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Carmel (Duffy) Onofrio (Boyd)

I just knew that the "weight" issue would come up........I like to think that I am not really carrying extra poundage, I'm just a bit "fluffy"! I also need glasses to see, near and far, and I 'm listing a bit to the left because of a rotator cuff issue... However, I will indeed be attending the reunion: just look for the plump, mypotic, whatever little old lady Duffy

Carmel (Duffy) Onofrio (Boyd)

Oops, I think you'all have given me way to many options for a response! Duffy. PS I am in the DC area so I will be happy to help finalize your plans in anywayt! I regularly go Arlington and Reston VA, and have even gone to Downtown, DC , even in April, Cherry Blossom time!~ Duffy 

Cynthia Willey (Lempert)

So, Jim, were you in the afternoon kindergarten? I'll see if I can post the morning one. And I really wish we knew how Joey Duff fared in LA.  Sigh!  

James Kahle

I actually looked him up and talked with Joey briefly when I lived in San Diego. He is/was a prominent civil rights lawyer in LA and formerly the president of the LA chapter of the NAACP.  His wife is Dr. Alice Walker Duff whom you can google. Very impressive credentials.

As for Kindergarten I can't remember which session but I do see you in the photo. I will try and remember some names in the photo and post.

Cynthia Willey (Lempert)

I am so relieved to hear about Joey!  I was even worried at the time about him getting sucked into LA.  Thanks!!

Cynthia Willey (Lempert)

I just uploaded 6 photos....the Senior Kindergarten one definitely has me in it; I am the little person with the scowl in the center of the back row, in a sailor dress, between Jeremy and Scott. 

James Kahle

Great photos Cynthia. I went back and put as many names as I could think of to the old photos I posted. There are several  that are just ? as I cannot remember their names.  If you or anyone else recognizes the ? people please let me know as it is driving me crazy.

Frederick Freeman

Isn't it interesting? Here we are, preparing for a high school reunion, and there have been a great many conversations about elementary and junior high memories and photos. It seems to point to the importance of healthy childhood relationships. Then, as we all entered the high school from vastly different public and private school experiences, the common denominator became the established culture of good old LFHS. Every new class honors previous traditions, but it also attempts to make subtle modifications. One such cultural change comes to mind: I believe ours was the last class of freshmen boys who were required to swim in the pool nude during PE classes. I think it was our sophomore year that tank trunks were issued.
 

Carmel (Duffy) Onofrio (Boyd)

Fred: Thankfully, none of you adolescent males took the effort to try to peek at Guppies practice! Those "suits" and the showers were very basic........it only got worse in college! Duffy

Skip Justice

I remember swimming in the nude freshman year also.

Robert Haslach

Cynthia - Miss Razor came - audibly - to Deerpath from Texas - that was my first school year after we moved to LF from Philly - my goofy back row expression and that of (who is next to me?) came from a last minute decision to say "fromage" - sigh  .. but I always liked French class .... I see Kahle's winning expression in the front row .... well done, Jake

Bob H

Peter (Daniel) Bradshaw

Fred writes Then, as we all entered the high school from vastly different public and private school experiences, the common denominator became ...

Seems to me there's another reason why these reminisces go back to earlier times. We are the leading edge of the bell curve, the very first post-war babies, and we stood in dumb witness to the changes that became the our world.  I've been wondering if anyone would write about the events that foreshadowed the world we're in today.  The pill, the space race, the Kennedy assassination, Freedom Summer – so many pivotal events occurred while we were busy inventing our identities.  I've been wondering who we've become more than remembering who we thought we were.

James Kahle

After a parent teacher conference Ms. Razor told my mother I was the class clown. Never liked Ms.Razor very much after that. Some of the kindergarten pictures look as if everyone was drugged. I always thought that carton of milk we drank just before the mandatory nap tasted a bit strange!

Frederick Freeman

Have ya'll seen Skip's profile page? It says he still bowls twice a week and that he has several 300 games and multiple 800 series. Wow! Good for you, Skip!
 

Cynthia Willey (Lempert)

 Miss Razor and I locked horns right away--I think it was a monumental personality clash. I had a little calendar in my desk on which I marked off how many days left till summer.  My Mom wanted to get me moved to Mrs. McNut's room, but I wouldn't let her, because I thought it would make me conspicuous. With hindsight, I wish I had!

