2012 May

I was making a cake the other day, something that I’ve done many times. But this time I had something on my mind I was thinking about and really wasn’t paying attention. When I poured the batter into the cake pans, it didn’t look right. At first I thought it was just because I had more batter in one pan than the other. Then I zeroed in on the lumps. A lot more lumps than there should be. And then I realized: I hadn’t actually mixed the batter. I just combined all the ingredients and then poured it into the cake pan. Threw it all out, started over again. Lesson: pay attention.

No change in numbers from last month. We still think we have contact information for 692 classmates.

Sad news: Word has reached me that classmate Linda Brousseau died in California on May 3. I have no other details. Our condolences to Linda’s family and friends.

Condolences to classmate Carol (Sousa) DeIngenis, whose husband Francis DeIngenis died in April.

Congratulations to Dave Fowler and Robbie Blinkhorn, who completed a grueling Boston Marathon on a very hot day in April.

Congratulations to Mary Caldarola Smith, who completed a ten-mile run in Philadelphia at the beginning of May.

Congratulations to Dave Lanni, whose three sons are pulling off a triple graduation this year.

David Jr. is getting his MBA from Walsh College (Michigan). Derek is receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Oakland University (Michigan). Daniel is graduation from De La Salle High School (Michigan). “So we will be having a rather large graduation party this June or July.”

Inquiring minds want to know: People have asked me about classmates who have already retired: what they do, how it’s going, advice for the rest of us shlubs, etc. I know that several classmates have already retired. So, do you feel like sharing how you managed to do that so quickly? How do you spend your time? How is it going for you? What advice do you pioneers have for the rest of us?

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.

This Sunday, my son James is graduating from Boston University. I expect to be proud, happy, and a little teary.

That’s it for this month. Let us know what’s going on with you!

Take care.

Ed DeJesus

exdejesus@gmail.com

2012 April

For her spring break this year, my daughter Katie travelled with 25 other Stonehill students to the Dominican Republic, to spend the week volunteering at a school for children of impoverished families. This school provides day-care while parents work, healthy meals, medical attention, education, and vocational training. Without the school, many of these kids wouldn’t get anything to eat all day.
Katie had fun working with the infants and one-year-olds. It was an adventure traveling to another country for the first time. She got to use her high school Spanish. She enjoyed the sunshine and the ocean. Then she got sick.
On Thursday of that week, she was weak, achy, nauseous, and had diarrhea. Was it cholera? Was it just a stomach bug? Even if it was just a stomach bug, it’s no fun trying to recuperate in a “hotel” with cockroaches, water you can’t drink, strange food, electricity that cuts out unpredictably, and prostitutes roaming the halls. My wife and I didn’t know what to do. Fly down and bring her home? Reassure her and wait for her scheduled return on Saturday? It’s a terrible feeling when someone you love is suffering thousands of miles away, and there’s not a thing you can do about it.
Thank heaven for cell phones! We could text her and occasionally speak to her. We contacted the chaperones in the group to monitor what was going on. And Katie made it home on Saturday, still feeling lousy, but basically okay. She slept for 3 days and ate cheerios for a week, but she bounced back fine.
Still, this was a reminder that this kind of thing can happen at any time. I think I’m in charge of my life, but I’m really not. People I love can suffer, and there might be nothing I can do about it. I don’t like it. I want my illusion of control back!


Sad news: Classmate Ronnie Stabile died in March. From the emails I’ve gotten, and the discussions on Facebook, and the number of classmates at the wake, I think a lot of people have heard about this already. Probably everyone in our class knew who Ronnie was. He and Mike Bellotti performed regularly – and, may I say, wonderfully – at many CHSE assemblies and shows.
It was only in February when Franne Donovan alerted me that Ronnie had been given only months to live by his doctors. I called him to offer support, but what can you say to somebody facing something like this? I didn’t know then and I don’t know now. Ronnie was stunned, as who wouldn’t be. I called back another time, and less than a week after that he was gone.
I was in the band with Ronnie, where he was in charge of the percussion and also president of the band, if memory serves me. But I only really got to know him one summer in college when we both worked at the Cranston Stadium for the summer as groundskeepers. This was a fairly grueling job, doing manual labor outside in the hot sun all day, and we also had to deal with some challenging characters: bosses who had no idea of what had to be done, co-workers who didn’t want to do anything, and local druggies and alcoholics who used the stadium as their bathroom. Ronnie was unfailingly patient and kind with everyone. He was a revelation to me. I had never seen anyone actually behave in what I can only call a Christ-like way before. But that was just the way he was. I learned so much about how to act with people from watching his example that summer. He was an inspiration to me.
When I got Franne’s email saying that Ronnie had died, I was at work. I walked out to my car and cried for ten minutes. I’m crying as I type this. He was a sweet and special guy, and I miss his being in the world.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/providence/obituary-search.aspx?daterange=30&firstname=ronald&lastname=stabile&countryid=1&stateid=52&affiliateid=519
http://eastgreenwich.patch.com/articles/death-of-ron-stabile-saddens-many


