Bob Feller

Once the last show was up and running I had over a week of free time to relax before the final set strike and clean up at the end of the season.

I took a few days and went to my family cabin near Hancock, NY and spent time with the chipmunks sitting in an Adirondack chair by the outside fireplace and just enjoying it all.

I also stopped by a used book store (and let’s hear for used book stores) and looked for something a bit different than my usual mystery or detective novels I read .

I picked up the autobiography of Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller.

A few days after I returned home from Connecticut I heard on the radio that Bob Feller would be signing autographs at the local minor league ball park and so I decided to go.

I went through my card collection and found one of his cards and went off to the game.

At 76 Bob was still flying his own plane around to ball parks and would sign for hours.

I got my turn and he signed my card with a blunted Sharpie.

I tried to talk with him about his book I had just read but because he was hard of hearing he did not really hold conversations.

He was supposed to sign for an hour before the game but was still there well past the sixth inning.

I still had a few weeks before the new school year would begin again and a new set of adventures were about to begin.

Each year some students graduate or leave and new ones arrive but although I still had some very good students the total number of technical/design majors was falling off.

In the early 1990’s we were able to build large and complex sets because of the staff and large number of skilled students we had.

The start of the 1994-5 school year was the beginning of several years of transition as there would be several staff changes, fewer tech students and building renovations that all effected our productions.

There will still be many well done productions ahead but I still think of the previous few years and a special period and I am proud of what we, the faculty and students, had accomplished.

Up first in the fall of 1994 was The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.

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