We've resumed the search for the missing classmates of Wayne Valley High School (You all know by now how Linda likes to keep us busy with condo ticket drawing sales, the cruise to somewhere, the 45, the new rent house [alright, that was my idea], the memaw and papaw shuttle [or MAPS for short]), and I realized that I was missing a big part of what made the search for Reitz '67 grads so successful - input from other classmates.
It's as though we're searching in a vacuum with no background information other than what we find on the Internet. There are a few who are also looking but they are from out of town now too. Without some more information other than a name, how hard is it to find Thomas G. Smith? Now I remember him from gym class cause he always wore dark socks and black and white Keds tennies. The gym teachers used to ride him mercilessly. But there are dozens of Thomas G. Smiths in all parts of the country.
Now I don't know if it is just something about Westside folks who know and want to know everything about everyone, or whether it is just because I've been away from my own home town for so long, but I don't know parents, or relatives or childhood buddies of my classmates. I didn't go to grade school there. I went to so many grade schools it isn't funny. My dad's corporate life gave me what amounts to an army brat school history. Even if I had gone through my entire school career in Wayne, people seem more disconnected; there are so many people that we've found that say that they never get back to Wayne, or go there just rarely by coincidence than intent, because there just isn't any other reason to. And I recall thinking how sad that is. I'm not saying that there aren't aspects of Wayne that are quite endearing (and there is an active "I'm from Wayne, NJ" group on Facebook, but they are mostly a nostalgia group - you know, the "who remembers the Valley Road Sweet Shop?" kind of stuff)
Of the Reitz bunch, even those far afield keep in touch with someone. If nothing else, the Fall Festival calls you back here like lemmings to the sea, well, more like Wimpy to a burger or ....I seem to be digging a hole here.... I'll have to give that simile a little more thought. The point is that Evansville people seem to remain Evansville people even though they are living somewhere else. Everyone seems to know everyone else's parents, alive or gone, or brother or sister or niece or nephew or even more importantly, who got married to whom, and even more in most cases. To me, this is part of the magic of Evansville, part of the magic of the Westside in particular. For the travel weary, for me in particular, Evansville and the Westside have become my home. I know without being told, that not being born here, I'm not a genuine Westsider, just a pale imitation. But I'm trying, and I have come to appreciate those qualities that distinguish Westsiders and Evansville folks too. What other small city can raise a million bucks at the drop of a hat when a disaster strikes? or do it regularly for MS or Reilly Hospital or dozens of other equally worthy causes?
This town is special to me, and for those of you in the class who were born Westside people, you're special to me too. You need to see yourselves for who you are, for who you went to school with and get over all the rest of the nonsense that separates you from the special values you grew up with. I'm not admitting defeat in finding my lost classmates, but I'm saying that it is a lot more difficult to find them because I don't have the special connections that your classmates have with you. I'm going to keep looking because I'm a little hard headed about things I decide to do and with Linda's help, how can I fail?
You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your class to get back to Evansville for this reunion. We've got a year to plan it. You've got a year to rearrange your schedules and plan for it. This one's going to be something else. You've heard about how the 44 went and that was on a shoestring budget. If we could have bottled the delight of that night and sent it to you so you'd understand what happened there, we couldn't keep you away. It was truly magical. And we intend to do it again, bigger and better because now we know it can be done and what kind of support from everyone we will get. Don't hear about it from others. Experience it in person.
And although if you say I said it, I'll deny it, we've got other plans too.............something about the Cruise to Somewhere? and a 47th, ('cause we don't know if we can make it to the 50th?) and other smaller get togethers along the way. It's just ridiculous what idle minds can dream up!
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