The Herald
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My buddy Paul Saternow is a person who has a keen sense of direction, and we tease him that he can live without a GPS gadget in his car. He is a walking, talking, breathing GPS. But for mere mortals like me when it comes to driving in unfamiliar places, global positioning system technology is a godsend.
We bought our daughter Jamie a GPS unit last Christmas, and while it spends more time off than on, it’s a great resource for long trips and for visits to areas where you don’t know one street from another. I borrow it from time to time, especially on vacation, and I find it fascinating as well as one of the best security blankets you can find for about $135.
Jamie and I went to the Cleveland Browns training camp last Thursday morning in Berea, and after we left shortly after 11, we decided to stop by the team shop at Browns Stadium in Downtown Cleveland. Heck, it was sort of on the way home.
Since Paul wasn’t with us, we set the device that we have nicknamed Garmie, to take us to the stadium. In 20 minutes, it got us there in a breeze, right to the front door of the shop near Lakeside Drive. Without it, I may have been on my way to Toledo or Columbus rather than the lakefront.
Of course, advanced technology always seems to make old processes passé. With GPS in your car, it makes getting directions for out-of-town trips a thing of the past, and less reliance on backseat navigators with road maps, AAA Trip Tiks and MapQuest. But looking back, our vacations and other trips as kids would have been boring with GPS, and not nearly as much fun.
State road maps were a commodity, and my parents used to grab one when they were available, usually at welcome centers and locally at service stations. After the guy washed your windows and checked your oil, you asked him for a road map. We had road maps from everywhere.
My dad would sit at the kitchen table, pencil in hand (today it would be a highlighter) and he would carefully study the map, and draw lines along the routes that would get us to our destination (well, most of the time).
The real laughter started with my mom being the keeper of the map throughout the trip, ensuring that dad was on the right road. Take the wrong road today with GPS and you’ll hear a too familiar “recalculating, recalculating” from a voice as the device changes its suggested route.
When I was a kid riding in the backseat of our 1959 Ford and later the 1963 Pontiac Catalina with my grandfather, the words we dreaded hearing from mom to dad were: “Jim, I think you were supposed to get off at that exit” or “Jim, I think you made the wrong turn back there.” After some cussing and other rumbling, we would pull off the road and recalculate.
GPS has revolutionized vacations and everyday travel, not only with directions, but giving you the time of day, your estimated time of arrival, your speed and the speed limit as you’re driving. But it evokes the memory of great vacations from the past, many of which I wonder how we finally got to where we were headed.
The passing of Kitty Hyatt
I stopped by to chat with the late Hugo Washington at the former Stupka Pontiac dealership in Hermitage one afternoon many years ago. We ended up talking about Kitty Hyatt and his contributions to generations of Farrell youth, central to his role as athletic instructor and coordinator of youth programs at the former Carver Centre.
That discussion led to the eventual nomination of Kitty for the well-deserved honor as a Buhl Day Honoree. With Hugo’s help, we were able to convince Kitty, humble about his contributions, to accept the award.
The Shenango Valley community lost a giant on Aug. 13 with the passing of Kitty, who lived to be a robust 98 years of age. The headline in the obituary in The Herald said he was a mentor of hundreds of youth, but that couldn’t begin to quantify his impact and influence throughout the years.
In addition to his Buhl Day recognition, Kitty was inducted into the Mercer County Hall of Fame and after his retirement in 2006 with more than 60 years of service to the community and its youth, he was named Farrell’s Citizen of the Year in 2006.
The following is an e-mail from the Rev. Carl B. Vactor and his family to Faye Golden and other members of the late William “Kitty” Hyatt’s family: “ ... words could never express how we all feel about your dad and family. Your dad, was a mentor to many young men and women who passed through the Carver Centre and the present Rev. Robert E. Chavers Center, but most of all he was an example of how God wants all of us to be toward each other.
“... I personally experienced your dad’s concern for the youth and adults of the community. I called him ‘The Real Head Start Program’ for life to many fatherless children, and resource-lacking families whose income failed to accommodate the membership cost. But Mr. Kitty would make sure they had a chance. May God comfort and keep you and the family, and our church family ...”
Jim Raykie is the editor of The Herald and writes this column on Mondays. His e-mail is jraykie@sharonherald.com or you can find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jim.raykie
