(8/20/10)
Here's a fun story for the 1966 gang:
This past June I attended an evening get-together of my local chapter of Washington Women Lawyers at a fun little martini bar in downtown Vancouver (just over the river from Portland, Oregon). I was seated across from another attorney I know slightly -- we have other lawyer buddies in common. We were catching up on this and that when a pleasant man came over and stood beside her. She introduced him as Jon, her boss. I joked that he could be our token male for the evening. He was quite gracious and enjoyable. We started chatting, and there was back and forth with a number of the women at the table. A condensed summary goes something like this:
Me, to another woman: I grew up in Monterey.
Jon: Hey, I grew up in Monterey!
Me: Well, actually it was Pacific Grove.
Jon: Me, too! Pacific Grove!
(we shake hands across the table)
Me: I graduated from Pacific Grove Hi.
Jon: I graduated from Robert Lewis Stevenson, but went to PG High through my sophomore year.
( I get up and go around the table and hug him, ask if he knows certain staff people at RSL. He doesn't. He does remember one classmate whose father was a well-known TV star at the time. I realize we are contemporaries.)
Me: I graduated in 1966.
Jon: Me, too.
Me: I went to David Avenue School.
Jon: So did I -- you know that dip in the bench outside the principal's office? I made that, I had to sit there so often.
Me: Hazel Allemand (the principal).
Jon: Yes.
And on and on from there. Kay Walter meets up with Jonathan Gill in downtown Vancouver, WA. Who knew? Sure did make my evening.
And this email between Jon and Tom Macdonald
I went to Stevenson as a Freshman but know most of the faces on your emails from having gone through PG schools up to my freshman year. I appreciate being on your distribution list. You are doing a great job. Kate sent me some elementary school photos. She may be able to get you more for your archives.
It was fun "catching up" with Kate - What a small world it is.