Reunion Scorecard: 166 Found!

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?

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'

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.

Jim Willson Is FOUND!

This time it's Ralph Ames who wins the Blue Ribbon-I-Found-a-Classmate Award for bringing Jim Willson to us. Jim and his wife (Linda Matthews, SPHS) live in Fairhope, AL. Health issues may keep Jim from being with us for the Reunion, but you can brighten his day with emails sent to ljwillson@bellsouth.net. Phone number is 201-929-3565.

Rose Marie Cruz--E-I-E-I-O

The sleek and elegant creatures you see here are two goats who live at Rose Marie Cruz-Martin's Legend Farms in Bushnell, FL. You may remember Rose Marie for, among other things, being a star baton twirler at Northeast High. But before she and husband Ed Martin settled down in Bushnell to be "stewards of the Earth and goat shepherds", our classmate accumulated one achievement after another.

Here are some sample details: Owned "Twirlin' Spot Baton Academy" (for baton twirling instruction) in Florida and Texas for 15 years. Her students were state and national champions. She was featured in the National "Who's Who in Baton Twirling" for 8 years.

She started the Farm Tour Program, Equine Management and Caprine Management curriculum at Seminole Vo-Ed Center in Seminole, FL, where she taught for 8 years.

She was a 4-H organizational leader for 40+ years in Florida, Georgia, and Texas. She co-owned Ed Martin Plumbing Company in Pinellas Park and Largo for 35 years. She also owned Park Feed Store in Pinellas Park for 21 years. She was executive director of Pinellas County Fair, 1983-1986.

Three achievements she's proud of: Named "St. Petersburg's First Lady of Baton Twirling" by the Festival of States Committee. First elected woman president of the Pinellas Park Chamber of Commerce. Soroptimist "Woman of the Year".

Her memories of years at Northeast High include participating in the band, majorettes, working on the Viking Log yearbook, hot rods and motorcycles and "all the cool friends that I spent hours with on the weekends at the 28th Street Drive-In." Her favorite teachers were Band Director Eugene Beeman, and Coach Crum.

She and her husband have been parents to two sons and a daughter. They have two granddaughters.

If you see Rose Marie at the Reunion and you ask her, "So what have you done with yourself?" take a chair and prepare for a lot of details. She's done it all.

Pat Gant is FOUND!

Ann Leedy-Bartlett gets the blue ribbon for finding Pat Gant. Pat has been living in Indiana for the past 30 years. Ann tracked her through Pat's sister "Jo" Phyllis Gant-Kolblaz who graduated from NEHS in 1960.

Here are some update details on Pat Gant: Her name now is Patricia Diane Gant-Miller. She writes a column for a local newspaper and worked in a local shoe factory for 25 years. She attended Ivey Tech for an accounting degree. She lives in Vevay, IN.

Her parents bought property in Indiana for their retirement, but her dad died before he could retire. So Pat bought the property and moved to Indiana. The house on the property burned down in 1978, and Pat escaped with a nightgown, sheet, and son Frank. She survived cancer in 1977.

She created a cake decorating and baking business called Patricia's Pastries.

Carolyn Gramling-McAleese--Busy and Creative

For the past three years I have been teaching an English class at night, once a week in Hollywood, FL--and I just found out that Carolyn Gramling McAleese lives only five minutes from my classroom!

We got together tonight (Jan. 28) and any sense of a 50-year separation just melted away. Here's what she's up to these days:

A registered nurse, she teaches childbirth classes two days a week at a nearby hospital. Once a month she teaches a 9 am to 5 pm class in childbirth for those moms who want to get the training all at once and not in weekly doses. (She calls it a "Childbirth Marathon".) She also serves as a grief counselor for moms whose babies died or who had miscarriages.

She and her husband George do a lot of work with the homeless, cooking, fundraising for their needs, etc. George owns a company in Hialeah that manufactures padding for furniture.

Carolyn is president of the women's guild at her Episcopal church and chairs a monthly book discussion that draws women from all over town. The group invites speakers to share information with them on the needs of women in other cultures. This month's subject is the women of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Carolyn is bubbly and warm, just as I remembered her. We plan to drive together to the reunion in May and will work together in the Information Center set up at the Hampton Inn. (That's a special room where you can drop by and see if your friends have reached town yet and get help on finding places in St. Pete.)