VikingLog58

Out of the Blue: Another Viking Achiever

2008-08-25T09:55:00.002-04:00

The search for our 1958 classmates continues. Sometimes we find them. Sometimes they find us.

Recently I received an email from James Davis (JT or Jim), who is living in Cambridge, England. At the time he first wrote, he was unaware of our reunion but he had found my email address on our blogsite. Seems he's been reminiscing about his high school days and wanted to know if I could supply any details.

Here are some very interesting details he has shared in our continuing correspondence: He left us in our junior year to join the US Navy. When he retired from the Navy, he was recruited by Texas Instruments and moved to England. While he was in the Navy, a fire at his St. Pete home destroyed items such as his freshman Viking Log and his 1958 class ring that was sent to him when he received a graduation certificate from the Navy (after 2 years of Electronic Computer School).

He recalls being in classes with Rena Counts and with Connie Counts. He remembers topping by the gas station that Rena's family owned and where she worked. He also remembered a good friendship with George Siemers, and said he wondered whatever happened to him.He remembers George as a "really good and caring friend...he loved to play the piano."

Jim recalls when he was sent to "some newly established base called Port Canaveral...had many a fight with alligators, armadillos, snakes, sharks, rays and jellyfish." He recalls the days of the Polaris Project when "it was in its infancy." For several years, Jim had a house in Norfolk, VA on a tributary of Chesapeake Bay.

Jim, who like Dave Larson, has a talent for writing, belongs to a writer's circle in his community. Here's a sample of how he describes the current state of England (which blew my romantic concepts all to pieces): "Gone are the sleepy villages, the polite rural life, genteel coffee mornings at the local church, and living where the most heinous crime was that someone has stolen Mrs. Brown's milk again or someone rode off on Archibalt's bike and left it next to the fence on the square."

Let's Promote Each Other

2008-06-20T09:22:00.002-04:00

As we have become re-connected as a senior class, we have found that some of us are happily retired. Some are partly retired, but maintaining a sideline revenue-producing career. And some are still working more-or-less fulltime.

Lately, I have been gearing up to do some "ghost writing"---not just somebody's life story but short articles commissioned by somebody on an Internet web site. My background as a writer enables me to work fast, research effectively, and produce copy in short order.

So...the thought occurred to me...maybe some of you out there would like to get the word out about whatever kind of work you do, with contact information for potential customers. If that's something that appeals to you, drop me a note at patful01@msn.com with the details. I'll put the information you authorize in a blog posting. And who knows? We could get a network going that helps a lot of us.

Let me know what you think.

Memory Joggers

2008-06-20T09:03:00.002-04:00

I was just looking through a 1958 copy of "Soundings", the NEHS literary magazine, when I turned to the advertisers' pages at the back of the book. See if any of these business names bring back any memories:

Fremac's Men's and Boys Wear. Dog 'N Suds Drive In (at US 19 and 53rd Ave. N.) The Huddle (on 9th St. N.) Swanson's Super Market (on 4th St. N. Owned by Lynn Swanson's dad.) P.K. Smith and Co. (office supplies. That store was our version of Office Depot).

Counts Home and Auto Supply (Haines Road and 24th St. Was that owned by Rena's family or Connie's family?) Hood's Dairy. 5 Point Hardware (9th St. N. at 33rd Ave.) Ed's Chateau (a pizza place at Haines Road and US 19 intersection, long before we ever saw a Pizza Hut or a Hungry Howie's or Domino's).

Willson-Chase Co. (a department store on Central Ave. owned by Jim Willson's family). Slap Happy 5 & 10 (9th St. N. and 33rd Ave. Remember that long-ago phrase "The five-and-dime", our version of the discount store back then?) Glass Inn (2600 4th St. N. featuring "the best dressed chicken in St. Pete" and "Pennsylvania Dutch treats".)

Some names of note in this issue of "The Soundings": Sharon Thompson editor-in-chief; Linda Crain, managing editor; June Sharpe, advertising editor. Linda contributed a book review to the issue of the magazine. Judi Stacey wrote several poems in the edition, too.

What If.......?

2008-06-19T10:04:00.002-04:00

The class reunion we just experienced was possible in large part because of the Internet and cell phones. People became "detectives", scouting across the nation for names not yet located, so that we could send those people invitations.

I got to thinking....what if we had had cell phones (like every teenager seems to have now) when we were in Northeast High classes? And what if we had had computers at home with access to the Internet?

1. Those "notes" on paper that we passed to each other ("Meet me in the cafeteria", "At 1:30 everybody drop their books on the floor"), would have been unnecessary. We would have text-messaged each other, and the teacher could never have caught us with the guilty evidence of paper "notes".

2. The cell phones would have put our social lives on full-throttle speed because we could reach our friends (platonic, romantic, whatever) all during the day rather than using the family phone when we got home or a pay phone (if we had the coins).

3. Access to the Internet would have saved me a lot of trips to Haslam's Bookstore on Central Ave. to find back issues of magazines. I wouldn't have had to deal with Lucy Lanphear in the school library (actually, she never gave me any problems) and I wouldn't have had to deal with the "card catalogue" , where books had complicated classification numbers.

4. Access to the Internet would have meant I could have researched a term paper in a few hours on one evening instead of making multiple trips to the library, looking for books that somebody faster than I had already checked out.

5. Researching a college to attend would have been an Internet project, not a matter of looking over a bunch of college catalogs in the school library or the guidance office.

6. And wouldn't it have been fun to "Google" our friends by looking for their names on the Internet? Back in those high school days, our private lives were known only by close friends, family members, and for the girls, the pages of a personal "diary". Nowadays, our lives are open books, subject to research by anyone from St. Petersburg to Tokyo.

The Gifts That Go On Giving

2008-06-18T10:13:00.002-04:00

One of the upshots of our 2008 Reunion was the creation of a scholarship fund with the St. Petersburg College Foundation. The funds go to help students from Northeast High pay for their education at SPC (formerly St. Petersburg Junior College).

Karolyn Bagg Foreman sent along this donors list:

In the Viking group ($1000 to $2499) are: Aloyse (Flood) and Dave Larson; Bruce and Jeannie Little, and Karolyn (Bagg) and Steve Foreman.

In the Thors group ($500-$999) are: Buck Merritt, Pat (Smith) and Frank Kapocsi, David Britner, and Judy (Baker) and Jim Philson.

In the Warriors group ($200-$499) are: Marion (Kline) and Errol Zeiger; Bruce and Roberta Hugill, Carol (Rupert) and Robert Buss, Ann (Leedy) and Ben Bartlett, and Carley (Freck) and Laird Bryson.

In the Shields group ($100-$199) are: Jean (Robertson) Champ, Gary and Phoebe Billing, Larry and Judy Fannin, Skip and Betty Cleveland, Kathleen (Hutchins) Hintz, Margie (Meyer) and Ed Smith, Larry Britner, Judy (Huber) and Tim Grissette, Robert and Rebecca Forman, Martha (Heath) and Rudy Baker, Terry (Reichelderfer) and Ed Stinson, Trudy (Andringa) and John Krege, Duane Tobey and Bill and Eva Redman.

In the Explorers group ($50-$99) are: Jean (Sheridan) Clark, Helen (Leigh) Wagner, Clarice (Slover) and Mike Coughlin, Larry Thompson, Ralph and Brenda Ames, Joan (Moody) and Ted Vetter.

In the Dragons group ($49 and under) are: Jean (Davis) Brown, Ben and Joy Wall, Dale Davis, and John Hardman.

Vikings in South Florida

2008-06-18T10:05:00.002-04:00

Barbara Monrose Parrish wrote to say she and her husband will be entertaining a daughter and grandkids (from Deland) for the month of July. Then they'll set off on an odyssey (that's an English major word for "long trip") to California with plans to take a leisurely return trip back by going wherever they feel like going.

Carolyn Gramling McAleese just got back from a packed week of family activities. Her daughter Cindy and granddaughter flew down from the Carolinas, and then they all headed over to Sarasota to see son Steve and his family. Carolyn will soon be getting back in the hospital routine of training mothers-to-be about that landmark we call "Labor and Delivery".

Doug and Jan Hotalen in Key West lost their son Kent to cancer recently. Your prayers and expressions of friendship would be meaningful to them, I'm sure.

Updated Memory Books

2008-06-18T10:01:00.002-04:00

Some of you purchased the Memory Books at the class reunion--red looseleaf notebooks with names, addresses and bios of classmates.

Already that book needs to be updated, with additional people who have been located and with some additional bio material that has come through the email round-robin.

When I complete the update, you'll see a notice on this blogsite. To get the whole book, including looseleaf notebook and shipping, the cost will be about $20. However, for those of you with email addresses, and who perhaps already have the original book, I will set a lesser charge. Then I can email you the document for you to print out.

Personally, I keep my Memory Book right beside my computer because the names, addresses and phone numbers come in handy.

The Blog is Back!

2008-06-18T09:50:00.002-04:00

After returning from that sensationally successful class reunion in St. Petersburg, I took a sabbatical (intentional or unintentional--I'm not sure which) from blogging. But comments from some of you let me know that you enjoyed the stream of information you got from this NEHS blog...so here we go again.

Watch for updates of people who have been "found" since the reunion---including one who is very much alive, after appearing on our "In Memoriam" list.

Karolyn Bagg Foreman and I will be working on a periodic newsletter as a follow-up to our reunion. Classmates with email addresses will get the info via the Internet. Those without email addresses will get the newsletter by snail mail.

One of the nicest things about the reunion we just experienced is that it is still going on. People have re-connected--and not for just one week--but in some cases, for years to come. The relentless search for those on our "Where Are They?" list continues, a collective effort with a lot of credit going to people like Larry Britner, Barb Wells Preston, and others whose names will come back to me (and I'll credit you in later posts).

Thanks for being such a neat group of people to graduate from high school with (yes, that's a dangling preposition and I'm an English major--Sue me.)

Remembering

2008-05-18T15:46:00.002-04:00

Part of the program at the Coliseum on May 15 was a memorial, created by Bruce Hugill, to honor those in our class who have died. There were recitations of poetry, something from Kahlil Gibran, and some Scripture verses. And then we watched as photos of each of those remembered appeared on the large screen.

A sad note was that seven more names had just been added to our already adequate list; these names were the product of the ongoing research to find the "missing". Unfortunately these seven left us before we had the chance to say good-bye.

In their memory, a scholarship fund is being endowed at St. Petersburg College, specifically targeted annually at a Northeast High student who wants to go to college but who lacks the finances. A sum of $5000 is required to start the fund in our Class of 1958 name and then as we increase the endowment to $10,000 or so, there will be enough to present an annual scholarship. For more details, contact Sue Bagg-Foreman.

For your information, the scholarship fund got its first burst of life through items donated for a raffle at the Coliseum. Mardi Kline Zeiger brought back from Israel two stunning pieces of Armenian design ceramics and Rosie Ramsey McKnight donated a CD of her singing group's music, all for the scholarship raffle.

Blasts From the Past

2008-05-18T15:40:00.002-04:00

Barbara Wells Preston created an amazing display of photos, clippings, T-shirts, and other assorted items from our school days. She set up the items first in the Information Center at the Hampton Inn and then transferred the display to the Coliseum for our Big Night May 15.

As a personal note, my two grandsons who stopped by to see me at the Hampton were stunned by the full-page article on Elvis Presley's visit to the Florida Theatre back in our days. They stared at the large photos, perhaps not realizing that their Nana had heard of Elvis Presley. So I played historian and explained the background of the "King's" visit. For a first-hand view, you would have to ask Barb because she was a Florida Theatre employee (who had her own conversations with Elvis--just ask her.) Apparently, the event was a mob scene, made up of countless screaming teen-aged females who wanted to get as close to their idol as possible.

The photo scrapbooks that Barb assembled (complete with name IDs) took a lot of us back in time and gave us a refresher course in our high school biography.

Marriages That Lasted

2008-05-18T15:18:00.003-04:00

Do you remember some of the pop songs from our era that told us that "puppy love" would never last, that teen romances were only temporary?

Well, our 1958 graduating class has evidence that blows that sentiment all to pieces. At our reunion there were living examples of couples who met each other in high school, said their "I do's" after graduation and are still married to their "first husband" or "first wife".

Bobby LaBrant met Sara Emery at Northeast and took her on a blind date with Bob Vannatta. This couple has not only stayed married but they have worked together in various business interests all their lives. And they STILL love each other. It's not hard to tell.

Dave Larson met Aloyse Flood at Northeast and they were an "item" from that moment on. Dave always has high compliments (and book dedications) to Aloyse when he writes another volume in his family biography. She has that bright-eyed, sparkling look in her eyes that she always had and when you see Dave, you see Aloyse. Those two are "keepers".

John Krege met Trudy Andringa at Northeast; that led to a wedding while they were in college. It should be against the law how good they look these days. They do a lot of traveling (which you know that you don't do with people you don't like.)

Mike Coughlin (who always had a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he walked around the campus) met Clarice Slover at Northeast. Clarice was tall and slender (still is) with dignity and grace (still applies) and she said yes to Mike's proposal. Those two are still an attractive couple, enjoying each other's company.

Carly Freck, one of our active-in-everything classmates, was attracted to someone in the graduating class just ahead of ours. She married Laird Bryson and has been his partner as he has practiced medicine and then switched over into a vocation in the clergy. Now they tour the USA in an RV, so you know they must enjoy each other's company. And they both look great.

Frank Kapocsi met Pat Smith at Northeast, married her, and shared his life with her as a Publix executive. They live in Lakeland now, enjoying their children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. They both looked younger than ever (it should be against the law) and were a living example of "marriages that work".

Ed Stinson met Terry Reichelderfer at Northeast. (Note: I am so proud that I can spell her maiden name correctly because I first learned how when we were students at North Ward Elementary.) They are another couple who experienced that "young love", decided to make it a permanent thing, and stayed in love all this time. They're enjoying the "country quiet" of Dunnellon after living in Pinellas County for a lot of years. (Ed was employed by the Clearwater Fire Department.)

WOW! What a Reunion!

2008-05-18T15:02:00.002-04:00

The Big Event we've planning for for many months finally happened---and it was indescribably delicious!

For those of you who couldn't be there, I wish you could have seen the countless "buzz groups" of classmates--sometimes in twos, or in threes, or fours---drawn to each other like magnets. The Information Center (a hospitality suite in the Hampton Suite) was one place that the reconnecting started. Another was the "Girls Night Out" at Ann Leedy's house and the Guys Night Out at a local sports bar.