Frederick Freeman

So, Daniel, in case you and others missed it... On my profile page are 50 random thoughts. Numbers 37-50 provide a list of national and world events that took place from 1951 through 1964, i.e., our kindergarten through graduation. This is a list, not a discussion, but at least it is a reminder of the kinds of issues you mentioned in your recent comment. FF

Melody Altemus (Holmes)

Dan, I've often thought about your question (what we've become) - especially now since I have the time to think (being retired). I'm still searching for an answer. Another is not only who I personally am, but what do I leave behind that's worth anything. Sometimes the latter question is answered by others.

Peter (Daniel) Bradshaw

Fred, I didn't miss it -- I read it twice.  Thank you for writing.  Like nearly all adolescents, LFHS was a time of chaos and searching for me, and as I look back, it seems to me our pivot from childhood to adulthood happened just as America changed.  I'm not sure the cloistered children of the North Shore remember that.  The myopic optimism that raised us evaporated as we grew.  Someone said history starts at 50 years; up to then is reporting.  If there's truth to that, it's 50 right now.

Skip Justice

Thanks Frederick:

I still enjoy the game.

Kathryn Karsten (Rushing)

I thought I'd share a couple of quotes from two books I just finished reading, which relate to reunions and returning to childhood places and some of the previous comments. The first was written by Rebecca McClanahan in Word Painting:

"When Hollywood announces the opening of a movie made from one of my favorite novels . .  . the last thing I want to do is see the movie. It's like that invitation to my 30-year- college reunion that arrived a few weeks ago. Do I really want to see what Mike McGraw looks like now? I mean, I have his senior picture, the wrist corsage pressed between two pages of my yearbook, and three decades of  gauzy, airbrushed memories. Why fly all the way to California to dance with some impostor wearing Mike's name on his lapel?"

The other is by Rebecca Mead in My Life in Middlemarch:

" . . . the remembrance of a childhood landscape is not mere nostalgia for what is lost and beyond my reach. It does not consist of longing to be back there, to the present; or of longing to be a child once more; or of wishing the world would not change. Rather it is an opportunity to be in touch again with the intensity and imagination of beginnings. It is a discovery, later in life, of what remains with me."

I definitely fall in the latter's camp. Looking at all those sweet, innocent, mischievous, trusting little people is so touching. I feel sure that the funny kid can still make us laugh and the feisty grade-schooler still has a bit of the rebel in her. And no matter what we look like, we are not impostors, as implied in the first paragraph. We are still us, and perhaps age makes who we really are more apparent. Appearances are less important than each of our unique qualities and character. It will be fun and fascinating to see what remains and what has changed in all of us.

Cynthia Willey (Lempert)

Thanks so much, Kathy!  Very helpful.  I KNOW we have all aged and changed, but I have a persistent image of the reunion as one old bat, (me) and all of those eighteen-year-olds that everyone else was.......again, thanks!

Kathryn Karsten (Rushing)

Ha ha! I know just what you mean, Cynthia. But the fact remains is that we're ALL 68, or close to it. I'm sure the post-reunion photos will convince you. I'm really sorry you can't make it to the reunion.

Frederick Freeman

Dan and Kathy, your deep thoughts have inspired me. Here are some political memories. I do not mind revealing that my parents said they voted for Barry Goldwater in November, 1964. They and their cohort were severely outnumbered by folks across the nation who voted for LBJ. Years later, I heard a comedian say, "They told me if I voted for Goldwater there would be riots in the streets and war in Vietnam. So I voted for Goldwater and sure enough they were right." When we were 18, we were either drafted into military service or we joined voluntarily. Those who went to college or OCS could become officers. While we were in Vietnam, etc., our motto was, "We are old enough to fight, but not old enough to vote." Many young soldiers wished they could vote. Others expressed this sentiment NOT because they wanted to vote, but because they did not want to fight. In 1969 the Draft Lottery was established. This allowed young men to know in advance if they would be called into service. In 1971 the voting age was lowered to 18 for all federal, state, and local elections. In 1973 the draft was discontinued completely. It is interesting to contemplate the impact of the voting age decision and the selective service decision in terms of the definition of "adulthood" and the "obligation" to provide service of some kind, out of gratitude for being born into an exceptional country.

Frederick Freeman

Because Sandra and I have our wedding anniversary this Friday (28 years) it got me to thinking. Do any of y'all who married young have your 50th anniversaries this year or next? Just curious.

Beth Shoulberg (Johnson)

Fred, Happy Anniversary to you and Sandra!
Scott and I celebrated our 46th anniversary in June.