The Drawing

The first class fundraiser, the Orange Beach, AL condo drawing will be held:

August 7, 2011 at 4PM

at

PARKWAY PIZZA

(Proud sponsor of the 2010 Student Directory)

Please let Linda know if you plan to attend the drawing. Call her. Facebook message, Text, Email. We should probably let Parkway know if we're takin' over da joint. (As in, We're da Reitz class ah 67 and we're takin over da joint, see?)  Remember, you don't have to be president, uh, present to win; that if you don't make arrangements with Gary within 60 days, we will redraw. Gary wants the thing to be used for the benefit of a classmate.

In the meanwhile, the sales are going briskly. It has been a great success so far, so be the one to take it over the top! Every ticket goes toward keeping the 45 Reunion reservation price as low as possible so the most number of classmates can afford to attend. As they say, you can't win it if you ain't in it and ticket sales end with the end of the month of July.

Still two weeks to go till the end of sales. Good Luck to all. If you want to buy tickets, contact Linda, Nancy, Patty, Tom or Bob right away quick. Times running out!

Well, seems like no matter where you go, there you are. My own class does not have a directory. They have lists representing everyone that attends reunions, but no complete listing. 621 graduates give or take. Can we do it? You know Linda. Of course we can. Well, you'd think it would be as simple as getting the committee to provide the existing information. Nothing is simple.

Our website classmate information is not as public as the Reitz site. The committee made that decision a while ago apparently. Privacy. This privacy concern is much like parental controls. It may be intended to protect, but what it does as perhaps an unintended consequence, is prevent friends from contacting friends with whom they have lost touch. Just like preventing Google from finding all references to "breast", which makes school reports on cooking chicken breasts an exercise in frustration.

So we are starting from the beginning, the yearbook, adding the lost people we found, and then adding lists for the 40th and 30th after verifying.  A lot of folks are on Facebook so that helps a lot. You know what they say about idle hands. When she's not helping find classmates, Linda is cooking up the next fundraiser for later on this year. I'm not at liberty to say how well we've done with the condo drawing ticket sales, and we're not done yet anyway, but suffice to say, it's been a great success so far.

And finally, thanks to all of you for proving that after 44 years, there is such a thing as class spirit, that friendships can span that many years and miles, and that it is possible to think of doing the get togethers and directories and everything that your class has done. You should all be very proud of yourselves.

Another Classmate Remembered; A Decision is Made

As you may know from the previous entry, Linda and I met Gary Malin in Pensacola. Gary mentioned, along with several others, that he thought that Robert "Bobby" Greenwood had passed away. So Linda took this as  incentive to do a little searching and found that he had passed in April of 2004. He is interred in Sebree, KY.

Even though Bobby did not graduate with you, like many others in the Reitz community of classmates, we have included him in our website on the Memorial page.

Sales of condo drawing tickets is suddenly heating up as though people are finally realizing that August 7 is just around the corner. Remember first, paid tickets only will be included in the drawing; next, we truly want the winner to be someone who wants to make use of the condo. We know now in advance that some classmates are buying tickets as a donation to the class; that the Gulf Coast is not really their cup of tea. We also know many who are buying tickets because they really want to take advantage of the opportunity for an Orange Beach vacation either this year or next spring. We have talked about this and we have decided that if arrangements are not made by the winner with Gary in 60 days, that we will redraw, sort of a second chance drawing. Besides, it's a good excuse to have another Parkway Pizza ice cream sundae.

Ticket sales conclude on Sunday July 31.

A week away; a visit with a Classmate

We just spent a week away from Evansville. A trip to Destin with Minnie (Winnebago, that is), Missy the little black dog (Who had been under the weather and needed some one on one TLC) and Linda, who needed to decompress from her continuing mission to get so much fund raising done before the 45 that reservations will be free! Seriously, it was good to get away, and now was a good time to do it because Nancy Layson Burke and her family were going to be down there at the same time.

Additionally, we made arrangements on the way back to Evansville, to see Gary Malin who drove up from Orange Beach to Pensacola where we shared one of those great Cracker Barrel breakfasts. We told him about the current state of the condo drawing fundraiser and raised his eyebrows at the same time. We were double the level that he thought was achievable. The Reitz classmates have certainly stepped up realizing that this was as much a fundraiser as it was the possibility of getting a free stay in an awesome condo on the beach in Orange Beach, AL, a far less populated vacation getaway area than Destin, which is now wall to wall condos and beach umbrellas. Seeing sand is surprisingly difficult if you don't reside in a condo. In fact, the only pristine (or anything remotely like my childhood memories of the gulf coast, of which I have many) was Henderson Beach State Park, where they are doing the best they can to preserve a little piece of natural beach and a modest but nice RV campground with electric and water hook ups. We also had a great visit, Linda and Gary covering all the topics that old friends cover anytime they can get together; who's doing what and what's going on in Evansville, and how and when we are going to do the drawing, and what if the person that wins the draw doesn't intend to go, and on and on and on.