We wore name tags that had our class pictures on them...and there were many times we needed those tags because as we looked face-to-face at someone else, our brain was saying, "WHO is this?" while our mouth was stalling for time. The photo on the other person's tag led us to say "OHHHH...You're...[fill in the blank]!!!" And off the conversation would go.

The Wednesday morning (May 14) picnic at Sawgrass Lake Park brought people together...and then people starting trickling (and then flooding) into the Info Room after the picnic. If you saw Roger Whitehead, you could probably count on seeing Ron Murphy, Bobby LaBrant and Woody (Reed) Tanner somewhere close by.

Carolyn Tanner, Woody's jewel of a wife, is my nominee for Saint of the Year. She worked countless hours long before the reunion ever started and then worked more countless hours in making sure that all the details--gift bags, table arrangements, printed materials, name tags, etc.---came together in the right place at the right time. We could not have had the reunion without her, even though she kept a low profile and worked "behind the scenes". (If you get the chance, and you were at the reunion, send her a quick email THANKS, won't you?)

We missed those of you who couldn't come, but you were not forgotten. Campus stories that are 50 or more years old were retold and laughed about, and friendships were revived from long ago.

Watch for news about an annual gathering on the first Saturday in November in St. Petersburg. And if some of you create local groups in your state/region/etc. , send me a note so I can promote your meetings in the blog.

Take a Look at Our Newspaper

2008-05-11T14:46:00.003-04:00

One of the memorabilia items you're going to see at the Reunion is my old volume of Noreasters (the school newspaper) for the 1957-1958 school year. Barb Wells Preston has offered to make special page markers so that you can turn to the pages easily (the 50-year-old paper is a bit crackly).

Here are some of the items I've marked for you to take a look at... (The dates are all from 1957 and 1958.)

Cheerleaders (Sept. 27); Sandra Creitz, the Homecoming Queen (Oct. 25); the Viking Log (yearbook) staff, (Oct. 25); the Viking Football Team (Oct. 25); Mickey Moustakas profile (Nov. 27); Christmas Concert (school choral group) (Dec. 19); my interview with Miss America, Marilyn Van Derbur (Dec. 19); Northeast Hosts and Hostesses (Dec. 19); Jim Willson profile (president of National Honor Society) (Jan. 31); Dave and Aloyse , the King and Queen of Hearts (Feb. 14); Roger Whitehead profile (Feb. 14); our principal John Sexton (Feb. 28); Duane Tobey (head of the Viking Band) (Feb. 18); Senior Superlatives (March 14); Bob Vannatta profile (March 14); and the Northeast Baseball Team (April 24).

The Big Red (Viking) Purse

2008-05-10T16:17:00.003-04:00

Karolyn Sue Bagg-Foreman, the endless fountain of ideas that she is, has added a very attractive detail to our quest for scholarship funds. The purse you see pictured here is her contribution to the raffle items for the May 15 gala at the Coliseum. The purse's first purpose is to hold checks and cash contributions that our classmates pitch in toward the $5000 goal of endowing a scholarship account (with our name on it) at St. Petersburg College.

Three more of us---John and Trudy Krege and Duane Tobey--have sent donations to the scholarship fund. You too can put your donation in the Big Red Purse if you're at the Coliseum on May 15. But that's not all, folks. The purse, emptied of the contributions, will go on the raffle items listing, along with art items and a CD of Rosie Ramsey's music.

Even if you can't be at the Reunion, you can still be part of this classwide project--creating a fund to help a worthy student get an education at SPC. Make the check to "SPC Foundation". On the memo line, write "For Northeast High". Mail the check to Sue Foreman, 1940 Summerland Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32789.

Last Minute Notes

2008-05-10T16:03:00.002-04:00

May 10--

We're at the weekend before we all leave to arrive in St. Petersburg for the reunion...and here are some assorted pieces of information I hope you'll find useful...

1. The Information Room, set up in the Hampton Inn & Suites on Beach Drive, will be at your service...with St. Pete brochures, sign-in forms for the Reunion, memorabilia display set up by Barb Wells Preston. The room will be open from 2 pm to 5 or 6 pm on Wednesday, May 14, and from 2 pm to 5 pm on Thursday, May 15.
2. Memory Books will be available for purchase at $10 per book. For those of you who are reading this but who won't be able to attend the reunion, a copy of the book can be sent to you for $15, which includes cost of the book and cost of shipping and mailing. Send a check made out to Patricia Fulton to 8814 SW 72nd St. G139, Miami, FL 33173.
3. Tom Fincher's published novel The Pepper Tree Demon will also be available for sale in the Info Room. It's a wild and crazy suspense novel, set in St. Pete but including scenes at a Brooksville drag racing track, US 19, Pinellas Park, and Weekiwachee. Cost of the book is $15, but Tom has said he will make a donation from each sale to our Class of 1958 scholarship fund.

Do You Remember the Prom Theme?

2008-05-10T16:00:00.002-04:00

Barb Wells Preston just called me and one of her questions was, "Do you remember what the theme was for our Senior Prom?" I have no clue (although I know that the prom that our class created as juniors had an Egyptian theme).

My old copies of the Noreaster tell me that the prom was on May 23, 1958, but I don't have the newspaper issues that include a story about the prom.

Sooo...if any of you remember this piece of trivia--what was the theme of our senior prom...get in touch with Barb at bwpmail@bellsouth.net

One Week To Go

2008-05-06T08:07:00.003-04:00

One week from today some of us will start arriving in St. Petersburg for the Big Reunion we've been talking and writing about for many months.

For many of us, the reunion has already started, as people have connected through emails, phone calls, and personal visits. Larry Britner's round-robin emails and this blogsite have kept you posted with new developments, shared memories, shared photos, and new discoveries of formerly "lost" classmates. We have also shared news of classmates who were added to the "In Memoriam" list.

As the clock ticks down toward our seeing each other at the Coliseum (and other places) in St. Pete, there's a reality that some of us are dealing with because we are people who are 50 years beyond high school. Good health is a gift, something to say thanks for. Some of us will not be able to attend because of health issues; keep those people in your thoughts and prayers and if good health is one of your gifts right now, say a "thank you" prayer for it.

Our Viking Legacy

2008-05-06T07:54:00.004-04:00

A number of months ago, in the email chit-chat among us, the topic came up of making some sort of financial gift to Northeast. Mardi Kline Zeiger offered to purchase some art items during her visit to Israel and to donate them for a raffle, with the proceeds going toward a class contribution to a worthy cause (such as our alma mater). She has made those purchases.

Well, Sue Karolyn Bagg did some research with the St. Petersburg College Foundation on what it takes to set up a scholarship fund. According to their rules, it takes $5000 for the fund to have our name on it. (Anything less than that goes into the general fund.) What is being discussed in emails now is a scholarship for a worthy student at Northeast who can't afford to fund an education at SPC (formerly St. Petersburg Junior College). There are 71 at Northeast now who fit this description.

Sue broke down the $5000 this way: 1 person donates $1000. 4 people donate $500 each. 20 people donate $100. Checks for $25 and $50 are also welcome. When the total endowment (with our name on it) reaches $12,500, that would produce $1000 a year for scholarship(s). Raising $50,000 means we could fund two scholarships a year.

Already David Britner and Carley Freck Bryson have sent in checks to Sue to get the project rolling. If you would like to follow their admirable example, make out a check to "SPC Foundation" with the notation "For Northeast High" and send it to Sue Foreman, 1940 Summerland Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32789.

Hampton Inn: Some Details

2008-05-06T07:48:00.003-04:00

If you're staying at the Hampton Inn (Beach Drive) during the NEHS reunion, here are a few details that Carolyn Graming McAleese and I picked up in a recent phone call to the hotel:

1. The rooms have refrigerators (we're assuming this is true of most of the rooms) so if you want to purchase snacks and beverages that need to stay cold, you're in business.

2. The hotel does not accept personal checks. Most people pay by credit cards anyway, but in case you were planning on using your checkbook, you will need a bank-authorized cashier's check.

3. There is a continental breakfast available each morning: eggs, pastries, cereal, milk, coffee, etc.

4. This item is probably a "DUH" item that you already knew, but the hotel has a swimming pool in case you want to swim or work on your tan.

Girls Night Out: Parking Spaces

2008-05-01T14:43:00.002-04:00

For those of you planning to attend "Girls Night Out" around 6 pm on Wednesday, May 14 at Ann Leedy's home (5947 Bayou Grande Blvd NE), here are the parking arrangements:

Because parking is limited at Ann's home, we have permission to park in the lot of Shore Acres Elementary School (1800 62nd Ave NE). The parking lot is at the corner of 62nd Ave.NE and Tanglewood Dr.

Ann's husband Ben will run a shuttle from the parking lot to the house and back. (Our hero!)

Ann says that if you have any questions, you can call her at 727-527-7050.

PS: For those of you who are coming from out-of-town, here is a refresher on the directions to Ann's home (and the Shore Acres Elementary property): From the downtown St. Pete area, go north on 4th St. N to 62nd Ave. Make a right turn and continue until you see the elementary school on your right. Pull into the parking lot and wait for Ben's shuttle.

Faculty Popularity Contest

2008-04-28T21:46:00.003-04:00

One of the questions on our bio form, used for compiling the Memory Book, was "Who was your favorite teacher(s)?"

The all-time favorites--and a lot of you think alike---include Dorothy Clonts (chorus); Eugene Beeman (band), Kenneth Pschorr (physiology); Robert Challener (drama); Coach Lee Benjamin; Eric Whitted (assistant principal); Dorothy Adams (social studies); Mrs. Wentworth; Mrs. Overholtz (business classes); Coach Crum; Mrs. Shrum (Spanish); Beth Cheesmond (English).

Where We're Living Now

2008-04-28T21:32:00.002-04:00

At the back of the upcoming Memory Book are 2 1/3 pages, listing the states (plus Australia) where our classmates live now. Here are some figures, subject to your corrections if you choose to move:

Australia has 1: Len Scipioni Scott. Virginia has 1: Woody Reed Tanner. Oklahoma has 1: Bruce Hugill. New York has 1: Clarissa Rogers Hamilton. Hawaii has 1: Judy Baker Philson. Nevada has 1: Mary Ellen LeVan Snyder. Washington (the state, not the national capital) has 1: Alice Hantz Johnston. Missouri has 1: Dolores Warfield Boulton. Alabama has 1: Barbara Wells Preston. (Until his recent death, Jim Willson lived in Alabama, too.) Arizona has 1: David Bruneau. Kentucky has 1: Rosa Lee Ramsey McKnight.

Colorado has 2: Carol Curran Rushmore and Jean Davis Brown. (They get together every now and then.)

For the rest of the states, here are the numbers (because there isn't room to write all the names): Tennessee-- 6; Texas--3; North Carolina--8 (Sarah and Bobby have dual residence: NC and FL); Georgia--9; California--7.

As you may have guessed, the numbers champion is Florida where 117 of our class are now living. (The numbers are based on the current database of "found" classmates and are subject to change as more of our "lost" ones get "discovered in the future.)

Your Classmates are Truly Interesting!

2008-04-28T21:10:00.002-04:00

As I prepared the Memory Books to bring to the reunion, I discovered some remarkable facts about our classmates...and I thought I would share some of them with you.

Judy Nicholson was president of her Kiwanis Club (years and years ago, it used to be an all-guys club) and she is now the Lt. Governor-elect of her district....Fran Thomas and her husband Larry (she married someone who had the same last name she had before she married him) are volunteers for Campus Crusade for Christ Prison Ministry. They go into prisons across the nation with the Bill Glass "Champions for Life" Ministries.

Kathy Hutchins Hinz puts flowers in the backstage dressing rooms at the Mahaffey Theatre in St. Petersburg. She tells us that in an earlier period of her life, she was the first female computer programmer in St. Petersburg....Bruce Hugill is currently on the Budget and Finance Committee for the Air Force Sergeants Association. He is national secretary for the International Fellowship of Christian Businessmen...Betty Lou Hankey Melcher is an assistant bakery manager for Albertson's and raises Boston terriers as a hobby...John Eaddy is a family physician at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Bill Coate is a published writer and a teacher...David Britner is the co-inventor of the fire sprinkler system now found in many hotels, motels and high-rise residential buildings. He's also a retired Assistant Fire Chief for the City of St. Petersburg...John Krege and Trudy Andringa Krege spent time in Jordan for Habitat for Humanity, building a cement block house addition...Bobby Labrant and Sarah Emery Labrant make a lot of people happy every summer when they operate their bed-and-breakfast in cool, scenic Black Mountain, NC. (It's the kind of place that those of us in South Florida fantasize about while we're sweating out the hot tropical summers.)

Carley Freck Bryson learned how to scuba dive at age 42 (she was just a kid then!)...and Duane Tobey got his pilot's license when he was no longer a kid. (He doesn't specify the age he passed the test, and we won't ask.) Barbara Wells Preston wrote the first Backyard Bible Club materials for the Southern Baptist Convention's Sunday School Board. She also wrote the book What It Means To Be a Christian for children, along with a teacher's guide.

Big News! An Alma Mater Tour!

2008-04-28T13:54:00.003-04:00

Class President Woody Reed Tanner, after extensive conversations with Coach Dudley (who was on NEHS faculty for 35 years), has gotten clearance for us to tour Northeast High School--all as part of our scheduled bus tour on Thursday, May 15.

(Note: A second bus has been chartered because more people wanted to participate. There are still 12 seats available on that bus. Tour cost is $12 [preferably in cash]. Checks can be made out to NEHS Reunion.)

The May 15 tour, starting at 9 am at Hampton Inn Hotel on Beach Drive, will take us to downtown improvement areas and other places of note, with an hour allotted to see Northeast High and how it has changed since we left it. (Remember, how we envied Boca Ciega High's swimming pool? Well, Northeast has a pool of it own and a football stadium, too.)

The tour will end around 1 pm back at the Hampton Inn, where everyone will be on their own for lunch.

If you're interested in reserving a place on the tour bus, contact Woody at wwtf65@comcast.net

Update on the Memory Book

2008-04-24T18:01:00.002-04:00

April 24--Today I finished the basic draft of the Memory Book. (I will insert a sample in this post to show you what it looks like.) The book will include a listing of names, addresses, phone numbers, bio information (if submitted), a listing of classmates by the states where they live now, and a listing of those "in memoriam".

