The Way It All Started

For those of you who follow this poor messenger, you all know that this all began as an effort to find everyone with whom we went to school. You also know that for a while, we were finding the so-called "lost" people left and right, and as a matter of course, finding out sadly that many of our number had passed away.

Over the years as we have been working at this, others of us who have had the time or inclination have lent a hand, making the increasingly more difficult search a little easier to take. There are only so many dead ends you explore before you get a little discouraged.

Marlene Zachok Capraro sent me a note the other day that she had found Pat Schwartz Mussen. Sadly it was through the following obituary:

Keeseville - Patricia E. Mussen, 65, of Highlands Road, Keeseville, passed away unexpectedly, Wednesday, August 13, 2014 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY.

She was born in Passaic, NJ, July 14, 1949, the daughter of Albert G. and Patricia A. (Salmon) Schwartz.

Pat, who always carried a book, was a kind-hearted person that touched everyone she knew. Always putting her family's needs ahead of her own, she took joy in their happiness. Pat's hobby was showing her Great Danes, finishing several Champions and Grand Champions. Some of her closest friends were made through shows.

Pat is survived by her husband of 43 years, Frank Mussen; son Franklin; daughters Nanci (Smith) and Sarah (Case), along with their significant others; grandchildren Zachary, Emileigh, and Abbigail (Smith); mother Patricia A. Schwartz; sisters Pamela Mackey and Nancy DiMeo, and their families. 

It is these discoveries that I hope can convince you to attend our 50th next year. Bob Shepherd and the committee and the suggestions of many classmates have resulted in what looks to be a very different reunion this time round.

For one, we are in a hotel so lodging and festivities are all in one location. We will no longer be subsidizing alcohol, and will be eating a meal. I hope that there is a program of some sort as well.

Not the least of my concerns is that we continue to lose friends to the ravages of time. So I heartily encourage friends in the Midwest and on the West Coast to consider coming to this one, the Big One. To be absolutely and harshly honest, this may be the last opportunity for you to see your friends and to renew old memories. Unfortunately, Father Time is unforgiving and unrelenting.

We buried a classmate of Linda's yesterday, a friend of 60 years, someone who attended every Reitz High School reunion. Her class lost 5 classmates this year. You only have to visit our Wayne Valley 67 Class Directory website and look at the In Memoriam page to realize the sad truth: Time cares not where you went to school, but only how long are spun the threads of Fate, a longer length for which mere mortals can only hope.

Well, on that cheery note, greetings from Southern Indiana. Till next time, it's Milton