Mike and Jane Williams, Mike and Cynthia Morley


Mike Williams Mike Morley

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   BJ reunion served up in Naples, Florida

   
   

   BJ Advertising Art retiree Mike Williams (BJ 1968-2012) and wife Jane drove from Sanibel Island, Florida to Naples to meet a former Akron neighborhood couple . . . and wound up across the Bob Evans restaurant aisle from from Ol’ Blue Walls photoengraver Mike Morley and his wife Cynthia.

   
   

    

   
   

   Let Mike Williams, John Grimm’s former right-hand man, tell it:

   
   

    

   
   

   “John,

   
   

    

   
   

   “Today, Jane and I arranged to meet a West Akron neighborhood friend of ours who moved to Naples FL in 1995.  We'd been staying with my sister Cinda at her rented house on Sanibel Island and it was only another hour's drive to get to the Bob Evans at Immokalee Road and I-75. 

   
   

    

   
   

   “We were seated by the hostess right across the aisle from ABJ stereotyper Mike Morley and his wife, Cynthia.

   
   

    

   
   

   “Mike left the Beacon Journal in 2000, went on to be a career counselor for three universities:  the University of Akron, Kent State and Youngstown State.

   
   

    

   
   

   “He's retired now, but his wife Cynthia still commutes from their home in Youngstown to First Energy, out on White Pond Drive. She's thinking about retiring, too.

   
   

    

   
   

   “Cynthia and Mike were visiting her family in Naples. That's how we

   
   

   met serendipity head-on.”

   
   

   Later, Mike added:
   
   

   “We've really enjoyed our time on Sanibel with the anhingas (nicknamed the Water Turkey), the Great Blue Herons, the brown and white pelicans, the Willets, the ibis, even my own sister and her husband Rod. 

   
   

   “We start back tomorrow for the snow and cold and the wintry mix. Took our last

   
   

   dip of the trip in an outside swimming pool on the property this

   
   

   afternoon.  It was really a surprise to run into Mike Morley the other day.

   
   

   “We leave on the 23rd of February for an abbreviated two-week trip to

   
   

   Mexico, back about the 8th of March. 

   
   

    

   
   

   “If you are over at the Villages, make sure you remember your sunscreen.   Jane and I drove through the parking lot of the Roy Hobbs headquarters here in Ft. Myers, and most of

   
   

   the parking spaces were full.  Tom Giffen seems to have a lot of saucers in

   
   

   the air this week of February.”

   
   

    

   
   

   Giffen runs the Roy Hobbs World Series for Seniors in Fort Myers. He took it over when he was sports editor of the BJ, then switched to Florida when he moved there. Newsroom retiree Tom Moore usually helps Tom Giffen, with the tournament newsletter and interviewing players from around the nation and even from other countries.

    
   
   

   
   

   Indeed, Mike.  I frequently encounter former BJ co-workers or fellow WVU Mountaineers in my travels across this nation or around the world.

   
   

    

   
   

   Mike and Jane do a lot of traveling, just as I have with my 56 countries on my passport.

   
   

    

   
   

   They’ve been to Ecuador several times. And enjoy journeys to Mexico even more often.

   
   

    

   
   

   Mike and Jane, married 25 years, have two sons, independent trucker Nathan Williams (they keep track of via SmartPhone’s locator) and chemical engineer Trevor Williams. Mike retired in December 2012 after 44 years, including coming under John Grimm’s wing in 1976.

   
   

    

   
   

   Mike’s sister, BJ information technology retiree Linda Williams Torson, lives in Doylestown with her husband, Akron-Summit County Metroparks retiree Tim Torson. Linda was with the Beacon Journal for 42 years, retiring in 2012.

   
   

    

   
   

   Former clinical dietician Cindy Williams Chima, worked in the BJ classified phone room in the 1970s and writes fiction novels for young adults. She lives in Chagrin Falls but was staying on Sanibel Island during Mike and Jane's visit.