Because producing this book involves purchase of red loose-leaf notebook covers, paper, and printer ink, I plan to produce 20 initially. Cost is $10, to cover expenses. However, if more than 20 people contact me at patful01@msn.com, letting me know that they want one of the books, I will increase the number of books to be printed.

Here's a sample of one of the pages:

GEORGE HARRY ADALIAN (Garry)…Airline pilot; 21 Cats Paw Cape, Coronado, CA 92218; 619-424-6937; gha3@san.rr.com

PATRICIA ANN AINSWORTH-NORRIS..Homemaker, driver’s license examiner; 4733 NE 137^th Road, Oxford, FL 34484; 352-748-6915

PATRICIA SUE ALBRECHT-HANSEN (Pat)…Fla. State HRS/Meal on Wheels volunteer; 535 31st Ave. N., St. Petersburg, FL 33704; (summers in 56 Fir Circle, Canton, NC 28716); 727-822-6722; mlalbrecht@aol.com

RALPH H. AMES…Navy/Air Force 20 years; Postal Service 17 years; 6753 Codell Street, Navarre, FL 32566; 850-936-9474

TRUDY LYNNE ANDRINGA-KREGE (Trudy)…3002 Henderson Road, Greensboro, NC 27410; 336-294-4456; JWKrege@aol.com

MORE ABOUT TRUDY: Married to: John Krege (also Class of 1958). Three children (Kathy, John, Jim). 7 grandchildren. Went to University of Florida and enrolled in School of Nursing. Married John when we were juniors and had our first baby as seniors. Moved to Atlanta where John was in medical school at emory University. Worked in nursing until second child was born. John joined the Air Force in his senior year. Moved to San Antonio, TX and Lackland AFB where John did his internship and orthopedic surgery residency. We had our third child there and then spend three years in Weisbaden, Germany. Lived in England where John completed a hip replacement fellowship. Returned to Lackland where John was on the orthopedic staff. Moved to Greensboro, NC where we have lived for 30 years. Our hobbies include tennis, reading and traveling. John is an avid photographer. Our latest trip was to Jordan with Habitat International. We helped build a cement block house addition.

GERALD CLIFFORD ASPEN (Gerry)…24 Apple Orchard Road, Hendersonville, NC 28792; 828-699-7459; GypsyPossum@mchsi.com

More Reunions To Come!

2008-04-22T09:17:00.002-04:00

Rena Counts-Wheeler has announced that from now on, she will host an annual get-together for everyone who can make it on the first Saturday of every November. If you're an out-of-towner, you may want to schedule a fall trip for the event.

St. Pete events: The St. Pete alum group will meet Monday, May 5 and Thursday, June 12, with both gatherings starting at 7:30 pm at Kristina's Restaurant, 3590 34th St. (US 19 North), St. Petersburg.

Quiche and Carrot Cake for South Florida

2008-04-21T21:51:00.002-04:00

The second get-together for the South Florida NEHS 58 group today (April 21) was an undeniable success, if the happy smiles and vigorous appetites were any indicators.

Carolyn Gramling-McAleese made the Food Channel proud with her quiche, specially prepared asparagus, ambrosia (that's a delicious fruit salad for you uninitiated)...and Pat Teague Fulton contributed a carrot cake, topped with cream cheese icing and chopped walnuts.

Bobbie Todd discovered that she and Carolyn's husband George McAleese had something in common: Louisville, KY. Bobbie and her husband (a funeral director) had lived and worked in Louisville, which is George's home town. Bobbie will be unable to attend the reunion in May because her husband, who recently had a kidney transplant, is scheduled for his final checkup and clearance by his doctors while the rest of us are in St. Pete.

Bill Redman and his vivacious wife Eva told us about Bill's cooking specialty: South Maryland Stuffed Ham...which he has offered to prepare for all of us at one of our future gatherings.

There was a lot of looking at old Northeast yearbooks...Bill looked for a favorite math teacher of his to mention on his bio sheet. Pat brought some prints of old photos of St. Petersburg...including the Festival of States parade queen float, circa 1938; Central Avenue photos (1940s) showing green benches filled with people, a night-time shot of Webb's City when a big open-air show was going on, right in the middle of 9th St. S. There was also a print of an ooooold shot of the Coliseum and one of Mirror Lake Junior High, long before any of us went to class there.

The gathered group talked about a possible trip to Key West (with Barb Monrose, Sandy Creitz, and Bob Vannatta to be invited, too) to drop in on Doug Hotalen.

Bobbie Todd agreed to go with Carolyn to Carolyn's book review group in the next week or so. All in all, everybody enjoyed everybody else's company, and the future prospect for more get-togethers is bright and shiny.

More Room on the Bus!

2008-04-21T21:47:00.002-04:00

When class president Woody Reed Tanner first announced the bus tour of St. Pete (Thursday May 15, 9 am), the reservations came in in a flash and the bus was marked FULL. But a second bus is now available...

So for you procrastinators, here's your chance. The tour costs about $12, starts at the Hampton Inn at 9 am and returns there around 12:30 pm. Contact Woody or send an email to me at patful01@msn.com and I'll pass the word on to Woody..But be quick about it. Each bus only holds around 36 people.

Take a Look at Central Avenue

2008-04-19T11:01:00.002-04:00

You may remember Central Avenue from your school days as the dividing line between North and South in St. Petersburg. It's downtown area was busy when you were a kid. Later it died a horrible death. But Central Ave. has come back from the dead....and if you've been away from St. Pete for 30 or more years, let me encourage you to take a tour.

Start at Beach Drive and continue all the way to 34th St. (US 19). You will be amazed at the "new look": new art places, new storefronts, landscaping, lighting, information boards on street corners.

From 16th St. to 34th St., a section that took longer to re-develop than downtown St. Pete, there is vigorous life and renewal. While you're in the area of 16th St., turn south and drive by the stadium that houses our hometown's first Major League baseball team (The Rays).

While You're in St. Petersburg....

2008-04-19T10:56:00.002-04:00

For those of you who have the time, here are some places to see (as well as their web sites, where available) while you're back in the Old Home Town:

Artspace Artist Studios, 10 Fifth St. N. www.artspaceartists.com
Florida Craftsmen, 501 Central Ave., www. floridacraftsmen.net
The Pier Aquarium, 800 2nd Ave. NE (2nd floor of The Pier)
The Arts Center, 719 Central Ave. www.theartscenter.org
Florida International Museum, 244 Second Ave. N., www.floridamuseum.org
Sunken Gardens, 1825 4th St. N. 727-551-3102 (10 am to 4:30 pm)
Craftsman House Gallery, 2955 Central Avenue, www.craftsmanhousegallery.com

What to Wear! What to Wear!

2008-04-19T10:45:00.002-04:00

Sue Bagg-Foreman has some fashion words of wisdom for those of you (particularly you gentlemen) who are wrestling with the phrase "dressy casual" as the dress code for the May 15 gala at the Coliseum.

Here are her thoughts on the matter: Here in Winter Park, for the men it means no tie and maybe even no jacket if the temperature goes above 80 degrees. No tennis shoes unless your feet hurt, in which case pick a pair where your toes don't stick through the end. You could go as casual as the Lawton Chiles uniform (EDITOR: He was a past governor of Fla. and a former U.S. Senator, in case you've forgotten) of khaki pants and nice plaid or beach shirt. Probably not hot weather golf attire. Closed-toe shoes. You could also go to dress pants, an open collar shirt and sport jacket.

In other cities, dressy casual means a tie for sure. I say let the guys decide what's comfortable and what they want for the class picture.

For the ladies: Whatever you look good in. Pants suit, dress with jacket, sun dress (but who has the arms we want to let out of their caves), flats or heels. Sort of the cocktail look but maybe more the outdoor dressy.

Summary: Not too dressy, not too messy. Whatever you have that you like and feel comfortable in. The temperature could be 75 or 85 that evening.

Additions to Reunion Schedule

2008-04-18T08:23:00.002-04:00

While women classmates are yakking it up at Ann Leedy Bartlett's house on Wednesday, May 14, the guys have an event all their own, too. Larry Britner has nicknamed it "Enlisted Men's Club", but a draft card is not necessary for admission.

The party will be at the Ringside Cafe, 2742 4th St. N., from 7 pm until whenever. For those of you who are returning to St. Pete after a very long absence, the Ringside Cafe is a two-story house that has been transformed into a restaurant-sports bar. You'll find it on the left side of 4th St. (on a corner) as you're headed north.

Farewell Breakfast, Sunday May 18: A separate banquet room has been reserved at the Picadilly Restaurant (1900 34th St.--US 19 N). Breakfast hours are 9 am to 11 am. Judy Nicholson made the arrangements.

St. Pete, Watch Your Back!

2008-04-17T14:47:00.003-04:00

Our St. Pete alumni group, chaired by Larry Britner, is the oldest and the largest when it comes to get-togethers among NEHS 58 classmates. But South Florida is on a roll.

Bob Vannatta, living in Palm Beach Gardens where he owns a company in the financial services industry (who knew!), was contacted today with an invitation to join our South Fla. group. (Current members: Barbara Monrose Parrish, Sandy Creitz Logue, Carolyn Gramling McAleese, Bobbie Todd, Bill Redman, and Pat Teague Fulton).

He has children and grandchildren in Fort Lauderdale, so he said it's no problem to drive to Broward County for a Northeast meet-and-greet.

Next goal: Doug Hotalen lives in Key West. What would it take to get him to a South Florida Viking party?

Quick Review (There's a Test on Friday)

2008-04-17T11:19:00.002-04:00

Karolyn Sue Bagg Foreman sent out this finalized itinerary for Reunion Week, May 14-17. Mark your calendars, Blackberries, and PDAs accordingly:

Wed. May 14 2-6 pm Hospitality Room open at Hampton Inn and Suites (80 Beach Drive NE)
Come and pre-register for the Coliseum get-together. Enjoy a cup of coffee, or soda or water and pastries. Check out the schedule of activities in the area or join one of the reunion's other events. See if your classmates have arrived, and if so, if they have left a message for you. Carolyn Gramling McAleese and Pat Teague Fulton will be hospitality hostesses.

Wed. May 14 11 am--till??? Bring-a-dish picnic at Sawgrass Lake Park. For directions and more information, email Larry Britner at lgbritner@verizon.net

Wed. May 14 6 pm--till??? Girls Night Out. Ann Leedy Bartlett is the hostess for this feminine "study group". (Translate that "lots and lots and lots of talking.") Bring a snack food, wine, etc. to contribute to the party. For directions and information, email Ann at jbartle4@tampabay.rr.com or Karolyn Bagg Foreman at sueforeman@mac.com.

Thurs. May 15 9 am to 12:30 pm Bus Tour of St. Pete to see how the place has changed since you left. Leaves Hampton Inn at 9 am. Bring snacks if you prefer or wait for lunch until end of tour. To suggest places you want to see, contact Woody at wwtf65@comcast.net

Thurs. May 15 12 pm - 4 pm Hospitality Room at the Hampton Inn. Drop by for pre-registration, to view memorabilia and the information board. Carolyn and Pat will be your greeters.

Thurs. May 15 3 pm - 5:30 pm Coliseum Decorating. Volunteers, you know who you are. Thanks in advance.

Thurs. May 15 6 pm - 11 pm Reunion Gala. Coliseum, 4th Ave. N. Cost at the door (if not pre-paid), $85. Group photos around 7 pm. Scrumptious buffet dinner. Special program. Dancing.

Fri., May 16 8 am. Tee Time for golf at Vinoy Golf and Country Club. Call or email Woody for information.

Fri., May 16 9 am Bowling Party, Sunrise Lanes. Fee for games and shoes. Email Larry Britner for information and directions.

Fri., May 16 7 pm. Pot Luck supper at the Mainlands, US 19 and 49th St. Call or email Judy Nicholson at caringjudith@aol.com or call 727-577-5494.

Sat., May 17 Continuation of Picnic at Sawgrass Lake Park. Contact Larry Britner.

Sun., May 18 Farewell Breakfast, Picadilly Restaurant. Contact Larry Britner.

Add These to the Reservation List

2008-04-17T11:16:00.002-04:00

Class President Woody Reed Tanner says that these classmates have made reservations for the Thursday (May 15) gala at the Coliseum: Mickey Moustakas, Garrett Johnson (he's coming with classmate Jan Wilfong); Ron Hagan, and Maridell Haram Weaver.

Happy Discovery in South Florida

2008-04-17T11:11:00.002-04:00

So I was sitting at my computer in Miami, putting together the Memory Book for our reunion, when I ran across Bill Redman's name in the database list. And his address says that he lives in BOCA RATON! That means he's eligible for our South Florida NEHS group!

So I call Bill on the phone and we have a mini-reunion right there. He has been living in Boca for 32 years, has a career as a computer designer (CAD, for you techies). He visits St. Pete 3 or 4 times a year because he has family and friends there. He's coming to the reunion...and he recalls Carolyn Gramling McAleese, another of our South Florida group, because she lived right around the corner from him when he was in high school.

The small world is becoming even smaller.

Names for the Memory Book

2008-04-11T16:44:00.002-04:00

Here are the grads who have submitted the bio information for the Memory Book (last names only; for female grads, your maiden name will appear in this list). (If your name isn't here, either you haven't sent in the info or it got lost in the Black Hole of Cyberspace. If that's the case, and you want more than your address and phone in the book, send a note to Pat Fulton to get another copy of the bio form.)

Last Names: Andringa, Bagg, Britner (David and Larry); Comeau; Crain, Creitz, Cruz, Davis (Dale); Davis (Jean); Dillon; Emery, Fincher, Goree (Sue); Gramling; Groves, Hagan, Hantz, Heath, Hugill, Hutchins, Kapocsi, Kline, Krege, LaBrant, Leigh (Helen); Little, McKenzie, Moody, Nicholson, Payne, Ramsey, Reed (Donna); Reed( Woody Tanner), Reichelderfer, Robertson, Rogers, Rupert, Sheridan, Smith, Stinson, Teague, Tobey, Welch, Wells (Jacqueline); Wells (Barbara).

A Certificate Just for You!

2008-04-11T16:41:00.002-04:00

If you're planning to be at the May 15 gala at the Coliseum (and if you've made a reservation or at least let the planners know that you're coming), you will receive an award certificate, suitable for framing. The certificates (for grads only--not spouses unless the spouse is a grad) will acknowledge your supreme achievement in arriving at 50 years worth of life after high school graduation.

If you haven't passed the word on that you're coming, at least send an email to Pat Fulton (patful01@msn.com) so a certificate will be ready for you.

Thanks.

