The holidays were a lot of fun, but in a slightly different key this year:
* My son now lives with his girlfriend in their own apartment in a different town, so this is the first year he wasn’t actually home on Christmas morning with us. He and his girlfriend came over later in the morning.
* At a neighbor’s house party that my daughter usually doesn’t go to, she came and spent the evening reconnecting with her high school friends.
* At my sister’s house on Christmas day, we spent a lot of time discussing the upcoming wedding of my nephew and his fiancée.
I sense that a torch is slowly being passed here. It won’t be too long before the next generation is hosting Christmas at their homes. I won’t be one of the main planners and providers of the holidays any more: I’ll be the guy bringing the applesauce.
But here’s the thing: I’m not ready to pass any torches yet. I like this torch. I’m hanging onto my torch. I’ll let you know when I’m done with this torch, thank you very much. Until then, hands off.
Sad news: Classmate Gary Holt died at the end of December. Gary is one of those classmates I got reintroduced to on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/gary.s.holt?fref=ts). I always enjoyed hearing about all the movies he got to act as an extra in, and sparring with him on our differing political views. I’m going to miss that. As usual, please contribute your own memories of Gary for us to share.
Here’s the obituary:
Condolences to Louis Pullano, whose mother-in-law died recently.
We now are under the delusion that we know the whereabouts of 672 of our classmates, which isn’t bad after 43 years!
However, of those 627 classmates, we know only about 300 email addresses. I’m trying to expand the number of people who receive these updates by email. If you have any email addresses of classmates, please let me know. I will send them a tasteful message asking if they’d like to receive the updates. If they don’t, I’ll just mark them Private, as I already do with about a dozen others. Thanks!
Classmate Bill Dube, who we usually hear about building and racing electric vehicles, also has a day job: testing air quality for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Recently, Bill traveled to Hong Kong for a month. “I'm collaborating with the folks at Hong Kong Polytechnical University on some air quality measurements. The hospitality of the Hong Kong people has been wonderful. Here is me in a group photo with the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) general that commands the Army radar station that we are using for a measurement site. Several of the HK atmospheric scientists surround me.”
Gail Glen Whitfield shared her remembrance of Mr. Clegg: “I had him in 10th and 11th grade. When I was a senior, I wrote him a letter telling him what a good teacher he was, and thanked him for his tutelage. I never knew what a good college athlete he was.”
I received a message from classmate Dave Lanni several months ago, and I apologize for not sharing it sooner:
“Just to let you that, since I live in the Detroit area, I attended a Sox/Tigers playoff game. There were many Red Sox Fans walking around the stadium with beards. It is nice to see the support for Red Sox Nation at Comerica Park in Detroit. Overall, many Detroiters were rooting for the Sox in the World Series!! Can't wait for next year!”
We have lots of ways to keep in touch online, now. For example, we have a web site:
(thanks to Ernie Sutcliffe for starting and maintaining)
and Facebook group:
and a Facebook event for the last Reunion:
and for the recent Birthday Party:
Check out one or more of these easy ways to see what people are up to.
And, by the way, I post these updates online at http://chse1971.blogspot.com/.
We’re plugging on through January. Arctic temperatures one day, 50s and sunny the next: welcome to New England!
Remember: Keep us all up to date on what’s going on for you!
Go, Pats!
Ed DeJesus
exdejesus@gmail.com
