It was an ordinary day. Was looking at my high school yearbook. Soon time for my 50th reunion. I got an email from Dotty a few days ago about a meeting of some of the members of the class of '62. We were going to meet to make the plans for the reunion. Our last one was '07. I pulled out my "Neff-Vue", my yearbook, and started looking through it to see some of the old faces again. Found a large class photo taken in the high school gym in the back of the yearbook that I had forgotten about. Started to look at it also to see who I still recognized. A few of my classmates have died since we graduated almost half a century ago. I'm sure there are more than I know about, but tough to tell when many don't live in the area anymore. Oh, there is Norm Billipp. He died in a copter crash during the Vietnam War. And, Artie Wetzler. Never found out what happened to him. John Turnbull., George Healey, and Joe Cass were all twins who died. When you reach 50 years, there's bound to be a few that have died. Then I found a few faces that I have seen recently staring at me. There is Ed Groff and John Hessen who were in the Lancaster Co. Corvette Club with me a few years ago. Still remember Marilyn Kopp whom I had a crush on in elementary school. John "Bones" Huber was a fantastic bombardment player since no one could hit him. He was soooo skinnny. And Jody Glass who was the star football player. Once hit me so hard during a practice when I tried to tackle him that I didn't think I could get up. I quit shortly after that!! And is that Leon Sample? Yep, that's him. Everyone called him "Bugsy" and picked on him. Not sure why. I lived half a block from him and always got along with him. He now is a regional director for Homeland Security. How ironic. Bob Halpin was easy to pick out. He had the long hair like in "Grease" and wore a white tshirt all the time. Rick Ashby ended up being the President of Fulton Bank in Lancaster. There's Bob Sydansk who worked for Marathon Oil Co. and has 60 US and 137 foreign patents. And there sits my friend Martha Winters. We were in homeroom together every year and in most classes together. Always sat next to or in front of each other since our last names both started with "W." I recently saw that she was just named Vice President of RCSA (Research Corporation for Science Advancement). Last I knew Dr. Martha Gilliland (Winters) was the Chancellor of the Univ. of Missouri. Before that she was Provost of Tulane, Vice President of Univ. of Arizona, and director of the College of Engineering at University Nebraska. Never knew she was that smart. She always looked over my shoulder in class for the answers. No wait, she sat in front of me. That's why I was able to pass my science classes. Thanks, Marty! And the final two who really stick out in the photo are Sue Bingham and Jerry Herr. They were high school sweet-hearts who married after school and are still happily married (allegedly). They have become the traveling companions for Carol and I as well as good friends. Neat to think that we graduated together. Heck, Jerry and I have been friends for over 60 years now. Can't wait until 2012 to see everyone again. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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