South Florida Vikings--Lunch Again

2008-04-11T16:36:00.002-04:00

Bobbie Jean Todd-Barnett, newly discovered in Hollywood, has been invited to a lunch at Carolyn Gramling-McAleese's home April 21. Barb Monrose-Parrish has a prior engagement, and Sandra Creitz-Logue has been invited if her schedule allows. Carolyn is preparing the entree and Pat Teague-Fulton will bring the dessert.

Our South Florida group is nowhere the size of the Tampa Bay group but we're glad we've got each other.

Photo Reminder

2008-04-03T21:57:00.002-04:00

If you would like to get a print of the class group photo, to be taken May 15 at the Coliseum, let me know by sending your name and mailing address. (patful01@msn.com)

The cost is $20. (Make the checks out to Graham Photography.) The photo print will be mailed to you at the address you provide.

If you plan to attend the May 15 event, you can bring the check with you to the Coliseum. If you will not be there but you still want a picture, send a check (made out to Graham Photography) and mail it to me at Pat Fulton, 8814 SW 72nd St., G139, Miami, FL 33173. Allow enough time for mailing for the check to reach me before I leave for St. Pete on Tuesday, May 14.

Hello, Joan Madden!

2008-04-03T21:52:00.002-04:00

Our "found" census has increased by one more! Sue Bagg Foreman got the word from Bobbie Todd Barnett that Joan had married Ken Renner (he was one class ahead of us at Northeast) and was living in Longwood, FL. Ken taught at University of Central Fla. and Joan was a medical office manager.

Unfortunately the Renners will be headed to Alaska the week we're re-uniting in St. Pete but they have been sent our class list.

Our "found" total is 172. The still-to-be-found list stands at 73. Ken has said he will forward the list of those still missing to his brothers (Howard--class of 1956--I think; and Arville, class of 1959.)

Larry Britner update

2008-04-02T10:32:00.002-04:00

As many of you know, Larry Britner is recovering from surgery to replace a vein in one of his legs. His brother David Britner sent an update note to Sue Bagg Foreman, who passed it along. As of April 1, Larry was scheduled for an April 2 for a checkup on the surgery and on the vein replacement performed on his other leg at an earlier date.

His computer connection, i.e., DSL and phone, will be up and running in a few days. (Larry moved recently, assisted by Charles Welch and other friends in the St. Pete area.)

David mentioned that frequent visits by Charles and Duane Tobey have been a boost to Larry's spirits. David said that Larry is very appreciative of all the inquiries made by his Northeast classmates.

Changes in St. Petersburg

2008-03-31T12:49:00.002-04:00

If you've been away from St. Pete for more than 10 years, here are some things to look for when you come back to the reunion in May:

Do you remember Beach Drive? It was the downtown, very posh and ritzy shopping district near the downtown waterfront? Well, it's changed a lot. Not only new shops but lots and lots of verrrry tall condos.

On 2nd St. NE there is a huge (well, huge for St. Petersburg) shopping mall called "Baywalk". Has outdoor entertainment, a lot of neat shops, and Muvico theatres. (The theatres you remember from your childhood in St. Pete all died, but Baywalk has revived the joys of a downtown theatre.)

The Bayfront Auditorium you may remember has been torn down and is being rebuilt. I believe that the Salvador Dali Museum is going to move into that new building because it needs more exhibition space.

The old Al Lang Field is being made over into a new baseball playing area. (I haven't seen it myself yet. Perhaps one of you St. Pete residents can send us some description of it.)

There's a new St. Petersburg Historical Museum on the approach to the Pier. You can see a replica there of the plane that Tony Jannus flew across Tampa Bay when the first commercial "airline" in the US got its start.

The Jannus Landing block (Central Ave. on the north, 1st Ave. on the south, 2nd St. on the east, and 3rd St. on the west) has all kinds of restaurants, art places--it was the first area in downtown St. Pete to revive from a long period of decline and decay.

What used to be the Maas Brothers department store has been turned into the Florida International Museum (Just across the street from Jannus Landing).

In the old days, there NO large grocery stores in the immediate downtown area. Now a Publix has opened on the site of the former Dew Cadillac building, just south of Central Ave.

If you were a small kid growing up in St. Petersburg, you may remember the trolleycars on Central Avenue. They went away. But now there is a Downtown Trolley, sponsored by the City, that takes visitors and shoppers to various parts of the downtown area. Give it a try while you're in town.

Sunken Gardens, formerly owned by the Turner family, has been sold to the City and redone. It's located on 4th St. N. around 19th or 20th Avenue.

If you drive west on Central Avenue, from downtown St. Petersburg toward the Gulf Beaches, you will see lots of changes in streetscape, shops, landscaping, etc. The area south of Central Avenue has been revitalized for retail, streetscape, etc.. If you go south on 16th Street, from the stadium toward 18th Ave. and 22th Ave., you will see definite improvements.

Fourth Street North, which used to be filled with motels to accommodate the winter tourists, has redesigned itself and created its own merchant association. Motels have been torn down and replaced by other retail buildings or have been renovated for new uses.

St. Petersburg at a Glance

2008-03-31T12:35:00.004-04:00

The City of St. Petersburg sent me some sample brochures for use at our reunion. One of them has an overview of St. Petersburg's size and other features.

For those of you who have been away for a lot of years, here's a refresher course in your home town:

Population: 253,902
City Median Age: 39 years (Is that one a surprise to you?)
Average Household Income: $52,373
Average Temperature: 73.7 degrees
Waterfront: 260 miles of shoreline along Tampa Bay, Boca Ciega Bay, Gulf of Mexico and Intracoastal waterways.

Sister City: Takamatsu, Japan
Twin City: St. Petersburg, Russia
Number of Employees: 3,190 full and part-time employees, including 540 sworn police officers and 326 uniformed fire personnel

Parks: 137 city parks on 2,300 acres. These include the 245-acre Boyd Hill Nature Preserve (beside Lake Maggiore on the south side of town); Sunken Gardens (now owned by the city, no longer by a private family); Pinellas Trail (47-mile hiking/biking train connecting St. Petersburg with central and north Pinellas County)

Schools: 152,000 students enrolled at 144 public schools, 72 private schools and 5 vocational/technical schools;

Universities: St. Petersburg College (used to be St. Petersburg Junior College); Eckerd College, University of South Florida, Pinellas Technical Education Center, and Stetson University College of Law.

Professional Sports: Tampa Bay Rays (baseball); Buccaneers (football); Lightning (hockey); Storm (Arena Football)

Tallest Building: Bank of America tower, 28 floors, 330,000 square feet

Assorted Memories and Notes

2008-03-31T09:08:00.002-04:00

Did you know that Roger Whitehead set a record for the pole vault at Northeast High that went unbroken for 8 years after he graduated?

Did you know that Roger was ranked third in the state in the pole vault in his senior year?

Were you there the day that Bobby LaBrant came to school in a verrrrry sloppy outfit? Asst. Principal Eric Whitted told him to go home and change into more presentable clothing. Bobby came back, looking handsome in his tuxedo. Mr. Whitted still wasn't satisfied and sent Bobby home again.

Woody (Reed) Tanner remembers the day he wore a white dress shirt with his jeans, but he didn't tuck in the shirt. Well, Mr. Whitted stopped Woody in the hallway and told him to tuck in the shirt. Woody said he would do it later (but he didn't). Mr. Whitted spotted Woody a second time, still with the shirt untucked. The next scene took place in Mr. Whitted's office where Woody had an encounter with the Paddle of Justice.

Woody also recalls Mr. Parks, who taught mechanical drawing. Mr. Parks had a rule (to teach respect for one's equipment) that if your pencil or some other piece of equipment rolled off your desk and onto the floor, you had to stand in the corner. If you committed three such offenses, you had to go to the front of the class, bend over, and receive the Paddle of Justice.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Mr. Parks and Mr. Whitted would probably face lawsuits today for their discipline.

Did you know that Woody (Reed) Tanner was a doctor for 8 years at the Richmond International Speedway, where he met many NASCAR celebrities such as Dale Earnhart (both Sr. and Jr.), Bobby LaBonte, and Jeff Gordon. Woody paid a price, however, for the being around the excitement of the track. Years of the high noise level left their mark on his hearing.

Reunion Update

2008-03-31T08:59:00.003-04:00

Woody (Reed) Tanner, his very gracious wife Carolyn, and I got together for a lunch in Williamsburg, VA recently, and I came away with pages of notes--things to tell you about on the blog.

Do you remember the soft drink called "Nehi"? Well, there is a gift shop in Williamsburg that sells NEHI in grape and orange flavors. Carolyn spotted the bottles on a visit to the shop...there is a possibility that as a souvenir of the Reunion, our returning alumni will each get one of those sodas..because the name is also ours: "NEHI".

Bruce Hugill and Buck Merritt will be in charge of a special Memorial segment of our May 15 program at the Coliseum. It will include a PowerPoint presentation, reminding us of our classmates who cannot be with us. One of them, Joyce Crow, passed on to Dave Larson a sum of money left over from an earlier reunion, which will be used for flowers and for the PowerPoint presentation.

Another of our deceased classmates, George Siemers, will be represented by his sister at the Reunion. She has given a statement to be read, in which George described what his high school class meant to him. We will also hear a small portion on CD of a piano concerto George wrote in response to the Chinese students in Peking who resisted the Chinese army and protested for their freedom.

George's sister wants to set up a scholarship at Northeast High, but the school administration has not responded to her.

Welcome Back, Robert Thorpe!

2008-03-31T08:55:00.003-04:00

Small World Department: Our president Woody (Reed) Tanner got a phone contact recently from Robert Thorpe, who was a freshman and sophomore with us at Northeast before moving to another state. It seems that Thorpe is a consultant with Home Deport in St. Petersburg and works on the Coliseum account.

When he found out about our May 15 event at the Coliseum, he asked Coliseum management for Woody's contact number. Management notified Woody instead, providing them with Thorpe's contact information. Thorpe told Woody he remembered Jo Ann Terrie from his freshman homeroom class. He made reservations to join us for Reunion Night.

Note: A note from Sue Bagg Foreman indicates that it was Jo Ann who was responsible for finding Robert.

The Five Fowls

2008-03-31T08:48:00.002-04:00

Have you heard the story about The Five Fowls? It was a sort-of fraternity formed at Northeast by Roger Whitehead, Woody Reed, Ronnie Murphy, Doug Hotalen and Norm Wagner. A sixth "fowl" was added later: Mickey Moustakas. The mascot was a ruptured duck with his wing in a sling.

There was one day when the "all for one and one for all" theme didn't quite work out. The group agreed that they would shave their heads, dye their heads, and come to school that way the next day. Apparently some of the guys thought better of the idea or got a case of the "chickens", but on the next day, Ronnie Murphy was the only one who showed up with a shaved, dyed head. Ronnie wanted to do serious bodily harm to his "fowl" buddies.

Consumer Alert: Alumni Directory

2008-03-25T20:41:00.002-04:00

Lyda Graser received some correspondence from a "Pinellas County School District Directory Office" in Chesapeake, VA. The correspondence, signed by a Kelly Hardy, asked her to check with them to make sure that her listing was correct.

This directory--or whatever it is--has nothing to do with the Memory Book I am preparing for distribution at the Reunion. It will list class members, information as current as we have it on addresses and phone numbers, and comments submitted on the bio form we sent out. The book will be in a red loose-leaf notebook cover (I'm hoping to get a Viking decal to put on the cover). Cost for materials is $10 (paper, notebooks, copy costs, etc.)

Look Who's Coming, Part II

2008-03-25T20:20:00.004-04:00

Here are more people who have paid reservations for our Reunion Night at the Coliseum, May 15, 2008:

Frank Kapocsi and Pat Smith Kapocsi; Marion Kline Zeiger and Errol Zeiger; Ann Leedy Bartlett and Ben Bartlett; Helen Leigh Wagner and Clint Wagner; Lois Martin Walls and Ray Walls; Shirley McClendon Hutching; Frederick McKenzie; Robert (Buck) Merritt; Margie Meyer Smith and Ed Smith; Barbara Monrose Parrish and Wesley Parrish; Joan Moody Vetter; Arleen Murfin Doney; Ron Murphy and Bobbie Woods; Judy Nicholson; Donna Quick Starr and David Starr; William and Eva Redman; Woody Reed Tanner and Carolyn Tanner; Glenda Joyce; Donna Reed Smith and Charles Ray Smith; Terry Lyn Reichelderfer Stinson and Ed Stinson; Jean Robertson Champ and Jackie Banning; Clarissa Rogers Hamilton and Walter Barnhart; Carol Ann Rupert Buss and Bob Buss; June Sharpe Henry; Evelyn Sheridan Clark; Melody Siplon Jameson; Loretta Smith Franco and Manuel Franco; Walter Smith; Wanda Smith; Helen Smith Manuel and Bill Manuel; Louanne Cecconi; Pat Teague Fulton; Frances Thomas and Larry Thomas; Larry and Windy Thompson; Ronnie Tichenor; Duane Tobey; Robert and Linda Vannatta; Norman Bill Wagner and Carole Simpson; Ben and Joy Wall, Toni Ree, Bob Simpson, Peggy Simpson, Billie Mills, Buddy Whitehead, Diane Whitehead; Charles Welch; Roger and Sarah Whitehead; Bill Argyros, Barbara Argyros, Ronnie Taylor, Beverly Taylor; Jan Wilfong; Jacqueline Wells Dean and Vernon Dean; Barbara Wells Preston; Shirlie Zumwalt Matthews.

Look Who's Coming, Part I

2008-03-25T20:09:00.004-04:00

Class president Woody Reed Tanner has sent along a list of the people who have paid for reservations to the Reunion. The current total is 91 classmates, 39 spouses, and 26 guests.

Because the list is long, you'll find it in a couple of installments. (I'm including all these names because I know that you want to know who to look for at the Coliseum).

