October 26-27, 2007
Reunion Book RemarksThe much anticipated 40th Reunion Memory Books have been sent and WOW, what nice emails we received:
. Thank you for all the hard work it took to put together the wonderful memory book. There were many people that I didn't get to talk or visit with, so it's fun to see them in the pictures. Can't wait to hear about the upcoming class 60th (OMG!) birthday party. Fondly, Sheila Becker Henson . I got my memory book and just wanted to drop you a line and let yu know that you guys did a great job!!!! I am really enjoying it. Thanks again to you and all the committee for your dedication and hard work. DeeDee . I just got home from Montana and the memory book was waiting for me. WOW!! You guys did a wonderful job of putting that together, and I really do appreciate all that you did to put it together. Many many thanks!! It's wonderful to have some emails and addresses also. I'm so sorry I could not attend the reunion, but it is great fun to look through that book! Please extend my thanks to the committee members, and Sue Howell for sure, for all your work and efforts. Sincerely, Jan (Thompson) Rowe . I received the memory book and it is terrific. Looks like everyone had a great time. Wish I could have been there. Thank you all so much for everything. All of you did a great job putting it together. Thank you for the Memories. Love, Carol T. . Thank you so much for the Memory Book. You and the committee did an outstanding job. I am very sorry to have missed it. It looks like everyone had a fabulous time. I really appreciate the book. I'm looking forward to the next reunion. Thanks for all your hard work. Sherry Drake Smith . Great job on the book by the way. Are you sure you don't need more money for the publishing of such an outstanding job. If so, let me know. Debi . The Memory Books were definitely worth the wait! Thank you to all the committee and especially to Pat Mulvey and Susan Howell for putting them together. It was a great evening and seeing all the pictures shows that everyone had a wonderful time seeing old friends. Several of us girls have reconnected ... going all the way back to elementary days and we just had a mini-reunion on August 15th with 8 of us! So thank you for keeping good track of us all! JoEllen . I came home last night after spending the last 4 days sitting with a dear friend in ICU that had undergone brain surgery for a malignant tumor. I have to tell you, after opening up the reunion memory book, I felt so much better. It transported me away from the difficult present moment into a world fuzzy with memories. Thank you for all the effort that went into putting this all together. I sat for hours just relishing the photos and brief histories. Of course now I wish I would have attended even though I was so busy surfing during high school I never got that involved with the campus activities. I saw that my "walking buddy" Austin Presby had died. And Chris Delance, a surfing friend. I especially appreciated Dave Haldane's essay. I think he captured in a few words what it's like to be approaching 60 and looking back. Thanks so very much for all your time, commitment, and energy that went into putting this all together. It was a lifesaver for me, if even for a moment. Terry Eselun We made the decision to create our own Memory Book instead of using a professional company so we could include more photos and have more control over contents. Our heartfelt thanks to Susan Howell DeWitz for putting the book together, Cam Doherty Killingsworth for the contact info layout and Pat Mulvey Cooney for printing. People are enjoying their walks down memory lane! |
Your 40th Committee40th Reunion
What's 40 years ... among friends! The 40th Reunion is Complete! October 26-27, 2007 Reunion Committee Email Address [email protected] June Peterson Anderson . Cam Doherty Killingsworth Wim Griffith Jim & Betsy Lineberger Jessica Losch Janet Marcum Lehman Judy Marcum McFadden Melanie McKinstry Henkel Pat Mulvey Cooney Diane Myers Doyle Judi Nesbitt McMahon Kathy Ware Day Daren Wilson Stage Tim Wilson The entire committee wishes to thank each and every one of you who were able to attend and we enjoyed hearing from all of you who couldn't join us but hope to in the future. Special guests included Ed Sewell, Karen McGrew, Dick Van Der Laan and Coaches Russ Jordan and Bob Gruneisen. It was great to see them! Remember to keep your contact info current via www.wilsonhighreunion.com/1967 as we look forward to an informal gathering for our joint 'turn of the decade' 60th birthdays Saturday, August 29, 2009. |
ReflectionsPlease enjoy one grad's 'point of view'
(David Haldane, who writes for the LA Times) and a few photos from our 'Grads Only' night (courtesy of Kenny Siegers) and our Saturday Night Celebration WHY I WENT TO MY HIGH SCHOOL REUNION By David Haldane Forty years. It’s a lifetime, really. Many of the people born the year we graduated now have teenage children of their own. When we left Wilson, there was no Internet, cell phones were a science-fiction writer’s dream and man had not yet walked on the moon. Since then, wars have been fought and entire generations defined. So it’s not surprising that it was with some trepidation that I approached the 40-year reunion of the class of ‘67. The truth is, I thought it would be depressing. What if everyone was old; I’d have no choice but to admit to myself that I shared that condition. What could I say to people unseen since our long-distant youths? What would they have to say to me? What if I got there and didn’t know a soul, or at least not the souls they had become? Looking into the faces of long-last comrades, after all, is like holding a mirror up to your own. What if I didn’t like what I found staring back at me from that jagged shiny edge? I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t awkward. Walking into the Coast Hotel on Friday night, I searched frantically for a face to call my own. Not seeing any, I experienced a moment of panic; like a sailor lost in a sea of strangers knowing that he would quickly drown. Then, suddenly, there was someone, I don’t remember who, standing very close. He looked blankly at me, and I stared blankly back. Simultaneously, it seemed, our eyes fell to each other’s name tags and then smiled immediately in shock and surprise. For there, studying each other’s black-and-white portraits of long ago, we discovered we were friends. . Thus I found my strategy; look at the name tags first. It got me through those strange early moments until, before too long, the new faces looked just fine. . I can say this about meeting adolescent allies and adversaries after so many years; some things never change. The homecoming queen was still hot, and some of the athletes still buff even now. Cheerleaders still seemed cheerful, and the brainiacs were still smart. But time has a way of humbling even the mightiest it claims as its own. It is the great equalizer before which everyone ultimately crumbles; that which makes comrades of all in its wake. . The thing of it is that we were children together. At a formative time of life, we were all there and, truth be told, the bonds that form later are of a different sort. What happens after high school is, of course, deeply consequential. But the people you knew when the world was still shiny occupy a special corner of your soul. I forget that except every decade or so when I walk into a big room feeling scared and walk out feeling young. . I guess that’s why I attend these reunions; to feel a bond that never changes in a world that never stops. To my classmates, my childhood companions, my dear old friends, my walking partners, I say, well, thanks for sharing the walk. As we face the kilometers ahead, let’s lift our canteens in a toast: that the rest of the race is as grand as the miles we’ve already passed. |