Editor:

When I was growing up, my brother Jerry and some of his friends had season tickets to football games. On the rare occasion that one of his buddies didn't go, Jerry would take me. Their seats were on the very top row of the north end zone.

I spent a lot of time looking out across that beautiful campus and wishing that I could one day attend OU. My dream came true and I did become a Sooner -- a dream that began on the top row of the north end zone when I was just a kid.

My brother died in 2015 and I told that story as I eulogized him. He put that initial spark in me to attend the University of Oklahoma.

Last Memorial Day, I placed a couple of little white trucks on my two brothers' graves in a rural cemetery in Muskogee County. The trucks had some dried flowers in their beds. When I was home last October I brought the trucks home with me to Houston.

Knowing what a Sooner fan I am, my husband, Paul, surprised me at Christmas by painting the trucks crimson and cream and putting an OU emblem on the doors.

I absolutely love them and I know that Jerry would too.

Cherlynn "C.A." Fuller Williams

OU '81 jour.

(A Sooner Magazine reader who wished to remain unnamed reached out in response to our Fall 2024 “Big Idea” story, Unlocking the Link, which discussed OU researcher Lindsay Hayes’ work tracing connections between developmental disorders and inflammation during pregnancy.)

Editor: 

I was really interested in the article published linking inflammation to diet during pregnancy, resulting in increased risk for developing  ADHD/autism.

I am ADHD and autistic, as are both my children.  Those conditions, in and of themselves, are linked to autoimmune disease and are genetic. I also had hyperemesis gravidarum with one of my pregnancies, meaning I was doing good to hold down any food at all, much less healthy foods. This leads me to wonder if there might be some confirmation bias there, since mothers with those conditions are already prone to inflammation, and ADHD/autism are also highly genetic.

 I'm glad there is OU research going into these issues. Hopefully, women like me can have better, less miserable pregnancies in the future. 

Editor:

In the May 1960 issue of Sooner Magazine I wrote the 2 page article, The Big Leap To Rome about OU athletes who were in contention for USA Olympic spots.  It featured J. D. Martin.

This past Jan, 31 , 2025, I traveled to Oklahoma from California and went to the J. D. Martin Indoor Track and Field Meet and met J. D. Martin again after 65 years.  He mentioned that he still had a copy of that issue of Sooner Magazine at his home.

Jay Levine

OU '61 jour.