How Many Years?

I was going to wait till I finished the other roll of film before I posted any of the photographs from my recent class reunion but oh heck, if I do that, as long as it sometimes take for me to finish a roll of film, it might take a really long time and I might even forget to post the pictures then. So I decided tonight that I'd post the photos I have now and when I get the rest developed, share them at that time.

So, ready or not - here goes!
These three lovely ladies would be Sue Violanti, Sharon Rolley and Nancy Benton. Nancy traveled from Aurora, Colorado to Pennsylvania just to spend the evening with the rest of her classmates. Now, that's some dedication, isn't it?
Over to the left side here now, the lady in the middle is Loretta - better known though as "Lori" Bunyak who lives in northern Virginia -outside the District of Columbia. Lori grew up about four houses up the street from me and loves to remind me about the time when we were about kindergarten age I invited her and the other kids around our homes to a birthday party at my house (for me, of course) and it wasn't even my birthday! (My Mom was really surprised when some kids showed up for a party but she took it all in stride and fixed up a little lunch with lemonade in the backyard for us.
The guy standing in the middle there is Harold Hahn -who lives in Philipsburg now. Harold was one of our star baseball players in high school and continued playing the game for many years after we graduated with the team in Philipsburg that I think was sponsored by the American Legion there. Four years ago this summer, when I had two herniated discs and was getting tons of physical therapy, there was a young man who often worked on my back - a very friendly young fellow and there was something very familiar to me about him. I could never peg it then, but his voice always made me feel like I'd known him for a long time. Imagine my surprise when I learned within the past two years that young man is Harold's son - no wonder his voice sounded so familiar because he sounds just like his Dad! (Oh and if you look closely behind Harold you can get a little glimpse of the photo display board I had put together for the reunion.)

The lady with the blue top on in this photo is Doris Thompson, who lives over in Curwensville. Seated at the table is Marg Harvey, who is married to our classmate John "Butch" Harvey and standing in the rear is Mike McFarlane from Colorado, husband of classmate Nancy Benton who is standing off to the left in front of the table. That's Sharon Rolley in the front left side -well, half of her anyway! My Mom, when she lived with me down in Maryland, used to babysit Marg and Butch's first child and expanded her babysitting operations in our apartment too when their second child, second daughter, came along. Butch was one of my regular chauffeurs when I first went to work in D.C. because he and his roommate usually came back home almost every weekend and I could almost always hitch a ride home with them.

Starting in the rear, with their backs to my camera at the photo display are Jim Eyerly (husband of Kate Nelson -our class president) and Harold Hahn. Then there is Lori Bunyak's back and at the rear of the table is Kate Nelson. In the center - Betty Samansky, then Carol Folmar and her husband, Ed Nadzom with Durvin Wick standing to the right side. Ed Nadzom graduated two years ahead of our class, but he - like Lori Bunyak and Kate Nelson was also someone who I grew up with as he lived about two houses up the street from me. As a matter of fact, when we were about 6 and 8 years old, respectively, Eddie would come down to my house and we would play "house" in the back yard. Years later I figured out why Eddie would come play with me, because I had a bicycle (and he didn't) and he would hop on my bike, saying "I'm going to work now, the Dad has to go to work" and off he'd go, riding my bike for a few minutes and then, he'd come back, announcing "I'm home from work now." I have to add too that Eddie's also one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet and really is not a "user" type person -i.e. "using my bike" ya know. Always was a lot of fun to be around him then and still is. Isn't it great to have friends you've known since you were 3-4 years of age though?

In this picture, starting again on the left, there is Ed Stover, who is married to classmate Arlene Anderson, then Irene Danko, from the class two years ahead of ours and who was a guest of her cousin, Frances Lucas, is seated. That's Tom Chakan standing in the doorway talking to Herb Lucas. The man in the center with the camera is our classmate, Bernie Lucas' husband, Ed Kapura. Bernie and Ed Kapura and Arlene and Ed Stover and Herb are folks who almost always attend all our class reunions and Ed Kapura does a great job with taking photographs of us, so we usually give him the job of lining everyone up and taking a group picture of all of us from our class present at each reunion. Tom Chakan there, this was especially nice to see him again as the last time he made it to one of our reunions was 35 years ago! And the nice thing is that he's changed very, very little over the years!

Maybe since we have some visitors this week from Phoenix to the area I will have a chance to use the film left in the camera faster than I normally do and will be able to get that developed soon then. When I do, you can be sure to expect I'll post more photos of my class reunion and the bunch of really great people who were there this year!

Now - before I head off to get things started, finished, etc for the day, here's the lovely Bushism for Wednesday, June 13, 2007.
"Let me be very clear about this. Steroids out to be banned from baseball." - Washington, D.C.; October 4, 2005