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Man finds his 7 cats after tornado

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 15 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts man found all seven of his cats, which were thought to have been killed when a tornado demolished his house.

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Michael D. Roescher, 48, of Monson recovered the last one Sunday, The (Springfield) Republican reported, after camping outside the remains of his house for days.

Roescher was home when the June 1 tornado hit.

"The most horrific part, was I was blinded by the dirt, then I saw the physical house move up and go 8 feet east," he told the newspaper. "The whole time it was trying to suck me out and all the garbage from the basement was going up in the air."

He was taken to a hospital after that, staying there overnight. The next day, he went to his home and began looking for his cats, not caring about any of his other possessions.

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The first one came out of hiding two days after the twister, and then slowly the rest showed up, or were dug out of the rubble.

"I'm thrilled to death," Roescher said. "Beyond belief, I am shocked ... . How did they survive?"


99-year-old man finally getting diploma

REDMOND, Ore., June 15 (UPI) -- An Oregon man is getting his college degree from Eastern Oregon University just shy of turning 100 years old, officials say.

Leo Plass of Redmond dropped out of school, then called Eastern Oregon Normal School in La Grande, Ore., in 1932 at the age of 20, KTVZ-TV of Bend, Ore., reported. He was a semester shy of graduating with a degree in teaching.

Back then, the average teaching salary of $80 a month was not enough to support him, so when a friend offered him a job for a logging company, he had a decision to make.

"He offered me $150, and it was the Great Depression," Plass said Tuesday. "That was a lot of money -- a lot of money."

Plass, who turns 100 in August, was later alerted to the fact that he was just 3 credit hours shy of graduating, to which he replied "Gee, too bad you didn't tell me that then -- I would have stayed there all night to just get those 3 hours in."

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A nephew, Greg Plass, took the initiative to contact Eastern and see if his uncle's life experiences might be enough to put him over the top.

"I thought maybe they'd look at his employment history and give him credit for his experiences so he could get his degree," Gregg Plass told The (La Grande) Observer.

So on Saturday, his uncle will be at Eastern Oregon University to pick up his diploma.

"Never dreamed of something like this happening to me," Plass said. "It's out of this world."


GPS leads women into water

BELLEVUE, Wash., June 15 (UPI) -- A trio of Washington state women said they were lucky to escape injury when their GPS device directed them to drive into the water.

The women said they were driving in Bellevue when the GPS instructed them to make a U-turn that took them down a boat ramp and into Mercer Slough, KIRO-TV, Seattle, reported Wednesday.

The women, who were visiting from out of town, received a ride back to the hotel from firefighters.


Couple mark 70th anniversary

HARTVILLE, Ohio, June 15 (UPI) -- An Ohio couple celebrating their 70-year wedding anniversary said the secret to their long marriage is simple -- "love each other."

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Powell and Evelyn Lusk of Hartville, who married June 14, 1941, when he was 19 and she was 13, said they survived losing two children and a grandchild with the strength of their bond, WJW-TV, Cleveland, reported Wednesday.

"You'd have to love somebody to do that wouldn't ya," Powell said of the long marriage. "Every thing she does for me I appreciate."

The couple, who said their church threw them a party Sunday, offered some advice for those considering marriage.

"Make sure that you love each other for one thing." said Evelyn. "That you can't live without them."

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