Reunion Everyday

The month of May finds us traveling again. Seems my step daughter who manages a well known fast food fish restaurant is enjoined from vacationing during Lent, their heaviest volume period. That also prevented her from going with us on the Cruise to Somewhere back in February of 2013. It doesn't take much convincing to get me to travel. This time we were being travel guides on a cruise to Alaska's Inner Passage.

This time we were porting out of Seattle, home of the Space Needle, Microsoft and Gasoline Alley Antiques and its owner, my old Anthony Wayne buddy, Keith Schneider.

Seattle's Bridge Troll

Keith and his wife Liz very graciously arranged with us to arrive a day early so he could give us a whirlwind tour of his hometown of over 40 years. It's one thing to see someone for a few hours after an extended period  (try 40 years!) It's another too see them in their home environment comfortable in their own skin. It turns out that Seattle and Keith were a great fit.

 Needless to say, we had a fabulous day, a terrific cruise and after a late night extended wait on I64 waiting for fire crews to clear a burning milk truck (no, they didn't serve warm milk before bedtime) we finally got home to a yard that befitted an abandoned house. Welcome home, traveler.

The lesson I took away from my visit with Keith is that if you're planning on traveling to a place where one of us lives, it's at least worth a phone call, if not a visit. Don't wait for another 5 or 10 years.

I got an interesting email from Diana Goovaerts, Erv's daughter. It seems that the photo we found of Erv wasn't him. Now I hadn't seen Erv since we graduated so I was just happy to find any photo of him other than his graduation photo. Turns out it wasn't him. Diana commented earlier with a little bio info as well, and while grateful that we had memorialized her dad, preferred that we use an actual picture of him l. Imagine that. She graciously sent it along to us and it is now posted both on his G listing but also on the memorial page. I couldn't help think that we all have aged pretty well and we all looked better with a few years on us than when we graduated.

A Time for Renewal

This is the time of year that I start getting restless. Even more so this year when I went on the FJ Reitz Class of 67 Cruise to Somewhere a couple of weeks ago. 20 people from Linda's high school class on the RCL Freedom of the Seas. A shocking reminder that there really is warm climate somewhere. Even more shocking on our return home to an uncharacteristically chilly Florida. That combined with a previous short jaunt to St. Augustine in January has really got me started thinking about spring and unwrapping the Winnebago (that qualifies me as an official Hooser) and putting on my traveling shoes again. I am waiting for the renewal that I know is just a few weeks away. I'll know it's here when my Yoshino cherry trees start popping out.

It's also a reminder that I've been remiss in blogging. So much so that there was a post on the blog from Sue Mustaleski Eck about my holiday post that I hadn't even published. Apologies Sue. The impact of your thoughtful response was amplified further when I got an email from Cathy Labazetta Stalter who got an email from her sister in Jersey informing her of the passing of Millie Kneeland Umansky. I sadly posted the changes on the Class Directory website and posted a copy of the obituary there:

(http://www.waynevalley67.net/html/inmemoriam.html).

My heart goes out to the Umansky family for their loss, more keenly felt perhaps by those who have lost loved ones. My first wife passed last month 15 years ago after 24 years together. It is hard to believe that so much time has passed, and that life wasn't over, although it certainly felt that way at the time. I suppose the point is that you never forget the anguish, the loss, but that pain is dulled with time. It pops up in moments of repose and remembrance, but now I have another life upon which to fall back for support. I know I appreciate it more because of my previous loss and the coincidence of Linda's loss of her previous spouse less than a month's difference from mine. That is how we began, with that single concurrence as our bond. That is certainly no longer true now in so many ways and I believe that this beginning in sorrow has allowed us to build a fundamentally stronger marriage because we know what we lost; where we may have fallen short before; and how we are both determined not to suffer the same shortcomings again.

