Family
My niece, Jenny Spethman is a wonderful girl who has been through much in her life, and yet has come through it all, a little worse for wear, but stronger than ever. Of course, Jenny’s strength didn’t come just from herself. Mostly, it came from her devotion to God, who has taken her through the difficult loss of her older daughter, Laila from a heart defect just 22 days after her birth. Her devotion to God brought her husband, Steve Spethman, into her life. Steve was a gift from God, and she a gift from God to Steve. Theirs was a marriage made in Heaven. Together, Jenny and Steve sloshed their way through the loss of their daughter…and it was like sloshing through quicksand, but they hung onto each other and to God, and they came out the other side. No, they will never stop missing sweet Laila…until they are reunited in Heaven, that is, but they have been strong for each other and in their faith. 
Jenny loves to get up very early in the morning. She watches the sunrise or looks at the pre-dawn sky, often catching great pictures of both and of the moon. But most of all, the early morning hours are her time with the Lord. Her study and worship time have yielded many scriptural revelations, that she has so graciously shared with her mom, Cheryl Masterson and her aunts Caryl Reed, Alena Stevens (before she went to Heaven earlier this year), Allyn Hadlock, and me. These have been blessings of the greatest kind and blessings we will cherish always. Jenny has such a sweet and kind spirit. It’s no wonder everyone loves Jenny. She is so loved, in fact, that when she is work as a runner in the law firm where she works, all her coworkers would love to have her stand and visit on her runs, but Jenny is also very ethical and responsible, 
and she keeps the chatter to a bare minimum. They understand, of course, but they do enjoy visiting with her whenever they get a chance.
Jenny loves her job as a runner, because it gives her the chance to take a walk during working hours. How many people get to do that? She runs paperwork from the firm to the courthouse, and that is vital work. The attorneys don’t have time to deliver the documents to the courthouse, and some things must be original. Faxing is out of the question. Jenny’s work is a vital part of the day-to-day operation of the firm…and she loves it. Today is Jenny’s birthday. Happy birthday Jenny!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
Stacey Daniels met her first husband, Michael Wallace in 1985, when she was 17 years old. The couple married and had their first daughter, Ashley, in 1988. A second daughter, Bree, was born in 1991. Daniels was born in Clay, New York, on July 24, 1967. Her parents were Jerry Daniels and Judie Eaton. Daniels worked for an ambulance dispatch company, while Wallace spent his nights as a mechanic, yet the family still struggled financially. Daniels said Wallace was especially close to Bree, showing a favoritism she balanced out by becoming “best friends” with their older daughter Ashley. Despite their bonds with the kids, the couple drifted apart, and rumors swirled that both were involved in extramarital affairs.
In late 1999, Wallace started feeling sick off and on. His family remembers him seeming unsteady, coughing, and looking swollen. As his strange illness dragged on through the holidays, they urged him to see a doctor, but he passed away in early 2000 before he got the chance. Doctors told Castor her husband had died of a heart attack. Although Wallace’s sister didn’t believe that and wanted an autopsy. Daniels declined, saying she trusted the doctors’ conclusion.
In 2003, Stacey married David Castor and took his last name…the name she would carry for the rest of her life. David owned an air conditioning installation and repair business, where Stacey worked as his office manager. One afternoon in August 2005, Stacey called the Onondaga County sheriff’s office, saying David had locked himself in their bedroom after an argument and hadn’t been seen or heard from in a day. She added that he had been depressed lately. When Sergeant Robert Willoughby arrived for a wellness check, he kicked in the bedroom door and found David dead. Near his body were a container of antifreeze and a half-full glass of bright green liquid. Willoughby recalled Stacey screaming, “He’s not dead, he’s not dead.”
The coroner ruled David’s death a suicide from a self-administered lethal dose of antifreeze, but suspicion arose when police found Stacey’s fingerprints on the glass and discovered a turkey baster with David’s DNA on its tip. Investigators suspected she had used it to force-feed him once he was too weak to resist. With this new lead, they obtained permission to place audio and visual surveillance at the Castor home and the gravesites of Stacey’s husbands, buried side by side at her request. Detectives figured that if she truly loved her late husbands, she would visit their graves, but she never did. Eventually, they decided the only way to prove she was behind both deaths was to exhume Wallace’s body. A toxicology report confirmed that Wallace had also died from antifreeze poisoning.
In September 2007, after her first husband’s body had been exhumed, Castor decided to kill her daughter and “best friend” Ashley for the murders to save her own skin. This was her “best friend” and yet, she felt no 
remorse. A suicide note seemed her best option, so she typed it up and presented it as Ashley’s. Castor invited Ashley to the family home in Liverpool for a drink. Ashley agreed, as Castor was not just her mother but also her “best friend.” The next day, Castor invited Ashley over for drinks at home again, offering her a “nasty-tasting” beverage that she initially turned down. Seventeen hours later, Ashley was found unconscious in bed by her younger sister, Bree. Thankfully, Bree insisted they get help, prompting Castor to call 911. When Bree briefly stepped away and returned, she discovered a suicide note beside Ashley, allegedly confessing to the murders of her father and stepfather. Castor swiftly took the note and later handed it to paramedics. Tests showed that Ashley had potentially deadly painkillers in her system and would likely have died if she’d arrived at the hospital just minutes later. When she woke up, police asked her about the murders and the suicide note. She said the last thing she remembered was her mother making her an alcoholic drink, which had never happened before. She told them she hadn’t written the note and was baffled by their questions.
The DA even pointed out that Castor may have even murdered her own father, Jerry Daniels, who died February 22, 2002, shortly after his daughter visited him in the hospital where he had a minor lung complaint. Castor’s first husband’s family also believes Castor may have killed her father by bringing in an open can of soda for her father to drink. She was the executor of his estate. On February 5, 2009, Castor was convicted of second-degree murder for poisoning David and of attempted second-degree murder for overdosing Ashley. She kept her eyes closed as the verdicts were read. Keller stated she would appeal the decision, planning to challenge the use of evidence related to Wallace’s death, for which Castor had not been charged.
On March 5, 2009, during Castor’s sentencing, Garvey urged Judge Fahey to hand down the maximum consecutive sentences, citing the brutality of David’s death. She condemned Castor for “partying in her backyard with friends like nothing was happening” while Ashley lay comatose in her room. Calling her cold, calculating, and devoid of emotion, Garvey said, “Human life is sacred. Stacey Castor places no value on it, not even her own flesh and blood. To her, people are disposable.” David’s son, cheated out of his inheritance, also pleaded for severe punishment, calling Castor “a monster and a threat to society” who had caused immense pain and loss, multiplying the suffering among the families she hurt.
Judge Fahey told Castor he had never seen a parent try to kill their own child just to frame them for a crime they committed. He told her she was “in a class all by herself.” The judge then gave her the maximum sentence of twenty-five years to life for David’s murder, plus another twenty-five years for attempting to kill Ashley. For forging David’s will, he added an extra 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison. The trial had lasted for four weeks. An emotional Ashley told the judge she hated her mother “for ruining so many people’s lives” but still loved her for the bond she had originally had with her. She said, “I never knew what hate was until now. Even though I do hate her, I still love her at the same time. That bothers me, it is so confusing. How can you hate someone and love them at the same time? I just wish that she would say sorry for everything she did, including all the lies. As horrible as it makes me feel, this is goodbye mom. As hard as you tried, I survived and I will survive because now I’m surrounded by people that love me. I’m going to do good things in this world despite making me in every sense of the word an orphan.”
Castor became New York Department of Corrections inmate number 09G0209 and was placed in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Bedford Hills, New York. Even with credit for time served, her earliest possible release date was June 15, 2055…slightly over a month shy of her 88th birthday. Castor had been dubbed “The Black Widow” by media outlets. Her prison term would be long, but she wouldn’t live to see much of it. Castor was found dead in her cell on the morning of June 11, 2016. It was not immediately apparent how she died and the manner of her death was listed as undetermined; it was later determined by the DA’s office that she died of a heart attack, with no evidence of suicide or foul play.
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French civil engineer. He was born in France’s Côte-d’Or, the first child of Catherine-Mélanie (née Moneuse) and Alexandre Bonickhausen dit Eiffel. He descended from Jean-René Bönickhausen, who had left the German town of Marmagen and settled in Paris in the early 18th century. The family adopted the name Eiffel as a nod to the Eifel mountains in their native region. Although they always went by Eiffel, Gustave’s birth was registered as Bonickhausen dit Eiffel, and it wasn’t officially changed to Eiffel until 1880. It’s always sad, in my estimation, when last names are changed for any other reason but marriage. So often the line of ancestors can also be lost in that change.
When Alexandre, who always went by Gustave finished his public schooling, he went on to graduate from École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. After graduation, he began to make a name for himself with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit Viaduct. Gustav had planned to work in his uncle’s workshop in Dijon after graduating, but a family dispute put an end to that idea. After spending a few months 
as an unpaid assistant to his brother-in-law, who ran a foundry, Gustav reached out to railway engineer Charles Nepveu, who offered him his first paid role as a private secretary. Soon after, Nepveu’s company went bankrupt, but he helped Gustav land a job designing a 72-foot sheet iron bridge for the Saint Germaine railway. When some of Nepveu’s businesses were taken over by the Compagnie Belge de Matériels de Chemin de Fer, Nepveu became managing director of two factories in Paris and brought Gustav on as head of the research department.
In 1857, Nepveu secured a contract to build a railway bridge over the Garonne River in Bordeaux, linking the Paris-Bordeaux line with routes to Sète and Bayonne. The project involved constructing a 1,600-foot iron girder bridge supported by six pairs of masonry piers on the riverbed, built using compressed air caissons and hydraulic rams…cutting-edge methods at the time. Gustav first oversaw the assembly of the metalwork but later took charge of the entire project after Nepveu resigned in March 1860.
While Gustav Eiffel built a number of bridges in his lifetime, he is most famous for the Eiffel Tower, created by his company for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, and for helping build the Statue of Liberty in New York. However, a little-known fact is that Paris was not the location Gustav initially had in mind when he designed the 
tower. Originally, he presented the design to city officials in Barcelona, Spain. The officials who saw the design deemed it too ugly for their city. So, Gustav switched gears and had his tower constructed in Paris as a temporary showpiece for the 1889 International Exposition…and it’s been drawing visitors to the City of Light ever since. I wonder what the officials in Barcelona thought of their comments after the Eiffel Tower became such a showpiece in Paris. After retiring from engineering, Gustav turned his attention to meteorology and aerodynamics, where he also made notable contributions. Gustav Eiffel died peacefully on December 27, 1923, supposedly while listening to Beethoven’s 5th symphony andante, in his mansion on Rue Rabelais in Paris. He was 91. He was buried in the family tomb in Levallois-Perret Cemetery.
In what my niece, Toni Chase had called an average year, her husband, Dave Chase found a way to have a few adventures in 2025. Dave is a very optimistic kind of man, and he said it was a fun year with all the Pickle ball, golf, softball, and a new favorite…online Cribbage which he came in first place for the summer session. If only my Uncle Bill could have known Dave…he would have loved him. Uncle Bill wanted to figure out a way to play “long distance Cribbage” when I was a kid. We never got that done. Uncle Bill would have been ecstatic…if he had known how to use a computer.
Dave spent a lot of time on the water, opting to fish the river in Big Horn Canyon rather than their normal area…the good old Platte River. He went a handful of times, because it was such good fishing. Then, in March, Dave made the annual trip to watch the NCAA basketball tournament held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, and took in some skiing at Ski Loveland (somewhere in Colorado near Breckenridge).
Dave didn’t do much socially in April, but once when he was on his way to the dog park when he saw a marmot running across the road right before he inched to the stoplight on CY and Outer Drive. Toni tells it best, so I’ll leave this part in her words, “He quickly slowed down, hoping the light would hurry up and turn red so that the poor little thing could get to the field before getting hit… The light turned red and the marmot was gone. Dave figured it must have made it across the road, so he continued his way to the park (about a half block away). When he got to the park, he let the dogs out as he always does but this time, the dogs didn’t go running as they usually would. Instead, they made a B-line for the front of the car. They started sniffing around the tires and along the fenders and grill like they were part of some super K9 unit. They were coming up short so they both went underneath the car and tried sticking their heads over the splash shield. All the sudden Dave said they spotted something that caused them to go into a barking, clawing melt down. Dave and all the other pet owner started investigating what was causing such a stir. Dave silently hoped he hadn’t hit the marmot after all. He tried peering underneath the car but didn’t see anything. A crowd of dog walkers had started to gather and began their own investigation.
An older, rather suspicious man said to Dave “I think we need to pop the hood” (I wish I could have seen the look on Dave’s face lol). So, Dave reached through the window and engaged the hood lift keeping eye contact with the man. Dave walked to the front of the car and slowly started to lift the hood (the dogs were still going crazy; spectators were nonchalantly pretending to have business near the car all the while). Dave got the hood about halfway up when all of the sudden Biscuit let out a high pitch howl. Both Dave and his new detective friend caught a glimpse of a large brown furry creature poking his head up from the back of the engine block. They both jump back and the hood starts to inch to a close, so Dave rushed forward to prevent it from closing. He slowly started to lift the hood again; his arm extended to its maximum reach. The suspicious detective man 
who was even further back was bent forward to see if he saw what he saw. As the hood went up a little more, the dogs saw it too. It was the marmot. And when he (or she as it turns out) saw the dogs she ducked back down and wouldn’t come back up. This went on for about fifteen minutes, so Dave called me to head his way. He told me to bring a spray bottle. When I got there the dogs were out of control. Dave told the suspicious man that he was going to lower the hood and run the dogs home with me, hoping that the marmot would just crawl back out once it knew the coast was clear. The man told Dave “Ok, I’ll keep working on getting it to come out while you’re gone” (lol can you imagine). Dave just shrugged, jumped in the truck and we headed back to the house to drop off the dogs then went back to the park.
When we got there, the park was empty. The hood of his car was closed, and the water bottle was sitting on the driver’s seat. We figured the marmot had made his escape. So, Dave jumped in the car and we went back home. When we got there the dogs were sound asleep. They didn’t even get up to greet us. We started settling in when all the sudden Crickets head popped up then Biscuits. They both focused their sight at the wall, then out of nowhere they went into hysteric again and took off for the garage And out the door to the driveway where Dave’s car was parked. Unbelievably, the marmot was still taking up residence.
We couldn’t get her to come out for anything. This went on clear past nine. We had to barricade the dogs in the bedroom for the night. When we got up the next morning, both dogs were chomping at the bit to get out. The minute I opened the door they went straight for the garage. I opened the garage door thinking there is no way that marmot is still there. I was wrong. This story goes on and on but to try and make it short, we ended up calling one of Daves friends at Game and Fish. The friend/game warden came to the house and went to work pulling out all his bags of tricks. But he had no better luck than we did so he called another game warden to the scene, and if you think the Looky-Lou’s at the dog park were bad, try imagining our neighbors observing 2 game wardens searching our car. In the end it took a garden hose and the release of Biscuit and Cricket (the makeshift herding dogs) to finally got her out.
Our story ended there. The first game warden drove her up to the mountain and released her. Or so he thought…she ended up in his truck…as it turned out she was ready to give birth and was looking for a place to do so with some privacy. She wasn’t about to let him force her out…but that’s the game warden’s story.
Other than that, they took a trip in May to Florida and did some fishing on the Gulf. They spent some time in 
Tampa at the aquarium and around Saint Petersburg. They spent a lot of time around town and went to numerous concerts in the park. They did some hiking in the snowy range and spent a couple weekends in Centennial at the cabin with the kids, Jane, and Dave’s cousins, Chuck and his wife, Chris. Dave took another fishing trip in Colorado on the South Platte River, and they went to Yellowstone at the end of September to see the fall colors. Other than that, Toni says it was a pretty uneventful year. An uneventful year…seriously!! That statement makes me laugh, because there was little that was uneventful in this story. Nevertheless, Dave and Toni just take it in stride and keep going. Today is Dave’s 65th birthday. Happy birthday Dave!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
I never had trouble remembering Grandma Hein’s birthday. She’s my husband, Bob’s grandmother, so I didn’t grow up knowing it, but somehow it always stuck in my mind. I think it’s because every year, Grandma shared her special day with a groundhog. Everyone has dates that apply to their life. There’s a date with death, a date with birth, a date with an upcoming test, or graduation. We don’t always call them dates, though sometimes we do. And every year, there’s the date of our birthday. That was the kind of date Grandma Hein had. Every year, she knew her birthday was extra special because it meant finding out about the coming of spring. She told me that more than once, so I know she loved it…Groundhog Day.
Grandma’s life wasn’t always smooth. Her mother, Viola Leary, abandoned the family. She was gone for a while, and when she did return, Grandma wasn’t sure she wanted her around. At one point there was a stepmother in the picture, but that marriage ended, leaving room for Viola to come back. She stayed in Grandma’s life until her father passed away, took his pension and left again. Then, she reappeared again near the end of her own life. Sadly, their relationship was never particularly close, even when they lived under the same roof. I know there are always two sides to a story, but with everyone else who might have known anything, gone, I only ever heard one.
