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GERALD JAMES BURDETT
Nellie/Wm>Gerald George>Jerry>Gerald James
Gerald James Burdett in Bremerton, Washington
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L-
The pier at Colonial Beach...R-Wilkerson Seafood Restaurant
 ...
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L-Gerald's house after the storm..R-Riverboat
on the river where "hurricane party" was being held as
the storm hit.
More photos to follow.
Report
on Hurricane Isabel 9-28-03 by Gerald
We
are doing just fine. The Hurricane came through, but it missed us.
The storm surge took out a lot of the beach area. We're about 12
miles from the beach. We got a little wind that blew the satellite
dish off of the roof. Probably 55 or 60 mph. The only problem we
had here was limbs that blew down. It blew down trees all over the
area. We had so much rain the last 8 or 9 months that the ground
is saturated with water. The trees couldn't stand up to the wind
force. Poplars, pine and all kinds of trees blew over. We were without
power for a couple of days. Other than that we came through alright.
No damage, but we have a lot to clean up. We picked up some of the
bigger limbs, but what was left I chopped up with the lawn mower.
I don't have a mulcher. A couple of houses had trees blown over
on them, but damage wasn't that bad. No damage close to me. We had
our daughter, son-in-law and three grandkids with us for a couple
of days. They were without power for about a week. The pier at Colonial
Beach about 12 miles away from us was completely destroyed. We will
be down in Tampa in November. We're planning to go to Orlando a
couple of days on vacation. Earlier this year we went to the county
fair, and my name was drawn out for a trip. They gave me four days,
three nights in Orlando.
 .....
Gerald
James Burdett photos sent by Barb Burdett S
Gerald
Comes to Washington
(And it will never be the same.)
My
trip to Washington was absolutely fabulous. I guess to make this
story complete I should go back about a month or so. Dad (Jerry
Burdett) called me up and told me that he got the strangest phone
call from a lady (Barbara Slaughterbeck). He said that she was looking
for Jerry Burdett and that she had asked him a few questions and
he answered the questions and that this lady yelled in his ear,
" I Found You!!!" I gathered from our conversation that
she was a relative, and Dad proceeded to tell me that he knew and
had met a lot of the family when he was young and that he had lost
contact with the family. He called me numerous times and relayed
other information about Philip DuBose who is one of my cousins and
Barbara who is one of my cousins and also Virginia Baxter, who at
the time I didn't know was a cousin. Anyway Dad was very excited,
and this started getting me excited too. After a few of these calls
I found out that Virginia is a cousin as well as the webmaster for
the Bryburcon website and that she lives in Bremerton, Washington.
Now what was really a coincidence or maybe fate????? was that I
was getting ready to make a trip to Keyport, Washington on the 15th
of July for a meeting as I am a government support contractor for
the AV-8B Harrier II Plus aircraft. The amazing thing or coincidental
thing was as I found out, that Bremerton is only about 5 miles from
Silverdale where I was staying. Dad said that Virginia would be
ecstatic if I would visit her while I was here. I contacted Virginia,
and she confirmed that it would be great if we could get together.
So now you know the prelude to this story.
On the 15th of July I landed at SeaTac airport about 10:00 in the
morning. Earlier that I expected to. After picking up my rental
car I made my way out of the airport and was on the road to Keyport.
I was getting a little hungry and having a little information on
the area from one of my coworkers who is in Bend Oregon, I came
to the exit for Bremerton and low and behold I saw a Denny's sign,
so decided to stop. I went in and got a cup of coffee and ordered
a meal. About 11:15 or there about I had my cell phone with me and
had a good digital signal so I called Virginia. I think I surprised
her a little because I told her where I was she asked me what did
I do FLY from the airport. I told her no that I arrived earlier
than I had expected. I told her that I was going to eat. She asked
me if I could waste some time and she would meet me there. I told
her sure. She said she was going to take a bath and get dressed
and she would be down shortly, that she was only about six minutes
away. (actually more like 3 minutes I found out). Anyway Virginia
showed up about an hour later. While I was sitting in the restaurant
I guess I struck up a conversation with the waitress and told her
all about the story and how I was meeting a cousin for the first
time and that she would be here shortly. When Virginia got there
the waitress came over and she said that this must be the cousin
and she said yes and the waitress went on to say that I had told
her all about her. Well I guess I did… That may have been a
little nervousness on my part. Or maybe IT IS TRUE that you know
that you are a Burdett when you can strike up a conversation with
a total stranger…. Hmmmm.
Virginia and I really hit it off well though because we sat there
and talked for about 2 and a half hours, and I was about coffeed
out. (imagine that) We planned a potluck dinner Tuesday (this was
Sunday) at her house, and Virginia arranged for Gerry ( other cousin)
to come also.
Monday, I went to the Conference, and it was the meeting from Hell…
We started the meeting at 8:00; I think we had 3 breaks all day
long. We had lunch brought in, and we worked straight through until
about 4:45. Boy I was burned out. We were doing chapter-by-chapter
reviews of the post production plan for the aircraft, and each of
the chapter leads had a brief to give on their chapter. I am one
of the chapter leads. By the by, the end of the day was right at
my chapter. That meant that I would have to do my brief first thing
the next morning. Jay Lambert, another of my coworkers, left the
base at Keyport, came back to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and
decided to have dinner at Denny's in Bremerton. I also wanted to
drive to Virginia's house to make sure I could find it for the following
night as we had arranged the potluck dinner the next night. I found
the house after getting lost. Not that the house is hard to find,
but I missed the street that she lives on. Anyway I found the house
and her car was there so I stopped for a couple of minutes and talked
with her. I let her know that the directions were not hard and that
I would be there on Tuesday night. Jay and I went to dinner then
returned to the hotel for the night. That was it for Monday night.
