Austin Square and Round Dance Association

Dear Square Dance Friends –

It is with great sadness that we share this news:

Jim Carlstead, a longtime member of Waterloo Squares and a dedicated supporter of square dancing, passed away on Tuesday afternoon, December 4, 2007, at the MD Anderson Hospital in Houston. Jim’s obituary appears below.

The Diamond Masters are offering Advanced Square Dance lessons starting Tuesday, Jan 22, 2008 from 7:15-9:15pm. The first night is free and continuing lessons are $5/person per night. Lesson booklets will be provided for the advance definitions and lessons will be led by Terry Wheeler.

Lessons will be held at the McBeth Recreation Center, 2401 Columbus Drive (Zilker Park). For more information contact Arnold & Marie Gladson at (512) 219-9258. Click here for the flyer.

Jim Hayes has been providing these workshps for 1/2 hour before our regular dance for quite some time. However, we have decided to suspend APD Workshops for awhile. Interest seems to be waning. If you would like to see these workshops resumed please email Dave Treadwell at artdwt@aol.com.

Margaret and Loren Block

We'll be dark the day before Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas. Family comes first! Happy Holidays.

Your Mid-Tex Committee is working hard on planning the 2008 Mid-Tex Festival. Mark your calendars for May 2 & 3, 2008 for a fantastic sixtieth annual event with Tim Tyl, caller and George and Pamela Hurd, cuers. Our goal is to increase individual dancer participation at the festival.

We reviewed the survey taken at last year’s festival and have listened to your responses. One request was to lower the requested contribution to the dance. As a result, this year’s dance contributions per dancer are as follows:

• All Events Combo - $12.oo
• Evening Events Combo - $10.oo
• Friday Night Dance - $5.oo
• Saturday Afternoon Dance - $4.oo
• Saturday Night Dance - $7.oo

We do not anticipate selling advance tickets. The different combos ($12.oo all events and $10.oo evening events) can be bought any time at the Friday night’s dance.

The Mid-Tex committee members appreciate your input and support. Please continue to invite other dancers to this fun event. We look forward to seeing you on May 2 and 3, 2oo8.

Your Mid-Tex committee members are:

Joyce Adams, Loren & Margaret Block, Calvin & Ruby Buesing, Theresa Keane, James Pender, Howard Stier, Jim & Shirley Teegarden, and Chris Vandiver.

Waterloo Squares’ Fall Lessons will host a Free Halfway Dance Nov. 15, at Faith Presbyterian Church, 1314 East OLTORF (@ i-35) in Austin. This is for the benefit of new dancers taking lessons … Anywhere! This event is open to ALL dancers – students or “hard badgers”. Many ANGELS will be NEEDED to “fill the squares”. Gary Bible will call. We will follow Waterloos’ traditional club dance format with Mainstream dancing first and two announced Plus tips during the evening. The time and place will be the SAME as our regular LESSONS … (7:30 SHARP!) … Please join us for an evening of Fun!

The Apache Raindancers invite you to attend our Annual Pie Dance this Monday, November 12 2007. Al Frazier is our Caller. 7:30 to 9:30pm at Hyde Park Christian Church 610 East 45th street in Austin. Turkey door prizes. $4 donation per person. All the pie you can eat!

Buckles & Bows Square Dance Club will be Dancing at Crystal Village Apartments Clubhouse on Thursday, November 8th from 7:00 -- 9:30 p.m. The Clubhouse is located on Crystal Falls Parkway in Leander. Our usual dance location at CP United Methodist Church is not avialable on that evening only. PLEASE NOTE: We will also be going dark Thanksgiving Evening, November 22nd.

It saddens me to bring you the news of Betty Jo Mather. I just received a call from George and he shared the news of Betty Jo's passing. They were on their way back from Tennessee after seeing the sites that Betty Jo & George had been wanting to visit. They had a great time, and was returning home this past weekend. As they neared Little Rock, Ark, Betty began to become ill, and George took her to the nearest hospital. She became worse and lost consciousness. She stayed on the ventilator until tonight. Betty Jo had seen several physicians and had many medical tests during the past few months, due to headaches, nausea, vomiting, and generally not feeling well. These episodes would come and go.

Hello fellow dancers and friends of Austin Square Round Dance Association. On Wednesday evening, 17october2007, I received a call from Mary Smith. I was saddened to hear that her husband of 28 years, Roger Smith, had passed away two weeks ago. Roger had emailed me earlier on September the 5th 2007 and mentioned he was not feeling well. For well over a year he was dealing with advanced stages of esophageal cancer. Roger has been a friend of the square dance community in Texas for several years. He and Mary danced in Bastrop and Thorndale until October last year. Roger served as ASRDA Vice President 2005-2006 and 2006 to March 2007. We will miss Roger's friendship, fellowship and kind demeanor.

Mary would appreciate your correspondence. Her email address is smarylou1957@aol.com. Mary's mailing address is:
Mary Smith
2500 FM 1331
Taylor, Texas 76574

Please keep Mary and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

James Pender
Vice President
Austin Square and Round Dance Association