50-Year-Reunion

In 2007 I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Class 3 cancer. Several surgeries and lots of chemo and prayers have kept me here. Today, I am healthy and take no meds, only a few vitamins. I have tried to pay it forward. After the flooding in 2016, I started helping homeless families with used campers to live in. With friends, family and even strangers, we placed 13 campers in the flood - damaged areas. Fifty - seven people had a dry and warm place to sleep, plus two families with babies, in apartments. Classmate Kathy Shoda Slade and husband Steve helped deliver campers, and classmate Eric Hawkins and their son Justin helped deliver campers too! Other alumni and classmates helped fund this. Nine years have passed; I still see and talk with many of those we helped. This is still a very emotional subject from all I saw, heard and learned; it will always be with me. I have had a busy life, filled with ups and downs, good health and bad, love found and lost, love again. This is life. I enjoyed driving kids to swim meets, ball games and running scout camp and leading scout troops. I have rescued animals and people. I ’ ve never had a pet reproduce and we have and always have had multiple pets. I have never and never will use pesticide or herbicide. .. I am proud of all this. In my spare time, I still like to garden, cook and bake for family and friends, sew, crochet, listen to live music or oldie goldies, take photos and work on genealogy which has taken me all over the east coast. I have most of nine and ten generations completed with over 8K relatives on my family tree. I have relatives living in 27 countries and my DNA is very diverse. I am truly a Heinz 57 born in ‘57! I have traveled to Canada, England, Scotland and Italy and hope to expand my travels this fall with a trip to Italy to see Pompeii and Herculaneum. Maybe I will get a glimpse of the new Pope? I volunteer as a program coach, with a 50 - year - old program, for exchange students, funded through the U.S. State Department. I am thankful to Wayne for agreeing to chair this historical 50th year reunion. I am thankful for all who stepped up to help. Many have been the backbone for previous reunions. It has and will ALWAYS be the goal to have reunions where everyone is welcome. I hope when you read this, you are one of the classmates who attended. Until this year, I never knew Carolyn was editor of our yearbook. I laughed that Retha said until graduation practice, she had never seen the guy behind her (Stacy Smith), so she and Stacy were between twins Layne and Todd Smith. Still learning about each other! I think we have one of the best classes EVER!.

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