Ralph and Brenda Ames; John Krege and Trudy Andringa Krege; Karolyn Sue Bagg Foreman and Steve Foreman; John and Margie Bagg (he's Sue's older brother); Judy Philson Baker, Gary and Phoebe Billing; David Britner; Larry Britner; Skip and Betty Cleveland; Janice Comeau Mineo and Jack Mineo; Mike Coughlin and Clarice Slover Coughlin; Rena Counts Wheeler; Connie Counts Plants and Duane "Duke" Plants; Deanne Karner, David Karner; Sandy Creitz Logue; Carol Curran Rushmore and Robert Rushmore; Angela Custode Stephenson and Don Stephenson; Jean Davis Brown; Sarah Emery LaBrant and Bobby LaBrant; Larry and Judith Fannin; Tom Fincher; Aloyce Flood Larson and David Larson; Robert and Rebecca Forman; Ginny Foster; Larry and Bev Foster; Richard and Nancy Fraze; Carley Freck Bryson and Laird Bryson; Patricia Gant Miller and Phyllis Gant Kolbiaz; Gary Goree; Susan Goree Noyes and Frank Noyes; Carolyn Gramling McAleese; Lyda Graser; Judi Groves Hopkins; Shirley Hadsock Lydic and Bill Lydic; Alice Hantz Johnston; John and Martha Hardman; Pat Harmon Karn and Raymond Karn; Judy Hauser Orman and Carol Latta Milner; Betty Hankey Melcher and David Melcher; Martha Lee Heath Baker and Rudy Baker; Dennis and Ginny Hootman; Doug and Jan Hotalen; Judy Huber Grissette and Tim Grissette; Bruce and Roberta Hugill; Kathy Hutchins Hintz.

To be continued.

Looking for Freebies

2008-03-25T20:07:00.003-04:00

Special Note to St. Petersburg: If you hometown people know of some merchants who would be willing to donate coupons or promotional items for our "goody bags" at the Reunion, drop me a line at patful01@msn.com. It would be good advertising for the merchant and encourage our out-of-town classmates to patronize the merchant.

Currently, we will have Visitors Handbooks from the Chamber of Commerce and some items from the City of St. Petersburg (I haven't received the sample box yet), so any additional items that you can help us find will be icing on the Reunion cake.

Thanks in advance.

Nor'easter November 27, 1958--News In Review

2008-03-24T23:06:00.002-04:00

Here are highlights from the Nor'easter edition of November 27, 1958, just in case you had forgotten:

The DCT Club took up a project of creating a master landscaping plan for the school. Kenneth Sassaman was chairman of the group drawing up the plans.

College Day on Nov. 14 was successful, when students got to meet representatives from colleges and schools such as Duke University, University of Alabama, Antioch College, Florida State University, Southern Technical Institute, and University of Florida.

Marjorie Myers was shown in a photo on page 3, leading a meeting of Future Homemakers of America. The National Honor Society, headed by Jim Willson, announced plans to tap new members during second semester of the school year.

David Larson and Aloyse Larson were an item in the "Shootin' the Breeze" gossip column. Surprise! Surprise! They were going steady!

In another juicy item, Louis Ateek opened Karolyn Bagg's purse in the hallway, and a banana fell out.

At the Homecoming Dance, queen Sandy Creitz and escort Johnny Barker had a moment of frustration. During the Queen's Dance, balloons were supposed to tumble all over the place. But they didn't. So when the dance was over, Johnny came to the rescue and released the balloons with some human intervention.

Mickey Moustakas was profiled in a sports article, with the headline "Pint-Sized Pigskin Player Makes TDs with Ease; Has Been Active in Sports Since Grammar School." During that current football season, Mickey had racked up 13 points as a halfback. He told the reporter he planned to major in physical education at University of Florida or Florida State.

Reunion Update

2008-03-24T14:34:00.003-04:00

Girls Night Out (aka Viking Study Group): So far 12 bold and daring Viking 58 women have RSVP'ed a yes for the "study group" session at Ann Leedy Bartlett's house.

Bowling Details: Would someone who has the specific details for the bowling session please email the date and time to me at patful01@msn.com so that I can include it in the blog? I know that plans are being made, but I need more specifics. Thanks.

Summit Meeting: Because I'll be making a trip to Virginia to see my daughter and grandkids from March 26 to March 30, I'll be getting together with Woody Reed Tanner and Carolyn for a mini-reunion. If there are any big announcements from our class president, I'll be sure to include them in the blog when I get back March 30. (Well, give me a day to recover from the grandkids.)

Note to Poets: Do NOT Recycle!

2008-03-22T16:06:00.002-04:00

Tom Fincher shares a poem and an accompanying story, which has a serious moral for you men who want to charm your women with a few lines of verse.

While in Chicago, he wrote a love poem for a certain woman who was his "significant other". The poem brought him a great deal of "positive reinforcement" from the lady in his life.

At a later point, that relationship moved on and so did Tom. He moved back to Pinellas County and found another "significant other". Remembering the benefits the poem had earned him in an earlier episode of his life, he changed the title of the poem to the name of the woman then his current amour. Things went well, until she discovered the original copy stored away somewhere.

The relationship came to a screeching halt. But the poem is worth sharing.

For The One I Love
By
Tom Fincher

Your presence stirs a
Feeling I thought gone
From me

Your touch brings to me an
Awareness unrealized
For years

Your being carries me
To a place
Long forgotten

Your embrace
Heals my wounds
Beneath their scars

While loving you
I hold your hand
And feel your soul
Flowing with mine

After our love
The serenity of
Your face
Takes me to a
Place of
Gentleness

Our past lives
And former loves
Matter not

Only us
Only now
Finding
Sharing
Together

We Have a Friend at City Hall

2008-03-20T16:21:00.003-04:00

The City of St. Pete has an absolutely wonderful person in the Marketing Department whose name I want to pass along to you, along with a website address.

First, the website: www.stpete.org When you arrive at the home page, click on the Visitors tab at the top of the page and find a menu with topics such as Downtown, Attractions, Events, Beaches, Culture and Arts, Maps, Hotels, Calendar of Events. If you're connected to the Internet, you can take a look at your old home town, no matter where you're living now. The cityscape has changed, what with new construction, reconstruction of older buildings, and new land uses we never thought of.

Now, the wonderful person in the Marketing Department: Kim Tyre; 727-551-3001; email to kim.tyre@stpete.org; fax 727-892-5372.

She is warm and friendly and ready to provide us with brochures and other items for our "good bags" at the Information Center at the Hampton Inn.

If you're looking for information on the City or you need some assistance relating to a Reunion event you're working on, Kim can be a resource.

Susan McGowan-Ackerman: Your Thoughts and Prayers

2008-03-20T10:29:00.003-04:00

Our 1958 NEHS class stands with each other when various needs arise. Here's one for your thoughts and prayers: Susan McGowan-Ackerman is about to be a caregiver to her daughter in Seattle who will donate a kidney to Susan's son-in-law. They will each require about six weeks of special care following the surgeries.

We will miss Susan at the reunion, but she has her priorities straight. You can drop her a note of encouragement at sumac612@peoplepc.com

A Reunion "Study" Group (No Guys Allowed!)

2008-03-19T22:49:00.004-04:00

An email invitation is making the rounds for the "Girls Night Out". Officially, it's called the NEHI '58 Reunion Study Group (wink-wink).

Here are the details and the contact numbers if you're a female Viking and you want to be in on the fun. The "study group" (translate that "party") starts at 6 pm, Wednesday, May 14. Place is Ann Leedy Bartlett's home at 5947 Bayou Grande (in Shore Acres).

For more information you can call 727-527-7050 or 407-342-3242. You can contribute to the "discussion" by bringing junk food, some sodas, or wine, or other appropriate party food. We will kick our shoes off, laugh and giggle a lot, and spend our time in "girl talk". (You guys wouldn't understand...and you probably wouldn't be interested even if you DID understand. We will not be discussing the NFL or NBA drafts, pitching averages, NASCAR rankings, or the latest tool sale at Home Depot. So you guys can see that you would bored out of your minds if you were there.)

If you're interested in coming, call one of the phone numbers listed above so that a half-way accurate count can be made ahead of time. If you're not sure, but you think there is a chance you can come, call one of the contact numbers and indicate that, too.

Names in the Memory Book

2008-03-19T08:54:00.004-04:00

If you see your name listed here, we have a bio form on file for you, to use in preparation of our class Memory Book. If your name isn't listed, there will still be a basic entry for you, consisting of the database information obtained from Sue Bagg-Foreman (name, address, email, etc.)

Thanks to the following who have sent in their bio information: Trudy Andringa-Krege, Sue Bagg-Foreman, Jean Brown-Davis, David Britner, Larry Britner, Linda Crain-Cocks, Sandra Creitz-Logue, Rose Marie Cruz-Martin, Dale Davis, Anne Gloria Dillon-Langan, Tom Fincher, Sue Goree-Noyes, Carolyn Gramling-McAleece, Judi Groves-Hopkins, Ron Hagan, Alice Ruth Hantz-Johnson, Martha Lee Heath-Baker, Bruce Hugill, Kathy Hutchins-Hintz, Mardi Kline-Zeiger, Frank Kapocsi, John Krege, Helen Leigh-Wagner, Bob and Sarah LaBrant, Bruce Little, Fred McKenzie, Joan Moody-Vetter, Judy Nicholson, Virginia Payne-Pauley, Rosa Lee Ramsey-McKnight, Woody Reed-Tanner, Terry Reichelderfer-Stinson, Jean Robertson-Champ, Clarice Rogers-Hamilton, Jean Sheridan-Clark, Pat Smith-Kapocsi, Ed Stinson, Duane Tobey, Charles Welch, and Barbara Wells-Preston.

People News

2008-03-18T22:38:00.003-04:00

Larry Britner came through his surgery successfully at Bay Pines VA Hospital and is now back at home. He sends his thanks for the cards, calls, and visits.

Lois Martin Walls writes that she and husband Ray can only be with us for the May 15 event because their 12-year-old granddaughter is living with them and will be in the midst of final exams. Ray just had cataract surgery so Lois has been doing all the driving.

Barb Wells Preston attended the memorial service for Jim Willson and sends this description of the experience: The services were as I would expect, purely Jim! It was proper, polite, warm, friendly, comforting, and even funny at times. Most of the laughs were from the tales the minister told about Jim and his neighbors and about Linda and Jim taking care of the church's rose gardens. The gardens are in perfect condition under Jim and Linda's tender, loving, hands-on care. They are not in bloom right now but I plan to go over and take pictures when my roses begin to bloom. The rose beds at the church showed healthy bushes with lots of new growth and small buds beginning to form. I believe that Linda will continue to tend the rosebuds. Did they teach rose gardening at North Ward?

Len Scipioni (Scott) writes from Australia that he regrets he can't be with us for the reunion. His daughter is graduating on May 15, and there is no way he and his family can make it to St. Petersburg. But he wants us to know that he is and will be thinking of us.

Mardi Kline Zeiger is in Israel right now, visiting friends and family.

Tom Fincher is polishing up a manuscript for a novel to send off to a publisher, mid-way in another novel, and making notes for two or three more novels. You can still get a copy of his first novel The Pepper Tree Demon, which takes place in St. Petersburg, by dropping him a line and a check for $15. His email is thetomcatman@aol.com If you want the author's autograph, just ask.

Reunion Reservation Numbers

2008-03-18T22:32:00.003-04:00

There's good news to report on the paid reservations for our May reunion. Sue Bagg-Foreman writes that as of March 17, 148 paid reservations are in! This includes 79 classmates, 37 mates, and 20 guests.

Sue says that the 79 classmates total is about 20 more than had been located one year ago.

Hampton Inn had told us that we needed to have at least 8 reservations at their hotel in order to get the Information Room we have told you about. Well, to date (March 15, 2008), the bookings at the Hampton are up to 20.

We know that more reservations will come in between now and May, but the current numbers promise a huge success in something that started as a long-shot but an act of faith by some very hard-working class representatives.

Your List of Things To Do

2008-03-13T22:04:00.003-04:00

If you're planning on being a part of a once-in-a-lifetime 50th anniversary in St. Petersburg, here are some details to take care of:

1. Send your reservation with a check for $70 to Woody Reed Tanner. (The complete address is in an earlier posting.)
2. Send your bio to Pat Fulton (patful01@msn.com) for insertion in the Memory Book. (More details on what to include in the bio are in an earlier posting.)
3. Send photos and scanned images of other items you'd like included in the visual presentation at the Coliseum to Barb Wells Preston. (See an earlier posting for the address.)
4. Send to Pat Fulton an email with these details: date of arrival, date of departure, cell phone number where you can be reached during the reunion days, and if desired, where you'll be staying in the St. Pete area.
5. Do an archaeological dig in those boxes in your attic, garage, storage area, etc. for items you can bring to share in the NEHS display--pompoms, ticket stubs, letter sweaters, helmets, award ribbons, movie posters, anything that will remind us of the good old days.
6. Make a list of landmarks in St. Pete that you'd like to check out one more time--to see how they've changed or if they're still there. (Bad news: Toot n Tellit at Haines Road and 16th St. is long gone. So is the old Municipal Pier as you remembered it, replaced by an "upside down triangle". )
7. Strictly optional: a diet, hair transplants, update of hair styles, new makeup (for women only). If none of these are possible, we don't care. We just want to see you.

Orlando FL has its own mini-reunion

2008-03-13T21:45:00.002-04:00

One more group of NEHS 58 grads has met for a mini-reunion--this time in the Orlando, FL area. In the photo sent along by Sue Bagg-Foreman, we see the distinguished charter members: (Left to right) Bill Parke, Celeste Cipriano Northrup, Sue Bagg-Foreman and Buck(y) Merritt.

To make sure that they'd recognize each other when they met at Seasons 52 restaurant, they all wore red. A special dispensation was made for Bucky because he's an Episcopal priest now, with more conservative requirements for his attire. Incidentally, he combined his divinely-ordered responsibilities with a career in insurance/marketing and still has not retired completely from either career.

Celeste sewed some school letters she had received (big Ns) inside her jacket. She reminded the group that she was the roller skating queen of the class, beside her groundbreaking feat of riding to school on a scooter each day during her senior year. From scooter riding she went on to medical school and recently retired from Jackson Memorial in Miami. She and her husband live in Casselberry, north of Orlando, and have a river place on the St. Johns River between Lake Harney and Lake Monroe.

Bill Parke was a member of the NEHS swim team, doing the backstroke and the individual medley for the team that went to state finals. He remembers the bus rides to the meets, but preferred the open-air feel of scooters and cycles. He worked at Publix and launched an entrepreneurial career as a windshield cleaner at a 4th Street gas station. After he left us on Graduation Night, he went on to Penn State, a radio/broadcasting career, and is now in commercial real estate.

And Sue--we don't have to tell you much about her because you already know that she is one of the driving forces behind the Big Reunion. She recently returned from Antarctica (try and top THOSE stories) with a zillion photos to share. By the way, she too was a backstroker for the NEHS swim team. And then there was that little honor of being Miss St. Petersburg.

If You Can't Make It to the Reunion....

