Since it is now April 1, 1999, it's time that we update this page.   Keep looking, because  we are adding some  news to this "Home Page". Keep in touch!

On October 24 at 4:00a.m.,  we were sound asleep, Mother was awakened by a knocking on the wall above/back of her head.   She sat straight up and in looking up saw smoke beginning to pour thru a heat duct above the door which went in to our bathroom.  She awakened me and, needless to say, we both got up and I put on some clothes, Mother put on her robe and house slippers.  She went in a awakened Paxton, one of her cousins who was spending the night with us, and told him about the situation.  He got up picked up his bag and on the way out decided to check the lower part of the house.  However, that door was extremely hot so he forsook checking.  Thank goodness because that was where the fire began, we all think.  To make a long story short, the house was totaled by State Farm.  We have been living in a dear friends Log House for the three months since the fire and will do so until June when we will move back into our home in Auburn.  We were able to save some furniture, a few clothes, some art works, dishes utinsels, etc.,  but lost many books, records (LPs & CDs), linens & towels, and other items.  Some of our art works are being restored and reframed.  Some furniture is being restored and we purchased some material just yesterday to have some chairs reupholstered.  This has been a very busy eight months for one who retired in June!

In two and one half years we are planning to move back to Middle Tennessee, somewhere around Lebanon and Murfreesboro.  We have been looking for land to purchase so if you happen to know of a site please let us hear.  This move will place us between Trey and Kay and their families.  It will be about three hours closer to Kay but still a straight shot to Trey's.  We are really excited about the move.  Hopefully, we are planning to build for the first time.  Mother jokingly says she doesn't know whether or not we should do that since we have had a relatively stable marriage for these thirty eight years.  She doesn't know if we should put that much strain on the relationship!  Hah!

Our mailing address is:  Claude W. Gossett, Jr, PO Box 616, Auburn, AL  36831-0616.  We would love to hear from you.  Our e-mail address is:  gossecw@charter.net   I also have a university e-mail address which is gossecw@auburn.edu .  Either will get it to me.

Andy Treat a fellow Pawhuska, OK  High School graduate has a wonderful homepage filled with pictures and bios of members of his class who granted him permission to use their info.  It is really neat and I have enjoyed it greatly.  It would be neat if one of our class of '53 would do the same for our class.  How about it out there?

This coming June we will be traveling to Spain with dear dear Friends, Burt & Sue Coble, of Lebanon, TN..  Burt gets together a choir every two or three years and they travel overseas singing in churches, etc..  He had been after us for several years to go with them so this is the year.  We are thrilled that our son, Trey, and his wife DeLeith, will be going on the trip.  Also, another of our former students, Ms. Connie James of Montgomery, will be going and singing.  We know we will have a tremendous time together with such wonderful Christian friends.  Some of the places we will visit are: Madrid, Toledo,Seville, The Rock of Gibraltar, Cordoba, Granada, Torremollinos, and Arcos de la Frontera.  Doesn't that sound exciting!  Having been to Spain one time before we can honestly say it is a very beautiful country with some wonderful and friendly people.  Oley!!

Well, it has been four years since I have been in my Web Page site, sorry.Lots of water has gone under the bridge to say the least. Spain was fantastic and even more so because our Son Trey and our daughter-in-law were on the trip with us.We did do lots of singing but also lots of sight seeing.For Mother and me it was Toledo which was the most spectacular city.High up on that rock hill with little narrow streets plus beautiful church lots of jewelry stores with craftsmen making all sorts of beautiful pieces of art.It was so special.Also Arcos de la Frontera was very special and we had a wonderful experience with the lovely warm people in attendance.  Trey and DeLeith lovedMadrid I think the best and going to the PradoMuseum.We had been there on another earlier visit so….

We bought a new home for us the fall of 2000.It is in Lebanon, Tennessee in a beautiful quiet neighborhood.Mother is now the organist/pianist for the Carthage United Methodist Church where our friend Bert Coble is the Minister of Music.  I simply sing in the choir but also teach a Sunday School Class every 2nd Sunday of each month to a very lively group of married couples. They are a sharp group too!!  We have been here 2 ½ years now but it appears that we just might be moving back to Texas.  That is if we can sell this place.Only time will tell.  Trey andhis family built a new home in the Hide-a-Way community just North of Tyler, Texas and right off I-20.  It is a beautiful home.We are seriously considering, no we have made an offer on a lot just two lots down from their lot.  The move would put us
about 1 ½ hours drive from Sylvia’s brother in Minden, Louisiana which would be great from him.He could see his Mom more than a couple of times a year.

