Bowling, The Wright Way - August 2007 by Don Wright
Old Friends

Jerry and his lovely wife Dolores (Dee) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary one week after he was release from the hospital. With his house full of people we laughed about the fact that getting old isn't for sissies.

To celebrate their golden anniversary Dee's sister Kathy arrived from Detroit and the house was filled with family and friends - mostly bowlers.

Verl Lantz, Garry McNiesh and Bud Herron, all members of the Sparetime team that travels with me throughout the state and nationals each year and compete together in various leagues were on hand. Rita Gregory, Ginger Moore, Winna Matthews, Wilma Stuart, and G.G. Wright, all bowled with Dee and have been friends for 35 years.

The food was catered by Big Hoss Bar-B-Q, owned by Walter Brown. Walter has been a D.J. and Karaoke host for many years at Hallmark Lanes and has catered the annual Greater Killeen-Fort Hood USBC awards banquet for years.

Now I ask you, is bowling a big part of our lives?

I have known Jerry since 1972 and we had bowled on leagues at Fort Hood, but not on the same team. Between 1972 and 1981 we were both in the Army, but we had decided that upon retirement we would remain in central Texas. I retired in 1981 and settled in Killeen while Jerry waited until 1982 to retire and chose Copperas Cove.

In 1983 Dee, along with G.G., Wilma, Ginger, and Winna traveled to Las Vegas for the WIBC Championships. Jerry accompanied Dee and I went with G.G. It was at the end of that tournament that the four of us decided to take a small vacation and we have traveled together ever since. We have been to every state tournament since 1983, every WIBC national tournament since 1983 and the ABC Championships each year since 1992.

Through those tournaments we learned that we had more in common than the military and bowling. We loved to travel so each tournament was also a vacation for us. Although Jerry spent more than 25 years in the Army, neither he, nor Dee could read a map so they followed us everywhere. We always laugh at the time I lost him in a gas station parking lot. After that every time I pulled into a parking lot Jerry would say, "You're trying to lose me aren't you?"

We enjoy good food and drink and always find great restaurants. We've eaten at an Indian reservation in El Paso where the chili was so hot I nearly had a heart attack. We had dinner at a restaurant in Houston that was outstanding as was the $300 tab at the end. We've had Coney islands in New York, buffalo in North Dakota, chocolate covered strawberries in California, Tony Packo's sausage in Toledo, and a great chocolate cake in Las Vegas.

Everyone who knows Jerry knows he is a funny guy and laughter is a big part of our friendship. Like the time we were in a small restaurant next to our hotel. We had a great dinner earlier and decided to have some ice cream before calling it a night. We were seated and the waitress came to our table. We asked her what kind of ice cream they had and she replied "Simamin." Not knowing what that was we asked her again and got the same response. After several tries we realized she was trying to say "cinnamon." We couldn't help it and started laughing while we were enjoying our "simamin." Dee, at the time was wearing false eyelashes and she laughed so hard that tears caused her eyelash to fall into her ice cream. We couldn't stop laughing and the next night we stopped for ice cream and for some reason no one wanted to wait on us. No sense of humor.

We took a lot of pictures. There is Jerry in his Looney Tunes underwear in Gatlinburg. There is Dee and I in the shower in San Angelo (That's a whole other story). There is Jerry, G.G., Dee, and I wearing glasses, a nose and moustache in the Magic Time Machine restaurant in Austin. With us is the manager of the restaurant who looked just like us and his glasses, nose and moustache were real.

It has been a long and wonderful friendship. We saw our kids grow up; we've enjoyed retirement and our many travels together. Jerry and I still bowl together. Dee and G.G. no longer bowl, but we travel as a foursome anyway. We still manage to eat out four or five times a month and we look forward to that time.

I never had a brother, but if I did I'd want it to be Jerry. He makes me laugh. He's a loyal friend who looks to help everyone. If you're having a bad day, five minutes with Jerry and you'll laugh tears.

He's home on the mend and we are planning our next trip. We know we will go to Albuquerque for the USBC Championship. He and Dee are planning their anniversary trip to Hawaii and who knows they just might have some simamin ice cream.

Get well, little buddy.

See you on the lanes.