Dave Fowler continues to train for the Boston Marathon. Monday is the big day! Here is his latest very funny blog on the subject:
http://speakerscorner-dave.blogspot.com/
Dave runs the marathon as a fund-raiser in memory of his son Nick. You can make a contribution at:
https://secure.etransfer.com/donation/donation1.cfm?CFID=7093255&CFTOKEN=3307ddbdc013fcfa-BB5A0F1D-1279-93C8-16039C3E647B9695&d2org=EssexCCF&d2tool=donate
From the “Apply my gift to” drop-down list, select “Help in the Nick of Time”.
Good luck on Monday!


When Bill Dube isn’t racing electric motorcycles (www.killacycle.com/), he’s an award-winning engineer with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science in Boulder, Colorado. One of the things that CIRES does is monitor the air to make sure it’s healthy for people. Here’s an interesting video that describes a recent project to understand why dangerous ozone gas is building up in an isolated Utah valley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exStZnGfBzY
I’ll let Bill describe it: “The big white box high up on the scaffolding is my design. The complicated instrument you see in the mobile lab is also my design. You can see me (wearing yellow hard-hat) in the background of the video busily working on the electrical distribution panel. I also got to run that giant blue "telehandler" to put the big white box up on that scaffold. Most definitely "big kid's toys." :-)
The uninterruptable power system in the van is also something I am proud of. It provides the 120 VAC power to all the scientific instruments in the van from the van engine, a battery bank, or a wall plug, seamlessly, with zero interruption, regardless of where the energy is coming from. Over 4 hours of "silent running" time from the battery bank so we could make measurements while parked without worries about the engine emissions interfering.”
Here’s a nice article about the research:
http://researchmatters.noaa.gov/news/Pages/utah.aspx
Way to go, Bill!


Dianne Saffron Dugan is now working at Assabet Valley Pastoral Counseling. She also does the occasional guest sermon as part of what they call “Pulpit Supply”. Her son Jeff had a difficult injury last September that he’s still recovering from. Good luck!


I find it interesting how many of our classmates are in the clergy. Besides Dianne, I know that Dean Bengtson is in Japan, still helping people from the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant accident last year. Jacob Adler and Alan Mittleman are rabbis. Who am I forgetting?


Beverly Brisson DeFelice is bragging about exciting news for her sister, Barbara Brisson Hardy. Barbara has 3 daughters, and all of them are expecting this year. By the end of the year, Barbara will have seven grandchildren: 5 grandsons and 2 granddaughters. The Brissons are used to large families: they have 42 first cousins, and that’s just on their father’s side.
Celebrity watch: The daughter of one of Beverly’s many cousins is married to Guy Fieri from the Food Network.
Beverly enjoyed Tom Iacono's article, which we mentioned last month. "I am an American history buff so I really enjoyed reading that article.”


Another classmate also liked Tom’s article. “I recently was in San Antonio and the Alamo. We were following Teddy Roosevelt's path recruiting Rough Riders here. It's a sacred experience. I also found the RI'er named and felt pride seeing it. We stayed at the Menger Hotel across the street from the Alamo where Roosevelt did his recruitment. Nice article, Tom!”


I think people are aware that we have a number of honorary classmates, who attended CHSE with us but, for one reason or another, didn’t happen to graduate from CHSE. Linda Stearns Kenney, for example, moved to Warwick for her senior year and graduated there. She writes, “Anyway, destiny being what it is, I am good with life. I wanted to extend my appreciation to you and the efforts you make to form community around the group of '71. In these times, as you said, flexibility is essential! Again, want to thank you for the drive you have to bring good vibrations into your life when the frequency around the world is so chaotic.”
Welcome and glad to have you!