2008-03-13T21:36:00.002-04:00

Perhaps it won't be possible for some of you to join us in St. Petersburg in May for the reunion, but there is a way you can be with us...

If you send some photos and a message to the rest of us, Barb Wells Preston and Bruce Hugill will make sure that they are part of the PowerPoint presentation that will be a large display at the Coliseum.

For ideas on what to send along, take a look at the posting that appears after this one: The Parade of Memories.

Here are some ideas: photos from past reunions, college graduation pictures, a photo taken when you won an award, military photos, your engagement and/or wedding announcement.

If you can send us a photo and a "hello" message, pass it along (and please do it soon) to Barb at bwpmail@bellsouth.net or mail it to Barbara W. Preston, 1226 Barcelona Dr., Mobile, AL 36693-4403.

A Parade of Memories

2008-03-13T21:25:00.002-04:00

Here's one more reason that your evening at the Coliseum in St. Petersburg on May 15 this year will be special:

While you are standing at the registration table, waiting to sign in, you can look up and see a large-screen presentation (via PowerPoint for you computer literates) that will bring back memories. Assuming that enough of you send contributions of pictures to Barbara Wells Preston, there will be a lengthy visual parade of places you used to know, classmates as they looked "back then", and even some reminders of your grade school days.

Barb is currently accepting the items you submit, labeling the people in the photos (so we won't have to guess), and then Bruce Hugill will create the PowerPoint production.

Here are some items we're looking for:

Old newspaper clippings, school athletic letters or cheerleading letters, prom favors, helmets, ribbons won, college graduation pictures, pictures for special recognition you received, anything saved from the good old days at NEHS.

Scan and email the photos, clippings, articles, etc. to Barb at bwpmail@bellsouth.net. Phone contact is at 1-251-661-3756 (home) or 1-251-656-5588 (cell). Mailing address is Barbara W. Preston, 1226 Barcelona Drive, Mobile, AL 36693-4403.

If you plan to bring some items to the reunion (as opposed to scanning and emailing) let Barb know what you're bringing. Items will be shown on display boards with locking plastic ties. They will not be left unattended at any time.

She's looking for old cheerleading or majorette uniforms or maybe any other Northeast "uniform" that might have been part of your life.

Photos of Antarctica

2008-03-07T16:17:00.002-05:00

How many people you know have been to Antarctica, that continent of ice down under, and returned with a boatload of photos?

Sue Bagg-Foreman has done just that, and now she's sharing her color photos of Antarctic scenery.

Check in at web.mac/sueforeman. The slide show changes every day.

Latest News on May Reunion

2008-03-07T16:02:00.002-05:00

Class president Woody Reedy Tanner reports that to date (March 7) 80 people have confirmed via payment that they will be at the May class reunion.

In case some of you have forgotten who to make the check out to, here are the details:

Up to March 15: a check for $70, made out to NEHI 58 Reunion. Mail it to Woody Reed Tanner, 3325 Sailview Drive, Midlothian, VA 23112. If you have other questions for Woody, you can phone him at 804-639-2443. (Reunion Tickets at the door will cost you $85.)

More news: Because you expressed so much interest in a bus tour of St. Petersburg, Woody has reserved a bus (36 people maximum) for a tour that will start at the Hampton Inn on Beach Drive at 9 am on Thursday, May 15, and end up at 1 pm with a lunch. The itinerary will be specially designed for those of you who haven't been in the old home town in a number of years.

Our reunion Information Room, located in the Hampton Inn, will let you pre-register, receive your official name tag, a gift bag of souvenir goodies, and check in on whether your friends have hit town or not. The Information Room will be open from 2 pm to 5 pm on Wednesday, May 14 and from 2 pm to 5 pm on Thursday, May 15. When you stop by to check in, you can help yourself to coffee, sodas, and pastries.

Girls Night Out, the Pot Luck dinner, and the picnic are all events that a number of you indicated interest in, but the details for these events are being handled by people other than Woody. If you are one of those coordinators, send details to patful01@msn.com so that we can publicize the events in the blog.

At the May 15 Reunion dinner/dance at the Coliseum, Woody will be the emcee for the program. Bucky Merritt will be in charge of a special memorial recognition for our deceased classmates.

Woody says about six people have signed up for a golf outing on Friday, May 16. Larry Britner is in charge of details for a breakfast on Sunday, May 18.

Making Connections

2008-03-05T09:42:00.002-05:00

Are you coming to the reunion in May in St. Petersburg?
Would you like other classmates to be able to "find" you?

Here's an offer:

Carolyn Gramling McAleece and I will be staffing an "Information Room" at the Hampton Inn Hotel on Beach Drive. We can picture that some of you will stop by the room to check in and to find out if particular classmates are coming, and if so, when will they get into town and where will they be staying.

If you would like to make this information available, so that we can pass it along, send the following to me at patful01@msn.com:

Your name
Where you will be staying in St. Pete (hotel, friend's house, with relatives, etc.)...You do not have to include the address if you wish to have privacy.

Your cell phone number (if you have one and if you will be bringing it to the reunion)

The date you will arrive in town and the date you will leave.

Again, this is all voluntary information. We will compile a master list of these details and keep it available at the Information Center.

We also hope to have some Chamber of Commerce brochures on sights to see in case you want to make some side trips.

Nothing "Senior" Here!

2008-03-05T08:37:00.003-05:00

Joan (Moody) Vetter and husband Ted do not fit the stereotype of retired people in rocking chairs. Joan sent this photo of the couple at a church sock hop. Note the Viking emblem on Joan's sweater and the motorcycle behind them. They fit right in with the rest of our 1958 class, just loaded with people who are active, involved, and "where it's happening" (to use a well-worked phrase).

A Bargain at $10

2008-03-04T07:52:00.002-05:00

Someone asked me the other day how much I paid for my 1958 Viking Log. I couldn't remember.

Well, the Oct. 11, 1957 edition of the Nor'easter has the answer: $10. An article in that issue mentions a $10 package fee for seniors. The fee covered rental of cap and gown, the tassel, a diploma cover, a Viking Log and class dues. Imagine what that would cost us today?

Also in the Oct. 11 edition: The annual Homecoming celebration would be on Nov. 1, with a football game played against Tampa's Chamberlain High School. A parade of cars and floats would feature the Homecoming Queen and eight attendants. Here are some of the people heading up various committees for Homecoming: Martha Heath, prizes; Kathy Hutchins, dance; Sharon Thompson, general chair; Jan Duggar, general co-chair; Ralph Buxton, parade; Judy Williams, election of queen; and Trudy Andringa, coronation.

Students who had received "bids" to join a service club attended a evening session for "Get To Know Your Clubs". Among those representing the various clubs were Ann Leedy, Rojans; Ralph Spaulding, Junior Exchange; Ann Taylor, Anchor Club; Ralph Buxton, Key Club; Carol Rupert, Civinettes; and Trudy Andringa, Keyettes.

Another article in that newspaper issue profiled the Northeast majorettes. The seniors in the group were Rose Cruz and Carol Rupert.

In October of 1957, we were sharing quarters with students from Meadowlawn Middle School while they waited for the construction of their new school to be completed. Several students from Northeast were asked their opinion of this arrangement. Their responses were priceless.
Bob Vannatta: Lovely. Jan Wilfong: I like the short periods because you have more time to do your homework and still have time for fun. Mike Reed: I love it!

Three Views of Cuba

2008-03-03T12:33:00.002-05:00

When I was in Mrs. Shrum's Spanish classes at Northeast (I think I had her for Spanish I and II), one of the annual events was a field trip (usually during the spring) to Cuba. My family was never able to afford the ticket, but I remember hearing the students and Mrs. Shrum talk about the fun they had visiting Havana, Veradero Beach, a cigar factory, and other places on the island.

We all graduated in 1958; in 1959 the trips came to an eternal end because Fidel Castro (at first viewed as a "savior" from the harsh rule of Fulgencio Batista) came into power and complete control of Cuba. It was no longer a "friendly" place for American students to visit on a holiday.

Fast-forward to the 1970s, when I was living in the Panama Canal Zone, married to a Canal Zone policeman. Through Panamanian friends of ours, we became aware that Cuba had special agents working in Panama, influencing the school system, the formation of agricultural co-ops for the farmers, and the interrogation and torture of people who opposed Gen. Omar Torrijos' dictatorship. The Cubans worked closely with Manuel Noriega, then in charge of what was known as "the G-2", the secret police.

Although I can speak Spanish, I do not have the ability to detect one country's Spanish accent from another. But our Panamanian friends knew a Cuban accent when they heard it. And some who underwent torture at the hands of the G-2 recognized Cuban voices in the room.

Fast-forward to 2001 and onward: I now live in Miami, FL, where Fidel Castro is a well-known but unseen presence among those in the community. A warning to "Anglos" (non-Hispanic): If you come to Miami, and you hear a discussion about Cuba and Castro, do more listening than talking. The subject of Cuba is a very touchy, highly electric topic for the Cubans here--who are capable of taking all sorts of points-of-views. (The older generation probably thinks about returning to Cuba if Castro dies. Second generation Cubans may see Cuba as a place to visit, but no longer a place to make a home and pursue a career. The tricky part is, when you are in a group of Cubans, you never know just what their views are, and if you as an Anglo are outspoken in what they think is the WRONG direction, you could get yourself in a lot of trouble.)

Cubans here keep in touch with their friends and relatives in Cuba through phone calls, people who visit and bring news, etc. When there was a rumor that Castro had died (unfortunately, untrue) people went out into Calle Ocho (8th St.) and began banging pots and pans in celebration. More recently, when Raul Castro took over power because Fidel said "I want to step down", the Cubans have adopted a wait-and-see attitude.

The Manuel Noriega who terrorized Panama while I was there is sitting in a jail here in Miami, trying to avoid extradition to France for trial on other charges, once his prison sentence here is finished.

I first became aware of Cuba through my Northeast High Spanish classes. Now I live in a place where Cuba is an intricate part of the culture and conversation and community awareness.

I have included these comments on Cuba (and they're just my own observations and opinions) because US newspapers don't give much coverage to Latin America unless there is a government overthrow, a volcano eruption, a bloodbath in the streets, or the death of a leader. I realized when I moved to Panama that many Americans viewed Spanish-speakers as those who wear serapes, sombreros, and eat tacos all day. There is so much more to Latin America than that.

James Willson, 1940-2008

2008-03-03T12:20:00.003-05:00

Jim Willson has died March 2 after a battle with cancer. Here are the details of the obituary, sent in by his wife Linda Matthews Willson.

Jim was born in St. Petersburg, graduated with honors from Northeast High School, and earned a B.S. degree in business from Florida State University in 1962. He was a Founder member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, president of Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity, and a member of Phi Theta Kappa honorary society.

In 1963 he graduated from FSU with an MBA degree and was inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma national honorary society.

He had a long career in retailing, including Bonwit Teller in New York City; divisional merchandise manager at Ivey's in Charlotte, NC, and at Yeilding in Birmingham, AL. After retirement, he moved to Fairhope, AL, where he was an active member of St. James Episcopal Church, the Nix Center and an avid bridge player and traveler.

He is survived by his wife Linda M. Willson of Fairhope; a son, Marine Lt. Col. Brent S. Willson and wife Radka, Newport, RI; a daughter, Laura Schweitzer and husband Dane; granddaughter Olivia Schweitzer and grandson Ian Schweitzer, all of Folsom, CA; and a sister Jane Lee Bullock and family, of Columbus, GA.

A memorial service will be held at St. James Episcopal Church March 8 at 8 am.

EDITOR'S NOTE: I knew Jim (he was "Jimmy" then) since kindergarten at North Ward Elementary, and I believe we both attended Sunday school at First Methodist Church. He always had a head of thick black curls and a big smile. He was always one of the better students in our class, very polite, very conscientious.

His father was CEO of the old Willson-Chase Department Store on Central Ave and 5th St. His mother was a very warm and gracious lady who was the room mother for a number of our classes at North Ward. At one point, the Willsons lived in that beautiful stone house at the corner of 9th St. N. and 38th Ave.

His wife Linda was also one of my North Ward classmates from the very beginning--kindergarten through 6th grade, although she went to St. Pete High while Jim went to Northeast.

Nor'easter News Clips, Part II

2008-02-27T17:05:00.002-05:00

Here are some news items you may have forgotten from the Sept. 27, 1957, issue of the school newspaper, The Nor'easter:

The Student Council announced plans to raffle off a British bike they had won in a competition to collect paper wrappers. Jim Brickley was president that year; Barbara Monrose was secretary, and Kathy Hutchins and Ralph Spaulding were among the councilmen-at-large.

William Nimroth, our senior social studies teacher, was appointed to the State Board of Education to serve on the Committee for Revision of the Social Studies Curriculum. (Say that phrase fast 3 times with peanut butter in your mouth!)

Marion Kline wrote an opinion piece with the headline "Mom and Pop vs. Bop". It was about the differing tastes in music between teenagers and their parents. Here's a quote from the closing paragraphs: Our lives sometimes seem so hectic we have to use bop to relieve the tension. And this our parents would deny. Don't worry, teenager. We know the world isn't going to the dogs, even if our parents try to claim it is. Most of us know that we'll grow into adulthood with a broader and better perspective on life than most of our elders have. And whether it's bop or a swoony-type love ballad, you'll still live, think and love music; sooner or later, your parents might even come to like it!

In the gossip column, called "Shooting the Breeze", one item went like this: "Roger Whitehead and Gary Lyens have both been running around with black eyes they say they got in football practice." And another item: "Celeste Cipriano must be having trouble with her homework. --her parakeet has been helping her!" And there's this comment about Rena Counts: "Her slumber party must've been really lively! What's this about smoking pretzels?" On the going steady list at the time were Barbara Menees and Ron Crosley, and Hazel Davis and Fred Archibald.

The Night I Met William F. Buckley

2008-02-27T16:57:00.003-05:00

Feb. 27: William F. Buckley died today, well known for his books, his TV show ("Firing Line") and his ability to use 5-syllable words all in a row.

I met him one night in the Panama Canal Zone, an experience I won't forget. As an English major, I admired Mr. Buckley's ability to put words together. Buckley was visiting in Panama (the treaty discussions were going on then), and a friend of mine, Doug Schmidt (president of the Pacific Civic Council) invited Buckley to his house for a small get-together.

As I was waiting for the man to arrive (feeling like waiting for a "rock star"), I wondered what the experience would be like. Well, I couldn't have predicted it.

