryland

We gave him the car free and clear so that he would have a dependable car to get around in without a car note.  After much nail biting on our part, the tractor trailer driver finally delivered the car to my son in pristine condition.  

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the silver Jetta saga.  I had informed my son that the car had a manual transmission before we shipped it to him and he said that he was fine with it.  Well, in the long run it ended up that he wasn't fine with it.  So unbeknown to us, he paid somebody $3k to replace the engine in his Mazda 6 and the Jetta was just sitting in the parking lot outside of his apartment.  So we told him that we'd give him the $3k for the engine and that we were going to fly up to Maryland to pick up the car and bring her back home to Texas.

But, the silver Jetta saga continued!  Not long after I talked with my son, I ended up getting a text from my daughter asking if she and her husband could buy the Jetta from us. They have two young children and really needed a second car that was safe and dependable.  They're a young, one income family so we just gave them the vehicle.  So after all of the drama, the Jetta ended up in a good home where she was very much wanted and needed and my son had a new engine in his Mazda 6!

But now we were down to only one car and needed to get another one.  A few weeks later, a car that was close to matching what we were looking for was delivered at the Frisco Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Dealer in Frisco, Texas.  We went through USAA's Car Buying Service and the dealer quoted a fair price, so on Saturday, July 18th we headed out to Frisco to test drive the car.

After hanging out at the dealership for over six hours, we finally drove home in our brand new B5 Blue Dodge Challenger SRT 392!  We've since named her Bluebelle. 

Here are some pictures of her:

Bluebelle at the Dealer right before we took her home

 

In front of our house - look at those beautiful red Brembos!

Bluebelle's Cockpit

Her new Texas specialty plates

 
Despite all of the pain and drama, everybody got what they needed in the end.  Bottom line, we love our Bluebelle!  She drives like a dream and she is the nicest car that we've ever had!

WIll My Real Family Please Stand Up

The last few years have brought some significant changes into my life, some good and some bad.  These changes were a result of some very hard personal decisions that I needed to make in order to ensure my own happiness and well being.  During times like these, kindness and support from family and friends is a blessing.  As with most people, I've always relied on certain family members for unconditional love and support.  However, what has come to pass during this past year has brought me to the following realization:  Blood means that you're related, it doesn't mean that you're family.

I'm shocked and saddened that somebody who I've always thought had my back has passed judgement and turned their back on me.  They've just cut me out of their life because I no longer conform to their "conservative" values.  I feel compelled to add that my personal decisions have not affected them in any way. 

This has caused me considerable sadness and anger at the same time.  This person has turned out to be such a self-righteous hypocrite!  Who the hell do they think they are passing judgement on me?  I've done nothing wrong to them or anybody else!  I need to let go of this, but it's been hard.  As of late, I've been finding considerable solace in the following saying: 

God says "the reason why some people have turned against you and walked away from you without reason has nothing to do with you.  It is because I have removed them from your life because they cannot go where I am taking you next.  They would only hinder you at the next level because they have already served their purpose in your life.  Let them go and keep moving."  Greater is coming your way, says the Lord.

Here's another saying that I've come to find comforting and true:

I will say that I'm very thankful that my dear sister has stood by my side unconditionally.  Thank God for her, Tegan and the rest of the people who are there for me no matter what happens!  They are my true family!  The rest are just a part of the passing parade.

And When I Die

My daughter has been hinting over the past month or so that something big could be happening in her life. Deep down I knew what it was she was alluding to, but I found out for sure a few weeks ago.  She's expecting another baby, with a due date of May 9, 2015!  Here's a picture from the first sonogram that she had taken this past week:

Baby Waving at Mommy and Daddy!

The baby looks like he/she is waving!  Thankfully, everything in the sonogram looked good!

I asked Nicole if her and Brandon have any names picked out for the baby.  She told me that they like "Sterling" for a boy and "Nora" for a girl, after my dear mother Nora!  I love both names and was especially happy to hear about them wanting to name a girl after my mother!

My mother's name is actually spelled "Norah" on her birth certificate.  We're certain that she was named after her grandmother Honorah Hart.  The name "Honorah" means honor. When I told Nicole about this, she said that she really likes the name spelled as "Norah" and likes the name "Honorah" as well.  Maybe they'll spell it as "Norah" if they have a girl.

I'm very excited about this baby!  It's especially nice to know that if the baby is a girl, she will have my mother's name and that our mtDNA line will carry on, from our distant maternal ancestors to Honorah Hart->Minnie Reilly->my mother->me->Nicole, and then to the baby, whether it's a boy or girl. However, only females carry their mother's mtDNA line on to their children.

Blood Sweat and Tears recorded a song back in 1969 called "When I Die".  The refrain of the song goes like this:

"And when I die and when I'm gone, there'll be one child born and a world to carry on, to carry on".

Here's a link to the song:

And When I Die

 I'm thrilled to know that I have grandchildren to carry on my ancestral line!

12/20/2014 Update

Nicole just had another doctor visit and found out that the baby is a girl!  Now I'll have a grandson and granddaughter!  She's still unsure about what to name the baby, but it's now looking like Nora will be her middle name.  My mother would be so honored!

A Rendezvous at the Rainbow Bridge

It was a very sad day today! A member of our family passed away around 4:30 PM this afternoon.  Katy was a sweet Dalmatian/Pointer mix and Tegan's loyal companion for ten years.  Her vet in Georgia told Tegan back in early 2013 that Katy wouldn't make it through the Summer, but she made it one year past that mark. 

She was such a pretty dog!  Here's a picture of her in a red bandana that I took back in mid-March of this year:

Katy in her Red Scarf

She was such a happy dog and was always smiling!

She had hip dysplasia and ended up getting osteoarthritis in her shoulders.  It started getting bad several months ago.  Although Tegan got her some medicine from the vet,  she deteriorated rapidly over the last few weeks to the point where she was falling and couldn't get up.  She also become incontinent, which was getting very difficult to handle.

We planned to board her at the usual doggie kennel during an upcoming weekend trip to Galveston.  Unfortunately, the owner of the kennel informed Tegan that Katy's health was too bad for her to continue to board there.  We tried to hold on to her as long as humanely possible, but Tegan came to the realization on Monday that it was time to let her go in peace and dignity.

Tegan called Katy's vet at the Breckinridge Animal Hospital on Monday and made an appointment to set Katy free.  What's remarkable is that it has been six months to the day since we brought Tegan's other dog Sheila to the same place to set her free from her pain and misery. 

Tegan picked me up at work today and we went home and got Katy.  We let her outside for a while to have a last romp in the back yard:

Katy's Last Romp in the back yard

Tegan got her into the truck and then we drove her over to the hospital.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, the women in that place are very caring and wonderful!  The hospital has a very nice sitting room for family members to be with their pets during their final moments.  The vet gave Katy a sedative to help her relax and then we visited with her for around fifteen minutes until the vet returned to give her the final shot. 

Here's a picture of Tegan sitting with Katy right before she quietly went to sleep:

The Last Visit

We sat with her for a while after she passed away and then left her in the sitting room.  We're having the same company who took care of Sheila's cremation take care of Katy as well.  Once we get her cremains back, we'll set them on the fireplace mantel right next to Sheila and my brother Jon's ashes.  Jon loved dogs and I know that all three of them will enjoy each others company.

Right after Katy went to sleep, I felt the same peaceful feeling that I did right after Sheila passed away.  Neither of them have to suffer any more and we're sure that they had a wonderful rendezvous at the Rainbow Bridge!