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.


Well, it’s opening day for the Red Sox. I’m prepared for the worst. I think.


See you next month, okay?


Ed DeJesus
exdejesus@gmail.com

2012 March

Sorry I didn’t get a newsletter out in February. I didn’t really have much news, plus I was busy getting laid off yet again. That makes 3 times since last June. Yes, I have managed to land successfully at another position that’s supposed to last at least through May, but I am beginning to feel a little like a migrant worker. It’s odd to go spend months at a job, 8 hours a day, getting to know the building, getting to know the people, and then BAM! You will never be in that place or see those people again! Disorienting. Oh, I’m not complaining: I know I’m very lucky to have a job at all, much less one that pays well and involves sitting in front of a computer screen in a comfortable office, rather than digging ditches. I’m just saying it’s odd. I think people today have to be a LOT more flexible than ever before. Ready to grab the next trapeze rung at a moment’s notice.

We gained one classmate in the last 2 months, bringing the number that we think we know the whereabouts of to 653, a new maximum. High fives! As always, if you learn any classmate contact info, please share it with me.

Condolences to classmate Ed Mullen, whose father died in February.

Nice article in American Songwriter Magazine about Don Tassone’s and Art Toegemann’s involvement with the Mediator performance venue.
http://www.americansongwriter.com/2011/12/the-mediator-stage-goosebumps-and-great-music/
I always think of music as being something important in the Cranston East mix, and it’s nice to see these two alums bringing that to the community at large. Congrats, guys, on this recognition!

Dave Fowler is in training once again for this year’s Boston Marathon. Dave writes a terrific blog about his training, motivation, and the sheer insanity of it all:
http://speakerscorner-dave.blogspot.com/
One of Dave’s motivations is the charitable organization he’s established in memory of his son, Nick, called “Help in the Nick of Time”. You can learn more about it, and make a donation, here:
http://helpinthenickoftime.shutterfly.com/
I love one of the runner’s t-shirts Dave mentions in his blog: “My sport is your sport’s punishment.” Good luck!

George Alford is finding a number of parts in locally produced films, including “Polypore” (by Jesse Barrack producer/director). Congratulations, and break a leg!

Franne Donovan’s and her husband Jeff Amelse’s daughter Caroline has been named to the Mortar Board national honor society at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Congratulations to her and her proud parents! I think we can tell how smart Caroline is by the fact that she goes to college in Hawaii.

Quick! Go dig last Sunday’s Rhode Islander magazine out of the recycle bin. Tom Iacono published his account of the lone Rhode Islander at the Alamo in the March 4, 2012 issue. As mentioned in a previous slab of this update, Tom went to school in Texas, where he read about and visited the Alamo, and learned about Captain Albert Martin’s role there. If you don’t have a paper copy, here’s a link:
http://tinyurl.com/7pdw3qo
If you don’t have access to the ProJo archives, Tom can send you the article (tomiac1@verizon.net).
Congrats on your publication!

Speaking of links, 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.

That’s about it for me. What’s going on with you? Share your joys and pains with others who can celebrate and sympathize.

Have a \s/uper day!

Ed DeJesus
exdejesus@gmail.com

2012 January

The place where I’m contracting forced all us contractors to take an unpaid leave between Christmas and New Years. I can’t say I like losing a week’s pay, but it was nice to have a week off, my first since the summer of 2010. I’m not good at vacations. It takes me a few days to stop catching up on projects, and actually start having fun. It was helpful having my son and daughter home from college: they remind me how to have fun. It was pleasant actually reading a book (Agatha Christie). It was great sleeping in later than 5:30 each morning. It was relaxing to go to the gym just to sit in the hot tub. About the fourth day, I could feel my batteries recharging. I needed that!
Happy New Year!

No change in numbers whatsoever from last month. We still think we know the whereabouts of 652 of our classmates, an amazing feat after 40 years. Please let me know any contact information, especially email addresses, that you have about any classmates.

Carol Myron is also remembering influential teachers at Cranston East: “Ruth Roseman (who I had for English) and Paul Mancini were definitely two big influences. Ruth demonstrated and taught me sensitivity in life. Paul got me started in singing and I haven't stopped yet!”

Linda Rozzero Ousterhout also remembers Miss Burns: “I also would classify Miss Burns as one of my favorite teachers! She was tremendous in senior year when I took one of her review courses in order to be more successful with my SATs.”

