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Folks,
This is the third in a planned series of
newsletters about our 40th reunion. To read past newsletters, click here.
If, for some reason, you're unable to access the
link, send
and request a text-only copy.
Well, email--the secret weapon for the 40th
reunion--and the web continue to work their magic. We have the email
addresses of about 110 classmates--one quarter of the class. Keep
sending in the email addresses--our goal is three-quarters of the entire
class of 440. Eighty-three classmates have registered or expressed the
intention of doing so. If three-quarters of these bring their spouses or
SO's, we'll have 145 folks at the shindig.
If you received this newsletter via US
mail, it means that we don't have your email address. The stamp and
envelope together with the toil of countless employees at 62 Roughers
Plaza--all these are being wasted because you haven't visited the
Roughers62 web site and added your name to the roster. Click here
to do so now. (Trust me, you'll feel better.)
If you know you're coming to the
reunion, but have shamelessly procrastinated, click here
now to register. (We need the money to cover our margin calls.)
Alert! Wrong Dates
Published
Apparently I mistyped the dates for the
reunion on one page of the web site. My apologies for any confusion.
The correct dates are Friday and Saturday:
September 27th
and 28th, 2002
Sunday Activities
A number of classmates won't be able to
attend the Friday portion of the reunion. If you're in this group, why not
organize a "Sunday
Extension for Late Arrivals?" If you're interested in this, let me
know and we'll try to find an organizer. (In case it isn't obvious, you
don't have to be a late-arriver to participate in this.)
Yearbook Photos on the
Roughers Web Site
Lost your yearbook? Forgot what everyone looked like? Forgot what you
looked like? Well the yearbook photos for the entire Senior Class of 1962,
are now on the Roughers web site. All four hundred and forty-two (442) of them.
Click here
to have a look.
If your picture happened to
appear in the top row adjacent to the yearbook's spine, I
apologize for the quality of your photos. All pictures located there
are victims of what I initially though to be a coffee stain; but later I
noticed lots of tiny tooth marks at the upper left corner of the
book (yum, green "leather"). So, one of my kids (now ages 34 and
36) apparently teethed on about thirty classmates...I'll be sending
each of you a share of the orthodontia bill.
My call for current photos has gone
embarrassingly unheeded. Frankly, I'm disappointed in the quality of
excuses:
- "The dog ate my memory
card."
- "I sprained my shutter finger."
- "I just had a face lift in time for
the reunion."
This ain't gonna cut it, folks. True,
emailing digital pictures is the best way to get the job done, but it
ain't the only way. Send me snapshots, pictures, hallucination renderings, or daguerreotypes--I'll find a way to get them
posted. Guys, I promise to get rid of those double chins and rambunctious nose- and ear-hairs. Gals, I'll
airbrush those mustaches so clean that no
one will ever guess that you've stopped your HRT. Oh, and to the woman who
sent me pictures of someone who is obviously her daughter--you are so
busted!
Reunion Anxieties
As I correspond with classmates, a recurring theme arises: primal fears about coming to the reunion. Will anyone remember me? Will anyone care?
Will I remember anyone? What if I can't recognize my classmates? We've
changed a lot--what will we possibly have to talk about? In many cases, I
been touched by the depth of these feelings. Here's a good example, used
with the permission of the author:
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Dear Joe,
I can't tell you how happy and
pleased (as well as surprised) I was to receive your e-mail. I
must confess that I haven't attended any previous reunions. Your website and your
email describing your attendance at
the 30th reunion was so warm, welcoming, and evocative, that I will
seriously consider the possibility of coming. Unfortunately for a
variety of reasons (and not unlike some others I am sure) my social
skills as a teenager and young adult were not sufficient to develop
and sustain the kind of relationships that many people do at that point in their lives. So, I have a lot of
old insecurities to overcome before coming to a high school reunion.
I actually never thought I would consider it, but my wife wants to
come already, especially to the dinner and dance. If I can convince
myself that some people might actually remember me favorably, I
might well show up. However, I fear if we do come I may have
to actually admit to her that I really wasn't Prom King and captain
of a state championship football team.
