Last week, we talked “turkey” and I told you that this week I’d give you desserts for Thanksgiving. There is no point in giving you recipes for side dishes, as you probably have family favorites that you’ve made for years, or your mother or grandmother has made, and you will use them. The same thing is true of dressing or stuffing recipes, the one that was in my column is the favorite of my family and I’ve used it for years!
Cinnamon Pie
Cream together:
1/2 c. (1stick) butter or margarine
1 1/2 c. sugar
Add and beat in until well mixed:
6 egg yolks
3 T. flour
4 tablespoons cinnamon (yes, this is the correct amount)
2 c. milk
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake for about 40 minutes or until firm.
6 egg whites
10 tablespoons sugar
Beat the 6 egg whites until peaks form. Gradually add 10 T. sugar and beat until stiff.
Spread on pie and brown under the broiler.
Aunt Joyce’s Green Jell-O Salad
1 large or 2 small boxes lime gelatin
1 large can crushed pineapple in juice
1 carton (8-oz) small curd cottage cheese
1 carton whipped topping (thawed)
Pour pineapple into pot; add gelatin, cook and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and chill for about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the cottage cheese. Place whipped topping into serving bowl and gently fold gelatin mixture into whipped topping. (This seems to work better than trying to fold the topping into the Jell-o mixture, don’t know why, but works better for me!) Some people add miniature marshmallows and pecans to the mixture also.
Now, here’s a light and less filling dessert, in case you ate too much turkey:
Pineapple Angel Food Cake
1 box Angel Food Cake mix, (one-step type only)
1 can 20-oz crushed pineapple, (do not drain)
Pour cake mix into large bowl, add undrained pineapple, and stir until well mixed. It will foam up, then pour into either a tube pan or a 9×13 baking pan). Bake at 350º until golden brown. (If you use the tube pan, turn upside down just as you would with an angel food cake, no need to turn the 9×13 pan upside down.)
Category: Commentary
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
“Kilgallen was the greatest female writer in the world.”
-Ernest Hemingway
Few people today know the name of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to live. She was an intrepid journalist, gifted writer, and popular TV personality. The New York Post once described her as “the most powerful female voice in America.” As a fearless crime reporter, she was involved in many high-profile investigations, including the famous Sam Sheppard murder trial and the JFK assassination. In November of 1965, she died mysteriously, but authorities refused to investigate. Her name was Dorothy Kilgallen.
Dorothy Kilgallen was born in Chicago on July 3, 1913. Her family moved to New York City in 1920, and she grew up in Brooklyn. After graduating high school, she briefly attended New Rochelle College but dropped out at the age of 17 to become a crime reporter.
In September of 1936, while working for the New York Evening Journal, she convinced her editors to send her on a “Race Around the World” – competing against reporters from two other newspapers. Dorothy was just 23 years old. She had two days to get her passport and 16 Visas. Off and running, she traveled by plane, dirigible, train, and ship, reporting on her adventures from such places as Germany, Manila, Hong Kong, and Hawaii. The trip took her 24 days, and she came in second place. When she returned home, every house on her block was decorated with her picture and an American flag. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt even wrote to congratulate her. Dorothy later published a memoir of her trip entitled Girl Around the World.
Ever the hardworking journalist, in 1938 Dorothy launched a newspaper column, the Voice of Broadway, for the New York Journal-American. In it she documented the shenanigans of the social elite, and more. Her writing style was a mixture of juicy gossip, dark politics, and crime, peppered with odd tidbits of trivial and fun information. Dorothy cruised New York nightspots like Delmonico’s and the Copacabana, picking up story tips, writing them on matchbooks and napkins, and tossing them in her purse.
By 1950, Dorothy’s column was running in 146 newspapers earning 20 million readers. Not everyone though was enamored with her take on the celebrity world. Dishing dirt sometimes brought her enemies. Frank Sinatra was one of them. In a running feud with Dorothy, he often referred to her as the “chinless wonder.” She responded by writing about his ties to organized crime and the mob.
In 1950, along with her column and a morning live radio program, Dorothy became a regular panelist on the new game show What’s My Line?
The show was broadcast live from New York on Sunday nights and had the panelists interview contestants with unusual occupations, with contestants winning $5 for every “no” answer. Dorothy was intelligent, quick witted, and fun, more often than not correctly guessing her way through the game. During this time, Dorothy became a celebrity herself, often outshining the stars she wrote about. But writing was her gift.
Dorothy’s father, James Kilgallen, a journalist himself recalled “she had an unerring instinct for news. She had a brilliant style of writing. She was accurate and had a flair for the apt phrase. She had an uncanny ability to produce scoops and an inordinate speed in turning out copy.” And readers devoured what she wrote.
In her column on August 3, 1962, Dorothy broke the story of President Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe’s romantic relationship. She didn’t directly identify Kennedy, but readers were able to read between the lines. One day later, Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her Los Angeles home – under suspicious circumstances.