The bottom line is this: We have raised enough money to more than cover the cost of renting Echo Valley for the Reunion. Once again, we will try to keep the cost of reservation as low as possible. It'll be a little more than the 44; just the nature of the food provided by Echo Valley, but it's the principle. The lower the ticket, the higher the attendance. My own class seems to be going the other way, less attendance, higher reservation costs. I guess when only one person attends, that poor soul will have to pay for the whole thing.

So what about the drawing? Here's what has been decided:  Sunday, August 7, Parkway Pizza, 4PM. Parkway was one of the local businesses that contributed to our 44 and they are Westside through and through. They have great thin crust pizza, and hot ham and cheese and stromboli sandwiches to die for. We won't even talk about their 2 buck ice cream sundaes. It's walls are also festooned with school memorabilia and photos from all the Westside schools.  We had been thinking about Aztar, but I didn't feature getting the bum's rush from the Hoosier lounge meeting area by Aztar security for holding a condo drawing for a non Aztar sponsored event. At Parkway, we can stay for pizza and other food if you want. It's up to you. Should be fun anyway.

Now don't you think that just because this event will be over in August, that we don't have other things in the great Reunion Committee Collective Brain. We're still plotting the Cruise to Somewhere, destination unknown as of now, and there are other things in store before the 45 next September. Idle hands, you know. Still a few weeks to get your condo drawing ticket! Get in touch with Linda, Nancy, Patty, Tom or Bob.

On becoming Officially Old

There are certain milestones we all share. My classmates all remember getting their draft cards. Everyone remembers getting their first driver's license; landing your first job. First date, first kiss, first....well,  let's just say the first of anything.

Most remember high school graduation; some have a college graduation to remember. Each of these events, be they first or not, mark our journey through time and our evolution as people. Each of us use these memories as snapshots of the people we were when these events occurred. As each of these moments go by, there is a change in perspective that subtly occurs.

When I was younger, everything was either directly in front of me or coming soon (or worse, coming at me); I don't recall feeling that the past had much significance, probably because there was so little of it. Maybe when I passed 40, I started looking back every now and again, to see where I had been, as though that glance backward would allow me to chart a better course for the future. I'm not saying that I'm a fatalist; that my course was set from the beginnning and I was just playing it out, but I think everyone has predispositions that help drive those decisions we all face in a particular direction. I've made decisions to the contrary, but always ended up regretting them and recharting a corrective course that led me back to my original direction (I guess those times were when I was fooling myself, and I've done that plenty of times.) Perhaps only an old fool could admit that. Missteps taken, nothing fatal, nothing irrecoverable.

Paul Wagner, a friend of mine from high school, and I used to have these philosophical discussions (as philosophical as two 17 year olds can be) about types of people. We decided that there were dabblers and divers. Dabblers experimented carefully around the edges of things until they were sure they were safe and wouldn't result in death or disfigurement. Divers, as the name implies, just dove in without looking, grabbing opportunities without a care. We also decided that Paul was a diver and I was a dabbler.  I wonder now if I missed out on anything because of my basically cautious nature. I wish I could ask Paul if he felt he made mistakes because of his precocious nature. I would if I could find him; if he's even still above ground. Somewhat more philosophically grounded, I can now say categorically, that it didn't make a bit of difference one way or the other that will be detectable in a couple hundred years.

So on this, my ascension to the ripe age of 62 and my official entry into the realm of "Retireable" , I look back and realize how well life has treated me, in spite of myself, granting me a life rich with good memories, good friends, two wonderful wives (consecutive, not concurrent), a great family, and perhaps most importantly, the wits to remember and appreciate it all. If I never did another thing except play in the dirt and make things grow, I'd probably still be happy. It may have taken 62 years, but I am pleased to say that I think I've found my happy place in life. Now the trick is to enjoy it to the fullest. And part of that is sharing it with as many people as I can. That's why I'm writing to you. Thanks again to all of you who took the time to wish me a happy birthday. Linda made sure it was eventful ( even holding a pre-birthday get together; sound familiar? ). Of course, I couldn't let the moment slip away without commenting on it.

Momentum

One thing I ask myself, I say, "Self, what else can we do to keep this ball rolling. What can we do to keep people in the loop and looking forward to the big 45 next year?"

