It’s about time that professional photographer Joe Martin, Class of 1959, who lives on Treasure Island, Florida with wife Arlene Kitchin, got some good news.

This is a year when Joe has had strokes in March, lung surgery in June and has been undergoing monthly chemo treatments since July for his lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system caused by the body’s cells behaving abnormally.

Let Arlene tell you the fabulous news:

“Wednesday of this week, Joe and I were told that his cancer is totally in remission. He has to complete his treatment just to be safe. That will be one more chemo treatment next month. Then he is clean, clear, free and blessed. Thanks sooooo much to everyone who kept him on their prayer list.”

Hot damn!!!

Boy, will we have a super-extra-humongous reason to celebrate when Joe and Arlene show up Feb. 6, 2015 at the third annual gathering of Monongah High alumni in Sarasota at the home of Bill Meredith, Class of 1957, and wife Roleta, a Clarksburg Washington Irving graduate and WI get-togethers organizer.

Why not join us so we can embrace Joe’s triumph over a bastard of an illness?

The happiness in the Meredith home in Sarasota will begin noon Friday, Feb. 6, 2015. There were reunions in 2012 and 2013, but none in 2014 while Bill recovered from surgery.

Bill and wife Roleta host at their home at 3201 Charles MacDonald Drive in Sarasota. If you'll be near Sarasota Feb. 6, 2015, let John Olesky know at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com so that Roleta will know how much food to have ready. I might even bring some champagne to celebrate Joe’s great news!

Paula and I will be staying in The Villages, Florida from January through March of 2015, except for heading down to Siesta Key and Sarasota Feb. 5-9 to take in the MHS reunion at the Meredith home and the Greek Festival at St. Barbara's Church in Sarasota Feb. 7.

If you're within a short day drive of The Villages in January through March 2015, call John Olesky at (330) 388-4466 and we'll have a mini-Monongah meeting there, too. Maybe Paula and I can get together with Joe and Arlene and toast to his conquest.

Damn, that news sure makes me feel on top of the world! I’m guessing Arlene, the Nova Scotia native who’s been dealing with Joe’s situation for months, is even more ecstatic about the tremendous news.