In remembrance of Reverend Bob Ferguson.

In remembrance of Reverend Bob Ferguson.

Harold Schelling  
Wednesday, Jun 19, 2019


Bob was born September 4, 1937 in Detroit, Michigan to a devout Catholic family.
At the age of twelve Bob was sent to St. Anthony High School in San Antonio, Texas to prepare him for a life for the priesthood.

He would later attend Oblate School of Theology, which was also in San Antonio and after graduating from Oblate--Bob was sent to Rome to study at The Pontifical Gregorian University where he received two masters degrees and during his time in Europe he served as a civilian Chaplin working for the U.S. Air Force in Germany.

Upon hearing of a faculty opening, due to the death of a faculty member at Oblate—Bob was called back to return to his Alma mater to teach and later become academic Dean at Oblate University. At Oblate Bob would later start a movement of bringing students of other Christian faiths to the college and started-up a night school for the college allowing people who worked during the day to attend the university.

In 1979, while attending summer courses at Princeton (PCA USA) Seminary, in New Jersey, Bob met Margaret “Peg” Schelling who was studying to become a Presbyterian Minister with whom he would later fall in love with, marry and would leave the priesthood and start a new life with Peg and her two sons Hal and Tom in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1981 Bob and his new family would move to Swarthmore, Pennsylvania where he taught classes at Temple University and would study with his wife Peg to become accredited interim pastors.
Later Bob and Peg would move back to Maryland where Bob would become pastor at Darlington Presbyterian Church where he also was the chaplain of the volunteer Fire Department—which he took great pride in being a part of. 

As an interim pastor at the Presbyterian Church of Hagerstown, Maryland--Bob had his own weekly radio program.

When Bob and Peg moved to Massachusetts--Bob would become interim Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Worcester.

In 2012, after fifty-five years in the ministry, Bob would move to Katy, Texas with Peg to live closer to their son Hal where they all became part of the New Hope Presbyterian Church.



Bob is survived by his wife the Reverend, Margaret “Peg” Ferguson, step sons Harold Schelling, Thomas Schelling, sisters Lynelle Bloink, Cheryl Ferguson- Mustonen Reed, and Michelle Botto, his nieces Tracey Mustonen-Coykendall, Michelle Mustonen Heinig, Robert Bloink, Robin Zimmerman, Jim Bloink, Dawn Bloink, Nicole Wahlgren, and Jeff Kipp.
Step-grand children: Alexander Thomas Schelling and Vivian Jade Schelling
Information provided by Harold Schelling (Bob Ferguson’s stepson)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlSC-UUZF3U&t=346s

The Beauty of the World!

"The little things make the beauty of the world!"
(Harold Schelling))

Farewell to Boss Reed--A True Oilfield Maverick.

Harold Schelling  
Tuesday, Jun 5, 2018

A salute and farewell to a dear friend mine and mentor--Bob Reed he was all-oilfield--he was nothing less than a maverick in a profession full of mavericks--he aggressively commanded WEST Engineering with masterful vision and assertive contract negotiation. Bob helped turn WEST Engineering from B.O.P. Company (Blowout Preventer) into a serious oilfield engineering and service company. When I joined WEST in 2007 they were working on projects throughout the world from Singapore, Saudi Arabia, to the West Coast of Africa, to Alaska, Russia, and the Norwegian Sea--it was truly an exciting company to work for the possibilities for advancement and achievement seemed endless and the company encouraged a strong entrepreneurial spirit amongst it's employees--anyone who worked at WEST would tell you that and Bob Reed was there at the helm of the company aggressively, landing contracts and hiring from a list of contacts of professionals that was worldwide. 

Bob was one of those negotiators that you would marvel at and say to yourself--"How does he do it?" He was one of the few people who could talk at the blue collar level just as easy a he could mingle with white collar executives--he was Vice President of Drilling systems at West Engineering and an educated man.
In knowing Bob Reed you had to understand that he seemed to possess supernatural gift of incite in sizing-up talent in people and their level of expertise and competence because you see--Bob was a phenomenal scout for oil industry personnel--he truly enjoyed putting teams together, he would assemble a team from scratch within a matter of hours and then bring that team to an oil corporation or drilling company for a bid and successfully win the bid and have that team working within a couple of days--it was bizarre and brilliant. There were no novices at WEST--just seasoned professionals who might only be ignorant of how to fill expense reports--anyway--it worked and WEST became a rising star in the oilfield as an engineering and services company.