George Alford remembers Mr. Bishop, from Metal Shop: “He was strict, but fair. I learned to weld in his shop, and built a healthy respect for shop tools. I went on to stay in the mechanical fields, first in the Navy, and then in the private sectors, taking with me much of what Mr. Bishop taught me. He didn't just teach, he connected with all of us in some way.”

Alan Mittleman also remembers Mr. Horton: “Thank you for mentioning Mr. Horton! He was without doubt the most powerful influence on my intellectual formation (a phrase that would otherwise be ludicrous) at CHSE. Without Mr. Horton, I would not have taken the various intellectual and academic paths that I did. He helped me to learn how to write, to think of writing as a craft. I owe him a great deal. I'm glad that you feel the same way.”
By the way, Alan has just published his NINTH book! You can get it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Jewish-Ethics-Character/dp/140518941X

Nancy Goldis (Iacono) was inspired by two of her classmates: “Besides a few special teachers, I admired Jacob Adler and Monika Szynkarski more than anyone else. I was always envious of the "smart kids", and they were not only smart, but were humble, nice kids who never looked down on the kids who didn't get the great grades. I learned later in life that I was a very typical ADD kid and that was why school was so hard for me. Fortunately, I "woke up" from my learning disability and have a great life. And now Monika is my favorite travel buddy! We traveled to Costa Rica, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and many other great places in the past few years. Next month we will go to New Orleans and from there board the cruise ship on a Mayan Mexican week adventure.
Thanks to Monika and Jacob, I always felt special in their company and will never be able to quite say thank you enough for their selfless friendship.”

A belated Reunion update from Donald Aquilante:
“Hi to all. Hope everyone out there is doing well!! Now this update: I have fully recovered from an accident I had a few days after the Reunion. I am O.K. and doing much better now!!
I enjoyed myself at the party and so did my wife of 36 years!!! She met a friend who married a classmate of ours (and a friend of mine), so we talked and had a great evening!
Now, at the Reunion I was talking to a fellow classmate. I told her of a secret that I kept all these years. Because of the accident, I cannot remember her name, or if we exchanged email addresses, or what. If she is reading this, please let’s contact each other (daquilante@cox.net). Thanks.
Nuff for now, planning for my better half’s reunion: 40 for her also. Yes, we are getting older, but better.
See you next time.”
Congratulations on your recovery!

Darlene Burdick Gnip just spotted herself in a photo someone posted on our Facebook page: “Just saw myself in 7th grade with one of the class photos.
Not in touch with anyone from high school. Have talked to a few over the years. Left R.I. soon after graduation and joined the Marine Corps. It was my way of running away from home. Met my husband in the USMC. We've been together since 1972 (married since 1974). We have 4 great kids: 2 girls, 32 and 28, and two boys, 23 and 18. Plus, two grandbabies 11 and 8. Done a lot of things since leaving the Marines. Lived in Florida for a while, then we moved to Maryland, where my husband is from. Worked at mostly state, county, and federal government jobs, except for a 10-year-career as a daycare mom after my last baby was born. Now I deliver mail for the USPS. Keeps me in shape with little time to worry about all the aches and pains that come at this age.”
Great to hear from you!

Debra Donnelly Cronin identified with the saga of dealing with a detached retina: “When I received your last email about your retina surgery, I was in the hospital also with an eye issue. I was diagnosed with retinal melanoma and the treatment is to have a radioactive plaque attached to the front of the eye. The plaque sits on your eye for five days and radiates the tumor. No one can come within 6 feet of you during this time. The plaque is then removed and hopefully after several months the tumor dies, the eyesight returns, and everything is hunky dory. Since I was in the hospital for Halloween, I dressed up like a pirate – Hey, I already had a patch on my eye! I teach 8th grade algebra – one must have a sense of humor to do that.
Well, this past weekend I suffered a retinal detachment in the same eye and on Monday had emergency retinal surgery! So here I sit, head down, typing on my iPad, looking like a monk in prayer, but I assure you it is not prayers I'm thinking.
I had to take a medical leave for the rest of the semester - can't take a chance getting jostled by several hundred 8th graders!
Tell your wife that students are researchers- they will get away with whatever they are allowed too. I started teaching at 51 years old and it took me about two years to figure that out.”
Good luck with your healings! Let us know how you’re doing.

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.

That’s about it for me. What are your hopes for 2012? Let us know!

