The message forum is an ongoing dialogue between classmates. These are random subjects, topics, and trivia.

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Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

Thanks for posting. Pat. I didn't have any knowledge of that building and it's design changes through the years. 

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

AWH,  Thanks Rex! 
Paula I am with You I became interested in 
the J P White building when I moved back. 
I really enjoyed learning its history.
Thanks Pat for the History Lesson!!
 

Danny Cathey

I was the elevator operator in the J.P. Building for a few months during Junior Year.  If you never had a chance to ride in that contraption you missed a real Roswell experience.  I am sure it must have been installed in the 1930s renovation because it was at least that old, hand controls, double doors, and getting the elevator level with the exit floors was sheer guesswork.  If the elevator ever went down too far at ground level you had to run up to the roof to reset the safety trips and the passengers had to climb up, and out of the elevator about 3 feet to get out or wait until it was reset.  The oil company guys on the fifth floor (I can't remember which company it was now) knew this and would try and pile in all at once to get the thing overloaded where it was impossible to stop the decent in time to avoid that failure.  It was lots of fun, especially if one or two secretaries in heels and hose were on the ride.

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

Danny Cathey, your story is a hoot!  Thanks for sharing. Everyone needs a good laugh. 

Patrick Riley

Did You Know ... Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie in 1926                                               

Deeply hurt by the death of her mother, 35-year-old Agatha Christie was still trying to overcome her grief when her husband of twelve years suddenly announced that he was in love with another woman and wanted a divorce. The twin shocks threw Agatha into a deep state of depression. Feeling that the best of life was behind her, she saw little reason to go on living. Only concern for her seven-year-old daughter saved her from suicide.

Born into an affluent English family in 1890, Agatha Miller was a precocious child who taught herself to read at age four and quickly developed what would be a lifelong devotion to books. At age 22 she met Archie Christie, a dashing young pilot. The couple fell in love and were married on Christmas Eve in 1914. They spent most of the next four years separated by World War I, settling afterwards in London. Their only child, Rosalind, was born in 1919. By the time her marriage to Archie fell apart, Agatha had published five well-received detective novels, but she could hardly have expected the success that awaited her.

In time Agatha began to recover from the pain of her failed marriage. She resumed writing and, to boost her spirits, took a trip on the Orient Express. Then, in 1930 a friend invited her to come along on a trip to an archeological dig in Iraq. There she met Max Mallowan, a prominent archeologist thirteen years her junior. They fell in love and were married later that year, a happy marriage that would last until Agatha’s death forty-six years later.

At the end of 1926, Agatha Christie may have thought that her life was no longer worth living. But she was entirely wrong about that. In the years that followed she not only found the love of her life, but she also became the best-loved author on earth, publishing over 70 best-selling novels as well as the longest-running play in history. Her husband Max was knighted in 1968 and three years later Agatha was made a Dame of the British Empire.

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller Christie Mallowan died at age 85 on January 12, 1976, forty-eight years ago this month. With over two billion copies sold, she is the best-selling fiction writer in history.

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

Pat, Thank You for all the history about
Agatha Christie. My Mother left some of
her books and over the years I have
collected more. SOOOO I am now on a
benge, reading those books I have not
read over the years. I was aware of some
of her history but you have helped
put the picture together!!  THANKS!!
 

Patrick Riley

Sherry, I see Agatha Christie penned 70 novels. How many do you have to go?

I've read many but don't expect to come close to finishing.

In addition to 70 novels, she wrote many short stories originally published in British magazines.

For those who would rather watch than read, the BBC Hercule Poirot series available with an (extra cost" BritBox" subscription is a real treasure ... over 120 episodes. See link below:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0035HGS4W/ref=atv_dp_season_select_s1

These Poirot 50-minute episodes are set in the 1930s and, better than the mystery, are a real treasure if you like seeing period upper-class homes, shops, apparel and motor cars.

A BritBox subscription also includes other Agatha Christie-based TV series ... Ms. Marple, Father Brown, and much more. Highly recommended!