Buckley, a very tall and thin man, strode into Doug's Florida room, tossed his coat jacket on the couch, and the first words out of his mouth were, "Can someone get me a beer?" I decided that this man was a real human being.

I didn't agree with him on his views on the new Panama Canal treaty (he was all for it), but I never forgot what it was like to be in the same room with a down-to-earth celebrity.

Pepper Tree Demon

2008-02-27T06:18:00.002-05:00

Tom Fincher, one of our classmates who's a published author, reports he's getting orders for his novel Pepper Tree Demon, a story with its setting in Florida (including landmarks you'll recognize).

Just to give you some "flavor" from the book, here is an excerpt from the prologue, spoken in the voice of the story's narrator:

....The dead relative is all part of the Randolph family history. That's my clan. My name is Graham. It seems that Al Randolph, the man who would someday become my grandfather, was fishing in a Tampa Bay inlet called Coffee Pot Bayou. To his way of thinking, fishing beat working any day.

Don't ask me why a body of water would be named after a coffee pot. It doesn't look like one. At least not one I've ever seen. Maybe somebody threw one in there one time.

You just never know about some things....Anyway, one beautiful sunshiny Florida day, Gramps is fishing from the Snell Isle Bridge which crosses the bayou to Snell Isle, where a lot of rich people live.

Hey! I know this one. It's called Snell Isle after Mr. Snell who developed the place, but back when I was a kid I used to think people were mispronouncing snail. Never said I was a smart kid. Come to think of it nobody else did either. But what I lacked in smarts I made for with lack of ambition.

Tom's storytelling is a fun read. You can order up your own copy for $15 by contacting Tom at thetomcatman@aol.com And if you ask, he just might autograph the book for you.

News That's 50 Years Old

2008-02-27T04:37:00.003-05:00

I just KNEW that I had a bound book of Nor'easters in my boxes of stuff--the newspaper I edited my senior year at Northeast. And sure enough, last week, I dug far enough down in one of the boxes to find the collection of a now-yellowed year's worth of issues.

Here is a selection of items from the Sept. 3, 1957 issue. (More snippets from other issues will follow in later postings.)

George Salzman, Harry Steinhardt, Jim Willson, Jan Duggar, and Ralph Spaulding represented our high school at the June 23-29 meeting of Boys State at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Girls State delegates at the June 15-22 meeting, also in Tallahassee, included Trudy Andringa, Clarice Slover, and Sandra Creitz.

A front page picture on the Sept. 3 edition shows Barbara Monrose and Jim Brickley being welcomed back for a new school year by principal John Sexton. Some new department heads in the faculty included Merle Morgan, replacing Douglas Taylor who transferred to St. Petersburg High School; Mrs. Wentworth, replacing Mr. Sharpe as head of the social studies department, and Frank Bowles, replacing Mr. Swan as head of the science department.

The "Nehi Notable" feature in the Sept. 3 edition focused on Karolyn Bagg, who at age 7, had been the St. Petersburg Swimming Queen. For her senior year, she had an ambitious schedule of English IV, senior social studies, Current World Affairs, Public Speaking, art, physiology, and cheerleading. (And you thought YOU were busy in your senior year!)

The first football game of that season was going to be against Tarpon Springs on Sept. 27. The Vikings hoped to improve on their previous year's record of 2 wins and 8 losses.

Another news item mentions that these students had been junior DJs at radio station WTSP: Marion Kline, Gene Glennon, Melody Siplon and Bruce Little.

On the list of staff members for the Nor'easter for this edition were: News Editor, Marion Kline; Managing Editors, Linda Crain and Pat Williams; Sports Editor Bob Loeber, Ad Editor, Gene Glennon, and Proofreader, June Sharpe.

One Good Party Deserves Another One!

2008-02-27T04:30:00.003-05:00

The South Florida Branch of Northeast High 1958 Alumni had such a good time (10 am to 5 pm) at their Feb. 23 get-together that another one is in the planning stages already.

Carolyn Gramling McAleece has offered her condo in Hollywood as the site for the next go-round, but the date hasn't been set yet. Barbara Monrose Parrish hosted the first session, and her husband Wes was such a lively part of the roundtable discussion that Carolyn just knew her husband George should get to meet Wes. Sandra Creitz-Logue of Boca Raton and Pat Teague-Fulton of Miami will also be on the guest list.

Their Names Are In The Book!

2008-02-24T09:11:00.002-05:00

If your name appears in the list below, your bio has been received for appearance in the Memory Book you can purchase at the Reunion. Those who do not submit bios will still have their names, addresses, email addresses, etc., included.

Here are the wonderful people who have sent in responses to the bio form:
Trudy Andringa, David Britner, Larry Britner, Rose Marie Cruz, Dale Davis, Jean Davis, Tom Fincher, Susan Goree, Judi Groves, Bruce Hugill, Kathy Hutchins, Frank Kapocsi, Mardi Kline, John Krege, Bob and Sarah LaBrant, Helen Leigh,Bruce Little, Fred McKenzie, Judy Nicholson, Virginia Payne, Rosa Lee Ramsey, Terry Reichelderfer, Jean Robertson, Clarissa Rogers, Pat Smith, Jean Sheridan, Eddie Stinson, Duane Tobey, Charles Welch.

If you need a refresher on what to include in the bio info, here's a summary: Name, current address, family (spouse, kids, grandkids, etc.), what you've been doing since high school graduation, education, military experience, places (cities, countries) where you have lived, types of work you have done, three achievements in your life that you are proud of, favorite teachers at Northeast, any advice you would give to the 2008 Northeast graduates.

Feel free to include or exclude any information. Send it to patful01@msn.com

Greetings from South Florida

2008-02-23T18:03:00.002-05:00

Inspired by our Tampa Bay classmates, four of us (plus one spouse) held our first gathering today (Feb. 23) at home of Barbara Monrose Parrish in Coconut Creek. The reunion started around 10 am and went on for 4 hours before anybody picked up one of the Viking Logs to look at the historic photos.

Here's an update on Sandra Creitz-Logue, Carolyn Gramling McAleese, and Barbara.
Sandra, now living in downtown Boca Raton, recently retired as a high school social studies teacher and now heads her condo association. One of her recent victories was getting the needed repairs for the building following Hurricane Wilma. Sandra, Barbara and Barb's husband Wes Parrish all knew each other at University of Florida. Sandy later transferred to Florida Southern College in Lakeland to complete her education degree.

Sandra raised her two sons in Michigan and still "commutes" there frequently to spend time with them and her grandchildren. One of her "pranks" in high school was placing For Sale signs in front of Northeast High School.

Barb passed around childhood school photos of people such as Trudy Andringa, Madelyn Ringelspaugh, Aloyse Flood, Barbara Wells, and others. She also passed around a book that Dave Larson wrote, filled with anecdotes from his youth and from his marriage and family life with his wife Aloyse Flood Larson. (Editor's note: He's an excellent writer! In high school, he seemed to be an all-time guy's guy, but he was walking around with literary talent.)

Barb also shared a memory book that was produced for a Northeast reunion about 5 years ago, in which graduates from the classes of 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1958 all met together. Amazing photos, and once again, Sue Bagg-Foreman was one of the shakers and movers for the event. Former Northeast coaches Gerry Ramsberger and Lee Benjamin were speakers at the event.

For those of you (like me) who live in a "citified" environment--where vegetables come from the grocery store's produce department--Wes had an amazing vegetable garden--with real live plants growing in it. He's been doing this for the 30 years that he and Barb have lived in Coconut Creek, and his crops include large tomatoes, cucumbers, black-eyed peas, and lima beans.

One of the all-time funny stories shared at the gathering was from Carolyn Gramling McAleese. Seems that while she was enrolled in nurse's training at St. Petersburg Junior College and living in a dormitory at Mound Park Hospital, (now Bayfront Medical Center), she and her classmates encountered a very interesting person. The soft drink delivery guy who came to the dorm had a habit of ---shall we say, displaying his "assets" in public--and it only took the student nurses three months to report the offender to hospital authorities!

Bruce Little: FBI Agent and Ordained Pastor

2008-02-23T17:54:00.003-05:00

Bruce Little, writing from his home in Jackson, TN, gets the All-Around Nice Guy Award. Currently he is the chief caregiver for his wife Jeannie, who experienced a stroke in 2002, leaving her weakened on the left side, and who more recently suffered a stress fracture to her right leg, leaving her confined to a wheelchair 24/7. Gradually, she is learning to walk again, but Bruce is giving her all his attention.

His work includes being a staff pastor for Visitation Ministry for Grace United Methodist Church in Jackson, TN and a special Contract Investigator for the FBI and other federal agencies.

He says his nickname at Northeast High was "Charlie Brown", a name given to him by drama classmates. They took pity on Bruce's supposedly "innocent" nature, but Bruce says that appearance was just a "clever ruse I used to get popularity with the girls. It worked well!"

One of the things he's grateful for in his life goes like this: The grace of God through Jesus Christ who lifted me from a broken state (physically and emotionally following an injury), dusted me off, saw some value still left, gave me a new calling, reshaped me to a new purpose and permitted me to share the Good News that what He did and is doing me He can do for anyone. No "achievement" there--just the grace of God.

Favorite teacher: Bob Challener became my model hero for all who are teachers in spite of the odds--where would any of us be without their encouragement and service?

Duane Tobey's NEHS Memories

2008-02-23T17:43:00.002-05:00

Duane Tobey, a former worker at the U.S. Embassy in London, England and the Tampa Field Office of the FBI, has these memories of his days at Northeast High:

Being in the band back in those days, it seems we were always getting on a chartered bus or schoolbus and going to either an away football game or a parade in another city or perhaps a band contest across the state.

And usually once a year, a trip to Daytona or Orlando was a perk if we could raise the money, but usually our parents got stuck with coming up with most of it. I'm sure most of the band members remember these trips...Most paired up with a girlfriend or boyfriend and this was a good chance to "make out" on the bus.

Favorite Faculty Member? It has to be Mr. Beeman, our band director. I got to know his family quite well, and his sons and I became close friends. When you think about how much he had to put into what he had to do and the responsibilities he had, I don't know how he had the time or patience. I guess we had a band made up of 70-100 of us and we weren't all "good" all the time. Trying to keep us in line when we went on trips wasn't easy. And trying to teach us music and come up with new halftime shows every week and compete in band contests would be more than most teachers would even imagine. His work load had to be tremendous.

One of Duane's favorite achievements is "being a pilot, accomplishing all my ratings and passing my physical, even at this age!!"

The Gift of Laughter

2008-02-21T17:08:00.002-05:00

I have always enjoyed laughter but I never realized it was good medicine until I went through a year of chemo-therapy 1983-1984. I learned in some reading I did then (specifically Norman Cousins' book on his own illness) that humor is therapeutic. When you are recovering from something such as cancer surgery (or other serious medical conditions), it helps to be around people who make you laugh; it helps to watch funny TV shows and movies rather than something gory and horror-producing.

I have long finished with the chemo-therapy but Carolyn Gramling McAleese in our recent visits and phone calls has reminded me of how wonderful it is to laugh. She has the ability, almost without trying, to crack me up...not so much with funny jokes, but the delightful way she has of saying things.

If you are re-connecting with classmates now, and you have the chance to see them or talk to them on the phone, enjoy those precious moments when you laugh together. I don't know the chemical name for it, but my understanding is that laughter causes some substance to be released in our bodies--and that's a good thing.

When we all get together in May, may the laughter never stop! We need every giggle we can get!

Is Today Your "Someday"?

2008-02-20T09:38:00.001-05:00

One of our classmates has submitted this to share with all of you--the source wishes to remain anonymous, but the words are universal:

I lost my Big Girl yesterday.

During a minor surgical procedure a blood clot slipped loose and took her

from everyone who loved her.

Scenes from my memories of her have been playing in my mind since I got the message.

She was a beautiful woman and the mother of two young men.

She and her sister are the pride of my life.

As sometimes happens with parents and their children a rift developed between us.

I kept thinking that someday the two of us would sit down to hammer it out.

Maybe we would cry but then we would laugh someday.

Now someday isn't coming.

For those of you having a rift with your children let today be your someday. Call them, hold them, tell them
you love them. And do it NOW!

I've asked Pat not to put my name on this because I could be Anybody.

Story of a Prom Dress

2008-02-19T20:42:00.004-05:00

Clarissa Rogers-Hamilton shares this story about her prom dress (see above), which turns out to be one of those "feel-good" stories that seem to surround our high school reunion.

She writes: My mother worked and she didn't have time to come shopping with me for the dress. She suggested I go around with some friends and look at dresses. When I saw one I liked she would meet me there and we would decide on buying it or not. Well, I looked and looked and couldn't find any I liked. At the time the net was popular and it was itchy.

I found one that would be OK, then I went to the upscale store and found the dress we finally got. I knew it was too much for my mother to buy; it was $85 and that was a lot then. I don't know what that would translate to in today's dollars, but it was a lot then. We went to the story with the itchy net dress and I tried it on. Then I said I had found one I wanted her to see on me, but I knew it would be too much. I just wanted her to see it.

Well, I put it on and she loved it as much as I did and put it on lay-away. I know she really sacrificed for that dress. A year or two later, my mother was working with a young woman who was raising her younger sister. The co-worker was having a problem in getting money for her younger sister's prom dress. My mother suggested my dress to her.

I don't know if she gave it to her or if she paid a little for it. My mother was the kind to give it away if she knew somebody needed it. Sandy got it for her sister, and she was so happy with it...wore it to the prom and felt like a princess, just like I did that night.

SlimFast and Oil of Olay

2008-02-18T09:16:00.003-05:00

NOTE TO MALE READERS: You may want to skip this posting. It has to do with female readiness for the Reunion.

Carolyn Gramling-McAleese, who, it turns out CAN be part of a four-way reunion in South Florida Feb. 23, wants to pass along this information to the "rest of us girls" in the 1958 class:

I'm living on 180 calories a meal from SlimFast and I am conducting close consultations with Oil of Olay. She indicates that a thick layer of youth-restoring facial cream is part of her bedtime routine.

She also clicks off a checklist of fingernails, hair, eyebrows, special dress regarding "things to do" to get ready for the Reunion. We will let the White House solve the small problems such as the War in Iraq; we women will attack the big problems of cosmetics and hairstyles.

A South Florida Mini-Reunion

2008-02-18T08:16:00.002-05:00

Following the tradition of our classmates in the Tampa Bay area and in Colorado, some of us in South Florida are doing our bit to get ready for the 50th anniversary.

