Hi everybody! I wanted to send a "fireside chat" letter to you with some of my best memories. I have great memories of every Dunne family member, but these few are the ones that make the best stories. I have a perfect memory, and I can remember everything, whether it happened or not. These are my impressions, some carried with me from the time I was a little kid, and some are just my opinion of what happened, but they are all fond memories.

Daddy Dunne - As a kid, I wondered why he kept his hair so short. Little did I realize at the time how truly lucky I was that he had passed that highly desirable genetic trait down to me.

Nola - She always had some kind of a trinkets in her purse for us kids. I loved her mashed potatoes and gravy. I loved the times she would tell me about Daddy Dunne's golfing and hunting trips.

Virginia - Taking her sailing on Burt Lake on my Hobie cat sailboat on only the second time I had ever sailed it, and she told me I did a great job, which carried a lot of weight since she was a sailing instructor. In 1989, I went out with her and Harry to the ocean in Ft. Lauderdale to see the baby turtles in the beach hatcheries which had just hatched that morning. We met at 5:30am and the three of us went out and saw hundreds of baby turtles released in the ocean that morning.

Kathy - When I was 18 at her wedding reception, being the only single guy, I think, on the bride's side standing for the garter toss. The groom's guys had secretly conspired to leave me with the garter. It was passed to at least three of these guys, leading over to me, with the last one stuffing it into my upper sportcoat pocket, then they all scattered. I had to put the garter on Monica in front of a frenzied crowd that was whooping and hollering and laughing their heads off. If you want to see a good example of some '70s style clothes, see what I'm wearing in those photos.

Tom - going to all the Ft Lauderdale Oktoberfests over the last several years; Flying-a-hul1 with him on his Hobie Cat on Burt Lake, the time he almost had me water skiing behind his Hobie on Burt Lake, I was up out of the water to between my knees and ankles; sailing with him in the Atlantic, and the time he drove an hour one way to help me when my Vega died in Grayling, in the middle of Michigan.

A couple of years ago in Ft. Lauderdale watching the Christmas boat parade with Tom & Audrey Edwards, and Trish and Eileen.

Red and Eleanor - I was so impressed with their strength at the time of John's death. I went up to Wisconsin for that weekend. They set the tone that we would remember John's life and not sit around grieving over his death.

John Carver - Going on a week long "Tiger Cruise" in 1984, from Pearl Harbor to San Diego Bay on the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier. I met Red, Jim, and Bill in Honolulu before we left. John had such a clever sense of humor. He was not very pretentious either, he would say that commercial airline pilots were just "glorified bus drivers". John and I were born only about a couple of weeks apart.

Beth Carver - She moved to Cincinnati right out of school. There was this one time we went to a bar on Second Street in Cincinnati. Some cute woman smiled and flirted with me, and when Beth saw that, she stared daggers at the woman. The woman suddenly frowned and turned away. Puzzled, I turned to Beth who gave me this "who?, me?" look, we both started laughing. She told me that woman wasn't my type anyway.

Walt - It didn't matter what he ever had, if you asked him where he got it, he said he got it "at the store". Also the time we built his Pinewood Derby Car for some Newsweek race. We finished second.

Ann - Going sailing with her on Kent Lake once after driving there twice. I forgot to bring the mainsail on the first trip.

Jeanne - When she was only about 8 years old, her watching me in the mirror from the hallway in amazement while I was shaving.

Pat Nagle - going salmon fishing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and winding up catching Dungeoness crabs instead, because the salmon just weren't biting. He has this hilarious story about trying to teach his dog Otis to stop killing the neighbor's chickens, but for maximum effect you have to see Pat's delivery of it in person.

Those great times going to the cottage on Burt Lake with Tom Edwards, Virginia, Harry, Trish, Eileen, Walt, Mike, and Karen.

Karen - The time in 1980 she polished my sailboat at Burt Lake for about 2 hours. As a reward, I took her out sailing as her private captain, I think we covered most of the lake.

Tad - The time I was a kid, watching him climb a tree faster than a cat, when I was aready "way up" in the same tree. Tad doing his famous hand tricks. Also, the time he called over a friend's crow. We went outside, he whistled a couple of times, and in a few seconds this crow came flying over the building and landed on his arm. To me, this was like watching St. Francis of Assisi.

Marg - When I was about 10, I was in the basement at Daddy Dunne and Nola's house practicing pool when Marg led two guys down there to fix the furnace or something. The younger of the two guys, who was about Marg's age, started flirting with her. After a few minutes I interrupted him and told him in a snitty tone that she's engaged. I also liked the times she took me for rides in her Mustang. We were just SO COOL in that car.

Bob Jassoy - Going down to Tijuana for a margarita and not contracting any diseases. Bob gave this trip some high entertainment value.

Bob - In about 1965, at about 9 years old, the time he took me up and down Parkside Ave. a few times on the back of his motorcycle. I was hanging on to his shirt for my life, but it was so much fun, especially since I had just watched him fix it on the driveway. He also told me to never go into his bedroom unless he was there because there were trap doors and monsters and other bad things in there. By the way, it worked.

The one thing the Dunne family has is a great sense of humor. I have never seen a family that has such a wide and such deep sense of what's fun. It must be the Humor gene which is tied closely to the dominant Dunne- Toe gene. I hope this was fun for you to read, it was enjoyable for me to write.
Love to Everyone,

Robert Ponziani