Nathalie had me mopping the floor this morning so when the cleaning crew comes, they won’t think we are pigs.
I thought of my father, who would have turned 100 years old this year, not that he was a pig, but that he
was a stickler on mopping.
He joined the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor and retired 20 years later as a Chief Petty Officer.
It was around 1963, the family was loaded in the station wagon for a long trip, to where I don’t
remember. We were on a two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere. It was raining so hard that the
two speed wipers were not keeping up. Ahead you could barely make out a person walking. There was
no shoulder so the man walking in the ditch was being flooded by each passing car. Suddenly my
dad stopped, and I remember my mother saying, “What are you doing?”. “Picking up this sailor”.
“You don’t know that man”. “Yes, I do he’s Navy. No swabby is going to walk as
long as I’m alive”.
The sailor smelled like a wet dog. His wool jumper was beyond wet, and his sea bag must have
weighed double it’s dry weight. I don’t remember how long he was with us, but I do remember that
smell and seeing my father hand the man money as we dropped him off at a café. During this time my
dad was working as a school janitor, so I’m sure that whatever the amount, it was most of the money he
had. When I tell this story, I ask people to remember and learn from people like my father.
Consider writing a check made out to Food and Shelter...and on the "for" line, write Veteran Housing Fund. Then mail the check to : Canadian River Cruisers, 438 South Lahoma Ave., Norman, OK 73069 (that is Dave and Marilyn Saunders house). Dave will collect all of these checks and add them to our total donation from the car show. Homelessness has become a world, United States, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and Norman problem.
We choose to focus on former American Veterans who searched the sands of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction, who held the line in Candahar, who may even have been fighting in Vietnam, but for whatever reasons, find themselves in Norman, Oklahoma with no means of support, or housing, no family or possibly even a lack of a car or a job....yet need someone, anyone to STEP UP and say WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY! And that, CRC members is us. Thank you for your donations.
Serving in the United States ARMY
Chuck Angie
Ron Beeler
Fred Benenati
Paul Bettis
Howard Boss
Ed Braly
Seth Brown
Dusty Burnett
Jerry Camp
Bernie Cash
Glenn Curren
Ken Dewbre
Jim Dudley
James Dustin
Jerry Evers
Walt Gage - Korean War Veteran
Larry Hinton
Jim Hoffman
Brian Hunter
Jess Jaques, Sr.
Julie Jantz
Harold Jones
John Kuzmicki
Ray Langley
Doug Lassiter
Dane Marable
Larry Matlock
Michael Patterson
Roger Scott
Tim Scott
Ray Waldron
Members serving in the United States Navy:
Shannon Corkill
Jeff Day
Jack Galbreath
Don Garner
John Gray
Bill Morris
Terry O'Dea
John Peace
Dave Saunders
Cedric Wichmann
Members serving in the United States Air Force:
Fred Benenati
Ron Borum
Chip Chambers
Melvin Devore
David Elliott
Tony Fisher
Al Ginn
Dan Haggerty
Bill Harris
Billy Henry
Terry Kelley
Sam Klatt
Mike Kreft
BJ Longenbaugh
Jimmie Martin
Mack Mcintyre
Phil Neely
Ken Prewitt
Bob Pritchert
Ronnie Riddle
Kevin Sampson
Rod Smith
Jon Sutterfield
Ralph Stevenson
Corey Still
Lawrence Terry- Korean War Veteran
Members serving in the United States Marine Corps:
Duane Brosowske
Tony Lowe
Bob Price
Members serving in the United States Coast Guard:
Ron Folkes
William D. Roberson
CRC VETERAN HONOR ROLE
(deceased club Veterans).
Al Ernst - U.S. ARMY
Juan Villarreal - U.S. AIR FORCE
Herman Wilson - U.S. ARMY
WE SUPPORT A GREAT VETERAN CHARITY AS PART OF OUR CLUB MISSION:
The cRc actively supports the VETERAN RECREATION FUND, a fund administered by the Chaplain of the Oklahoma Veteran Centers. Our fund arranges gifts and surpises for those Vets who are in any of the Oklahoma Veteran Centers yet have no known relatives and no known visitors.
All the money we make by putting on the annual Norman Veteran Center car show and what we make from the Moore Olde Towne car show goes into this fund.
In January 2023, the CRC received $840.00 in donations for this fund. Shown above is CRC car show team leader Ray (right) who is giving DAV Chaplain Tommy (left) the checks from the club that were collected.
Posted June 26 by Jim Roberson:
As many of you know Nath and I have had a sidecar for the last few years. As age gains on us all I realized that I could no longer be safe on this bike. It sat for 2 years before I could get the strength to sell it.
I listed it online and had a response from a guy in up north. He’s a 75 year old, Army Vet with cancer with no idea as to how much life he has left. He purchased the bike not knowing if he has 2 days, 2 months, or 2 years, only knowing that whatever time, he was going out on his terms.
He told me he’s as excited as a child at Christmas. May God bless us, in the gearhead group, with the same love and drive for our chosen rides, as this man, and do our best to pass on that passion to those who come after us.
CRC Member,
Jim Roberson