Chance Meeting on Plane

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Jean Borgeson was settled in her seat on the plane home Friday, March 26, when a young man sat down in his seat beside her.  (Young, meaning he was just retired)  After he settled in, we exchanged a few words and he asked me where I was from.  I told him Rippey.  He looked surprised and said he used to live there.  Of course I asked who he was and when he told me, I quickly said, “I’ll bet you are going to your mom’s 90th birthday celebration!”  The look on his face was priceless!  When he found out who I was, he asked me if I was Ralph’s mother.  After I told him I was his wife, he was a little embarrassed.  He had left the area when Ralph was young, so probably remembered him as a young man. Ralph would be 75 years old now. The conversation was off and running after that.  He even got a dose of the Rhoades family history and I heard his memories of visiting his grandparents Loyde and Blanche (McDowell) Rhoades.  He caught up on people he hadn’t thought of in a while, unaware that some had died or moved elsewhere.  It was fun for me, also, as I love listening to the history of the families who lived in Rippey. By all reports, the Fagen sibliings provided their mom, Eleanor Alex, of Grand Junction, a great 90th birthday celebration and her son, Steve is back in AZ by now.  It’s a small world, sometimes.