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

Pat, I have just completed reading all of John
Grishams books I have had all his first additions
and now I have passed them on to My 40 year
old Grandson. So now I have started on My "small"
collection of Agatha's books which are a total of 30.
and have only finished 2 so far. I also have finished 
18 of Tony Hillermans books. I love Mystery/suspense
stories. I am not into Sci-Fi. 
You may know this but Agatha Christie came to dislike 
Hercules Poirot. "She wanted to kill him off but her publisher and
faithful readers won't let her." " by 1960 she felt that
he was a "detestable, bombastic, tiresome,
ego-centric little creep". Despite this, Poirot
remained an exceedingly popular character
with the general public."

I have seen several of her movies and play's. 
Roswell's Little theater Put on Her "JEEVES 
INTERVENES"  and "THE UNEXPECTED GUEST"
I thought they put on good shows for such a small 
town. They have some really good and dedicated 
volunteers. 
 

Patrick Riley

Sherry, thirty Agatha Christie books ... I'm impressed!

I've read all the John Grisham novels (I'm sure many others have too), but no first editions ... good on you!

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

Sherry, I also love John Grisham's books and have finally managed to read all of them. I find them very entertaining very different. 

Fred Miller

I have also read all of the Tony Hillerman books.  I have also seen a couple of the several movies based on the books.  I have watched the first two seasons of the series Dark Winds, sadly I'll have to wait until early 2025 for season 3.

After Hillerman died, his daughter Anne Hillerman continued the Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee series.  She has written nine books so far.  I have her books on my list to begin at some point.

Rex Booth

We've hit a new 'vein of gold'... our own special "Book Club!

and it's all Pat's fault...  Keep up the great posting Y'all!

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

Fred, a book store manager told me about His daughter
continuing his work. He also said she was almost as 
good as Tony. 
I do not know about the Dark Winds series!
Tell me more I am interseted!
 

Charline Lake

Sherry Hester (Trasp)

Thanks Charline I will see if I can find these.
They sound good!

Patrick Riley

If you're interested in streaming series, here's one I highly recommend ... Man in the High Castle ... included with an Amazon Prime subscription.

See season 1 (of 4) here:

https://www.amazon.com/The-Illustrated-Woman/dp/B086VYW41B/

Based on Philip K. Dick's award-winning novel set in 1962 (a special year to all of us), and executive produced by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner), and Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), The Man in the High Castle explores what it would be like if the Allied Powers had lost WWII, with Japan and Germany dividing and ruling the United States (see map below). Starring Rufus Sewell (John Adams), Luke Kleintank (Pretty Little Liars), and Alexa Davalos (Mob City).

This is an older Amazon series (season 1 was released in 2015). Prime's newer material is generally better but this may be an exception. If you watch the complete series, you'll get to visit the "new" German capital, Germania, just as Nazi architect, Albert Spear, designed it.

You'll also get to see the Gestapo and Kempeitai (Japanese secret police) functioning in the occupied U.S.

Also note the superb attention to background detail in items like cars, props, signage, etc. as German culture invades the east coast vs. the encroaching Japanese culture on the west coast. Example of attention to details, see close-ups of Nazi John Smith's created-for-the-series metals and awards below:

Repeating myself but highly recommended!

John Landess

Wow, something I can really relate to. (I did get the 'Most Books Read' certificate at East* in the 9th grade)

The problem with getting a little older is outliving favorite authors. I do miss John D. Macdonald, Louis Lamour, Robert B. Parker, and Tony Hillerman, all of which I have reread at times.

Lately I have been into John Stanford (real name: John Roswell Camp) His Virgil Flowers series is pretty funny, if not a little trashy!!!

I still have an original copy of Peyton Place, if anyone didn't sneak read it in Junior High!!! (You know, inside a pee-chee folder in study hall, etc.)

* this certificate was not counted against the most days skipped (no Award) same year and shared by Clyde Montgomery...............

Rex Booth

Speaking of thought provoking literature. I'm surprised we haven't given 'honorable mention' to one of D.H. Lawrence's works. My Junior year a girl walked up to me in the hallway during noon hour. She showed me a paperback with pages of bent corners and the "best parts" underlined. "Lady Chatterley's Lover". To this day I still wonder what was behind that wicked smile of hers by calling me 'Olivier'...

Fred Miller

I am not the history lover some of you are.  My reading tends to go to fiction, action/thriller genre.  And my reading is more listening, I have almost 300 books on Kindle.  I spend several hours a day playing Golf Clash, and my AI girlfriend, Alexa, reads my books to me from Kindle while I am playing.