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, and life for America changed forever. Dorothy was devasted, having met the President weeks earlier on a White House visit with her young son. And as a crime reporter, she started asking questions.
Contacts within the Dallas Police Department began feeding her information. Dorothy was soon convinced that the assassination was a conspiracy, with many involved. Things got western after the man arrested for the crime, Lee Harvey Oswald, was gunned down on live TV by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. Dorothy soon obtained and published the transcript of Ruby’s testimony before the Warren Commission tasked with investigating the crime. The FBI interrogated Dorothy in an effort to discover her source. She informed the FBI that she “would rather die than reveal his identity.”
Dorothy later interviewed Jack Ruby (she was the only reporter to do so) and began carrying a file of documents with her at all times – believed to be material she was compiling for a book. She told friends that she was “going to break this case.” She believed it would be the biggest scoop of the century.
On the evening of November 7, 1965, Dorothy made her last appearance on What’s My Line? She was later spotted in the bar at the Regency Hotel having drinks with a mystery man, and then leaving the bar at about 2 a.m.
Monday morning, November 8, 1965, Dorothy had an appointment with her hairdresser Marc Sinclaire. Sinclaire arrived at her Manhattan townhouse at approximately 8:45 a.m. He found her dead.
Dorothy was found by her hairdresser in a bedroom she never slept in, dressed in clothes she would never wear to bed, with makeup, hairpiece, and false eyelashes still on, reading a book she had finished and disliked, without her reading glasses, with the lights on and A/C running full blast in the cold of November. Eight days after her death, the New York City Medical Examiners report, signed by a doctor who claimed he was never there and didn’t sign it, stated that Dorothy died of “acute barbiturate and alcohol intoxication – circumstances undetermined.” Her death was never investigated by the authorities.
The file carrying all of Dorothy’s JFK papers has never been found.
© 2025 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com
It’s nearly Thanksgiving
It’s nearly Thanksgiving, and next week our work will begin. Thanks to my son and his family, they have taken on a lot of the work usually associated with this holiday and have gotten to be experts at celebrating it! They sort of have open house as they invite friends, and relatives and friends of friends…truly sharers of the season. In fact, one year, we had several young men who were in basic training at Lackland who were able to come with a relative who also was in basic in San Antonio. We always have a wonderful crowd who seem to be able to get along with one another even with sometimes generation gaps and everything that goes with having a large crowd. And, besides all this, his yard is large enough for a crowd, and they always have enough tables and chairs. When we do have part of the group indoors, there are always table games going on in the dining room and may have anywhere from four or five people playing to ten or twelve, depending on what game is in progress.
My latest rant for the year is that once again “they” have changed the size of cake mixes and are telling us that we get the same size cake from a 13.25 box of cake mix as we used to get from the 15.25 size, and they told us that same phrase, when the box size changed from 18.25!!! Yes, you get the same amount of servings, but they are much smaller and thinner than they used to be. Ladies, watch your cake mix sizes this year or you may have a big mess on your hands! Personally, I’m about ready to go back to getting out my old favorite, “Betty Crocker Cookbook” and start making cakes from ‘scratch’ like I did in the good old days.
Even though the turkey is the largest of the game birds native to North America, we no longer must depend on our husbands, fathers, sons or brothers (or ourselves) to go out and shoot a turkey for us for Thanksgiving, with all the attendant work. Nor, do we have to raise one in a pen or flock and then have to worry about getting a husband, son or other male in the family (or ourselves), to set about the task of butchering it for Thanksgiving as our grandmothers had to do. Have you ever cleaned a turkey? Believe me, it is a tremendous amount of work, been there, done that! And, if the amount of work you have already done isn’t enough, you still have to determine how long to cook the bird to get it tender.
The turkey was domesticated and bred by the Aztec and Zuni Indians, and turkeys were used not only for food, but also for sacrifice. These Indians used the feathers for adornment and for charms.
The Spanish conquerors first saw the turkey around 1492 and by 1530, the Mexican species was introduced to Europe. Any and all of the varieties bred today are descendants of the original North American wild turkey, Meleagris gallopava. There are several subspecies of wild turkey that have been recognized, and their range is from Mexico to northern New England.
When the colonists arrived in New England, they discovered an abundant supply of food in the form of the wild turkey. Since the first American Thanksgiving, (at which, I am told, they really did not serve turkey), the turkey has become the traditional symbol of this holiday.
The wild turkey has diminished in numbers since those times. However, here in Texas, it is hunted every year during the regular hunting season and in some areas during a spring turkey season. Most usually it is only the male turkey, or a turkey with a “beard” that can be shot, and you must have a hunting license to do so.