Have a \s/uper day!

Ed DeJesus
exdejesus@gmail.com

2011 December

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but my wife Ellie has been trying something new for work. Ellie is a psychologist, and for years she was a clinical therapist with her own private practice. She got kind of burned out listening to the problems of people who didn't make any effort to change, and she took some time off. But since September, she's been teaching 2 sections of an introductory psych course at Dean College in Franklin, MA. She enjoys interacting with the kids, but doesn't like having to be a behavior cop in the classroom, which I don’t blame her for. But I'm certainly proud of her for trying out something new. I think that they’re lucky to have her for a teacher.

We found another classmate last month, bringing the number that we think we know the whereabouts of to 652, a new maximum! Yay us! Please send me any contact information for classmates that you come across. It all helps.

Thanks to everyone who contacted me about the detached retina I suffered in October. Since the first cryogenic procedure to re-attach it, I’ve had a laser procedure on the same retina (to help keep it in place) and another retina procedure on the other retina (to prevent that one from being a copycat and detaching also). I can’t claim that this has been a lot of fun, but I do still have good vision in both eyes, and it gets better week by week. Thank heavens for modern medical technology that makes this possible! We’re all at the age where we are dealing with medical issues of all kinds. It’s nice that our class can support each other as we go through these things.

I’ve been in touch with Linda M. (Rozzero) Ousterhout. Linda lived in Mississippi for a time in the 70s, after she married her husband David, but moved back to RI in 1978. Her son David graduated from Mississippi State and is now a golf course superintendent at the Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, NH (a beautiful place!). Her daughter Maria graduated from Northeastern. Linda’s husband is the Director of Public works in Narragansett, RI. Linda has worked mainly in bookkeeping for a variety of companies in RI, including as Accounting Supervisor for South Shore Mental Health in Charlestown. They currently live in Narragansett, but intend to move to their second home in Bartlett, NH. “I enjoy the e-mail updates of our class. I have actually gotten in touch with a couple of former classmates that I have not spoken to in years.”

Mary Caldarola Smith is still in the teaching biz, working with first graders. She recently ran in the 10K part of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. She also plans to run a half-marathon in Orlando in February! “My kids are both in college so our house is very quiet. I like when they come home!”

Diane (Phillips) McCabe responded to the online fundraiser for the Cranston East music program. “It is good to hear that CHSE is still strong in the realm of music. One individual who deserves a huge "tip of the hat" is Paul Mancini, who was a mentor to me since I was in grade school: as a member of my school chorus, then the city chorus, and finally the CHSE chorus and acapella choir. I have come to respect his dedication to music, to those he taught, and to the Judeo-Christian content of the music we sang. Paul was never ashamed of it and allowed us to proclaim it through the music we sang.”

This brings up an interesting topic: Who at Cranston East influenced your life for the better?
For me, there were two special teachers: Mr. Horton and Miss Burns. I had Mr. Horton for English my first year at East. He passed out blank notebooks to us all and said, “Write.” I’ve been writing ever since. He was very encouraging with my first poems and stories. Thanks to him, writing has been both a career and a hobby for my entire life.
Miss Burns taught us calculus, and she did such a terrific job that, not only did I do well on the Calculus AP exam, but I also received three courses worth of math credit free in college, and I was well into my second year of college before I hit a math course that she hadn’t already taught us in high school! Not only that, but she somehow wangled for me and Paul Broomfield to attend a 3-week summer course in programming at URI, during which I learned how to program in 3 languages, which put me on the path of a lot of my later career working with computers.
I’m very lucky to have had both of these wonderful teachers. They literally changed my life.

Tom Iacono was interested in some of the RI history trivia mentioned in the last update. When Tom lived in Texas in the 80s, he read about and visited the Alamo, and noticed that there was a lone Rhode Islander listed amongst the defenders who died there. His name was Captain Albert Martin. Martin served as Col. Travis's emissary, meeting with Santa Anna's staff in a failed effort to have the two leaders meet and talk, then risking his life delivering an appeal letter for help, then returning to the Alamo with 32 more volunteers. He died at the age of 28 on March 6, 1836. “I don't know how, but his remains were returned to his birthplace and he is buried in the Old North Burial ground in Providence. Albert Martin is an American and Rhode Island hero that few, if any, Rhode Islanders know about.”

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.

That’s it for me. What’s going on with you? Let us know!

Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukah! And best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Ed DeJesus
exdejesus@gmail.com

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

2011 October

This has not been a fun week for me. I was having trouble with the vision in my right eye: a shadow across the left side of my field of view. Concerned, I saw my optometrist, who assured me that it was nothing serious, just one of those annoying floaters. But, within a few days, the blockage had gotten bigger and moved to the center of my field of view. I asked classmate Ernie Sutcliffe, who’s an ophthalmologist, for a referral, and got another from my primary care physician. The doctor who examined me told me I had a detached retina in my right eye, and immediately sent me to their retina expert. He confirmed the diagnosis, and I had a procedure done right there to reattach the retina, using a cryogenic instrument and an injected gas bubble (you don’t want the details, believe me).
Needless to say, this was all a tad disturbing. But, by the next day, the shadow was gone and I could see objects with my right eye. It’s been 5 days now, and I am starting to be able to see ordinary screen print. The doctors anticipate that I’ll recover most of my vision. They also found that my left eye is kind of tending in the same direction, so they plan to do a laser treatment on that one to fix that retina in place so it doesn’t go anywhere.
I’m really glad that there are such treatments for such problems. Otherwise…

I still haven’t gone through the info from the Reunion (and now I finally have a good excuse), but we did locate some more people through the magic of Facebook. As a result, we now think we know the whereabouts of 651 classmates, a new record! Yay us!

I do have some sad news to report. Classmate Ken Rogers died this past weekend in Florida after a long struggle against cancer. Here is his Facebook page with a final message from him, and tributes from friends and family:
https://www.facebook.com/ken.s.rogers?sk=wall
Classmate Franne Donovan reports: “Ken Rogers's Memorial Service will be held on October 15, 2011 at Carpenter-Jenks Funeral Home, 659 E. Greenwich Ave, W. Warwick, RI. Visitation at 1 PM, memorial service at 2 PM, including military honors service. The Westerly Sun and the Providence Journal will have more information (Thursday edition).”
Our condolences to Ken’s friends and family.

Condolences to Gail McKenney Marsigliano on the death of her mother, Lillian McKenney.

Bruce Brailsford and his wife, Joyce, celebrated their 24th anniversary in August.
His youngest son Bill graduated from the University of Hartford this past December and is employed as a computer tech with the Branford School system.
Youngest daughter, Kelly, after nearly 3 years at UConn, decided she no longer wants to be a nurse and has transferred to the University of New Haven to become a Forensic Psychologist or something to that effect!
Oldest daughter Jaclyn is married to Roy, a Special Ed teacher at the Branford, CT High School and has a daughter Skylar who will be 3 in August and a son Cayson 6 months.
Oldest son Greg, the only one of 4 kids still in RI, just became the Senior Field Engineer with a Tech Firm in Fall River. Also, he and his wife Melissa are expecting their first child in October!
He also found this web site for the CHSE class of 1961, if you want to compare and contrast:
www.chse61.com

We’re still looking for classmate Karen Richardson Griffin Pettis, who fell off our radar a while ago. Any sightings?

I’m also unsure of a number of email addresses. If you know the correct email addresses for the folks in the list at the bottom, please let me know.

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 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.

Well, the Red Sox sure set records this season! Losing games in September, most pitiful showing against Baltimore…

That’s about it for me. What’s going on with you? What awful medical predicament would you like to share with everyone?

Later.

Ed DeJesus
exdejesus@gmail.com


PS
Here are the people whose emails I’m not sure about. If you have email addresses for any of these folks, please let me know.
Sandra R. Orenberg Greenspan
Anne Ardillo Urbach
Anthony V. Grossi
John M. Lester
Susan Radtke Lindia
Brian McDonald
Robert Thompson
Arthur Butler
Roy Eckloff
Darlene Burdick Gnip
Dave Dowding
David Macaruso
David B. Fowler
Debra A. Pless Johnson
Dorothy Cantone McDonough
Harry Law
Gail Glen Whitfield
Barbara Joyce Halavik
James D. Bickford
Jane Garland Bartholomew
John D. Jetty
John L. Dyer
John W. Callahan
Linda Dimeo Gillooly
Marianne C. Votta
Terri (Maria) Gliottone Iannotti
Sheila J. Lawrence
Frances Grabowski Dorsky
Doreen Dias Holmes
Dianne C. Saffron Dugan