My Excellent European Adventure 60th Anniversary - Epilogue

 

Front row, L-R:  Chris, Judy, Annie, Hank
Back row, L-R:  Tom, Lance, Bill, Susan

                                                                  Time it was, and what a time it was!  It was 

                                                                  A time of innocence, a time of confidences.

                                                                  Long ago (it must be), I have a photograph . . .

                                                                                                      -- Paul Simon

There were nine of us traveling around Europe in that Morris minivan:  two adults – a married couple serving as leaders and chaperones – plus three girls and four boys all high school age.  Each person had their quirks, but we got along well, even in the close quarters of the minivan.  After we returned to Oklahoma, however, we went our separate ways and never really kept in touch.

So as I was writing my stories about the trip, I was curious about what happened to everyone afterwards . . . and where they are now.  Thanks to the internet, I found information about seven of the other eight travelers.  Here’s what I learned.

Tom and Kay Dudley, our adult leaders

Tom was a maxillofacial and oral surgeon in private practice in Oklahoma City; he was 35 years old at the time of our trip in 1966.  He was active in the Republican Party on the local and state levels; a member of the OKC Rotary Club for over 50 years; and at some point after our trip he switched denominations from Methodist to Baptist and served as a deacon in his church for over 40 years.  He died in 2010, age 79.  

Kay was a pediatric nurse and at the time of our trip was 31 years old.  She, like Tom, became active in local politics as a Republican.  In 1986, twenty years after our trip, she was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate, where she served for four years.  From 1995 to 2003 she served as Director of Appointments for Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, and for the last six months of Keating’s term served as interim Secretary of State.  And she, like Tom, volunteered many hours in their church.  She died in 2022, age 87.

Hank Comby

Henry “Hank” Comby III was from Chickasha, OK.  He did his undergraduate work at Northeastern State University and earned his masters and doctoral degrees from Oklahoma State University.  He became a professor of sociology and anthropology at Tulsa Community College.  He taught TCC’s first Honors Program class in 1980, and his memory is enshrined in the Henry B. Comby III Prize, which recognizes the most outstanding graduating Honors Scholar of the year at TCC.  He died of a heart attack in 2007, age 58.

Annie Dotter (now Ann Shurtz)

Ann was from Okeene, OK, and was already an accomplished pianist at the time of our trip.  She graduated summa cum laude from Oklahoma City University in biology and music, and earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Oklahoma.  She has four daughters and maintains an active Suzuki Method piano studio with about 50 students (including four of her grandchildren) in Mechanicsburg, PA.

Bill Ford

Bill is a long-time family friend of mine from Lawton, OK, where we both lived and attended the same Methodist church and same high school.  He went to college at Oklahoma State University and had a long career as a registered professional engineer doing insurance and pre-purchase structural inspections of residential and commercial properties.  He’s now retired and living in Broken Arrow, OK.

Chris Herndon

Chris and Hank were classmates in Chickasha.  Chris went to medical school at the University of Oklahoma and became a board-certified family medicine physician practicing in Duncan, OK, about 40 miles south of Chickasha.  He’s still practicing two days a week.  One of his daughters is an OB-GYN in Duncan and the other is an Episcopalian minister in Yukon, OK.

Susan Stevens (now Susan Parks)

Susan was from Ada, OK, but I have been unable to find her.  I only learned her married name from her mother’s obituary.  My attempts to contact her through a couple of her siblings went unanswered.

Judy Wheeler (now Judy Purma)

Judy was from McAlester, OK.  She went to Oklahoma State University, and taught special education for 24 years.  She and her husband moved to Missouri where they raised two sons; she now has five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.  Since our Europe trip she has traveled to China, Thailand, New Zealand, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Mexico.

I'll close the book on this trip with one more photo of the group in London . . . I'm not in it 'cause I'm taking their picture, of course!

L-R: Bill, Hank, Judy, Tom, Kay, Chris, Susan, Annie

                                                                                        Not farewell,                                                                                                                   But fare forward, voyagers! 

                                                                     -- T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, The Dry Salvages