The turkeys available in our grocery stores are commercially raised ones that are raised with special feeds, etc. Almost all the time, the commercially raised turkeys are a white variety. They are also almost listed as ‘broad-breasted’.
It was formerly believed that a Tom turkey was not as tender as a hen, but now, it really doesn’t matter as they are all raised the same way. The main difference I have found is in the matter of weight. A Tom will most always be heavier than a hen.
One of the better inventions of the past few years has been the built-in timer! This surely is a big help for novice cooks (or older ones also for that matter). Another great stride is the self-basting or pre-basted turkey. This type of turkey has oil or butter injected into it so that no basting is necessary while it is baking. If you do not care for the idea of the extra fat this brings to a turkey, do not buy that type. You can compensate for that extra oil or butter by either baking your turkey in an oven bag, or, you can saturate a clean piece of cloth (muslin, a large square from an old sheet or half of a tee shirt, (no writing or pictures on it, please), with melted margarine and after placing your turkey in a pan, cover it with the cloth. You will still have to baste with pan juices occasionally, but not as frequently as if you didn’t do this. Of course, if you used the baking bag, you do not have to do any basting at all!
As for the size turkey you need, one pound of meat per person should be allowed, or one and one-half pounds if you want leftovers. Next, you need to know that a 12 to 15 pound bird will take no less than three whole days to thaw in the refrigerator, and if your refrigerator is really cold, you will need more thawing time. You should estimate one full day (24 hours) for each five pounds of turkey, and ALL defrosting should be done in the refrigerator. Once the turkey is thawed, remove the neck and giblets from the body cavities. Thoroughly rinse the inside and outside of the turkey. Drain well and pat the outside dry. Season the inside with salt and pepper and stuff with dressing if this is what you are going to do. If you elect not to stuff the bird, several slices of onion and a couple ribs of celery, or an apple cut into quarters, will help season the turkey.
Bake the turkey at 325ºF until a meat thermometer registers 170ºF to 175ºF. The inside juices should be clear when you pierce the skin and the joints should move freely. The average cooking time for a 10 to 18 pound, un-stuffed turkey 3 to 3½ hours.
Do not roast at too low a temperature and do not partially cook, intending to finish cooking later, as this will allow bacteria to grow. When baking a turkey with the timer/thermometer, follow the instructions on the wrapper from the turkey, and if you would feel safer, go ahead and test with a meat thermometer.
There are probably as many dressing/stuffing recipes as there are cooks making Thanksgiving dinner. You can buy a packaged mix, or make your own. The main thing to remember is do not mix the dressing up the day before! You can chop and sauté the onions/celery you use in it and refrigerate, you can break up the cornbread or bread and season it with the salt and pepper and other spices, but DO NOT add the liquid ingredients, such as eggs or broth until just before you are ready to bake it.
Cornbread Dressing
4½ cups crumbled corn bread
2½ cups day old French bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium chopped onion
1½ cups chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 lightly beaten eggs
2 to 3 tablespoons poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 cups broth or milk
Turkey giblets and neck or 1 pack chicken giblets and hearts, or 1/2 pound ground meat or pan sausage (if desired)
Boil turkey or chicken parts until tender. Chop or grind and set aside. If using ground meat or pan sausage, cook in a skillet until nicely browned, drain well and set aside. (Some people prefer to keep the giblets and use them in the gravy; I like to grind them and use in the dressing).
Make cornbread using 2 cups cornmeal/flour, or use one or two of the packages that need only milk and added to them and bake according to package directions in and 8×8 or 9×9 inch pan. This can be done a couple days ahead of time. When cool, crumble and place in bowl in fridge.
Allow bread to dry out slightly, crumble and add to cornbread. When ready to assemble, add meat (if used), sauté onions and celery in margarine until tender. Add to cornbread mixture. Add parsley and seasonings. Add beaten eggs and broth and mix well. If it does not seem moist enough, add more broth. Place in baking pan and bake at 350ºF until golden brown and set. If it looks dry while baking, add more broth or milk. Dressing can be made using canned vegetable or chicken broth instead of the turkey broth from cooking the giblets if you want to save that for the gravy. And, though I prefer homemade gravy, the packages of turkey gravy mix from Pioneer® are really tasty.
Desserts and sides next week!
November Coffee
“We want to do a lot of stuff; we’re not in great shape. We didn’t get a good night’s sleep. We’re a little depressed. Coffee solves all these problems in one delightful little cup.”
-Jerry Seinfeld
In the space between the scary cheer of October and December’s pending Christmas glee, we have the quiet calm of November (until Thanksgiving). Sliding towards winter, with an overload of activities ahead, I find myself more and more craving peace and quiet and coffee. Nestled in my office, with my typewriter at the ready and our little dog Mac napping at my feet, all I need is a cup of coffee. It is November. And few simple things are better than November coffee.