We did take another overseas choir tour two years ago.It was to the Scandinavian cities of Copenhagen,Helsinki, Oslo,Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Russia, and then on to Amsterdam.What beautiful cities they have and hospitable people with wonderful fool.We also cruised on the Baltic Sea twice and had a boat ride on the canals of Amsterdam.Joshua, Kay and Mike’s oldest son had graduated from High School so we took him on the trip as his graduation present, also, Kay, Michael, and Bethany.In Stockholm a good friend Johann Sundberg met us for dinner one evening and spoke to the choir.It was the first day of his retirement so that was special.

When we returned home we took Sylvia’s Mother on a Dixie Queen Paddle Wheel Riverboat cruise from Nashville to Chattanooga.  The three of us had a very wonderful and restful cruise and the cuisine was outstanding.We slept like babies to say the least.Then there have been trips to Fort Lauderdale, Florida where Mother spent 6 days in Holy Cross Hospital with diverticulitis, UG, but she is fine now.  We have also spent a week at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where we were privileged to hear the trio “One Purpose.”Laura Rice Christy one of my former students at Auburn U. sings in the group and it is a special group serving the Lord in a special way.  Next we took a trip to East Tennessee to see Kay and Mike’s youngest Drew play basketball in a regional tournament.  We stayed in Cosby at a lovely Motel and just drove back and forth to Gatlinberg, Cade’s Cove, and Pigeon Forge.  It was neat spending some time with Mike, Kay, & Drew.

Also during these two years here we have driven a good bit to see basketball games, football games, and to hear band concerts, Athen’s Area Children’s Choir programs and lots of other activities.  We also made one trip back to Auburn last year so Mother could play for one of her former students, Lucy Stroud’s wedding.  After the wedding we drove on to GulfShores for the rest of the week.It was very restful and Trey and his family were at OrangeBeach during the same time so we saw them a lot as well.One other fun thing we did this spring was to go back to my home town, Pawhuska,Oklahoma, for the 50th Class Reunion of my HS Class.  It was so good seeing old friends and
sharing life’s experiences.  Several have preceeded us in death but we shared sweet memories of them during a time of sharing on the Sunday morning fellowship time.They were remembered with joy for their lives.

Lots of other things have happened but those are the big ones.  Our living family has gotten smaller:Uncle Emory Collins, Aunt Goldie Collins Hodgson, ErmaJean Collins Ryan, Uncle Eli Collins, and I am sure some other cousins I will add in at a later time.  Our only remaining Aunt Aunt Hazel is in a nursing home in Cleveland,Oklahoma.  She has lost both legs to diabetes but her color is good and she seems to be doing better.Cousin Dorothy Collins Driskell has also lost a leg but has a fighting spirit and her son Jerry is taking wonderful care of her.

I guess that is enough for now other than the fact that our daughter-in-law DeLeith is a full fledged lawyer now having passed the Texas Bar on the first go.  She has been practicing in a private firm in Tyler this year but will go back to the Federal Judge later this fall to be a  permanent Clerk for him.  Trey is a Jr. Hi Band Director and assists with the HS Band in Van, Texas.Michael is a Jr. Hi principal in Athens,Tennessee and Kay is Executive Director of the McMinn-Meigs Counties United Way.They are all so very busy.Josh is doing Campus Outreach Ministry in Myrtle Beach this summer.   Bethany graduated HS and will be a Freshman at Birmingham Southern in Birmingham in the Fall on a voice scholarship.Time does march on.

Until next time: this is June 27, 2003.  On July 3rd we head out for Singer Island for a week with Kay and hers and Trey and his.We hope to have a ball!!
 

This homepage will be devoted to past activities and planned activites of the future.
 

Degrees:

PawhuskaHigh School,Pawhuska, Oklahoma 1953
BS from LamarStateCollege of Technology,  1960
MCM  from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary    1965
PhD from University of Southern Mississippi 1977

Honorable Discharge US Army Rank E5 1962
National Association of Teachers of Singing
Music Educators National Conference
Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia
Phi Kappa Phi
Omicron Delta Kappa

Honors:

Outstanding Teacher Award 1975 AuburnUniversity
State Governor of NATS
Regional Governor of NATS
National Vice President for Membership NATS
Chairman of AuburnUniversity Faculty/Staff & Senate
25 year service award Lions Club
Melvin Jones Fellow Auburn Lions Club
Retired from AuburnUniversity as Emeritus Professor of Music, June, 1998
 

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