I had great fun going through the roster and looking at the
pictures. Browsing through the rosters and pictures of people
who I knew during that fragile period of my life was very moving for
me. I remember many of them quite well and only wish I could
have made stronger connections with them at that point. In any case
I will take advantage of this opportunity to reconnect with old
friends and perhaps even try to connect with some people now that I
wish I had connected with earlier.
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So what is my story about the 30th reunion?
Well, here's the long version...
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I stumbled on
our 30th reunion by accident. I was visiting OKC (my wife's parents
still live there and my brother lives in Norman), when I bumped into
Mike Ivens somewhere on Thursday, who told me about the reunion that
very Friday and Saturday.
On a lark, my wife and I hopped into our
little airplane Saturday morning and flew to Muskogee,
landed at Hatbox, then took a cab to Honor Heights for the Saturday
picnic. I fully expected to return to OKC at about sundown.
Upon arrival, however, I rebonded instantly with
everyone--and knew at once that I had to stay for the dinner/dance.
My wife had inescapable plans for the next morning, so two classmates
and I hustled her into the plane and we flew her back to OKC.
About halfway into the return trip to
Muskogee, it occurred to me that I'd forgotten to bring a change of
clothes, that I hadn't signed up (or paid) for the shindig, and that
I had no place to stay. I didn't care. Bill Brown picked us up at
the airport, I bought a toothbrush, shaved and showered at Bill's apartment, then headed out for the night. I rode shotgun and played the
radio loudly.
W-h-a-t a blast! Despite my
current porcritude, I'm still a pretty fair dancer, so I had a
fabulous time with all the girls I danced with in high school! We
danced, ate rubber chicken, and shmoozed until we were
exhausted. It so happened that a bunch of the girls had
reserved adjacent rooms in a motel. At about midnight, a dozen or
so of us congregated there, wandering from room to room while
acting, well, silly--till about 4am.
At this point, it dawned on me that I
didn't have a place to sleep for the night, and that I couldn't fly back even if I
wanted because I had been drinking. Mike Ivens was without a place
to stay, too, so with very little discussion, he and I did what he
had done innumerable times in high school: we broke into his
brother Raymond's house (he was away for the weekend) and crashed
there for the night, or what remained of it.
The next morning I dragged myself back
to the motel and had breakfast with about 20 others. At about one
o'clock, after hugs and not a few tears, the wheels on my little Grumman Tiger
broke ground, leaving behind me twenty-four hours of sweet
memories. I have only one regret: I missed Friday night. |
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In short, I can
imagine few events that would keep me from the 40th. Sure, I plan to have
as much fun as at the 30th. But there's a sober motivation, too. This
will probably be the last successful decadal reunion, as our number is
gradually reduced by the grim actuarials of life. Or, as Shakespeare
wrote in a very different context:
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips
and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass comes.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks
But bears it out even unto the edge of doom.
Register Sooner, Not Later redux
Many of you
may find it hard to commit to the reunion dates (Sept 27th and 28th). This
is understandable and OK. However, at this stage of planning, it's far
better for us to overestimate attendance than to underestimate it. If you believe
there's even a 50-50 chance that you'll be able to attend, we would
greatly appreciate your filling out the Registration form on the web.
Just note in the comments field that you're not certain whether you will
be able to attend; if possible try to indicate your current level of
certainty (50%, 75%, etc.). Then click the "I'll mail a check
later" button. In late summer (probably mid-August), we'll notify
everyone by newsletter of the drop-dead dates for payment--and you can
notify us of your final decision then.
Thanks, Volunteers
Thanks to all who have
submitted the names and email addresses of missing classmates. Of the list
of twelve hard-to-find classmates published in the first
newsletter, six are accounted for and we've got good leads on four of
the other six.
But we need more help. To
keep the ball rolling, I need you to volunteer to phone five (5) people in
your area and obtain their email addresses and to confirm
their postal addresses.
