Reunion Weekend 2012 Part Deux

Staying with my parents for the long weekend, I discovered that unlike my copy of Embers 67 which burned up in the house fire, I had acquired a copy of Embers 66 lo those many years ago. Leafing through, I discovered a whole bunch of pictures of us. I will scan and post during the month of June after our return from Colorado. I will also be posting a hopefully large photo gallery from pictures taken by you all. By all means, send them in to me at milton.yuan@gmail.com. I can't say it will be as fast as Linda on FB who left a pictorial breadcrumb trail from NJ to Indiana. I also noticed that between 66 and 67, there really was a large turnover in the teaching staff and how many teachers were actually involved in the all school productions in many different capacities.

Judy Marra Wyatt, Yours Truly, Dan Wyatt, Mary Traynor Trella,
Bob Shepherd, Rich Santoro, Bobbye Cooke Gluesenkamp, Dianna Schmitt Hess

I remember all school productions as one of my earliest memories of Wayne Valley (Just Wayne High, back then). I may have mentioned before that I was exported as a woodwind player from Anthony Wayne as a ninth grade freshman (if we had a 5-3-4 school setup), lugging my instruments across the street trying to find the entrance to the school like the country mouse visiting the big city. Little did I know that it would be an annual ritual that I and many in our class would gladly endure for just a few performances every year. I recently watched a production of Peter Pan put on by the Evansville Schools and it really made me appreciate how high the production values we achieved. The interplay between Escott, Kerr and Erdman and later Ringle and Kuzmich, the seemingly endless hours (for me) in the pit orchestra, the dedication of IBSLAT and the behind the scenes people in costume and makeup and stage direction. What a time.  It all came back to me as I pulled into Rich Santoro's driveway and I joined the group already in progress. The point was really that a diverse group could pull together to create something bigger than ourselves. By the way, does anyone have any idea where Ron Kerr is?

Thinking about all of this, Embers 66, and a passing comment by Tony Gravagne (WV66) also a reed player in the pit, that the class of 66 really has vanished although many are still in contact with our class. Maybe they should be invited to our next one. Same with all the '68 people who have been contacting us by email and FB. Just something to think about..........

More in a bit, in the third installment of Reunion Weekend 2012......

Lessons Learned

Nothing like several gatherings of school mates to send us back to school, literally and figuratively. I'm sure many of you drove to either Anthony Wayne/Sienna Village or Schuyler Colfax and of course Wayne Valley, only to be shocked at their growth, repurposing, condition. (Bill Kimak once told me that there are over 200 security cameras in the school now, and a resident cop)

I also noticed that all the shrubs and trees in Wayne  are now overgrown, having been planted without a thought to how they would fit into the landscape after 40 or 50 years of growth.

I guess we are part of the landscape as well. No one ever planned for us to turn out the way we did either. 45 or so years of growth, changes, some judicious or random pruning, but we grew, we survived and now we're back to where it all started.

Reunion Sunday was a busy one for me. First on the agenda was the Anthony Wayne 7-3/8-4 mini Reunion with our block teachers, Al "Doc" Piaget and Dorothy "Darth" Tunis Piaget, who both went on to distinguished educational careers. You may recall that Doc was suspended from teaching for standing up for his beliefs. Darth failed to gain tenure. They were the round pegs in the square holes of Wayne public education in the 60's. It was Wayne's very own Scopes Monkey Trial. There was even an episode of the Defenders TV drama (starring E.G. Marshall and a very young pre Partridge Ken Reed) dedicated to the situation.

It is truly interesting that these round pegs' educational methods are now widely accepted as productive and effective, especially for those classified as "at risk" at both ends of the educational spectrum. They brought humor, compassion, intense personal interest, incisive insight, the ability to motivate, Socratic inquiry, self examination. These two amazing teachers didn't belong in the Wayne system as it existed. They were martyred because they were too good for it. But we were lucky to have had each of them for 2 periods every school day before their subversive methods were discovered and they taught us to learn, to question both ourselves and the world around us, to look for the core questions that needed to be answered by each of us. Strangely enough, we all, each in our own way, ended up as round pegs too, never quite satisfied by what was, always looking for what was around the next corner, over the next hill.

Describing this get together as a "Mr. Chips" moment for those who attended would be a trivialization of what it meant for us. This was a special group with special teachers all in the same time and place. And we sat there with them, in close approximation to our old seating arrangement, and we all remembered what these wonderful people did for us. They helped lead the way for us to become adults in a difficult world. We'll be doing this again.........

Next time, the second installment of Reunion weekend 2012............

Lazy is as Lazy does

After a gentle chiding by Franny Minervini-Zick, to which I tried to excuse myself saying that I was busy getting ready for the trek East and the later Colorado vacation, I finally had to admit to myself that I was just being lazy and distracted. Mostly just lazy. Hey, isn't that what retired folks get to do? NOT! Truth be told, the 5 days a week I am supposed to be at rest have been filled to the brim with grandparent stuff, gardening stuff (the early spring/summer weather gave everything a jumpstart like you wouldn't believe!) and the perpetual cleaning of the garage (aka Fred Sanford's annex)

It's not as though there isn't anything going on class-wise either. In addition to the actual Reunion, there is also an Anthony Wayne 7-3/8-4 block class get together, and another get together with some old all-school production folks. Then there is the visit to the parents part of the whole thing. House disruption becomes more a factor in visits and more so as the years go on. I know how that is already. Imagine adding another 20 years on it. The routine is set and house guests, even if family,  just throw everything into a dither. I'm very lucky that my folks, still in the same house, are still living independently and are in relatively good health.

I've also been talking with Wayne Valley folks too, via email and FB. Nancy Sliker Gillingham is nursing a meniscus tear but is going to fight through it to come. Jeannie O'Connell Hintz is on the mend from a surgery and will not be able to attend. Giff Jimmerson will be going to the Paris Inn dinner but not the big reunion. I'm also glad to hear that there will be many at the Reunion who have previously not gone to one.

As Mr. Galbierczyk was fond of saying, "Alea iacta est". The die is cast. See you all in a couple of weeks. I'll still be the Chinese guy with the camera.