Monday, December 28, 2015

Holiday Newsletter 2015 from David and Pat Westbay




Hello again, friends. Can it be that another year has flown by? Considering what an eventful year 2015 has been for Pat and me, it is hard to believe that it is almost over. Below is a recap of our year to date. 

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!