DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997                TAG: 9704090120

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   83 lines

TOWN TALK

When Meredith Thompson, 11-year-old daughter of Tina and Blair Thompson of the Briarwood section of Great Bridge, decided on the theme for her 11th birthday party, she chose to celebrate the fashions and fun enjoyed by grandmother Kay Harrell.

``Meredith loves theme parties,'' said her dad Blair Thompson. ``She's had a '70s theme party and last year she had a glamour theme party where all her friends dressed up.''

While looking through Harrell's old yearbook of the Oscar Smith High class of 1961, Meredith noticed her grandmother and her friends wearing those long shin-length, applique poodle skirts.

``Her grandmother told Meredith that she made her own skirts,'' Thompson said. ``Meredith thought they were neat and asked her to make her and her sister, Leah, some poodle applique skirts.''

Meredith invited all her friends, all students at Great Bridge Intermediate School, to come dressed in their own '50s fashion poodle skirts. The girls also dolled up their hair '50s pony-tail style, put on white socks and donned those fluffy sweaters, ready for the hop.

But the party didn't go to the hop, they went to the next best place for a '50s theme party.

``They thought it would be cool to go to Doumar's,'' said Thompson, talking about the '50s era drive-in that still offers curb service on Montecello Avenue in Norfolk.

And the girls drove to Doumar's in grand style, thanks to Meredith's other grandparents, Jane and Robert Ward. Most of the party cruised to the burger joint in Ward's classic 1957 Chevy, complete with fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror. A few others rode in the rumble seat of his Model-A Ford.

``We took up every counter stool in the place for a couple of hours,'' Thompson said. ``They all had cheeseburgers, French fries and old time sundaes. They all felt as if they were back in the '50s for a little while, at least.''

After Doumar's, the girls all went back to Meredith's house where they had hula-hoop and bubble gum blowing contests and a hot potato competition using a real hot spud. They finally ended the successful party with one last trip to the '50s.

``They settled down to watch `Grease' on video tape,'' Thompson said. ``The kids had a great time.''

- Eric Feber Divine help

Earl Weirich, a Chesapeake resident, was able to kick a nasty nicotine habit and wrote to tell about it.

He didn't use hypnotism, nicotine patches or any type of step program. He claimed he got help from a higher power.

In the April edition of ``Guidposts'' magazine, an inspirational monthly put out by Norman Vincent Peale, on page 41, there's a small article entitled ``Got a Light?'' written by Weirich.

In the article, Weirich stated that he had developed a heavy four-pack-a-day habit that began when he was a 17-year-old in the Marines. He smoked for 23 years.

He wrote that one afternoon, he stopped into a used book store and happened upon a book, ``Direct Healing.'' He settled down that night to a fresh pack and that book.

``The book, which talked about how God is capable of healing everything from a broken arm to a broken heart, intrigued me from page one,'' he wrote in the article.

Weirich wrote that he came upon a passage in the book that mentioned if a person were ``slave to the tobacco habit.'' That, naturally, caught his attention.

The book Weirich was reading suggested that heartfelt prayer would help overcome his addiction. But it advised that one should do that in a closet-like space or a ``quiet and darkened chamber.''

``I don't have a dark, quiet room,'' he wrote. ``At that second, the light went out and the room was plunged into darkness.''

Weirich wrote that he tried to jiggle the light back on. Then he stubbed out his cigarette in a nearby ash tray. Suddenly, the light came back on.

``The bulb blazed with a burst of light so sudden it hurt my eyes,'' he wrote. ``I got the message. I walked to the front door, opened it and flung my pack of cigarettes as far as I could down the block.''

He said after that action he didn't crave his usual bedtime smoke or that first early morning puff.

At work the next day, someone lit up and the smoke made him gag.

``I knew I would never touch another cigarette as long as I lived,'' he wrote. ``Twenty years have passed. I still haven't.''

- Eric Feber

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