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Sue, just checking w you to make sure you’re still sailing and enjoying yourself! Please respond to me. We’re working on 65th class reunion. Sharon Thein Strasbaugh. ????

HBD (a day late, again) JJ!
I hope you had a nice celebration of your anniversary of joining the Octo Club.
Mine has been fun and went by so fast. Ken is 87 and Kay is 82 and we are all doing well. Our grandmother lived to 97 so we hope we have her genes! Best wishes to you and family for another fun trip around the sun!

Posted on: Jan 25, 2024 at 12:58 PM

HBD Gay,
Hope 2024 is treating you well. As I said a year ago, you share that birthday with my buddy John Albers, but you are a year older. I had a nice phone call with him yesterday. 2024 has been a bummer so far with so many of our classmates passing on. I am doing well (new lens in my right eye makes things much clearer!) My brother Ken is 87 and just had a small hole in his heart repaired via an artery, and went home the next day! Amazing technology! Kay is still in FL, but came for a visit to MI in October. I am staying busy and Pat and I are trying to downsize and get rid of things we don't need. Hope your birthday was fun and we will stay in touch.

Posted on: Dec 16, 2023 at 11:39 AM

Merry Christmas, Gay,
I was reminiscing about some cold snowy days in Spfld and thought I would pass one along. One night (early) there was about 8" of snow on the ground and it was coooollld. The doorbell rang and it was Floyd, Phil, and couple of other guys. They had just wrecked their toboggan and were a little beat up but in good spirits. After some hot cider, all was well.
Hope you have a peaceful and enjoyable new year.

Posted on: Oct 30, 2023 at 4:18 PM

So glad to hear from you that all is well. We missed you at the Reunion. We had a great time! Gay and I were talking about you yesterday! We’re your ears burning! ??

Holy Cow, Nick, you're actually coming to a re-union! Can't wait to see you and meet your bride, Joette.

Hi Bonnie,
Welcome to the Octo Club! I joined on Earth Day (4/22) and so far so good. I have been retired for 14 years and still try to get lots done every day. I hope you are retired by now too, although a good nurse is very valuable these days. Stay well and active. Best wishes and I hope your day was special.

Happy Birthday Cheryl! Welcome to the Elegant 80’s!!

Oops I goofed on the phone number below!!! It’s
303-886/6976. Nancy

Wow these are really biggies now, huh? Mine is coming up next month! Hope this is a fantastic birthday and a marvelous year! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAL!!

Do you know if there is a reunion coming up? If so, I can’t seem to find it and I’d love to come.

Nancy Ashley. EmpoweringDreams@aol.com. (303) 887-6976

Posted on: Jun 10, 2016 at 7:03 PM

Hope to see you and Dave at the 55th reunion in Springfield. Bruce@cnopet.com

I was a transfer student to Springfield High my sophamore year from Nashville, Tennessee.  I had played freshman football in Tennessee and went out for football at Springfield.  I quickly became a curiosity on the football field with my southern accent, and I'll always remember coach Tozer's comment to me that the furthest south they ever had a player was from South 6th Street! 

I did not know of Beth's death until I read it just now on the SHS website (thanks Jay Downen).  Beth became one of my best buddies our senior year and my date for prom.  She was a total intellect, being barely edged out by Ellen Hindman for class valdictorian.  Although she was clearly out of my league in nearly every category, we resonated with each other.  We enjoyed hours of deep, philosophical, political, religious, and literary discussions.  It was the world in which she lived and into which she drew me.  One of my fondest high school memories was not the prom dance, but the wee morning hours after.  Instead of hotel rooms, or after-prom parties, we collected another couple (Rick Messinger and his date) and spent the rest of the night sitting on the edge of her grandparents' pond out in the country looking at the stars and contemplating the Universe.  There wasn't even a beer present (how do you spell N-E-R-D?). 

That was my last encounter with Beth for the next several years.  Three days later I boarded a bus for Annapolis, never to return to Springfield, except for short visits.  She baked chocolate chip cookies for me for my bus ride.  In return, I broke her heart six months later when I didn't invite her to the Christmas formal put on by the senior girls.  I was a jerk, but she forgave me and we corresponded periodically throughout college.  The last time we saw each other was on the platform of the Paris train station in the summer of 1964, when we discovered we would each be in France at the same time.  It was a carefully planned and delicately timed rendezvous.

As is obvious from her obituary, she was a true "Renaissance Woman" and married a guy with whom she was able to live a life that delivered on her enormous potential.  I am profoundly sad at having lost contact with her in our later years.  She was certainly one of the most impressive people I've ever know, and I'm thankful for having had the privilege of sharing a tiny sliver of her extraordinary life.  She was a total sweetheart!       

Hopefully, you and your wife can join us October 14 for our class reunion. Haven’t seen you in years. ??