Here's how it works:
- I'll send you the names of the "missing" classmate in ZIP or
area codes near yours.
- You choose five (or more, if you wish).
- I'll then provide you with the current
contact information we have, which sometimes includes telephone
numbers. Expect to look up a few names in the local phone book.
- You phone the person, get their email
address and verify their postal address.
- Afterward, you visit the Rougher's web
site and enter the contact information into the Roster Form.
Typically, out of five names, the existing postal addresses (and sometimes phone numbers) is accurate for three, one
will have disappeared without a trace, and one will not have email.
In theory, you can make all five
calls in twenty or thirty minutes. However, government regulations require
me to warn you that fun often erupts spontaneously; you may
find yourself chatting like kids, potentially generating large
telephone bills. Volunteer at your own financial risk.
By the way, if you know someone outside your area whom
you wish to contact, please let me know. Since only a few classmates live in California, I spend most of my time chasing
down a few of the people I was close to in high school and college. I've
had great success. For example, I
recently located Mike Ivens. The conversation went like this:
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JC: |
Hi, is this Mike
Ivens? |
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MI: |
Yes, who's this? |
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JC: |
Mike Ivens from Muskogee,
OKlahoma? |
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MI: |
Yes, who is this? |
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JC: |
Do you have a brother named Raymond? |
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MI: |
YES, YES! |
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JC: |
Sorry, I must have
the wrong number. <click> |
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Fun fun fun.
Oh, Mike lives in Tampa, Florida and has neither an email
address nor a cell phone. He mentioned something about a
witness-protection program, but will be at the reunion anyway.
Why Email?
Some have asked why this reunion's
planning has focused so strongly on collecting email addresses. The answer
is simple: postal mail ("snail mail") is expensive, tastes bad, takes a long
time to arrive, and
produces ambiguous results. But
the real killer is cost--the hard cost for postage and materials, as well
as the soft (volunteer) cost of printing, addressing, sealing, and
posting.
Contrast this with email: it
has zero hard or soft costs, is delivered instantaneously (if not, it "bounces" within
a few seconds or minutes). Once email is
received, the recipient tends to respond immediately, in most cases within
a day or so. Sure, there are those who check their email once per week (or
month), but they are exceptional. Finally, email addresses are portable:
with web-based email (Yahoo, AOL, etc.), people retain their email
addresses when they move; in fact, many (such as I) will retain them for
life.
Odds 'n Ends
- Eddie Jeffries
passed away recently. He was the best teacher I ever had--from grade
school through college. I remember him walking around the classroom,
ruler in hand. At random times he would whack his ruler loudly
on a desk. This was the signal for the entire class to shout in
unison, F=MA! Many years later I borrowed his pedagogical
technique when I taught electronics at a local college. When I slapped
my ruler down, the class shouted, E=IR! Rest in Peace, Jeff.
- Bounced emails Email
to the people listed below have bounced. Would you please click to send an email so we can get your correct address (note: I'm
removing names from this list as they check in, so the list may look a
bit sparse).
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Admire, Joe |
Gibson, Leslie |
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Barthel, Janice |
Hamlin, Paul |
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Chenault, Lenora |
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Nicholson, Jerry |
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- Deceased Classmates
The response to the listing of deceased classmates was very positive. If you have any contributions to this list,
please send them along, and, of course, if there are any errors on the
list, immediately.
- Classmates.com Sand-baggers
As I mentioned in previous
newsletters, we've been try to shake people out of the
Classmates.com web site. Of the 90 some-odd classmates registered there,
27 have still not responded. I give up.
- Saturday Activities
As I mentioned in the previous
newsletter, we still need suggestions about Saturday
daytime activities. The Roughers golf tournament seems to have struck a
cord, so we'll pursue that. So, talk to your significant other and let's hear some more
suggestions. The huge staff at 62 Roughers Plaza are ready and willing to do your bidding!
Best,
Joe Campbell (for the Reunion Committee)
Berkeley, CA
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