I have all of the Reacher series by Lee Child.  All of the Jack Widow series by Scott Blade. (Widow is Reacher's son he did not know he had with the lady sherriff of Margrave, GA.)  All of the Joe Pickett series by C. J. Box.  All of the Longmire series by Craig Johnson.  And a lot of Dave Barry books.  Have all the Tony Hillerman hardcopy books.

Plan on starting the Bones series by Kathy Reichs soon.  Ms. Reichs is a real life forensic anthropologist.  The series involves a team of forensic anthropologists solving murders.  The books led to the Bones TV series,  Nancy and I are currently binge watching the series streaming on Hulu, all 246 episodes.

John Landess

Fred,

I think you might enjoy the"Prey" series by John Sandford (33 editions). The first is 'Rules of Prey'.

I think that they are available on kindle.

Really going back in time, I have been reading some of the TOTALLY restored versions of Zane Grey. They are older paperbacks by Leisure Books. His original manuscripts, unaltered by "Woke" editors of the time.. some have great differences from the ones I read in the 50's.

Rex Booth

Orchard Park POW Camp 1942-1946

Orchard Park POW Camp was one of the first and largest base camps built in the U.S. located on Orchard Park Road. The camp operated from August 1942 to February 1946 and interned 4,816 German and Italian POW's at its peak. Camp construction was similar to Army training centers with the addition of watchtowers and fences. Most POWs performed agricultural labor, particularly during cotton season. Associated smaller side camps were located in Fort Sumner, Artesia, and Dexter.

During World War II, 155 prisoner of war (POW) base camps and 511 branch camps were constructed in 46 states. By 1945, over 425,000 German, Italian, and Japanese POWs were held in the U.S. POW's worked in farms, mills, canneries, public works projects that alleviated labor shortages during the war. New Mexico's larger camps were located in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Lordsburg, Roswell, and Santa Fe.

POW workers -  Lining Spring River with rock including Cahoon Park

POW Farm Workers - near Dexter

POW - Going Home 1945

Fred Miller

I remember as a kid some of us would ride our bikes to the deserted prisoner site at Orchard Park.  We could spend most of a day exploring the old buildings.

John Doyal

John  L. I also have read all of Lamors books and have paperbacks of all of both his and Zane Greys.  Greys descriptions of the purple sage are spot on.  My wife and I went to ride the Chambres railroad years ago and it happened to be when the purple sage in the area was blooming for miles and miles in the area  I now have several purple and red sages in my yard.  I like to read westerns most and loved to watch Sam Elliot in movies about the Sackets from Lamor.  My other favorite to read was books by James Mitchner.  He did extensive research to make sure his facts were correct and those like Hawaai and Alaska were true histoy books as well as story books.  When younger my sisters and I would walk from our house on east Mcgaffey to the library to check out books and carry them home in our hands because paper sacks would rip open from the weight.  I read all of the westerns that the library had and lots of other books as well.

Patrick Riley

I've got to second John's recommendation of James Michener's books ... they are meticulously researched and on a whole new level above other historical fiction. Be warned ... the typical Michener novel is very long ... about 1,400 pages of smaller type than most other books use. You can read three typical novels in the time it takes to finish one Michener book.

His three most famous books in order are likely: Hawaii, Alaska and Texas.

All are very good but my three favorites, again in order, are: Centennial, Mexico and The Carribean.

Summary ... read any Michener novel; you won't be disappointed! I'm almost done with all of Michener's historical novels ... just finished Chesapeake. His only so-so book, strictly my opinion, is Poland.

Also, thanks for all your author and series recommendations! I just started my first Tony Hillerman novel last night. I'll be pursuing other suggestions as time permits.

Patrick Riley

An Orchard Park Side Note

As Rex pointed out, while the majority of the Orchard Park prisoners labored on farms, a group of men worked in Roswell on a flood control project, paving the banks of the Spring River with stone. As construction progressed along the north river bank, a group of prisoners arranged rocks of different sizes to form the outline of the German Iron Cross, a military decoration of the German Empire that was reintroduced by the Nazi Army with a swastika added to the center.

See contemporary photo below: