2011 November

“What?!” you’re probably thinking. “Why am I getting this monthly update promptly on the first of the month instead of two weeks late like I’m used to?” We wanted you to be aware of something special that is going on that is time-sensitive. The Cranston High School East Music Department is in a national competition to receive a large sum of money, sponsored by the TV show Glee. Your part is simple: go to this web site:
http://www.gleegiveanote.com/vote_details.php?id=89
and click on the VOTE button. You can vote once a day, every day until the deadline, which is November 7. As they say in Chicago, vote early and often!

No difference in numbers from last month. We still believe we know the whereabouts of 651 classmates.

Condolences to classmate Debra (Brzoza) Abilheira, whose father died last month. (Does anyone have an email address for Debbie?)

Condolences to classmate Gene Blair, whose father died in October.

I heard from classmate Harry Law, who assures me that I have his correct email address. Harry and his girlfriend live in Bellingham, MA. Between their blended families, they have 7 kids (ages 22 to -34) and 16 grandkids (from 1.5 through 17 years old). This sounds like a family where there’s always a LOT going on.

Classmate John Dyer, though living in Florida, is steeped in Rhode Island lore to share, including:
* Actor Christopher Walken lives on Block Island.
* Actor James Woods is living in RI caring for his elderly mother. His brother ran for mayor of Warwick a few years ago. He is related to the Wood's Heating family.
* The town of Quahog in the TV show Family Guy is modeled after Cranston. So says creator Seth MacFarlane. Your children will be sooooooooo impressed when they hear that one.
* In Ken Burns' documentary film The Civil War, Elisha Hunt Rhodes lived in Pawtuxet, on Broad Street across from Sheldon Street.
Who else has some Rhode Island trivia to share?

Multitalented classmate Joe Ricci is branching out yet again. He’ll be appearing in a local (Maryland) fund-raiser show for the Harford Leadership Academy on Tuesday, November 15. Joe will be performing a tribute to Groucho Marx, including classic movie bits and a song. Let’s wish Joe best wishes for a fun night.

We are still trying to track down long-missing classmate Karen R. (Griffin) Pettis. Does anyone have any contact with Karen?

We have lots of ways to keep in touch online, now. For example, we have a web site:
www.chse1971.com
(thanks to Ernie Sutcliffe for starting and maintaining)
and wiki:
https://chse1971.wikispaces.com/
(also thanks to Ernie)
and Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/group.php?gid=51722469479
and a Facebook event for the last Reunion:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192240297471327
Check out one or more of these easy ways to see what people are up to.

Thank you to everyone who reached out to me after my problem with a detached retina in October. I’m back to work contracting and can perform most activities fine, including going to the gym. The right eye is still challenging, kind of like looking through a rainy windshield, but it’s improving week by week. I’ll be having a preventative laser procedure on my left eye in about a month, which I’m hoping will give me super vision powers. I’ll let you know.

That’s it for me. What have you been up to? Keep us up to date, okay?

Take care.

Ed DeJesus
exdejesus@gmail.com