Coffee is almost a supernatural beverage, one of God’s gifts, good for both mind and body. When the world outside seems like too much to bear, there is nothing like a warm cup of coffee to lift your spirits, boost your mood, and make you glad to be alive. As my brother-in-law Harley would say, “That’s not coffee, that’s medicine.” While coffee is of course a blessing year-round, we need that medicine, especially in November.
I often write about coffee. There are some good reasons why. Primarily, I am convinced that ingesting coffee (fresh, organic coffee) is good for our physical and mental health. Consistent coffee consumption provides our bodies (especially our brains) with a boatload of beneficial antioxidants every day. You may not want to go to the gym, or eat buckets of kale to stay healthy, but you can drink coffee. It might be the best thing you can do for your aging carcass.
Drinking coffee has been shown to protect the heart, reduce diabetes risk, support gut health, and even slow biological aging. Always on the lookout for new coffee research, I recently stumbled upon another study highlighting the benefits of coffee consumption, especially for your brain. The study was published in the Nutrition Journal in July 2025 (you can read the study here: nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-025-01173-x).
This study tracked 2,254 adult humans aged 60 and older for three years. Results showed that those who drank two or more cups of coffee per day (480 grams or 12 ounces) had a whopping 42 percent lower chance of poor cognitive performance on specific tests as opposed to non-coffee drinkers. Translation – the coffee drinkers could answer questions and think better (they remembered to wear pants).
To determine cognitive performance, participants were given three tests: the CERAD test (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease), the DSST test (Digit Symbol Substitution Test), and the Animal Fluency Test (a timed test where a person is asked to name different animals and then unique responses are counted). The study found that consuming roughly 16 ounces of coffee daily can protect your brain against cognitive decline. Drinking coffee appears to reduce oxidative damage to your neurons. Neurons are those happy brain cells that we all need to get through Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The source of these spectacular brain cell benefits appears to come from coffee’s chlorogenic acids. These are the potent polyphenols that reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in our bodies. Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress have been linked to disease in the human body, so anything we can do to fight them is a good thing. Coffee may be one of our best weapons. For your consideration this November, here are some coffee drinking tips that may help in this fight for health. You can practice these all year.
Whenever possible, drink fresh coffee. Once coffee beans are roasted, they are essentially perishable. As roasted coffee ages, antioxidant potency decreases. Freshly roasted coffee offers the most health benefits (best used within 30 days of roasting). To maintain freshness, store coffee in airtight containers away from heat and light.
Avoid sugar, syrup, and other bad stuff in coffee. If you need sweetener, honey is wonderful in coffee and a healthier choice.
Enjoy coffee in the morning. Research shows that morning intake aligns with your circadian rhythm supporting good sleep. Avoid coffee eight to ten hours before bed, unless you work at NORAD.
For maximum health benefits, consume two to four cups of coffee per day (16 – 32 ounces). More than this may cause sleep disruption and elevated blood pressure. It might also make your ear hair grow.
If you have any concerns over cholesterol levels, consider filtered coffee (pour over or drip) over non-filtered brewing (French press or espresso). If in doubt, always consult your doctor or other smart people you know.
Black coffee is considered to have the highest antioxidant levels, but some research suggests that adding cream offers health benefits as well. I personally enjoy both – black coffee, as well as coffee with heavy cream and honey.
Live long and drink up. Enjoy your November coffee…
© 2025 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com
Ordinary Heroes & Veterans Day Coke
“Happy are those who dare courageously to defend what they love.”
-Ovid (Roman poet)
The Vietnam War, pitting communist North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its primary ally the United States, was a long and divisive conflict. It occupied American attention and involvement for over 20 years, with our combat forces in-country and on the ground from 1965-1973. Over 58,000 Americans lost their lives in the war. Those who served in Vietnam answered their country’s call when needed. They deserve our gratitude and respect for their service.
One of those who served was Mr. Ricardo Cortez, a combat- wounded veteran from Lytle, Texas. I recently had the honor of speaking with Mr. Cortez and wanted to share his story.
Ricardo (Richard) Cortez was just 18 years old in 1965 when he was drafted into the Army during the war in Vietnam. He experienced much as a member of the U. S. Army’s 4th Infantry Division (nicknamed the Ivy Division for the pronunciation of the unit’s number in Roman Numerals – IV). While engaged in combat operations, Mr. Cortez saw plenty of action. From Camp Jackson Hole, near the Cambodian border in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, men of the 4th Infantry were tasked with continuing search and patrol missions. They scouted and tracked enemy positions engaging North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces at every opportunity. The 4th Infantry endured some of the worst fighting of the war. After volunteering for an extra support and combat mission, Mr. Cortez was wounded when his unit was ambushed as their convoy navigated the Ho Chi Minh Trail inside Cambodia. In the midst of a firefight, the truck he was driving hit a landmine. Blown from the cab with severe injuries, he survived the fight, saved by stalwart Army medics and a medevac helicopter crew.
