Emily Paine Carter

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Here we go with more follow-ups on some of the characters who have visited this Front Porch. Thanks for all of your calls, e-mails, letters and taps on the shoulder about these and other Salem folks and goings-on:

n Dale East -- the friendly, longtime UPS employee who retired in 2006 -- did not stay that way for long. After just six weeks of retirement, he took a full-time job with Roanoke College's landscaping crew. He said he "wanted to stay employed in Salem, and this came up. I really enjoy it -- and I'm glad that I got out of UPS before it was time to deliver all those Christmas packages."

n Salem native and Tennessee transplant Joe Minarik: From great sadness -- the death of his little boy -- came great compassion and a calling to the ministry. Although Minarik is of a certain age (Andrew Lewis High School, 1967 -- you do the math), he left a business management career, endured a rigorous theology curriculum and graduated from The University of the South, Sewanee, in May. He is now an ordained Episcopal priest for a church in Tennessee, and, even though he had to study Greek, Latin, hermeneutics -- interpretations of the Bible -- and other brain-biting courses, he named piano as his most difficult class.

n On another lighter -- and musical -- note: Travis Moran wrote in an e-mail that he was pleased to read the column about his father's role in producing the song "Woo-Hoo," which keeps popping up in soundtracks and commercials. "My dad [the late Salem native Dick Moran] ... was quite a fixture on WBLU as well, and every time I hear a 'Vonage' [commercial] I'm conflicted with pride, loss and, ultimately, bewilderment. 'Woo-Hoo,' of all things. Go figure."

n A few months ago retired Roanoke College history professor and track coach Homer Bast walked a mile to bring me a magazine. No big deal? Well, he is 92, and I had just finished whining about the hot summer day. The Maryland Historical Magazine he brought was special, too: "The editor wanted the [World War II] experience of some Maryland boys before they all passed along the way," Bast wrote in an accompanying letter.

So he complied with a 246-page account of the ship he had commanded during the Battle of Okinawa in Japan. Bast said he has spent years studying that battle. My father -- also a veteran -- read and appreciated this "real historical treasure" and said, "I felt like I was there with you, but glad I wasn't."

Bast and fellow veterans George Snead and Dr. Harry Minarik (Joe Minarik's father) had been the topic of a 2004 Neighbors feature. Coincidentally, although the three had not known one another during their close Okinawa service, they later met in a Salem church and became friends and servants of that congregation.

Also in 2006 Roanoke College dedicated its track in honor of Bast.

n The Supply Line in downtown Salem has added space and stuff beyond its military and camping equipment. "Quartermaster" D.J. Jahnke said she carries jeans, jackets, workman's overalls and boots and costumes for Renaissance re-enactors. The back room also features the creations of swordsmith Will Goodwin and really cool pine-tree Christmas ornaments crafted from Scottish plaids. (The Supply Line is at the corner of Main and Broad streets, across from the Salem Farmers Market. 387-2409.)

Jahnke also reported that she and friend Linda Steele will open a bed-and-breakfast inn at Steele's family's old Catawba farmhouse in April.

n And, hurray, the ALHS Class of 1967 ("the best") is finally working on a 40th reunion. We're aiming for June 2 at Roanoke College's Colket Center, and other classes will be welcome to attend (and pay). Watch your newspapers and mailboxes for more information.

Thanks to all of you wonderful people who shared your stories in 2006. I look forward to meeting some more folks in this one.