Grandma was a hardworking woman, likely shaped by all the years she spent caring for the house she shared with her dad and brother. I remember visiting her and thinking she never slowed down. She could run circles around most people and never seemed to get tired. I guess that’s just how most ranchers’ wives are…the day never really ends.
Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Hein was always such a joy. It was a trip we made sure to take every year, and I’ve always been grateful we did. It’s been so many years now, and I truly miss those visits and the time spent with them. Today is the 117th anniversary of Grandma Hein’s birth, and even though Punxsutawney Phil says 
Spring is still six weeks away, the day still feels special because it’s hers. Of course, here in Wyoming, while the day has been very Springlike, it was cloudy enough this morning that our own, Lander Lil (a Prairie Dog that is our version of Punxsutawney Phil, did not see her shadow, meaning that technically we could have an early Spring here in Wyoming. Actually, that might not be good, considering that we have already had a mild Winter, and we need moisture. Time will tell, I guess. Happy birthday in Heaven, Grandma Hein. We love and miss you very much.
When you think about the years of the Earth, and all that has happened over all that time, much of it during a time when recorded history was next to impossible, it has been estimated that as much as 97% of the world’s history has been lost to time. Of course, we have the Bible, so the Earth’s beginnings have been recorded and much of that time period, but even during that time there were limited historical records. The history of the average, everyday person was not recorded. Then when we consider the various languages and the lack of the ability to communicate, and we can see how so many of history’s events could be lost.
We’re not just talking about human history here. I don’t know and no one else does either, exactly how many years the Earth has been in existence…nor will we likely ever know. I for one will never debate the truth of the Bible, so my story will be written from that aspect. The records of early life recorded in the Bible are true. However, not every person who lived at that time was necessarily recorded in the Bible. That would 
have been an impossible task, so the history of those other people would not have been recorded, nor would their accomplishments, even if they were remarkable. They were simply not a part of the Bibles purpose.
So, the history of many people from that time was an untold story. Carry that fact forward of the passage of time, and the fact that many people even today don’t record or have a record of their own history. Over time, many people have been lost to their family, and the family timelines have been severed. Things like family name changes, sealed adoptions, abductions, and other types of disappearances, have destroyed the timelines. And that is just the human descendant line.
Then, there is the history of discoveries, some of which we know, and others that we either took for granted or 
simply knew nothing about. The failures of inventions would have simply been thrown in the trash, often with nothing learned from the attempt. While we may thing that the only inventions were in modern times, there were many inventions that happened in very early times…we just think of them as something that had been there for many years. Sometimes, we knew that something was an invention, but the history of the invention was lost or unrecorded. Then there are the records lost to fire, flood, or other natural disasters. Unless someone who was there at the time, knew the facts, they are lost. It is a sad reality. When you think about all these factors, you can see how as much as 97% of history could be lost.
Remember the last time you went to the movies? There might have been a line to get in, but with movies now available at home on TV, the lines probably aren’t what they used to be…if people go out to the movies at all. I remember standing outside for over an hour just to get inside, even in the freezing winter, because you really wanted to see that movie. When I was a kid, the theater would be packed with children eager to watch the latest Disney film, and as soon as the lights went out, the excitement would erupt into loud screams. It was pure, uncontainable joy spilling out in the form of shouts. That is a thing of the past for sure.
Let’s take a trip back to when movies were brand new, and the thrill of them hadn’t worn off like it has today. Back then, not everyone had seen a moving picture show. Even as kids, brimming with excitement for the latest film, we couldn’t imagine the level of wonder that came with those very first shows. Sure, some people might have thought this new kind of entertainment wasn’t a good idea, but most saw it as something thrilling they wanted to experience. I doubt anyone back then could have guessed the enormous impact those early moving pictures would have on humanity.
Today, we have much more than old-fashioned moving picture shows, and television, found in nearly every American home, offers far more than just entertainment. With a simple click, we’re instantly connected to weather alerts, breaking news, politics, sports, and, of course, entertainment. We can explore learning channels that teach us about everything from animals to languages to space and even watch programs from our favorite religious leaders.
A lot has changed since the days of the first moving picture show. While we still go to the movies, the lines are rarely as long, likely because films play in multiple theaters with several showings a day, including matinees. 
Many people skip the theater altogether, opting to wait for a release on television. They feel like the snacks have become such an expensive part of the show, that it’s cheaper to skip the theater an make our own snacks at home. These days, we have even more options, like watching on a PC, laptop, tablet, or even smartphones. However we choose to enjoy it, it all began with the moving picture show.
