I will be retiring my Merrie Minstrel character at the conclusion of the 2005 Maryland Renaissance Festival. It has been an unforgettable and life-giving twelve years, during which I have seen births, marriages, and deaths and have come to feel part of a very special family. If only you could know how much beauty and love I see in your eyes when I perform upon the various stages of Revel Grove! You have brought so much joy to my world. As most of you know, I am a Secondary English, Speech and Theatre Arts teacher. Much as I love performing, teaching has long been my truest calling. My school is being renovated and upgraded from a two-year Junior High School to a four-year High School with an 800 seat auditorium, in which I will joyfully labor to mount three productions each year with student actors. I will also be in charge of scheduling use of the facility for other schools and civic organizations in the area. With these added responsibilities (which I am thrilled to undertake), it will no longer be possible for me to commit to long-running or far-flung performing opportunities. Please know that nothing less significant could have called me away. The Merrie Minstrel will always be with you in spirit, and I, Richard, plan to be a yearly patron of the Maryland Renaissance Festival so that I and my wife Mary Ruth can sit with beloved friends, cheer for those who continue to bring joy through their art, and fondly remember these days we have treasured. You are all so dear to me -how blessed I have been! Please continue to love and support one another as you have loved and supported me over the years. The Merrie Minstrel's final performance in Revel Grove will take place on Sunday, October 9 - place and time "to be announced." I am interested in putting together a memory book - if any of you have pictures, messages, etc, that you would like to contribute, please bring them to the Festival or send to: Richard Follett, P.O. Box 583, Strasburg, VA 22657-0583 Of all the money that ere I had, I spent it in good company. And of all the harm that ere I've done, alas was done to none but me. And all I've done for want of wit, to memory now I cannot recall. So fill to me the parting glass. Goodnight and joy be with you all. God Bless and keep you, my sweet friends... Merrie

Holidays 2004 Dear friends, Incredibly, 2004 has winged its way into the books of record and the Holiday season is upon us once again. Much as we would like to be up-to-date and in touch with all of you who have come to be our family of the heart, it seems like this annual holiday letter is as close as we get. Life is always so full and so busy that we rarely get the chance to touch base with those we love most! If this letter is the first that you have heard from us in a while, please know that thoughts of you, of your happiness, and of your well-being occupy a joyful, comforting, and welcome place in our daily life and we never feel as though you are far away. It has been a whirlwind year of constant activity and change for us. Perhaps the biggest adventure of the year is our purchase of a building here in Strasburg to be the new home for A Touch of Class. In a time when so many independent businesses are failing, Mary Ruth’s Nail Studio has thrived, and we feel very blessed to have had eight years of such good fortune. The new building is a delightful old Victorian with stained glass windows, beautiful wood trim, and a lovely front garden. It looks like a doll house! Mary Ruth has chosen a light oatmeal and moss-green color scheme with cranberry accents – very soothing- and the new studio will open in mid-December with the welcome addition of a hair stylist. There is also a brand new, top-of-the-line pedicure spa. Clients will now be pampered from head to toe! Rich’s biggest adventure of the year was to go to Japan (hence the choice of holiday graphic) for three weeks as a Fulbright Memorial Fund scholar. It was without a doubt one of the most educational and life-affirming experiences in a life that has been punctuated by wonderful opportunities. Participants were allowed only two pieces of luggage and one personal item, so a choice had to be made between the laptop and a travel guitar. The guitar won, and proved to be a wonderful bridge between cultures – a new song called We Are One about the experience will be released along with a commemorative booklet in the New Year. The Japanese people are warm, welcoming, and eager to learn all they can about American culture and customs. The students are as delightful as any I have encountered; if it is true that the young are the hope of a country, Japan has a very bright future indeed. There is also a tremendous spirituality about Japan: it is an inspiring and simultaneously humbling experience to stand in front of a temple that has been in continuous use for more than one thousand years and to contemplate the scope of it all under trees that have stood guard for millennia. Back here at home, life has progressed nicely. Aaron has an excellent job in computer web design and management with Shentel. Sarah has settled in nicely as a freshman Education major at West Virginia’s Shepherd University and is succeeding academically while being involved in various Student Life projects. One such program is the Big Ram/Little Ram project, where Shepherd students pair up with youth in the community for education and role modeling. We are very proud of both of our ‘kids.’ They are so good to us – Aaron brought us Christmas this year by stringing holiday lights all around the house, and Sarah never ceases to delight with spur-of-the moment visits and phone calls to let us know we are loved and remembered. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful young people to call our own. Our feline companions Callie and Grace continue to perturb and delight us alternately; while they take turns at perturbation (or is that purr-turbation?), the one constant is that there is no substitute for the merry chirp of Gracie’s ‘welcome home’ greeting or Callie’s raucous purr (she could wake the dead!) at all hours. It is a wonderful thing to be loved by a cat. Sadly, we lost our dear Cocker Spaniel Toby in May after nearly sixteen years of devoted companionship. All of us – Mary Ruth, Richard, Aaron, and Sarah – were with him as he passed. As sad as it was to lose him, we were all glad that his suffering ended – he was not able to use his back legs and had terrible dementia in the last days of his life. The eyes, however, were still the same sweet brown we had always known until the last. Sometimes, we still go to the door thinking we need to let him in! We will always miss him – no creature will ever replace our dear ‘Tobe - oh.’ Mary Ruth and Richard continue to work for Response, Inc. (Shenandoah County’s agency for the prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault) and with various Shenandoah Valley Arts organizations. Richard performed as a dancing bullfrog in the Leo M. Bernstein Wayside Theatre’s production of the musical Honk! in June. Although it was his first amphibious role, he found his inner frog and received universal acclaim. In October, Rich and Mary Ruth appeared together in a production of “Any Body for Tea” (murder mystery, directed by Rich) as a benefit for the Samuels Public Library in Front Royal. The event was a huge success, and a dinner theatre fund raiser is being planned for 2005 as well! Rich continues to teach English, Speech, and Theatre at Warren County Junior High School and to teach Theatre for youth at Shenandoah University and at the Wayside Theatre. He also continues to perform guitar and vocal music and is still writing songs after all these years. A new original folk CD in 2005 is a distinct possibility – work’s in progress! Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, We hope that the Holiday Season and the New Year bring you every joy- Love to all, Rich and Mary Ruth Follett