The most significant occurrences for us this past year
were our losses. It actually started at the end of 2014, when Pat’s dad, Robert
Morris, passed away on December 26. He had been fighting cancer for several
years, and developed heart issues in the last months of 2014 which finally
caught up with him. He was a wonderful father to Pat and her brother Bill, as
well as husband to his wife Adele who passed in 2006, and grandfather to our
son Ben. We miss him every day. We also lost my mom, Shirley Westbay, who
left us on August 3, 2015. She became
ill the previous day, was admitted to the hospital and sedated to stabilize her
condition, and did not recover. The doctors were unable to pinpoint the cause
of death. She did not suffer, for which we are grateful. All seven of her
children, plus her surviving sister, sons- and daughters-in-law, grandchildren,
great-grandchildren, and numerous other relatives and friends miss her loving
and joyful spirit.
Our life here has stayed on a fairly even keel. Pat
continues to attend her Spanish classes. I have been acting periodically,
including more murder-mystery dinner shows and some background work for a
couple of TV shows. I also performed for Sci-Fest LA, in their fundraiser
performance of “The War of the Worlds” in January and in “The Lunchtime Show,”
one of the one-act plays in the run of the festival in May. I am currently on their
newly created Festival Board and am working on fundraising and promotion for
the 2016 Sci-Fest LA festival. Be sure to check their website at www.sci-festla.com if you want more
information.
Travel is still our favorite thing, and we took several
trips this year. As usual, we went back to Grapevine to visit Ben a few times. He
is still living in our old house in Grapevine and working for Fidelity
Investment Services. He got a promotion in the summer and has become a very
highly regarded member of his work group. One of our trips to see him was over
Thanksgiving, which featured a joint family dinner with Ben’s girlfriend Lisa
and her parents and brother. A wonderful time was had by all. Another trip was
a cruise with our friends from Cruise Trek, this time to the Caribbean,
visiting Haiti, Jamaica, and Cozumel, Mexico. I also took a short cruise
which featured my favorite band, Yes, and other bands that play music in the
same genre.
Since Pat’s dad’s passing, we have been spending a good
bit of time settling his estate and cleaning out his house in Culver City. We
have been taking that slowly, but are now very near the start of renovations on
the house, after which we plan to move in. We expect the remodeling to start
sometime in January, and for the work to take several months. Living in that
house will put us closer to Pat’s brother Bill, whom we have been having over
for dinner once a week at the Culver City house to keep up the tradition that
he had with his dad these past years.
We wish you peace, harmony and joy this holiday season
and in the New Year! Please keep in touch!