For my part, I am determined to stay in touch. Sometime later this year there will be another mini reunion of the Anthony Wayne 7-3/8-4 homerooms and we are scheduled to visit with my old Anthony Wayne buddy, Keith Schneider in Seattle in May.  I guess the point I'm making is for you all to make use of the Class Directory and reach out to that old high school friend you've been meaning to call. As Sue M Eck reminds us, life is short and the 3 Fates are cruel; they spin, measure and cut the strand of life without regard for "Should Haves" or "Wish I Hads" or all those other regrets that appear after it is too late. For those of you who have moved or changed email, please let me know your new contact information so that it can be posted. Knowing that the high school alumni directory is not normally part of the USPS moving kit, here's just a little reminder!

Yes, it is definitely time for spring and some renewal. Be a part of it.

Sad Tidings during the Holidays

I know I've been rather inconspicuous (uncharacteristically quiet) these past few months, letting myself fall into my semi-retirement routine. My 5 day weekends seemed to always get filled with this or that and despite reminders from Linda that I haven't tickled the keyboards in a while, I always managed to fall into the trap of time.

That trap allows you to believe that there will always be time to do the things your good intentions tell you to do; to postpone what you know you should do. You tell yourself that it is the .......insert activity here........that is keeping you from what you've been putting off. For me, it was a nearly back to back Colorado road trip iin the summer (during which we dined with Judy and Dan Wyatt) and then a whirlwind European jaunt this October and then the annual Christmas transformation of the household into the Indiana annex of the North Pole. And then there was Sandy, and I knew that there were far more important tasks that some of my New Jersey classmates were confronting. These ended up being rationalizations and some real distractions from what I could and perhaps should have been doing.

I should have solicited comments about what you thought of the reunion this past summer. I should have told you more about Linda's reunion and how it turned out this September. I should have let my Anthony Wayne classmates know how much I enjoyed the DVD that Al and Dot Piaget sent out to me and all the other 7-3/8-4 folks, and that I didn't get enough independent photos from the rest of the awestruck classmates to attempt a memory book. I realized that even I didn't take as many as I would have now liked to have. I should have been more annoying and insistent about soliciting members of our class to sign up for Linda's class of 67 "Cruise to Somewhere" which sets sail from Port Canaveral during the second week of February. I should have avoided letting this blog become only what I have to let you know about today.....

I awoke this morning to my phone dinging a Facebook message from David Pier, Roz Pier's brother, thoughtfully informing me of Roz's passing on Sunday, December 9th, after a valiant 2 year struggle with pancreatic cancer. I thanked him for thinking to inform Roz's classmates at Wayne Valley and I don't think I was being too forward in extending the class's deepest sympathy to the Pier family.

When we first traced Roz's location, David was a little remote and a little defensive, and it wasn't until later that he revealed how ill Roz really was, at which point we backed off to let her and her family support each other in the battles to come. I hope that you all will think of her and send David a FB note. Sharing your memories you made with her in her many activities from school might help a little to soothe the loss they are feeling right now, especially during the Holidays which are supposed to be far more joyous. This kind of loss changes the character of the holiday season forever, having experienced the loss of both my in-laws in December and January past. Instead of creating new memories, there is only recollection of memories made of the past and the joys of family together are tempered by a sadness beyond words or measure.

So this year, as you get together with your families, hug them a little more often and a little tighter and think of Roz and the Pier family in their grief. For my part, I will try harder not to fall into the trap of time. Time is finite. Sometimes there is no tomorrow. Part of my New Year's resolution is to sit still for a moment and chat with you all more frequently this upcoming year.

Be well my fellow classmates. Enjoy the holidays and accept greetings from the Yuan family in good health and cheer from Evansville Indiana.

Honors and Memories

Like the title states, this blog is all about memories so it seems appropriate that this episode deals with memories not just of high school but of junior high school as well. I thought that this was going to be the final event of what turned out to be the culmination of a big project (the WVHS class directory), a big get together (in relative terms) and a little get together (the AWJHS reunion with the Piagets) which resounded with the sheer impact that it had on the attendees. Here's a link to the page: http://www.waynevalley67.net/html/awjhstalentshow.html

But like the late night pitchmen so love to say "But that isn't ALL!......." The Memorial Day events were followed up by Linda's Reitz reunion of nearly 200 attendees (120 classmates out of 300 surviving) a couple of weeks ago and the multi-event schedule that entailed (I emceed again but farmed out the photography this time) and then somehow I got roped into the photography for a classmate's spouse's reunion for another Evansville high school  a week later. Needless to say, I am glad we are not of the age where reunions need to take place annually (although the Reitz people endorsed the notion to do them every 2.5 years). I need a vacation to recover from all this reuniting.