Palais Bulles, also called “Bubble Palace” is a sprawling residence in Théoule-sur-Mer, near Cannes, France. It was designed by Hungarian architect Antti Lovag and originally built for French industrialist Pierre Bernard. It was later purchased by fashion designer Pierre Cardin as a holiday retreat. I can see why these people might like the Bubble Palace. After all, it is unique. Certainly, no one else is likely to have the same house. Many people are very opposed to “cookie cutter houses” after all….and this house was definitely not cookie cutter!! This 13,000-square-foot house was built between 1975 and 1989 for French industrialist Pierre Bernard. Architect Antti Lovag, who saw straight lines as “an aggression against nature,” designed it as a playful space full of joy and surprises.
After Bernard’s death in 1991, fashion designer Pierre Cardin purchased the house. Strangely, Bernard never lived there, yet he described it as his own slice of paradise. He mentioned that its cellular shapes had long mirrored the essence of his creations. He considered it a museum showcasing the work of contemporary designers and artists. It is strange to purchase a palace to use as a museum, but never open it to the public. I 
guess he wanted his own museum, or he simply never got the whole plan into place, unfortunately.
In 2016, French architect Odile Decq completed a five-year renovation. By March 2017, the property was on the market for €350 million, but it didn’t sell. Instead, it could be rented out to groups for $33,200 a day…not something the average family could afford. After Cardin’s death in December 2020, there were suggestions to transform the building into a public space for art exhibitions. The house features a reception hall, a panoramic lounge, a 500-seat open-air amphitheater, 10 bedrooms, and multiple swimming pools and waterfalls set within expansive landscaped grounds. The Palais features 29 rooms, 11 bathrooms, and ten bedrooms, each uniquely decorated by a different artist, including Patrice Breteau, Jerome Tisserand, Daniel You, François Chauvin, and Gerard Cloarec.
The house has been featured is several movies and music videos. While its design is unique, it is really a unique oddity that began in the mind of an artist-architect-designer, and probably never a practical building. It does have a bubble-like look, which makes it interesting, but not practical. I think designers of unusual buildings might be a bit eccentric, and maybe that explains the Bubble Palace.
These days, service dogs, and even cats, are fairly commonplace…sometimes to the point that we wonder if the owner really needs a service animal. Nevertheless, it’s not for any of us to say whether or not the service animal is necessary or not. If the person is scamming the system…well, that’s on them. There are far more people who really need the service animal than those who don’t. The animal provides a number of key services for the owner. Some have been trained to tell if their owner is having an epileptic attack, a PTSD attack, or anxiety attack, and a number of other attacks. However, the first “service dog” was actually a dog to guide blind people, thereby giving them independence. The exact time when dogs were first used to assist people with disabilities is unknown, but ancient artwork from Pompeii and China seems to show dogs guiding those with visual impairments. In 1785, Frenchman Valentin Haüy founded the First Institute for Blind Children and introduced the concept of using dogs for this purpose, but it wasn’t until after World War I that the modern Guide Dog movement truly began.
The movement to use dogs to guide the blind took time to get around the world, but in 1929, the United States saw the opening of The Seeing Eye, Inc. The Seeing Eye is a guide dog school located in Morris Township, New Jersey, and it is the oldest guide dog school in the United States, as well as one of the largest. The Seeing Eye campus features administrative offices, student dormitories, a veterinary care center, and kennels, along with a breeding station located in Chester, New Jersey. The school is a lead researcher in canine genetics, breeding, disease control, and behavior, all things necessary to provide the best dogs for the people they serve. The Seeing Eye pairs about 260 people who are blind or visually impaired with guide dogs each year. By 2023, there were roughly 1,700 active guide dog users in the United States and Canada, and since the school’s founding, The Seeing Eye has matched more than 17,500 people with dogs.
The Seeing Eye has its roots in Europe in the 1920s when Dorothy Harrison Eustis moved from the United 
States to Vevey, Switzerland. Her purpose was to establish a breeding and training center for German shepherds. She was joined by Elliott S “Jack” Humphrey, an American trainer and geneticist, who worked with her to create their own scientific method for breeding and training. During World War I, many German soldiers lost their sight, and many suffered visual impairments. That prompted several schools in Germany to experiment with training guide dogs in specific skills. Eustis later wrote about this in an article for The Saturday Evening Post titled “The Seeing Eye,” published on November 5, 1927. Afterward, Eustis received numerous letters from blind individuals inquiring about how to get a guide dog.