Well, the first thing that can be done comes from you, the Reitz Class of 1967 yourselves. I mentioned it in passing on the website at the very beginning, before the major events occurred, i.e., the nearly 100% successful conclusion of the hunt for lost classmates; the building of the class database; the construction of the class website, the production of the class directory; the planning and and execution of what began as the Howell Shelter Cookout that quickly turned into the Spring Get Together of 2011 (unofficially, the Surprise 44th), the photo CD, and now the Gulf Condo Class Fundraiser, the not forgotten production of the digital version of Reflections for those of you who have lost their yearbooks (I've been a little busy lately and I know, I've only got myself and Linda to blame). I also built another website for my stepdaughter's Cat and Kitten Rescue in Mobile AL (www.projectpurr-al.org) along the way. I had to remind self of what has gone on in the last year. Whew!

Back on topic, back then, I mentioned that I would love, and I think your classmates would too, to be able to click on your website entry on the Classmates pages and get a short bio of what you've done over the past 44. I know, I know, you can't do that. You're too busy, you don't have a way with words, you're not entirely happy with the way things turned out, you don't think you've had a very exciting life, all you did was just got married and had kids, I know the list just goes on and on why you can't tell us about yourself.

If everyone had taken that attitude, the 44 never would have happened and you remember how that turned out? Everyone there took that extra step out of their way, rearranged things for that one night to make some collective magic. It's time to do it again.

We far too often look for reasons why something cannot be done rather than looking for ways to get it done. I say if we can do what we have already done, we can certainly do this too. I believe that there is no life that has not served a purpose: I doubt that even what some might consider an ordinary life is really all that ordinary. Think of all the obstacles life has tried to put in your way. Yet here you are, bowed a little, but unbroken.

I don't want anyone telling me that getting married out of high school and raising a passel of kids and watching them turn out to be worthy adults isn't worth a lifetime achievement award. I can tell you about jobs with companies that I would still be doing if the companies hadn't gone belly up. I can tell you about businesses I've started that ended up short of money without making it over the top. If you've got a golden goose story, we want to hear it too! Fact of the matter is that everyone has a story and everyone wants to know your story too.

Hey, this is the Westside. Chances are some of us know most of it already. This will just be your chance to set the record straight for your classmates. I'm not talking about a novel (not everybody is as wordy as I am [thank heavens] or no one would get anything done) I admit my autobiography in my Wayne class blog is the first time I ever attempted to explain, no relate, my life to anyone (wvhs67.blogspot.com) and it's not easy. But it is cleansing in a way. On the one hand, it makes you step back and take stock of yourself. On the other hand, it tells your classmates what happened. Why you didn't become a doctor, lawyer, indian chief. That's what I told my classmates. How did Ralph (Ed) Branch get to work with blind folks; how did Bruce Alan Seegert end up commuting between Denali Alaska and New Mexico? How did Linda Lively end up with some yakky Chinese guy from New Jersey? There are over 360 stories to tell, and I for one would like to hear every single one of them (except that last one. I know what happened and how it turned out)

So, first call for biographical blurbs. Don't make me ask Linda to start calling to collect stories.............We can also connect them to the class directory so that if you get the digital version and click on a classmate's photos, you get a pop-up little bio. Way cool!

On an entirely different note, we had our grandson run into Lowes and shoot a photo of Cecilia "Doodles" Dillworth and post it up on the website at the bottom of the West Terrace page. Doodles went to West Terrace with Linda and up through freshman year. I've been getting helped by her at Lowes for years without knowing that she was a classmate too!

We are officially over the $1000 mark for the Orange Beach Condo drawing fundraiser. Reitz Class of 67, you've done it again; exceeded expectations and reached another milestone. And there's still time to enter the race to Orange Beach. Call or email Linda Yuan, Nancy Burke, Patty Qualls, Bob Willis or Tommy Lee Waterman (he's out of town for a few days but everyone else is available.) What's that Lotto saying? "You can't win it if you ain't in it" or something like that.

The Word is Out about that Class of 1967

I received an email response to a request I made of Beth Carnahan, Head of the English Dept at Reitz. Now I think the world of Beth. She is savvy and she's a great teacher and leader of teachers. It seems like a long time ago, but I asked Beth whether she could help me get Linda a replacement yearbook. She promptly got to Bob Hammonds, media specialist (that's librarian extraordinaire, to us old folks) at Reitz who discovered that they didn't have a 1967 yearbook. Well, Bob is a man of the world and gets around and has a prodigious memory. He discovered a website and sent me an email to help me in my quest:

Mr. Yuan: Last school year Beth Carnahan had mentioned that your wife had lost her 1967 Reitz yearbook in a fire. During the school year I tried to locate a copy for the Reitz files since our copy was missing. Since that time I haved learned that one of the members of the class has posted the entire yearbook on the Internet. The location address is: reitz67.com. The posting is very nice and is complete with additional information. Hope this is of some help.

Bob Hammonds- Media Specialist Reitz H.S.