After treatment in-theater, he was sent to hospital in the Philippines and was later transferred to Madigan Army Medical Center in Seattle for recovery and rehab. With Purple Heart in hand, Mr. Cortez was discharged in 1967 (during his combat tours he also received a Bronze Star). In 1978 he joined the Army Reserve and went on to serve during the Gulf War in Operation Desert Storm as a 1st Sergeant with the 1st Cavalry Division. He currently serves as a member of the Honor Guard with his local VFW chapter. In the past 22 years he has helped perform ceremonial duties for more than 2,000 military funerals.
Leading a proud military legacy, Mr. Cortez’s sons have also served. Army veterans Sergeant First Class Dion Cortez and Staff Sergeant Richard Cortez, Jr. are proud of their dad. Along with Mr. Cortez and his twin brother Henry, both sons served in the Gulf War. Mr. Cortez’s life has been marked by a heart for service. He loves his country, and he was proud to serve. He is an ordinary hero. And those are the best kind.
Recently, students at Lytle High School produced a short documentary film about Mr. Cortez and his family’s military service. They were awarded a bronze medal for the film in the state finals for the UIL Young Filmmakers competition. You can watch the documentary on YouTube (“He Will Continue to Serve – UIL Young Filmmakers State Bronze Medal 1-3A Documentary Award”).
Mr. Cortez’s heart for service continues today with what started out as a simple idea to raise the spirits of his comrades. And this service is tied to America’s favorite soft drink, Coca-Cola.
Historically, the Coca-Cola Company has been a great supporter of our military. During WWII, the company pledged to supply every service member in uniform with a bottle of Coke. At the request of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, they even set up portable bottling plants to supply American G.I.s and Marines in combat with Coke. Today the company continues to support the military through partnerships with the USO and other organizations.
Albert Cortez, Mr. Cortez’s youngest son, shared with me his father’s artistic bent and new creative project idea involving Coke. His dad collects empty pill bottles and other containers. After disinfecting the containers, he creates a collage on each, using pictures for a military service theme along with Coca-Cola logos. He and his boys like Coca-Cola. He then fills the bottles with candy and other small gifts, giving them out to veterans and other VFW friends. He also passes these out to patients and nurses at the local hospital. His containers are beautiful, patriotic, and show his love for America…and Coke.
Inspired, Mr. Cortez had the brilliant idea of presenting this to the Coca-Cola Company. He would like to design special commemorative Coke cans for Veterans Day. I think this idea for Veterans Day Coke cans, designed and created by a veteran, is a genius-level marketing concept. Americans would surely love patriotic Veterans Day Coke cans.
I have forwarded a copy of this column, along with Mr. Cortez’s contact info to the Coca-Cola Company in hopes that they adopt his idea and enlist his help in creating Veterans Day Coke!
Thank you, Mr. Cortez. You are an inspiration to us all. We honor you, your beautiful wife Ninfa, and your family as you continue to serve…
© 2025 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com
Shook School was one of four area rural schools
Rural schools were a way of life in the first half of the 20th century. In Medina County, according to a Devine News publication on July 18, 1902, there were 19 school districts, and 33 in 1926-27. Here’s the interesting list of the 19 in 1902: Castroville, San Geronimo, Lacoste, Quihi, Hondo, D’Hanis, Haass, Chicon, Francisco, Lower Hondo, Black Creek, Community, Rear Crock, Devine, Tehencuna, Deer Creek, Leinweber, Maverick, Coal Mine, totaling 2140 students.
Later, the school “districts,” as they were called, that fed Devine Schools were Biry, Shook, Big Foot, and Black Creek. In around 1952, those rural schools that served the surrounding communities and consisted of first-sixth grades were closed. Up until that time, students attended DISD for their remaining years, but once the rural schools were closed, students from Big Foot, Biry, Black Creek and Shook attended Devine schools for all grades.
A little history of the Shook rural school has been shared by Bob Bendele. Not only did he attend Shook, but so did his father, his mother, and his maternal grandmother. But when Bob was in the second grade, this school and others across the county were closed.
The school consisted of three rooms and six grades. Picture a rectangular building with one room on each side, a hallway down the middle, and a larger room extending at the back. Facing the building, students in first-third grades attended class in the left room; students fourth -sixth attended in the right room. Each room had only one teacher. The back room served as an auditorium with a stage at the back. Bob says many performances happened there as well as community events.
The entrance to the school building had a porch with a bell tower above it. It was actually a very attractive school house, and at the time Bob attended, there were 29 total students.