This hiatus gives me a little time to think about what transpired this summer, what it really means to me and what I will do in the future regarding this group of classmates, some shared and some adopted. So I was sitting in the screened in portion of our back deck (my last refuge from swarms of little mosquitoes with big beaks who suddenly realized all at once that their favorite neighborhood food supply, i.e. me, was about to take to the indoors) when I hear the little dingy on my phone that sounds a lot like a Facebook notification.

Dave Spae's last journey, in honor of his service.

Sure enough, it was a post from Ruth Fox Spae's wall. Last week, she had posted a photo of what I had begun to think was Dave's memorial headstone but it was his urn which you can see being held by the marine on the left of the car. The ding was notice that Dave was finally being interred in Arlington National Cemetery with his USMC brothers after a long long wait since February. It was a really moving photo which I include here. And then Ruth really blew me away with her new profile picture: a close up of the marine who was holding Dave's flag held by the marine on the right. That is the photo that begins this installment.  Visit Ruth Fox Spae's wall and let her know that Dave is remembered, even if you didn't know him personally. He was one of us and served his country when it wasn't a real popular thing to do. God speed and farewell, big guy.

Anthony Wayne Reunited, Revisited

Amid the whirlwind of activity surrounding the Reitz Class of 1967 45th Reunion preparations, including preparing or coordinating the name tags, banners, decorations, entertainment, food, printed programs and the reunion program, the Friday night football game and pregame get together at a local restaurant, the Saturday morning school tour, the golf outing and the reunion itself, (I guess we're saying we've been a little busy), I took a trip to the mail box and found a manila envelope in the mail from Cathyann Court in Wayne. Like a kid sneaking a gift out from under the tree the day before Xmas, I tore open the envelope and found the DVD that the Piagets had promised.

Yes, it was the video record of the 50th reunion of the Anthony Wayne 7-3/8-4 classes which took place in Wayne the day before the Wayne Valley celebration. Throwing it into the DVD drive of my laptop, there it was, a professionally prepared record of our truly joyous reunion. Included for good measure was the Anthony Wayne Junior High School Talent Club Program for "Comedy Tonight" with many familiar names represented, not just folks from our class, but all school. A copy of this program will be posted on the www.waynevalley67.net website in the very near future.

It only took a moment before I was transported back to that day when a group of young teenagers wearing less than young flesh reunited with my two most beloved teachers.  I also winced at my inability to express my gratitude to these two people for shaking me by the shoulders and waking my humanity, my individuality, my first faltering steps toward adulthood. Unexplainably, I also had difficulty as well in recounting my fifty years of adventure (and more than a little misadventure) through multiple careers, families and through it all, I always believed that those years in Anthony Wayne were the spark, the beginning of the beginning. It was frustrating for someone who has made his way in the world largely on his ability to speak extemporaneously. At least I wasn't alone. It's all there on the DVD for the record as each of us tried to thank these two teachers in our own way for the gift that they instilled in each of us.

Sometime next year, we're going to do this again. Maybe I'll figure out how to express my gratitude to these two remarkable people by then.

Website Additions

Cathy Labazetta Stalter and
Bobbye Cooke Gluesenkamp

Thanks to the hoarding instincts of two classmates, Cathy Labazetta Stalter and Bobbye Cooke Gluesenkamp, there are some really remarkable new additions to the Wayne Valley Class Directory website (www.waynevalley67.net)

In addition to photos from the 45th, of which this is one, Cathy called me about a month ago and said she had a whole collection of stuff cluttering up her home and she was sure that, in time, it would all just go into the trash heap of history, so she was going to package it all up and send it out to me.