Imagine my delight in being able to reply to him:

Thanks Bob. I really appreciate your thoughtful follow-through.  We have since located a copy, scanned it and put it on CD and had my Grand daughter, Aniesa Ricketts (Reitz 2014) deliver it to the media center and Willard so that the school and the library (their copy was missing too) would have a copy. It apparently didn't get in your hands. If you don't locate it, let us know and we will get you another copy. Apparently the free wheeling spirit of the 60's overwhelmed honesty and person or persons unknown borrowed both copies and neglected to return them.

By the way, thanks for the kind words about the website. Linda Lively Yuan (Reitz 67) and I did the website.

Linda located every member of the class (over 360 less 4 and contacted them all [all that were alive, that is]). We used it to act as a nexus for an unofficial 44th reunion of the class scheduled for this past April 8 originally at Howell shelter but we outgrew the shelter and had it at the Cottonwood Center on Hitch Peters Rd. We had 180 paid attendance. There is a blog too, which begins on the website and continues at reitz67.blogspot.com which documents that process and our official preparations (we and several others became the reunion committee)  for the 45th reunion scheduled to take place in early September 2012. Not bad for old farts, eh?

Bob Hammonds is not just a media specialist (librarian). He is also a historian and a man of letters, a rare quality these days. Now he knows what we have done. Yup, the Class of 1967 is holding events that rival, no surpass, those of later Evansville high school classes, some of whom have cancelled their reunions from lack of interest. Lack of interest?!? What is the matter people? Is the Internet and texting and life on Facebook more important than getting together with your classmates in person? Are you to busy with busyness to wake up and smell the coffee? Will it take another 40 years for you to realize that the ship has already sailed and that you have missed the boat? What is so important in your life that you can't spare one night out of 10 or 20 or 30 years to see your classmates? Let us, the class of 1967, 44 years out of school, explain to you what it means to be one with our classmates, happy to share stories about everyone doing well, sharing the pain of losing some along the way, but sharing. The operative word is sharing. And that's what we're going to do again in September of 2012.

Condo drawing chances are still available. We're trying for an even grand and we're within striking distance. Be the one who puts us over the top. Contact Linda Lively Yuan, Nancy Layson Burke, Patty Qualls, Bob Willis, or Tom Waterman for tickets. We're 6 weeks away from the drawing.

I Don't Usually Like to Do This But......

I don't usually like to plagiarize myself. As you may know, in addition to writing about Reitz 67 activities, I do the same for my own high school, Wayne Valley in Wayne, NJ. Linda and I have been busy doing the same thing for them as we did for you folks, finding as many lost classmates as we can. But sometimes, something happens that is universally enlightening and reveals a universal truth. Well, here's what happened:

Not Everyone Remembers Wayne Valley Fondly

I suppose it takes something like this to realize that not everyone remembers their high school days with fondness. Victor Quinn just replied to me in Facebook after we found him and I messaged him to confirm his identity:

"Aside from the fact I have no idea who you are, I had no friends in that place and put it behind me a long time ago. I haven't even been to Wayne in 30 years. Anyone over the age of 30 who actually cares about HS is an idiot who needs to grow up" 

I simply replied that I didn't remember him either and now I realize that I didn't need to. Now I see that the years haven't been kind to Victor's personality and I hope that it has been kinder to his accounting business in Plainfield NJ. WVHS must not have had the same impression that it did for everyone else I have talked to over the past several weeks. In truth, I suspect that it was something other than WVHS that caused him to react so rudely to what must have appeared to be a total stranger. What if I had been a billionaire looking for an accountant? There's an opportunity blown. 


Well, I guess that we're all idiots, but I know for a fact that there are a lot of us who have made it life's work not to grow up. And I for one am glad of it. I am still curious about things not immediately in front of my nose and am willing to well wish people with whom I was once associated but are now separated, even by so many years. I am not rude to strangers, least of all to classmates, even if I didn't care for them back then. We are all different, and I hope better and wiser people than we were so many years ago. At least I would hope so and hope that Victor comes to that realization before it really doesn't matter anymore. And the unfortunate truth is that day is coming sooner every day.


Our class search goes on. I have just sent our class reunion committee a slew of information about folks we have located. I'm happy to say of them, the ones who are alive are living happily, in the company of their friends, children and grandchildren, most doing what they always wanted to do, and all are curious about people with whom we went to school. Most inquire of specific people they grew up with, special friends with whom they have lost touch and in some cases we have been able to help in that regard. The ones not alive are still alive in our memories and that of their family and loved ones. That is all the legacy that anyone has the right to expect.

So, to the Victor Quinns of the world, I can quite proudly and defiantly quote James Barrie and Peter Pan,"I won't grow up!"

I hope that all you Reitz '67 grads will join me in that sentiment.