Other interesting features Bob Bendele shared was that there was a garden that once was used as a mule pen. There was a windmill with a cypress water tank. And there was also a building that had been a teacher’s residence at one time. West of the school house was an outhouse and a baseball diamond, which Bob says was beat down hard from bare feet and drought. Today, the slab where the porch stood remains, and nearby there is a historical marker. The location is near the corner of Hwy 1343 and Calame Store Road (C.R. 664), all which was once Keller property.
Rather than being demolished or left to decay, the Shook school building was moved to Devine and situated at the football field to be used for many years (until 1964) as a field house. The left side was used as concession stand – with the upper part of the wall removed to accommodate customers – and the right side was used as a visitors and B-Team dressing room. The former auditorium was used as the varsity dressing room and the former stage became the coaches’ office. Unfortunately, the bell tower was not moved or saved. And few of these historic school buildings across the state were saved, which is such a shame. But we can share and thus save the stories.
The Healing Power of Pets
“A dog is the only thing on Earth that loves you more than you love yourself.”
-Josh Billings
We all have our preferences when it comes to pets. I prefer dogs. Maybe you are a cat, fish, or reptile person. Whatever the case, recent research has proven what we already know – pets are good for you.
Half of the households in the U.S. have a pet of some kind. Whether you have an affectionate dog, a purring cat, or a fish watching you from his watery home every morning as you stumble out of bed to make coffee, the company of a pet is comforting. Pets support our well-being. For many they offer a vital mental and physical coping mechanism.
Pets can provide us with distinct physical benefits. Dogs especially make great exercise companions (this is less of an option with cats and fish). A dog will give you a reason to exercise. For dog owners, walking becomes pretty much mandatory. An interesting systematic review of research was published recently in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes (this is a journal put out by the American Heart Association). It highlighted the fact that dog ownership is associated with better cardiovascular health. The review examined a truckload of studies published between 1950-2019 examining data from approximately four million humans. Many of these studies revealed that dog ownership was linked to improved cholesterol levels, decreased blood pressure, and lower stress response in the sympathetic nervous system. A summary of all the data showed that dog ownership was associated with a 31 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular death. It is believed that the primary reason for this increased longevity stems from the necessary exercise required of dog owners. A squirmy little dog at your feet, ready to go outside and walk your shoes off, will help you live longer.
On a personal note, Mac, our lively little Jack Russell Terrier has prompted me to walk him twice a day. Some days now we hit four miles. I feel better for it and know that walking is good for both of us.
Besides promoting physical well-being, pets can provide a plethora of mental and psychological benefits. These include reduced stress and enhanced mood. Pet ownership stimulates the reduction of cortisol, the primary stress hormone. Animals seriously have the capacity to enhance our mood and mental well-being. And this is good news also for the fish and cat people. I am not much of a cat person, but I will acknowledge that cats make pretty good pets. Their sanctimonious and independent nature make them require less maintenance. They tolerate your absence well but will hang around and offer some degree of comfort when you are home. Fish I think are indifferent, but they are fun to look at, so that’s good for something. Lizards and small rodents might fall into this category as well.
But when it comes to mental health, dogs particularly provide the pure connection and affection which promotes the release of dopamine and serotonin, the neurotransmitters synonymous with relaxation. I always feel more relaxed with little Mac curled up at my feet, or asleep on my desk as I write.
I recently had reason to stop by the designated veterans’ apartments here in town. While there I met an elderly gentleman who was a former Navy SEAL. He glided into the room in his electric wheelchair with his dog Frieda by his side. Frieda’s attention and affection for her person was obvious. This grizzled veteran told me that his beloved dog had literally saved his life. She gave him a reason to live. The bond between the two was evident beyond words.
Pets, and I would again say dogs in particular, can encourage positive social interactions as well. Dogs naturally create opportunities for social connections. Walking your dog can lead to casual conversations with neighbors and other dog owners. Many folks take their charges to the local dog park. It’s easy to meet people this way. Dogs provide a social lubricant. You are more approachable with a dog. Dogs also can help foster emotional security, encouraging people to interact in informal settings.
All pets are good for us in every way. They make our lives better by loving us, overlooking our faults, and wanting nothing more than food, water, and our attention. They are blessings beyond words. Love your pet today…
© 2025 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com
Southton School one of many rural schools
Southton School, one of many rural school buildings that history has forgotten.
Until the early 50s, there were hundreds of rural community schools across Texas. One such elementary school was located in Southton, Texas, a few miles off Highway 87 and Hilltop toward Floresville. I have sweet memories of attending second grade there. The school consisted of three rooms with two grades and one teacher to each room. The first graders were on one end of our room and the second graders on the other. Our teacher sat at the back corner of the room. Her name was Mrs. Williams. I well recall so many happy times there including friends who still live in my memory, even though I have seen few of them since elementary school. One friend was Terry who sat next to me.
Terry was a talker, and so am I, but I’m also a rule follower. So one time when the teacher admonished us not to talk and anyone who did would get a spanking, Terry started talking to me and I told him to hush and I got caught. Sometimes we just get in trouble when it’s not our fault.
