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Happy New Year! The year 2000 has finally arrived and it should be a momentous one for the Society. First off, we celebrate the Scottish Society of Tidewater’s 25th Anniversary in January. Happy Birthday to us!

I hope each of you had a joyous holiday season. The Society kicked it off with a bang with our annual party and silent auction. We made $377 to help cover expenses for our Tartan Day celebration. We also had a respectable turn out for the Alexandria Scottish Walk. As usual, some of us walked with our Clans, others with the Society, and still others played instruments with the Chesapeake Sheriff’s Pipe Band. Thanks to Norman Albright for carrying the Society banner again this year.

Tartan Day plans are falling into place. Be sure to mark your calendars for April 8, 2000 for our all-day celebration at the Virginia Beach Central Library. We will have the auditorium and both meeting rooms for our use that day. Among our speakers will be three authors–Donald McCaig, Terri Brisbin, and Susan King. Other speakers scheduled include Carolyn Barkley (genealogy), Donald Fraser (Scotch whisky), Rita Hamilton (harp), Christine Lawler (kilt making), Karen Becker (Scottish food and clothing in the 18th century), and more!

Finally, at our December meeting, the Board discussed making the membership list with phone numbers, addresses, etc. available to everyone. In the past we have not given out this list to all members. However, it does create some problems when we don’t know how to reach each other. So, we want to make this list available to everyone in the Society. If you do not want your name on the list given to other members, please let our Membership Chairman George MacRae know.

Also, check out The Society’s website that Scott MacGregor is in the process of creating. We are not sure if this will be the permanent site, but for now it is. The URL is http://users.exis.net/~mcgregr/welcome.html

Your aye,
Nancy

Many many thanks to all of you from Evalynn “Martha” Bolles, your Society Hostess. Debbie “Erma” Clark and I wish to extend thanks and hugs to all of you have so generously and consistently provided goodies for the Society meetings. Our members are so appreciative of your efforts. All of you did such a wonderful job with our Christmas ceilidh. If you would like an idea for something easy to bring in the future, we suggest cheese or cheese balls and crackers, mixed nuts, and fresh fruit. These items seem to be very popular in addition to the cookies and other sweets. Thank you again. You’ve been so generous and have made our jobs fun and easy.

Amy Scantling, the daughter of Evalynn Bolles and step-daughter of James R. Bolles was married to Jonathan William Hale at the home of the bride’s mother on 12 December 1999. They reside in Virginia Beach where Amy is a massage therapist and Jonathan serves in the Navy.

by Evalynn Bolles

I cannot think of a more masculine person than my husband. He wears a skirted garment called a kilt. He carries about his waist a furred pocketbook called a sporran. He celebrates his Celtic heritage and spirit as he hugs his bairns and calls them “hun” and feeds them shortbread that he has baked. All the while, he has never taken a quiz in any magazine to test his mettle as a true masculine he-man. He bears his masculinity with more self-assured dignity than any man I have ever known.

Noel Perrin’s essay Androgynous Man could have been patterned after my busband. Perrin states there is a large class of men and women who are essentially androgynous. Androgynous, to me, is the ability to feel comfort and joy in doing things that are traditionally the domain of the opposite gender while celebrating your own gender-ness.

My husband is a warrior (retired Navy) who is as comfortable in the kitchen as he was on the flight desk of an aircraft carrier. It is because of his warrior nature he has been able to honor and acknowledge that side of himself that doesn’t require battle or readiness to do battle. It is also because of the warrior in himself that he can, and does, respect and honor his tender side. This is displayed in his thoughtful and loving gift of interaction with his children and me, his wife. I have seen my husband weep, freely and openly, while wearing his “skirt”, with joy and sadness and maintain his inspiring maleness.

Because he knows himself so completely as a male, he is highly knowledgeable about the female. He never graduated high school, let alone received a degree in psychology or physiology. However, because he knows, honors, respects and celebrates himself, he knows, honors, respects and celebrates me.

Because of those characteristics, an androgynous man is knowledgeable, honorable, respectful, and celebratory of all things and conditions that shape and texture his life. My husband doesn’t have to wear a kilt and sporran to be masculine. But he sure has a nice sway going on with the pleats over his bum. I make a point to walk behind him at times just for the view!

Frederick J. Blum, 74, died on the 13th of December in a local hospital. A native of Oak Park, Illinois, Fred served in the Navy in World War II and Korea, retiring as a Lt. Commander. While in the service he graduated from Notre Dame with a Batchelor of Arts degree. He retired, after 20 years of teaching, as a history teacher at Cox High School in Virginia Beach.

A long time supporter of Scottish activities in Tidewater, Fred was a member of the Scottish Society of Tidewater, a former member of the St. Andrew’s Society of Tidewater, and a supporter of the Tidewater Scottish Festival . He was also a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, a member of the North-South Skirmish Association, and the Virginia Beach Rifle and Pistol Club. He is survived by a grandson, Joshua Blum, and several cousins.

Edward Braxton McCaskey, 77, died in Norfolk on the 2nd of January. Long involved in local Scottish activities, Braxton was a former member of the St. Andrew’s Society of Washington, D.C., and the founder of the annual Kirking of the Tartan Service at Christ and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Olney Road in Norfolk, of which he was a member.

Braxton was a member of the first graduating class of Granby High School in Norfolk. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Returning home after the war, he graduated from William and Mary. He served many years in the Air Force Reserve, serving as Aide-de-Camp to Mills E. Godwin and subsequent governors of Virginia, retiring in 1981 as a Lt. Colonel. He is survived by his wife, Sudie Hopkins McCaskey, of Norfolk, a daughter, Mary Hunter McCaskey Cooper of Virginia Beach, two sons, Scott Braxton McCaskey of Norfolk, and Philip Douglas McCaskey of Wilmington, North Carolina, and a grandson Skye M. Ball of Virginia Beach.