1969. Woodstock. Vietnam. Neil Armstrong on the moon. Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Beatles' final album, Abbey Road. Glendale High School graduation!
At the
Glendale Class of '69 Reunion, over 100 people talked, mingled, laughed and reconnected at two evening events to celebrate 50 years. Personally, I got to see Ernie Zarra after all this time. He disappeared after Junior year, but with the wonders of Google, I found his address. What a lot of catching up we did! Yep, he's still a good guy, and it's too bad we took so long to reconnect.
Here's proof in the form of a picture of me and Ernie at the Desert Rose Pizza and Gastropub.
Proof of what? My sister had once told me he never existed, since she didn't remember him. We keep finding that we grew up in different families in the same house.
We have some excellent folks who organized the reunion to celebrate full lives and memories. Thanks to the committee members. Some are John Schuderer, Linda Patterson, Tim McGilvra, Ellen Benge, Lynda Milnes, Jim Wilber, Sandy Wilkinson, Martha Miller, Jim Johnson, Chuck Lopresto, Bill Siek, Charmel Vietmeier, and David Welker. Those are maiden names for women.
On the side, though, a bunch of us who have kept up with each other over the years agreed to meet before the first official event. We met at Haus Murphy during their Octoberfest celebration.
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| Rick, Carolyn, Susan and her husband Ted |
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| Connie and me |
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| Ellen, Keith, and Jane |
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| Rosie, Glenda and her husband Steve |
The bigger evening was at the IronWorks Restaurant. We were overflowing from the room. You should have seen the 3 lines to get to the food! There were slides about ourselves, since that was the point of the party. Who was a veteran? Who do we hold in memory? Do remember when...?
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| Picture-taking at the dinner was crazy - we didn't know which camera to look at! |
Carolyn and I went to visit Leonard on Saturday in prison. So many classmates asked about Leonard. Several had hoped to drop in and visit him while they were in town, but that's not how prison works. Carolyn and Gary had helped me get through the paperwork, background checks, and approvals, and so we got expand our reunion to Florence, Arizona. He is looking good. No more wheelchair, nor walker, nor even cane. It made me happy to actually get to hug him. We've been pen-pals for several months. Do you know how exciting it is to open your mailbox to see a hand-written letter?
Sunday was reserved for Ernie. We met at the Ah So Sushi for a couple of hours of focusing on each other.
We all didn't want it to end, so we had another get-together on Sunday evening. I played with my 360 degree camera in the middle of the table. Once the "video" opens, click on Pause, then you can click-and-drag or swipe to see everybody!
Popos get-together
Here's to another Glendale High Class of '69 reunion!
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