I also recall being awarded the distinction of best reader! Go figure. That brings to mind a wonderful memory of the mobile library. That was so exciting and, Oh, what a joy it was to walk down the aisle in that portable library in awe as I took in the smell of the books and made my choices. My favorite books were about ballet and horses.
I walked or rode my bike to school every day. It was about a mile from our home. On more than one occasion, my big, beautiful, white dog, Butterball, would follow me, and I would have to coax him back home. But generally, I did not ride or walk alone. Several neighborhood children also walked and rode their bikes to school. One of my classmates who rode her bike alongside me was named Margie, a neighbor and such a good friend.
Another fond memory of living at Southton was the post office. It was around the corner from the school and sometimes after school I would go there to pick up our mail. The post office consisted of a regular house, and when you walked up onto the porch and you faced the front door, to the left was another door which had been converted to a window where the clerk/homeowner would hand you your mail.
After second grade, that school was closed like so many others across the state, and the building, unfortunately from a historical viewpoint, was torn down. A new school house named Harmony, which was just off of Highway 87 east of Hilltop, became the new, up-to-date, modern elementary school. I attended Harmony third through sixth grades.
East Central ISD encompasses 296 square miles. When I attended Harmony in third through sixth grades, I rode the bus for 5 miles from home. Then in seventh grade, I attended Oak Crest, which was an hour from Harmony. So I rode the bus from my house to Harmony where I changed buses and rode from Harmony to Oakcrest. It was quite a trip.
Oakcrest was a new building situated across the street from East Central High School. As I recall, it had four rooms, two for 7th and two for 8th grades. The principal was one of my teachers. A fun fact is for lunchtime all students boarded a school bus and we rode across the road – Sulphur Springs Highway – to the East Central high school cafeteria. At the end of lunch, we all piled back in the bus and rode back across the road.
Today, Oak Crest is an elementary school with an enrollment of around 680 students. Because we moved to San Antonio near the end of my seventh-grade year, I left Oak Crest and my humble rural school to attend Burbank, which was a 4A high school, equivalent to today’s 5A. The junior high was on the same campus as the high school, which made for an even larger population. Talk about culture shock. Yet, I like to think that I experienced the best of two worlds, small country schools as a child and big city school as a teen.
In keeping with this rural school theme, stay tuned next week to learn about Medina County’s Shook school.
The Strange World of Vintage Cake
“The most dangerous food is wedding cake.”
-James Thurber
There is a funny episode from the great TV series Seinfeld where Elaine, needing an afternoon sugar rush, sneaks into her boss Mr. Peterman’s college boy mini fridge and nibbles on cake hidden within. This cake turns out to be a vintage slice from the 1937 wedding of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson worth $29,000. After ingesting the cake, and learning the value of her afternoon snack, Elaine tries to replace it with a grocery store substitute from Entenmann’s but is caught on camera enjoying “the most romantic thing she’s ever eaten.” We are left to imagine the pain Elaine will endure passing the antique cake that has been “stored for six decades in a poorly ventilated English basement.”
This sitcom story is funny, but it couldn’t be true, right? No one has ever heard of vintage wedding cake, bought and sold for profit, passed around after 70-80 years, have they? Much to my astonishment vintage cake trading and collecting is a real thing. This story is strange, but true!
Evidently there is a common practice of decades-old wedding cake being bought and sold by collectors, with pieces sometimes fetching thousands of dollars. Slices of wedding cake, especially royal wedding cake, are often given as souvenirs. These sometimes come up for auction. Buyers with a taste for history often snatch them up. And lest you think we are talking about moldy chunks of dry plaster-like cake topped with rancid vanilla frosting, apparently royal wedding cakes are traditionally made of fruitcake. Fruitcakes are extremely shelf stable. And a piece from 1937 might be almost petrified.
In 2014 a piece of cake from King Charles and Princess Diana’s 1981 wedding sold for $7,500. Another Charles and Di slice sold for $2,511 in 2021.
In 2015 a Beverly Hills auction house sold slices collected by a former chauffeur of Queen Elizabeth II. He had saved slices from the weddings of Princess Anne (1973), Prince Andrew (1986), Charles – both weddings (1981 & 2005), and Prince William (2011). In 2014 a separate auction house sold another slice from Prince William and Princess Kate’s wedding for $7,500.
Recently, a slice of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s wedding cake from 1947 sold for $3,669. It was purchased by Gerry Layton and is one of the last pieces of cake from this wedding in existence. Despite its rarity, Layton plans to eat it. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s confection was a nine-foot-tall elegant baked monster of a cake weighing over 500 pounds. It was cut into 2000 pieces. In 2013 another Queen Elizabeth slice sold for $2,300, auctioned by Christie’s.