Tuesday
…. Talk about omens…. This is funny… I got up at
5:30, did the shower and went to the restaurant in the hotel for
breakfast. I went in and 3 of the other people from the conference
joined me. I ordered a cup of coffee and was looking at the menu
deciding what I wanted. While deciding I finished the first cup
of coffee and ordered. The waitress refilled my coffee cup. While
we were sitting there talking and eating I dropped fried potatoes
in my lap. I proceeded to pick up the potatoes out of my lap. I
looked at my coffee cup (which by now was half empty), and there
was a nasty looking ring around the inside of the cup (OOOOO!).
I got the waitress's attention and asked her if she could bring
me another cup of coffee-this time in a clean cup. She was so apologetic
she got me another cup of coffee, and before I could pick it up
to take a drink the cup split in half (right down the middle), and
coffee spilled all over the table in my lap and all down my leg.
All I could think about is that this could only happen to me (a
Burdett) and if this was the start of the day, it was going to be
a long one…. Well the waitress saw what had happened when everyone
jumped up from the table (what a ruckus). She came over very embarrassed
apologizing. She moved us to another table and had the hotel pick
up the cost of the breakfast for everyone at our table for the inconvenience.
That was nice of her; we did leave her a good tip because she was
so nice about the whole thing.
I
went to the meeting knowing that I was first up this morning, got
a cup of coffee getting ready for my brief and as I was getting
ready the coordinator wanted to revisit a conversation that had
taken place the previous day so I was delayed for about 15 minutes.
Finally I was up. I started my brief and while giving the brief
I asked for the next slide. The person who was providing the support
for the brief got side tracked and didn't hear me, so Tom the coordinator,
reached up to the computer and advanced the slide about the same
time that Pat realized that he was being cued to advance the slide
which he did with the remote. Now my presentation was advanced two
slides, and we had to back up one. This happened not once, twice,
but three times during my presentation. What a way to give a presentation
brief. After I was finished the forum proceeded to tear me apart
with questions and comments about the content and procedures that
I briefed on. I answered all of their questions and concerns to
their satisfaction I think, and we went on to the next presenter.
By this time I was very glad that, that was over. During the summary
I only had three action items that needed to be addressed, and they
were minor actions so I guess the brief was a success. I got good
jobs from most of the people anyway. Very stressful morning.
After the meeting I went to Virginia's and met with her. Then Gerry
showed up with Lloyd and Ericka. We had a great time. Everyone was
so nice and down to earth. We laughed, talked and took a lot of
pictures. We ate, talked some more, and Virginia gave me the tour
of the house. Then we went to BRYBURCON.com. That was a high point
for me. I do like computers and use them everyday. There are so
many great stories on the website. I have to commend everyone who
has contributed to the content of the website and also the Webmaster
for her diligent efforts laying out the information in such a professional
and tasteful manner. Anyway, after Gerry, Ericka and Lloyd left,
Virginia and I talked for awhile. At least it seemed like a little
while. I noticed that she looked a little tired, and I glanced at
my watch. Holy Moly it was after midnight. It goes to show that
time flies when you are having fun. I felt bad sort of since we
both had to go to work the next day. Well I for one am certainly
having a great time here in Washington visiting with newfound relatives.
Wednesday.
Today was not quite as exciting as the first two days. I got to
the base a little late as SOMEONE!!! Kept me up quite late and I
was still suffering from the effects of jetlag. And for a small
town in Washington the drive to the base was a real experience.
I thought that traffic was a bear on the east coast. When I got
to the base I found out that the meetings had changed locations
due to a bomb threat on the base. I didn't realize that a small
base like Keyport would be subject to this type of terrorist action.
I almost feel like I should be carrying a rifle again. Anyway I
attended a meeting this morning for obsolescence issues which, as
I understand NUWC Keyport is an expert for. I only attended a little
of that meeting as it didn't really concern my job that much. I
went to a second meeting that was more appropriate in my opinion.
It concerned aircraft life management in a postproduction environment.
This was a little more interesting to me and probably applied more
to what I was here for. After the meeting in the afternoon we went
on a tour of the base at Keyport and then on to the Bangor Sub Base.
It was quite interesting. I didn't realize that a submarine base
could and does contribute so much to Naval Aviation. Anyway, that
was the highlight of Wednesday.
This pretty much ends the Washington trip. I'm leaving on Friday.
But I have really enjoyed the time I spent here. The country is
absolutely beautiful out here with the mountains in the background
and all of the pine/evergreen trees. It is so pretty out here, and
the weather has been fabulous. I am really going to miss the area.
The family I've met out here has been great also. I am going to
hate leaving. I am looking forward to meeting more of the family
in Tampa though. If the rest of the family is like Virginia, Gerry,
Ericka and Lloyd it should be a real hoot. The films of previous
family reunions that Virginia showed me look like so much fun. I
almost feel like an emissary for a 50-year exodus from the family,
and I really like what I see. Some pretty neat people. I hope you
will like us as much after the rest of you meet us. This has been
a thrill for me. Just keep being Burdett's.
Gerald James Burdett
July 18, 2001
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