Sure enough, several weeks later, an amazing time capsule shows up. True to her word (just  like the magnificent banner she and her production staff produced for the reunion) she had enclosed programs from several all school plays and productions, GAA programs and a news article from the local Wayne rag, and Junior and Senior Prom directories. Even a GAA banner. Even blue spirit duplicator copies of the GAA Blue Team routines! I'm busy posting this material to the website, and sharing reunion photos from Bobbye as well. Busy, busy, busy, scanning and posting.

We're hot and heavy into Linda's class reunion now. The venue is set. We're really putting on the dog. No more $12 per person for us. We're up to $20 now, with a cash bar (we went dry  last time) for a real sit down 2 meat choice meal. So we've got block stadium seating for a football game with a cross town rival, class t shirts, a golf outing for the duffers among the class, a school tour preceding the event. There will be plenty of group photography (including the veterans photo I forgot last time) and the photos will be available free for download. We're even planning a special surprise which shall remain a secret until the great unveiling on September 8. Reservations are pouring in on the buzz from our "44th" and the building of their class website. It's getting busy. But after the business ends, and Milton sits out on the deck (not for too long because the temp is 98 at 7pm around here lately), his gears are still turning. Linda says the gears are spinning but the clutch needs adjusting.

All of these events of recent past and current events has engendered another series of high school flashbacks. I don't know whether it is the proximity of the recent reunion, increasing age, the cumulative effect of preservatives and whatever all else I ingested in the past or just the new stream of communications with old classmates (what other kind is there anymore?), but I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and not just of the past. I've been thinking about the future as well.

I was thinking about how a lot can happen in 5 years. I keep on thinking about Dave Spae and how sometimes things happen even in 3 or 4 months. Every time the weather changes, I get another reminder of my mortality. I am also reminded about Tony Gravagne's comment about how the class of 66 seems to have evaporated. I know those folks are out there. Rich Santoro and Tony are evidence enough that they are.

Maybe we should do something in between 5 year reunions. Nothing formal, nothing fancy. Just a get together. Maybe we should include the 1966 folks too. Maybe Delucca can put together a band......Just thinking out loud......and wondering if other people are thinking out loud too......

Regrets

Despite the 45th Wayne Valley Class Reunion having been such a happy occasion, with so many good memories , I still have regrets, the kind of regrets that come with age if not some wisdom and a lot of hindsight.

I'm sorry that I was too rigid and opinionated and influenced by prevailing opinions at the time and I didn't give some of my classmates more of my attention. I have subsequently learned the error of my ways and made some new friends.

I regret not paying more attention while at the reunion. I missed talking to a number of people that I would have liked to catch up with, including Bob Bayerl. I had intended to send him greetings from Bob Wanek a fellow IBSLATer. I also missed Doug Itjen. I was standing right next to him but had my back turned while talking with another group of classmates. Damn! I only realized this after looking at a slightly fuzzy photo and memory prodded by Chuck LaCouture on Facebook. After working to locate so many, I was really looking forward to seeing them again after so, so long.

I also regret not staying till the end of the Piaget/7-3/8-4 Anthony Wayne pre-reunion and so will have to Photoshop myself into the group picture at the end.

I also regret not having gone to more reunions, although I know that circumstances would have prevented that from occurring even if I had more determination to go.

Perhaps it is just the ticking of the clock on the wall that is making me think like this. I know in talking with people who were there, the echoes of the emotional impact are still reverberating in our hearts and minds. I wish there were an easier way to convey to everyone in the class about what kind of experiences we had this past weekend to convince them to come to the next one.

I'm normally a pretty cynical person, not given to flights of emotional rapture or interpersonal drama. I was moved, and it's hard to express in a meaningful way to someone who was unable to attend. I want to (metaphysically,at least) grab folks by the shoulders and shake them hard with a single message. Time is fleeting and short. You've only to view the Memorial page on the class directory website. Only yesterday did I hear of another of us having passed. Go to the next one. Whatever it takes. It may be the last chance you have to see or speak to someone who was important to you and that's not just me cleverly playing with words. It is the unvarnished truth.

I'm already getting help from the class to identify people in the photos Linda and I have been posting. I will add them to the captions when the mountains of Colorado are not distracting me from my class responsibilities!