Originally, the plan was for Carolyn Gramling McAleese, Sandy Creitz-Logue, and me to meet at Barbara Monrose-Parrish's home in Coconut Creek Feb. 23. However, Carolyn's son who is recovering from surgery in Sarasota needs her assistance, so it will be a three-way.

Carolyn has left strict instructions that the three of us are not to laugh, enjoy ourselves or enjoy any good refreshments. We are to save all that until Carolyn can be with us for the next time. She has threatened that she will be there in spirit and will know if we disobey orders.

However, as an alternative plan, I'm meeting with Carolyn tonight after my Monday night English class that's 5 minutes away from her place. I will take three of my Viking Logs (1955, 1956 and 1958) and we will re-discover people to our hearts' content.

Next Saturday, I will take the same yearbooks with me because Sandra's are stored at her son's place and Barbara doesn't have the 1955 issue (our freshman year, remember?)

If it weren't for the enterprising work of people like Sue Bagg-Foreman and Woody Reed Tanner, I wouldn't even know that these three women live within driving distance of me.

So, on Feb. 23, if you hear in the distance faint peals of laughter, it will be three Viking classmates in a pre-reunion reunion, practicing for the Big Time when we all meet in St. Petersburg in May.

Feedback from Clarissa Rogers Hamilton

2008-02-18T07:59:00.002-05:00

Clarissa Rogers Hamilton offers these comments in an email, related to the phenomenon of our NEHS 1958 50th anniversary: I just wonder if any other 50th reunions has been so successful in contacting so many classmates. I know a friend took her mother to her 50th reunion and there were something like ten people there!! Of course I don't know how many were in her class, maybe only eleven!!

You are so right in what has come from just the planning. You mentioned what you have learned about diabetes from fellow classmates, then there is Barbara Menees. I did send her a card and did call her. She seemed so upbeat when I called her. ...Even if she is still in rehab, I encouraged her to come to the dinner in her wheelchair, if she wasn't up and walking.

I talked to Madelyn Ringlespaugh and I also found and talked with Jean Robertson. She said she is definitely going to the reunion; she was so excited!

When I met again with Ben Wall, it was like we graduated yesterday and just met for lunch. It is so easy, like time never passed, I was surprised. I would imagine it will be like that at the reunion, only more so since there will be so many more people. I took a neat picture of us, put him and I now and on the side, pictures from the yearbook. Also a picture of the front of the yearbook.

A Personal Thank You

2008-02-17T15:33:00.002-05:00

If it hadn't been for my re-connected friends in this Reunion project effort, the recent two dark weeks I spent in diabetic problems might have been entirely different.

Mardi Kline and Charles Welch offered me invaluable tips on dealing with Diabetes 2. I have been diagnosed since 2000, but I had dodged learning to use the glucose meter because the technology intimidated me. My understanding of nutrition for the diabetic was less than basic.

An effective doctor, a change in medication, a crash course in learning to use the glucose contraption, and some verrrrry helpful information in emails from Mardi and Charles helped pull me through.

Amazing what a high school reunion can do for you!

Got Reservations?

2008-02-17T15:25:00.002-05:00

Carolyn Gramling McAleese and I were having a phone chat a couple of nights ago, when we discovered that both of us had skipped the reunion held in 1978 for the same reason: we were both newly divorced, embarrassed to show up at the party where we'd have to explain that our marriages had gone bust.

We now realize that the classmates we meet at a reunion don't give a rip whether we've had one or two or four or no divorces. They don't care if we went bankrupt or flunked a course in college. They don't care if one of our kids may have been a frightful disappointment.

Instead....the friends at the reunion are just glad to see us. So, for whatever it's worth, if you're reluctant to come to the reunion because there may be some bad news in your background---we just want to see YOU. You can tell us what you want to about yourself and keep to yourself what you don't want us to know. Just come and be with us. The very fact that you've lived 50 years beyond high school graduation is an achievement in itself.

And besides, none of us are competing to be the youngest. We're all the same age anyway.

Carolyn and I will be helping to staff the Information Room at the Hampton Inn in St. Petersburg (Beach Drive)...and our goal is to help you get checked in to the Reunion, find people and information that you're looking for, and be of assistance in any other way possible. Let us be your startoff to an enjoyable re-connecting with people you knew a long, long time ago.

What Our Reunion May Mean to Barbara Menees

2008-02-17T15:18:00.002-05:00

One of the most extraordinary spinoffs from the plans for our 50th anniversary reunion has been the spontaneous effort, instigated by Larry Britner, and followed up on by so many of you alums, to contact Barbara Menees.

Barbara has been confined, in very ill health, in a St. Petersburg convalescent home. When Larry visited her and sent out an email alert, many of you responded with cards, calls, prayers, best wishes--all of which must have been like medicine itself to Barbara.

Some high school reunions are big one-night or weekend events--and that's it. Our Northeast High 50th reunion has been so much more than that. Friends all over the world and all over the U.S. and all over Florida and all over St. Petersburg have become re-connected, discovering new things about each other that they never knew, finding fresh value and mutual interest in people they knew--and perhaps haven't seen--for 50 years.

Thanks to all of you who let Barbara know that she is not alone and she is not forgotten.

A Side Trip for Reunion Week

2008-02-17T15:13:00.002-05:00

Sharing old class photos from elementary schools has been one of the themes in Larry Britner's round-robin email, now flourishing undeniably. One of the spin-offs from that has been a trip that Larry and Charles Welch made to North Shore Elementary School.

Thanks to their efforts, principal Nina Deason (who used to teach with Charles at Meadowlawn Middle School) has agreed to offer a tour for North Shore alums at 10:30 am, Thursday, May 15. At the conclusion of the school tour, you will have the chance to eat lunch with some schoolkids a few years younger than you. You can purchase a lunch or brownbag it.

Again, thanks to Larry and Charles for making this an upcoming part of the Reunion Week schedule.

Where We Live

2008-02-14T22:25:00.002-05:00

Today I started my preparation for the Memory Book, which you'll see at the Reunion, with the chance to purchase a copy. I'll try my best to get bio information on as many of you as possible, so that you can have a comprehensive view of how far your 1958 graduating class has come (and that's far---with many accomplishments to brag about!)

I thought you might be interested at a preliminary observation I made about where we ended up as far as our mailing addresses. (The following data is subject to change as we find more classmates before May.)

Approximately 44 of us are in St. Petersburg or Pinellas County (although I lumped Clearwater in with the "other places in Florida" category.) About 72 of you are living elsewhere in Florida, ranging from Key West to the Panhandle. The one farthest away is Len Scipioni Scott, who's in Australia. The rest of you (and I haven't created an official count for each of these states yet) are in:
Georgia, Alabama, New York, Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina (7 of you), Hawaii, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas, Washington (state, not DC), Oklahoma, and Kentucky.

Maybe there was something sunny about the Sunshine State that kept a lot of us close to home, but the stories from the rest of you will be interesting to hear when we get together in May.

PS. Several of you are two-address families: you live in St. Petersburg part of the year and then elsewhere (usually North Carolina) for the other part of the year. Lucky you!

Looking for a Publisher

2008-02-13T16:51:00.003-05:00

You may know that Tom Fincher published a novel Pepper Tree Demon. I'm currently editing his manuscript for a novel called Mad Cat County, a suspense tale that takes place in a rural Florida county, starting in the 1960s.

Tom has a knack for grabbing the reader from the first page and keeping up the plot interest. You keep turning pages and get fascinated with some of the weird characters he creates. (There are some normal people, but the weird ones keep it interesting.) There's a sheriff who rules the county, a preacher who "services" his female parishioners, and a wild, hairy kid named BB who lives in the woods.

The novel deserves a publisher, so if you have any connections or if you know someone who does, drop an email to Tom or me with contact information.

Picture This Story in a Movie

2008-02-13T16:35:00.002-05:00

Bob LaBrant recently sent in a joint bio for himself and his wife Sarah Emery LaBrant. The story is good enough to have its own movie...but until a producer comes along, here's a summary, using Bob's words:

Sarah and I started dating on Jan. 10, 1955 (Editor: We were all freshmen then) We went to the old Fourth Street Drive-In on a double-date with Bob Vannatta. To this day I can't remember who he was with.

Sarah became my soulmate. She was so easy to talk to and hasn't stopped since then. Sarah became a diligent housewife and I worked for Florida Power Corp. for 8 years, finally leaving as a lineman. We produced three lovely daughters during this time.

We went into the hospitality industry as innkeepers in Balsam, NC. With my parents, we operated the Balsam Mountain Inn Hotel for 21 years. (This was a large 60-room inn built in 1908.) Sarah and I also worked seasonally at Al Lang Field, where my uncle owned the concession rights. We did that for 32 years.

In 1990, we bought our own little bed and breakfast (The Friendship Lodge) in Black Mountain, NC. We still own it and operate it seasonally. For 15 years after being at Al Lang Field, we worked at Derby Lane seasonally.

Our three daughters met and married their spouses in North Carolina, and all three live there now. Each has two children. Probably the greatest accomplishment Sarah and I have achieved is our family and the love derived from it.

When asked what we could do if we could live our lives over again, we both agree: we would do it all over again.

For the last 39 years, we have lived at 3600 Poplar St. NE in St. Petersburg (33704) for six months, across from Crisp Park. The rest of the year we have lived at our NC location. Our Black Mountain address is P. O. Box 877, Black Mountain, NC 28711.

Editor's Note: The fact that this tribute to his happy marriage is written by the husband makes the story even more special. We females can easily become sentimental but Bob is one Class Act to share these thoughts about his relationship with Sarah. This would be a movie with a very happy ending.

Got Mementos?

2008-02-10T07:21:00.000-05:00

The Viking Log yearbook for 1958 has been a topic of conversation in our blog and in many emails. But maybe you have, packed away in your boxes of "stuff", other items from your years at Northeast. If you'd like to bring some of those (ticket stubs, pennants, pompoms, whatever) and have them displayed, it would help bring back memories for your classmates.

Personally, I'm going to look for a collection of Nor'easter newspapers from our senior year. If I can locate them (it's like an archaeological expedition), I'll bring the volume to show at the reunion.

Your Home Town Has Changed

2008-02-10T07:15:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have been away from St. Petersburg for 10, 20, 30 or more years, the city has gone through some changes. For example, the downtown area, which was vibrant when we were in high school, went into a decline for a number of years, and then revived in the late 90s.

You will notice buildings downtown that weren't there when you were at Northeast...high-rise condos near the waterfront, a big movie-retail plaza complex that now draws a lot of pedestrian traffic, and even a supermarket (I think it's Publix) where Dew Cadillac used to be just south of Central Avenue.

If there are some places you'd like to re-visit when you get to town, leave a comment at this blog, so we can get you "touristy" information. The Information Center at the Hampton Inn which we will staff wants to help supply you with details, but tell us what you're looking for.

For those of you still living in St. Pete, leave some comments on what you'd recommend for the out-of-towners to check out for changes, improvements, etc.

Memory Book Update

2008-02-01T00:47:00.000-05:00

The Memory Books we plan to have available at the Reunion--with a page or half-page (depending on available data) on each of you--is still looking for bio information from a lot of you.

At the very least, if you do not send in the bio information, there will be a page with your name, address, and email address. But here are people who have shared an update of their lives so we can share it with you in the Memory Book:

David Britner, Larry Britner, Linda Crain Cocks, Anne Gloria Dillon-Langan, Frank Kapocsi, Pat Smith Kapocsi, Mardi Kline Zeiger, Judy Nicholson, Kathy Hutchins Hintz, Virginia Payne Pauley, Tom Fincher, Eddie Stinson, Terry Reichelderfer Stinson, John Krege, Trudy Andringa Krege, Clarissa Rogers Hamilton, Charles Welch, Bruce Hugill, Fred McKenzie, Helen Leigh, Jean Davis Brown, Jean Sheridan, Judi Groves, Susan Goree, Rose Marie Cruz, Rosa Lee Ramsey,and Sandra Creitz Logue.

Here's what we're looking for (put your details together and send it to patful01@msn.com):
Current address, name of spouse, names of kids and grandkids, any highlights of what you've done since graduation in 1958 (your choice on what to put in or leave out), your favorite teachers at NEHS, what you remember most distinctly about your years at NEHS, 3 lifetime achievements that you're really proud of, and what advice you would give to the 2008 graduating class.

Reunion Scorecard: 166 Found!

2008-01-31T23:41:00.000-05:00

Larry Britner reports in his round-robin email that Lyda Graser has just found Elizabeth Townsend, who is living in St. Petersburg.

So far, 166 of our approximate 285-member senior class have been found. There are 75 still out there, unidentified as to place or status.

Unfortunately, Sue Bagg-Foreman reports that Ed Mihalak is deceased.

Thanks to all of you who have taken on this "mission" to find your classmates. (I can testify: I was a product of a phone call from Sue Bagg-Foreman who found my phone number on Google!)

Want to Cheer a Classmate?

2008-01-31T23:00:00.000-05:00

Barbara Menees-Pratt is rehabbing from a heart ailment in The Abbey Rehabilitation Center in St. Petersburg. You can reach her by calling (727)527-9004. (It's her home phone, but it rings in her room at The Abbey.) Her daughter Sheila's phone is 813-954-6227. (EDITOR'S NOTE: The area code is my guess because I believe that 954 is a Tampa exchange. If any of you discover something otherwise, please leave a comment on the blog.)

Barbara has three children, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She has been at The Abbey for over three months, so a card sent to her at 500 75th Avenue N., Apt. 7 in St. Petersburg or a call would mean a lot.

She Learned to Talk 'Southern'

2008-01-31T22:51:00.000-05:00

Jean Robertson-Champ writes to us from Roswell, GA, where she is vice president of a life insurance company. Her travels have taken her to London, South America, Italy, Austria, Monaco, Ireland, Hawaii. (And some people in St. Petersburg have trouble driving across a bridge to Tampa because it's too far!)

She still returns to Madeira Beach every year to spend a week in a condo around July 4. "Once you leave the beach, you want the beach," she says.

What she remembers most about her years at NEHS was trying to lose her Massachusetts accent and the many classmates who helped her to "talk Southern". She has great memories of her days on the swimming team. Among her favorite teachers were Mr. Ritter from DCT (Diversified Cooperative Training), Ms Cheesmond and reading Shakespeare's "MacBeth", and Mr. Ritter in Social Studies, who taught her about a guy named Castro, who had just taken power from a guy named Batista.

Her three proudest achievements are her three children.