Joy,
Of course there were names at the reunion that you did not know. Just
like there were people at my Halloween party that you did not know...
You must accept that there are Olives who predate you. You joined the
group in 1980 - - how can you be accepted by those who joined in 1977?
;-)
John
--- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, Joy McCann
<jmmccann_at_s...> wrote:
> It was kind of long and boring, and I didn't really know many of the
> people you discussed.
>
> --J
>
> On Oct 29, 2004, at 5:59 PM, tschibasch wrote:
>
> >
> > To whom it may concern: Here is a description of the 25th anniversary
> > Samohi reunion. If you are not particularly interested, please skip!
> >
> > ###
> >
> > The reunion was held at the FantaSea Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey on
> > Saturday, October 16th, 2004. It started at 6:30PM and ended around
> > midnight. A buffet dinner was served at 8:00PM.
> >
> > The event was hosted by "Elegant Reunions". They were charging $90
> > online and $100 at the door. To my knowledge, I was the only
person of
> > our extended group of friends ("Olives") who was attending.
> >
> > I arrived promptly at 6:30, and it was already dark and sprinkling
> > rain. After giving my car to the valet, I went inside and stood in
> > line. Just like the last reunion, there were people behind tables
> > checking our names. After finding mine, they gave me a very unsticky
> > rectangular nametag to put on my jacket. Besides your name, the tag
> > included your 1979 yearbook photo, which for me was blank since I
left
> > in 1978. There was a second line after registration, now for photos.
> > These were going to be put on CDROM. Brad Wheeler and Jeff
Condon, the
> > first two folks I recognized were at the back of the line, and I
> > joined them. Photos were $20/$30, depending on what kind of framing
> > you wanted. None of us were thrilled at having to pay out any more
> > money; a lot of folks opted for the "no frame / no pay" option.
> >
> > I enjoyed speaking with Brad and Jeff. Brad is an architect, and
lived
> > for a while in Italy and New York. And Jeff is an attorney whose kids
> > have gone to Franklin Elementary School. Brad, Jeff, and I had a good
> > laugh waiting in line for the photos. They very much seem like people
> > that I would like to stay in touch with, more often than just at high
> > school reunions!
> >
> > After the photos were taken, I started to mill about. There were so
> > few familiar faces! And yes, this was a repeat of the last reunion I
> > attended in 1999. I would see someone who was basically
> > unrecognizable, and then look at the nametag. Again, I would not know
> > this person. The old graduating photo stuck on their jacket didn't
> > help either. Who was this person?? I would see them doing the same to
> > me: studying my face, looking at my name, frowning... A fear started
> > to come across me - - was I maybe at the wrong reunion? Well no,
since
> > Brad and Jeff were here! I was at the right place...
> >
> > I then came up to Laura Karst and her husband. She asked me how many
> > people I was recognizing, and she was relieved when I told her it was
> > so few! She was with Ann Van Winkle and Kathleen Keane. At last I was
> > among people that I knew, though not terribly well. They still
live in
> > the area. Kathleen told me she went into law enforcement. We all
> > talked for several minutes, and I turned out to be a valuable memory
> > resource. They remembered a few teachers and bullies from Samo and
> > Lincoln. Who was the short bully? Fred Redman, as it turned out. And
> > who was that other troublemaker who got expelled? David Boring
was the
> > answer. I was able to recall names for them as long as they asked the
> > right questions. Overall, my trusty memory for names and dates
came in
> > pretty handy during the course of the evening. One of the women said
> > that she had heard of Fred Redman moving to Oklahoma. Nobody had a
> > clue where David Boring ended up, but the suspicion is not good,
based
> > on information we had.
> >
> > Jon Arenberg was the chief organizer of this event, just like for the
> > 1999 event. He was the next person I bumped into. Over the
evening, he
> > seemed to spend a lot of time with Annette Herbst. Maybe she had been
> > involved in coordinating the event with him? It was nice to speak to
> > them both. Jon asked me if I had any news on Greg Turk, since he had
> > been looking for him some time back. I updated him on Greg's
> > whereabouts. Jon is still an engineer, involved in research. Annette
> > now is in LA, but had lived in Colorado for a few years. She works
> > with children.
> >
> > I then met Douglas Gunson. He is now a lawyer living in North
> > Carolina, and has 7 (!) kids. The oldest is 21 and wants to go to
> > UCLA. It was nice to speak with him. I never knew him too well
back in
> > school. In fact, the only class I had with him was Art in 8th grade.
> >
> > Next came Jane Grafton and husband. She did not remember me very
well.
> > I don't hold that against her, since we only had one class together,
> > in the 10th grade. Remember Mathematics with Harry Pappas? Jane had
> > lived in England for a few years in the 1980s, but now lives back
here
> > in Venice. While were talking, Cheryl Pollock came over. She was in
> > another class with me in 10th grade. Neither of them remembered being
> > in these classes, or names of other people at that time. I was
able to
> > come up with a couple other names. This did not help them any...
> > Anyway, Cheryl is still living locally, involved in computer
graphics,
> > and is unmarried.
> >
> > I next saw Mark Swartz, who looked the same as at the last reunion.
> > Talk about dressing down! He looked like he had come over to
paint the
> > place, all in work clothes. While I studied him, he cheerfully
pointed
> > out that maybe I had overdressed for this event. I think he did
have a
> > point, since not every guy there was wearing a suit and tie! Mark now
> > lives in Mar Vista, happy with his bachelor lifestyle.
