The Funk’s Holiday Newsletter 2006As written on the 7th of September Dear Friends & Family, Do you feel the crackle in the air? Doesn’t it make you feel as if you are standing in the midst of royalty? Well, have no fear; it’s just me, trying on my new role as first lady for when my little funky-poo is elected Mayor of Kansas City in the spring of double-o-seven. But, more on that little tidbit later. Tara’s study abroad experience ended strangely. First, her university closed down for the year only five weeks into the semester due to the rioting […]

Christmas 2005 Hello again. I hope this letter finds you’ve all had a healthy and peaceful 2005. As for us, gratefully, we are all well, even with me being just a tad brittle around the edges. I thought last year was bad with Tara leaving for college and with me being forced to come to terms with the beginning of, what I now see as the almost-empty-nest-syndrome, but that was nothing. The full power of my predicament hit me when my poor daughter came home from college in April and the next day I had the mother of all meltdowns […]

Hello Folks;   (I loved the pictures) Just a short line from the proudest Grandpaw in Missouri. All my grandchildren are smart and beautiful and I mean every one of them. Now having said that let me tell you I really enjoyed the Xmas letter. I read it over three times and I think Gloria has a real talent I think she should expand the letter, keep a journal and write a book. The title should be Where have my little Babies gone. About a sweet, pretty Italian womans battle with herself and others over the empty nest syndrome (spelling […]

Happy Holidays 2003 Hello again. As I write this, I’m just recovering from the flu. Or at least I hope it was the flu because I don’t want to get sick again this winter. It has been a good year for us. I’ll start off with the news of Funk for a change. He is still a very lucky man, happily sharing his spot next to me in what we call “the sacred bed.” Funk has been in the news quite a bit this year, but his biggest honor has been winning a national “public servant of the year” award […]

Happy Holidays To Our Dear Friends & Family, I’ve been waiting to write this letter until I have a more joyful heart, or at least, until I can skip the paragraph about the terrible twin tower disaster. While I have a grateful heart, apparently, I’m not going to be able to skip the tragedy paragraph. Thankfully for my family, we are all well and intact, but it has been a sad year. The worst of it being that yet another childhood friend has passed on. And, of course, the war. My friend Judy was in her early 40’s when she […]

Dearest Friends & Family, We have such good news this year – after seven long years, Funk is finally a Ph.D. He graduated with his Doctor of Philosophy degree on the 15th of December. We are so thrilled and so relieved. It was a really long road. I had to beg him to let me go to his dissertation defense – he was afraid of what I’d do if they didn’t pass him. But I won out and got to go to the nerve-wracking event. Funk looked so awful when he came out of the room to wait while his […]

Happy Holidays 1999! ! ! We sure have missed seeing all our loved ones this year, but you’re never far from our thoughts. Isn’t it strange that we’re turning over to the year 2000? When I was little, I remember thinking how far away it seemed and how old I’d be. And here it is. Wow! We had a great vacation this year. It’s funny, I never knew how important to a family taking a vacation was. Eating up those highway miles sure does force togetherness. I’ll never fly and waste those precious moments again. We did an East Coast […]