An article was read to Morris Frank, a 19-year-old blind man from Nashville, Tennessee, who had lost his sight in two separate accidents. Frank was convinced that a guide dog could help him regain independence, so he wrote to Eustis. Although she had never trained dogs for the blind, Eustis decided to help. Frank also expressed his wish to promote guide dog training for the blind in the United States. Eustis and Humphrey, experienced in training other working dogs, began adapting their methods. In April 1928, Frank met his first guide dog, Kiss, whom he renamed Buddy…the name he gave to all six of his future Seeing Eye dogs. The name has now been retired by the organization. Over six weeks, Frank and Buddy formed a strong bond and learned to navigate streets, obstacles, stairs, and crowds together. On January 29, 1929, Eustis and Frank founded The Seeing Eye in Nashville. The school’s first class was held in February 1929.
After receiving a generous donation, The Seeing Eye relocated to Whippany, New Jersey, in 1931, setting up a permanent spot for training and student housing. In 1965, it moved again to its current 60-acre campus in Morris Township, New Jersey, which houses administrative offices, student residences, a veterinary clinic, and kennels. The Seeing Eye was the first guide dog school established outside of Europe and remains the oldest one still operating in the world, celebrating its 95th anniversary in 2024. The Seeing Eye Dog was named the official state dog of New Jersey in 2020. Back in April 2005, a lifelike bronze statue of Morris Frank and his dog 
Buddy was placed on the northeast corner of the Morristown Green, showing Frank giving the “forward command.” The Seeing Eye played a key role in passing a state law that made it a crime to harm a service dog or a service dog in training. The bill was inspired by Dusty, a Seeing Eye puppy-in-training who was badly injured in a pit bull attack and had to leave the program. On January 17, 2014, Governor Chris Christie signed Dusty’s Law. In September 2021, Jim Kutsch, the school’s first graduate to become its CEO, was honored with both a portrait and a statue on the Morris Township campus. The guide dog program has done so much for people who are blind or visually impaired, and it is very likely to have been the inspiration for other types of service dogs too.
It’s National Amy Day!! Who knew that was even a thing? In our family, we usually celebrate Amy Day on June 1st, which is our Amy’s birthday. But since today is the official National Amy Day, we’re celebrating again! Simply put, it’s a day dedicated to celebrating girls named Amy. It’s not the only name with its own special day, but this one and National Corrie Day are two special ones for me, as mom to daughters, Corrie Petersen and Amy Royce. Our daughter, Amy has decided that from now on, this will be her cue to take a day off. So, today, that is what she did. So now, January 28th will be a personal day for Amy from now on.
National Amy Day is celebrated every year on January 28th. In modern French, Amy is the English version of the Old French name Aimée, which was a translation of ‘Amata,’ a Latin name from ‘Amatus,’ meaning ‘beloved.’ That meaning was one of the things I loved about the name Amy. Amie and Ami are other possible spellings. 
While it’s far less popular for babies now, Amy was the second most popular girl’s name in the 1970s, right after Jennifer. That makes sense, since my Amy was born in 1976. It remains a short, charming, “Little Women” style classic name even today, but not the reason we chose it.
I first heard the name, not from the movie “Little Women,” but from an old western show I watched years ago called “The Monroes.” It only ran for a year, from 1966 to 1967, and told the story of five kids heading West after their parents died in an accident. Determined to fulfill their parents’ dream, they pressed on. The youngest sibling, played by Tammy Locke, was named Amy. She was a sweet, adorable little girl. I had never met anyone named Amy before, but I liked that little girl on the show, even though that wasn’t her real name. The name fit her. I suppose that’s how many names catch on. In any case, we’ve always felt blessed to have our Amy, and her older sister, Corrie, who, I’ve discovered, also has her own special day.
Little did I know that there is also a National Corey Day, that falls on December 10th…but that’s a story for another day. Today is National Amy Day, so happy National Amy Day to all the Amy’s out there, and especially to my own Amy!! Our Amy is sweet and kind, but she was also feisty…and still can be, if someone crosses her. Nevertheless, she has always been a blessing to us, as has her sister. I am very proud of Amy and of all her accomplishments. Have a great day Amy and happy National Amy Day!!
