12/8/2008 (2234)

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Folks, Bill Grimme (65) is one hard guy to keep ahead of.  Bill is providing two dinners to be given away, with a raffle, for our Seattle reunion dinner in July. Please see his letter below.

Bill, I see no flaws in your method of doing this at all.  Thank you so much for this generous deed.  Gary

Bill Grimme’s letter:

Gary,

I occurred to me that as I receive payments for the Seattle dinners from folks I am getting some use of their money in the period between collection and final payment, which I will pay from funds collected. So, after a little back of the envelope calculating, I think it is fair if I give the benefit back. My paying for two dinners seems about right. Now, how to do that? I propose a raffle. For each dinner paid, I will enter a “ticket” (explained later) times a multiplier for how early the payment is. For dinner payments postmarked on or before January 31, the multiplier will be five. So, if a person sends payments for 5 dinners, they will get 25 tickets. Payments before February 29 will have a four multiplier, March 31 will have a three multiplier, April 30 will have a two multiplier, May 31 will have a one multiplier. I will ask your help for a drawing for two dinners on June 15. Here is the raffle plan that I believe will be relatively impossible to “fix”.

The “tickets” will consist of line items on an Excel spreadsheet.

For example, a payment received in January for one chicken dinner and one beef dinner will get 10 line tickets – 5 lines for chicken and five for beef. A payment in February for one chicken and three beef will get 12 line tickets-4 for chicken and 8 for beef, etc.

A few days prior to the drawing, I will send you the password protected Excel file with all the line tickets on it and you can send it to everyone. Along with that transmittal, I will ask that you send two numbers selected randomly in the range that corresponds to the number of lines on the spreadsheet. After everyone has the password protected Excel spreadsheet and your two numbers, I will send you the password for the spreadsheet and everyone can open and locate the two winners. I will send checks to the winners for two chicken dinners, two beef dinners or a one chicken and one beef, depending on the winning line items. In other words, I will pay for two dinners, regardless if they are beef or chicken.

If you or anyone else sees a flaw in this raffle, let me know.

Bill

 

Reply from Rita Anderson (Former owner of the Gamble store):

Hi Gary,

The picture of the boy hanging on the van in front of the Gambles store is my son, Gerald as Susan Fassett stated. I do read your emails everyday and enjoy reading them, and you do such a nice job. I am Gerald’s mother. Thanks again.

Rita Anderson

 

Message from Rhonda Hiatt (75):

Hi Gary, 

Congratulations on your anniversary,and happy to hear that your trip to Hong Kong went well.

Prayers and condolences to all of you who have lost a loved one this past year. The holidays always seems to be a little harder when a loved one is no longer with us, but remember they never truely go away as they are always in our hearts.

To all that have had to deal with illness and are on the road to recovery, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Keep strong and don’t let it get you down. Keep family and friends close as they are the best medicine, and don’t forget to laugh at least twice a day. Laughter is one of the greatest cures out there.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to All!!!

Rhonda Hiatt

 

Reply from Ele Dietrich Slyter (69):

I am so sorry to hear of your diagnosis, but remember this, “cancer can not teach you to die, it teaches you to live”.  I too have had two rounds with breast cancer and am living each and every moment of each and every day to the fullest because of it.  I have learned it isn’t the end of the world, it is the beginning.  Things that used to be priority just aren’t so darn important anymore and other things have taken their place, time with family, beautiful sunsets, the smell of fresh cut grass, etc.  So hang in there lady.  It’s one heck of a wonderful ride from here on, enjoy it all. 

I wish you only the best and will say a special prayer for you.

Reply from Sharon Longie Dana (73):

Gary, So glad to hear you and Bernadette had a wondeful time in Hong Kong. My husband has been there a few times when he was in the Navy. Its on my list of to go places one day……..I just wanted to say that my morning tea is not the same without “Gary’s Messages”…….maybe tahts why the week felt so long……………………..lol

Sharon Longie Dana(73)