10/13/2011

I found out only too late about the 45th reunion. I would have loved to attend it. If I'm around in 5 years though (or even next year), count me in.

Since tripping across the Class of 66 website, I've been wanting to make contact with as many of my friends from PG as possible. I attended Lighthouse, but had friends at Down and David Ave. I'm not real sure who, if anyone, really remembers me. We moved to the bay area (sublime to the ridiculous) when I was only 10, but my heart never left PG.

Backdoor neighbors/friends were Karen Morness and Judy Mac Murray; next door was Patsy Bedell. Other friends included Susan Spiking, Carolyn Kelleher, Susie Stutzman, Shiela Foulkes, Jan Gutekunst, Katie Sutliff, Jimmie Wickey, Jimmy Nix, Ronnie Scholefield, Jon and Brian Gill and Tim O'Neil,to name a few.

For those from Robert Down, my mother, Edith, taught 5th grade when I was in 5th. She's 92 now, just got 100% on her DMV exam, still drives up to the mountains to visit family and only last year is beginning to "cool her heels" a bit.

I moved from PG prior to high school, attending a school with 6,000+ students. There was little cohesion among my graduating class, no web page and I was never contacted regarding a reunion. PG was my home and you guys were my life. I came across the attached, Lighthouse School 2nd Grade Teacher Miss Worrell. I cannot remember most of the names, so the ones unknown are marked ?. (Please correct the spelling, where you know it is incorrect.

I wish I could recall the name of my teacher for both kindergarten and 4th grade. Her husband was a Southern Pacific railroad engineer and his engine was donated to the Dennis the Menace Park on Lake El Estero - during my last visit to the area, it was still there.

I was very grateful to find your website. You have gone to much work to develop and maintain it and you can't imagine the fun it is to go there and reminisce - I know I'm not alone. I want to make contact with those who remember me

Most important in my life were my kids. Three of the most wonderful kids a dad could ever ask for - two daughters, still in school - one, Valerie (a med tech student) in Boise, ID, the other Kristen, (finishing up - a childhood development student) and her husband Eric, teaching high school math in Stockton, CA. My eldest, a son and still my best buddy (Peter) graduated from West Point and served 2 tours in Iraq. His very precious wife Rachel recently gave us our *1st grandchild, Ella. Rachel is in grad school at Drexel and Peter is candidating for grad school at Dartmouth. They all grew up way too fast, but we sure had a lot of fun along the way. (*I know many of you have several grandchildren by now, but I was 32 before I got married.)

I graduated from Oakland Tech, but our "alumni association" has been a clique, so I never heard of any reunions.

I've been living in Placer County, CA for the past 18 years. My career has been kind of a mishmash of construction related work covering several industries and USA locations, including Hawaii (that was tough, but I survived). I also had a fun time starting up a national distributor for irrigation equipment, in Saudi and recently attempted the same in Iraq (before their political situation turned once again in the wrong direction).

Right now I'm "climbing the walls", looking for another contract, wherever - it seems more difficult to elicit interest as we get older - can anyone relate to that one? Other construction work included nuclear, petroleum, underground infrastructure, wireless and custom residential. But also, at the tender age of 23 I bought a big rig and spent a couple of years driving. If there was anything I could actually claim to specialize in, it was agricultural irrigation (my major was agriculture) - I started and operated a design and build irrigation outfit including a retail store (which led to my stint in Saudi).

I would love to hear from anyone at hagstrom@surewest.net. (I prefer to do social networking via e-mail, so I apologize - I'm not on the commercial sites such as facebook.) Thanks again Tom and to all who contributed to keeping fond memories alive.