ChattaBaby

RIP Uncle Mint

Dr. W. Minster Kunkel II
Dr. W. Minster Kunkel II, 82, died July 21, 2006 peacefully at his home in Lemoyne. He suffered a stroke after battling long term Parkinson's disease.
Born in Harrisburg in 1924, the beloved and respected General and Thoracic Surgeon is survived by his wife of 56 years, Carolyn Lee Kunkel; two sisters, Katharine Stark of Naples, FL and Lynne Wright of Harrisburg, PA; five children, W. Minster Kunkel III and Carol, his wife of Minneapolis, MN, Elizabeth K. Davis of Camp Hill, John C. Kunkel IV and Vicki, his wife of Boiling Springs, and Deborah K. Facini and Joseph, her husband and Dr. Paul A. Kunkel and Rosie, his wife of Mechanicsburg; and 14 grandchildren.
After graduating from Harrisburg Academy in 1939, Mint went on to graduate at the age of 18 from Franklin and Marshall College in 1943, with a Bachelor of Science degree while playing the number one spot on the tennis team. He attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, receiving his M.D. degree in 1946 at 21 years of age.
He began his surgical residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in 1946, completing it in 1950 after two years of service in the United States Army from 1947-49 during which he attained the rank of Captain. He received his Master of Science Degree in Surgery from the University of Minnesota in 1953.
As part of three generations of surgeons, after his father Dr. W. Minster Kunkel and before his son, Dr. Paul A. Kunkel, he participated in General and Thoracic surgery with the Kunkel Surgical Group from 1955-1994.
As a member of myriad medical societies and associations, he served in the position of President of both the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Surgeons in 1973 and the Pennsylvania Association of Thoracic Surgeons in 1980.
In a distinguished professional career across Central Pennsylvania he attained many prominent positions. At Harrisburg Hospital, he served as the Chief of Thoracic Surgery from 1962-85 as well as the Chairman of the Surgery Department from 1978-85 and the Chairman and Director of the
Surgery Education Department from 1979-81. At Holy Spirit Hospital, he was the Chief of Thoracic Surgery from 1963-86. At the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center's Penn State College of Medicine he served as a clinical Professor of Surgery.
As a dedicated athlete, he played squash and golf regularly but tennis was his passion. He became the Augusta, GA city tennis champion in 1948 and owned the first indoor tennis facility in the Harrisburg area in 1967. He also enjoyed aviation, having piloted his own plane as well as achieving instrument certification in 1960. He is well remembered by his family for impressive feats such as single foot water skiing and scuba diving.
In lieu of flowers, please send gifts to Harrisburg Academy, Pinnacle Health Hospice or Holy Spirit Hospital.
A celebration of his life will be announced for family and friends in the latter part of August.
Arrangements by Parthemore Funeral Home and Cremation Services. For more information or to send messages of condolence, please visit www.parthemore.com
Published in the Patriot-News on 7/23/2006.

copied from JenW.net

Family reunion? How is Cousin Ralph?

The good news is, everyone is back from the family reunion in Gatlinburg and it looks like they all had a pretty good time. The bad news is, they are all exploding from the ass and mouth with body temperatures somewhere in the hundreds. Chattababy and Lehighbaby got hit first and then the adults started falling like dominos (the game, not the pizza). Rumor has it that Megan's folks, sister, brother-in-law and niece are all hulled up in a 2 bedroom 1 bath cottage with this illness. Yikes. Actually, Megan's mother and I seem to be the only ones unscathed thus far.

Megan came home from work early yesterday more ill than I have ever seen her. Poor thing. I'm fixin to head home to see how she fared today. Luckily, Monica was available to look after Peanut while Meg got some rest. I better dig up that SARS mask.

Hi, I'm your neighbor...

...may I look through your trash? This is essentially the question I have been asked repeatedly for the last few weeks. To clarify, we are leasing a large roll-away container (dumpster) to dispose of left-over construction debris and just lots of shit that has accumulated throughout the years. It is weird enough to have the scrap metal guys appear like prarie dogs out of the ground as soon as there is the slightest stirring in the container but now my neighbors have gotten in on the act. It is very nice of them to ask first but I find myself watching them from the window as they sift through years of our personal history, plucking the choicest remnants: a broken antique door, a travel wooden peg game, a broken computer monitor and so on. I suppose it is well worth the discomfort considering they are saving it from the landfill.

i'm just a bachelor

Megan and Sarah took their show on the road on Friday and are not expected back until Tuesday afternoon. I got to do some much needed work on the house this weekend, went out with some friends, golfed a little...stuff I have been dying to do lately. To put it plainly, it has not been half as fun as I thought it would be. I suppose I am addicted to my family. They make me feel necessary. I just can't wait to see my beautiful ladies tommorrow.

grilled cheese with attitude

a daily conversation

"Wanna play Little People®?"

"OK, I'll be Sonya Lee™"

"No, I'm Sonya Lee™, you be Maggie™"

"I hate Maggie"

"No, you be Maggie"

"OK" (sighs)

20 more reasons why we love Aunt Wendy

it's %*#!ing hot out here!

Hope these pics help keep things cool.

Sunny days

My parents and Mary and Brenna are in town! I'm having so much fun I couldn't believe I had to go to work today. That's what I get for hanging out with vacationers all day. However, my excuse for not blogging is not because of out-of-town guests but addictive Yahoo! games. Last week I succumbed to "Alchemy" and played in all my spare time. I do that once or twice a year. Thank goodness it never lasts long. It's kind of like Mary and I when we were little and would go gung-ho for Nintendo for about a week at a time and then let it collect more dust.
Well, we took Sarah and brave little Brenna to the Coolidge Park fountain, where my niece taught Sarah it is just fine to walk into the fountain and get wet. Usually Sarah just circles the perimeter and we don't even have to bring a towel. But after a while she followed Brenna right through some of the big sprays. Another mom even commented on how fearless Brenna is.

people, let me tell you 'bout my best friend

Sarah touched the mighty Mississipp. How many chattababies can boast that? I feel bad because I don't post enough pics of her and so I will do my best to change that.

In the meantime...j'you guys see that crazy homerun derby last night. Baseball is back and just continues to rock me.