A visit with Don and Donn

Don Bandy and I visited Donn Gaynor on Wednesday (June 15) and spent almost two hours talking about people we had worked with at the Beacon Journal. We often had to talk about them for several minutes before anyone of us could remember the name. Donn lives on the corner of Deitz and Eva avenues in Akron--–just across Eva Avenue from the home of the late Jim Dettling. Donn remarked that there is a still a U.S. flag with just 48 stars flying at Dettling'’s front porch. Dettling, who served in two different branches of the armed forces, apparently put the flag up and his son has left it there. [That was the U.S. flag from 1912 to 1959 and had the greatest longevity of any of them.]

I cannot-- and won'’t-- mention all the good and bad gossip we recalled about former BJ types. Nor shall I repeat any of our observations on the news media today.

Gaynor has three different forms of cancer he discovered about a year ago. First the doctors told him he had lymphoma--–a cancer of the lymph nodes which grows slowly but surely. Then they noticed a melanoma or skin cancer under his left eye. Finally, they found cancer on his lungs. He had just been to the hospital on Wednesday for radiation treatments and has 10 or so more to undergo.

Bandy is selling his home o Aqueduct St. and will move probably somewhere in the Bradenton area of Florida where his sister lives. Other family members live in Florida and none remain in his old hometown of Washington Court House. Also old friends will know that keeping the house is becoming a chore. Donn used to have parties for BJ types to help with the annual leaf pickup chores.

You can send notes to Donn at PO Box 7636, Akron, OH. He got the PO box years ago after a mailman complained about his dog barking at him in a menacing manner. The dog is now half deaf and half blind. Bandy will supply his new address when he gets settled in Florida.