Thank you Bob for being in my life--in knowing you I have come to the realization that I have walked with titans!
God speed.

You can catch Hal’s blogs on “Thoughts in Time".” on Blog Spot.

Copyright © 2018 by Harold Schelling

Otto the Guinea Pig in Shangri-La

 


Finally Otto the Guinea Pig was introduced to the backyard, and he gazed and marveled over this magnificent garden--never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined what must have seemed to be such a wonderful banquet of lush plants, ripe carrots, and fresh radishes--everything to nibble on and it was all for the taking. To many this place was a mere backyard, but to Otto--this was the great frontier!

You can catch Hal’s blogs on “Thoughts in Time"--on Blog Spot.

Copyright © 2018 by Harold Schelling

NOW or NEVER for the Astros--Game 7 of the 2017 World Series

NOW or NEVER for the Astros--Game 7 of the 2017 World Series

Harold Schelling
6:30 p.m. CST, November 1, 2017

Well...tonight is NOW or NEVER for the Houston Astros--the 7th game of the world series. Tonight's game will either result in the greatest victory in Astros history placing this team to be first and only team in franchise history to win a World Series or this game will result as the most brutal heart-breaker in Houston Major League Baseball sports history.

In game 5--the Astros showed the world that they could out-power any baseball team beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 13 to 12 in 10 innings of baseball--it was an endurance battle that seemed to be a relentless testing of the will of both teams.

Game 6 was back in Los Angeles and the Astros offense couldn't seem to pull out of first gear as the Dodgers were able to out score the Astros 3 to 1 which leads us to tonight, game 7. This one special November night on the world's stage will be the night when the Astros teammates will chose their own destiny and if they want to win--they will have to EARN IT!

GO ASTROS!

Written by Harold Schelling

Copyright © 2017  by Harold Schelling

Houston (1/2 speed) Downtown 0001 (Video Track 002)

The Dazzling Artistic Aspects of the Eighties Payphone

The Dazzling Artistic Aspects of the Eighties Payphone

We see them (or we see remnants of them) everywhere there are boarded-up shopping malls, closed-down military bases, trailer parks, or even some that are brand-spanking new in some former Soviet eastern block countries like North Korea and Uzbekistan.

Millennials frequently ask--what are they?

They are the Eighties push-button payphone and they are durable. They are able to take multiple direct hits from a Vulcan M61 50 caliber machine gun at point-blank range, they are able to withstand over 957 blows from a 10lb sledgehammer, they can endure blow torch temperatures over 3000 degrees Fahrenheit because you see--these phones were designed for the Cold War and they required state-of-the-art defensive armor to protect the $195 in it's coin box because all that chump change adds up and these statistics are by no means accurate.

The strange thing is despite how well armored these phones are (which is rumored to be depleted uranium hard-shell cover)--these phones were statistically able to be out of order 68.5% of the time--but don't worry--these machines will still take your change if they work or not in fact there is a fail safe device built into these phone which makes it virtually impossible for them not to take change--you just play a little roulette hoping that the phone was in service--it's like a metal push-button mafia member--it will take your money no matter what.

It's difficult at times looking at these machines in a nostalgic sense--it's like meeting up an old college roommate who owes you money and years later has no recollection of the amount.

I'm trying to develop a pitch on how one would sell these type of phones--"The 80s payphone is a great way to spice-up a living room--it's a superb element of Americana--a conversation piece which has endless possibilities of igniting artistic imaginations from all cultures and all countries and art communities from all corners of the world said by no interior designer or woman on the planet EVER!"

Harold Schelling is a freelance writer who lives and works in Houston, Texas and he loves sailing, sunsets, long walks on the beach, he hates people who play games especially Pokémon GO,  and he loves world peace. Heart symbol and smile!

Photo taken by Ralph Elliott
Written by Harold Schelling

Copyright © 2016  by Harold Schelling