And just like in the Seinfeld episode, in 1998 a slice from Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson’s wedding sold for $29,900. Initially valued at $500-$1000, the buyer, entrepreneur Benjamin Yin, explained he bought the cake for sentimental reasons. “It represents the epitome of a great romance – truly romantic and elegant,” he said.
With my curiosity piqued, I went online in search of vintage cake for sale. For the heady price of $3,400 I found a royal wedding cake collection set. This consisted of three rare slices of official royal wedding cake, each from a “landmark royal marriage.” One slice was from the wedding of Charles and Diana. Another slice came from the wedding of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips. The third was from Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s wedding. All are fruitcake, with special cream cheese frosting on the Charles and Di slice. The collection was offered for sale from the family of a former member of the Queen’s official bodyguard unit. Each piece comes wrapped in its original wax paper inside a monogramed silver presentation box with a signed letter of authenticity. If you are a royalist, or maybe just have an online shopping addiction, this antique cake can be yours with the click of a mouse.
The strange world of vintage wedding cake collecting seems like the stuff of fiction. Who knew it was real!
© 2025 Jody Dyer
typewriterweekly.com
True Crime – Call Northside 777
“As you from crimes would pardoned be, Let your indulgence set me free.”
William Shakespeare
The Tempest – Act 5
The annals of true crime are filled with interesting stories. Sometimes these stories provide the seed for cinema. I recently stumbled onto one of these stories. It is too compelling not to share.
In 1948 famed Hollywood legend Jimmy Stewart was featured in the movie Call Northside 777. The movie relates a true story. Presented in a semi-documentary style, with frequent narration, much of the movie was filmed on the north side of Chicago using actual locations where the events in real life took place. This movie falls into the category of Film Noir (French for dark film – a cinematic style used in crime dramas of the 1940s-1950s, often shot in black and white). This movie is worth watching (you can find it on YouTube). Here is the backstory…
On October 10, 1944, an ad appeared in the classified section of the Chicago Times. It read – “$5,000 reward for killers of Officer Bundy on Dec. 9, 1932. Call GRO-1758, 12-7 p.m.” The ad was placed by a Mrs. Tillie Majczek, whose son Joe Majczek, along with his friend Ted Marcinkiewiez, had been convicted of the crime and was serving a 99-year sentence in the Illinois State Penitentiary. Believing her son innocent, Mrs. Majczek toiled nightly scrubbing floors, saving $5,000 reward money after working 11 years in hopes of solving the crime and freeing her son.
The actual murder that triggered the events in this story took place inside a delicatessen located at 4312 S. Ashland Avenue during an attempted robbery in December of 1932. Chicago police officer William D. Lundy was shot by two intruders as he tried to stop the robbery. The state’s key witness, Mrs. Vera Walush, owner of the deli, was operating an illegal speakeasy on the premises (a speakeasy was an illicit establishment selling liquor during prohibition).
Eleven years later, the ad placed by Mrs. Majczek caught the eyes of two veteran reporters at the Chicago Times newspaper and out of curiosity they started digging…and writing.
In the movie, as is normal in film, creative license was taken with certain details added and names changed. And the phone number from the ad, which became the title of the movie, was changed to Northside 777. Note – Before the 1950s, phone numbers were preceded by letters indicating the telephone exchange serving a particular area. Full words were used to help customers remember the telephone exchange name. Later exchange names were dropped as U.S. phone systems switched to area codes and all-number calling.
Among the troubling details real-life reporters Jack McPhaul and James McGuire dug up (in the movie Jimmy Stewart plays their role as reporter P.J. McNeal) was the fact that Vera Walush had originally told the police she could not identify the holdup men. Joe Majczek, on probation at the time for a robbery committed when he was a juvenile that netted him $2, had been placed in a police line-up. Twice Vera Walush had failed to pick him out as a suspect.
Later, Vera Walush suddenly remembered that one of the killers was Ted Marcinkiewiez, a regular at her deli and friend of Joe Majczek. It was noted that she had only identified the two men as the killers after the police threatened to arrest her for bootlegging if she couldn’t identify any suspects. To save herself, Vera lied under oath.
The reporters also learned that a detective involved in the case informed the presiding judge during the trial that Joe and Ted had been framed. The judge pledged to push for a new trial, but was advised that if he did this, his political career would come to an end.
It is believed that these two innocent men had been convicted after city leaders, fearful that violence was tarnishing Chicago’s image and causing political damage, decided to “do something.” Six murders had been committed in the city the week Officer Lundy was killed. Homicide was a growing problem in Chicago.
When the truth came out, Majczek’s story was splashed across the pages of daily newspapers everywhere. And after all the evidence was presented to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Governor Dwight H. Green granted Majczek a full pardon. On August 14, 1945, Joe Majczek walked out of prison a free man. Five years later, his friend Ted Marcinkiewiez