> >
> > Then I saw Shauna Lockett. I had a super-8 film class with her in
> > Lincoln. Her recall of this was extremely good. She recalled that she
> > liked Mr. Wexler, the teacher. We both remembered other characters in
> > that class. Shauna now lives in Montana, where she manages a dental
> > clinic.
> >
> > Then a strange thing happened when I bumped into a certain Mike
Smith.
> > Friendly fellow. We did not know each other. Mike told me he took
> > Latin at Samohi... There was just one Latin instructor, a brilliant
> > linguist by the name of Michael Quinette, and I assumed only one
> > class. How many people study Latin?? I suggested some names of people
> > who were in the same Latin class, such as Robert Baker, Caroline
> > Sauls, Robert Tarquin, Lisa Greenwood, and of course Karen Elizabeth
> > "Bisbee" Jerome Shepherd Goldfarb! Mike did not remember any of them.
> > I now suspect there were two Latin classes at Samohi. Or maybe Mike
> > Smith never took Latin. Or maybe he never existed at all!?! The mind
> > wonders if maybe HE was at the wrong reunion... Well, whether Mike
> > took Latin or not, he told me that he became a plumber. Latin is not
> > needed for that.
> >
> > I went outside to get some fresh air. The rain had temporarily
> > stopped, and the night air was fresh. I was joined by a bunch of
> > friendly smokers. Craig Allen was one of them. He works now in
> > entertainment, and often visits Las Vegas. I do not know exactly what
> > he does. Then I spoke with Richard Cardenas at length. A very nice
> > guy, and definitely someone I never knew in high school. He told me
> > that he had been involved in track/long distance running, and at 17
> > years of age, he was hit by a car! He was in a coma for a week, and
> > after that, the doctors told him it was unlikely that he would walk
> > again. He managed to beat those dismal odds. Right after high school,
> > he got married and moved to Houston, Texas. He bought a house and had
> > three children. Richard went into the printing business, since he
> > enjoyed the shop class with Mr. Little at Lincoln so much. He is now
> > on marriage #2, and his oldest son (20) is married with kids of his
> > own. Anyway, Richard still lives in Houston, caring for his ailing
> > mother. He was not going to attend the reunion, and then at the last
> > minute got in his car and drove directly to LA.
> >
> > Richard Cardenas asked me if I remembered Nick Trifunovich. Yes, I
> > recalled a few classes with the guy at Lincoln – he was tall, skinny,
> > with blond curly hair. He was a prankster! Apparently, in 1984 Nick
> > went to the hospital for some exploratory surgery on his stomach.
They
> > put him under and he never woke up again. How awful.
> >
> > I went back in and milled around some more. It was now as full as it
> > was going to be. There were all told about 200 people, maybe less. It
> > was noisy and cheerful, and people were sitting at tables enjoying
> > dinner. I again looked around, and I don't think that I missed
anyone.
> > Some other people that I noticed and barely remember: Mandy
> > Kamibayashi, Chris Kolodziejski, Frank Lempert, Glenn Sato. A woman
> > named Bonnie Kanner was overdressed, if I might say. Maybe too early
> > for Halloween, if you get the drift.
> >
> > Everybody was really nice, I must say. And they looked good – happy
> > and healthy. As I made the rounds, I usually managed to strike a
> > conversation as long as there was some other student or teacher that
> > we both mutually remembered. Even in cases where nothing was found,
> > there was still interesting information about someone's current job,
> > or where they are living. I was doing fine and enjoying meeting
> > people...
> >
> > Well, almost.
> >
> > I then met Alison Raeder. The poor thing seemed a little off... After
> > the perfunctory "hello" and "how are you", she asked if I was
married.
> > She was genuinely sad to hear I was still single, and hoped I would
> > get married soon. She said she would pray for me... She then told me
> > that since the previous reunion, she had at last found her soul mate.
> > She now summoned her husband, Dave over to meet me. After a warm
> > handshake, it was his turn to ask if I were married! No, I responded,
> > I guess you might say that I am "married" to my work. And much
happier
> > about that now, by the way, compared to 1999! Dave explained that he
> > was from the Samohi graduating class of 1975. He was unkempt and also
> > a little off. He was also very big and loud! He looked exactly like a
> > character you might meet at a Star Trek convention. (Not that I would
> > know about such things.) Dave now launched into his obvious favorite
> > topic: comic books. Alison fell quiet, looking on adoringly as Dave
> > explained that he is an expert on "comic book technologies"; he
> > matches weapons used by comic book characters with the correct genre.
> > He cited an example in Batman, where the Joker used a laser gun that
> > could not possibly have been invented yet. He told me that he writes
> > angry letters to publishers to protest such inaccuracies. He was very
> > knowledgeable about this subject, and would not stop talking
about it,
> > in fact. At a convenient pause I managed to excuse myself. I
later saw
> > Dave talking to Mark Swartz, giving him the same treatment.
> >
> > The dinner was superb, I must say. Very enjoyable.
> >
> > After dinner, more milling about, drinking good coffee. No new faces.
> > However, I heard the following names of people who were reportedly
> > doing okay but who did not attend the reunion: David Early, Tom
> > Erspalmer, John Vidor, Jason Hoffs, David Kearney, Sandra Loh, Damon
> > Moore, Ted Lee, Dave Newdorf, John Nolind, Brian Yori, Ralph
> > Slaughter, John Drexel. I have no other information about them.
Also,
> > Michael Perlmutter did not attend.
> >
> > Many people commented on the low turnout of this reunion. It was
> > suggested that the really big ones are 10-year, 20-year, and 30-year;
> > the 25-year is generally low. Really? I would not have expected
> > that...
> >
> > Anyway, that's all, folks!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Received on 2004-11-01 11:52:27