FOURTH GRADE ICS

How fun is this class picture? I recognize a few familiar faces, but there are many I don't. How many do you all remember?

There's a Paul Bunyan Burger just waiting for YOU...

As promised, here are a few classmates who have sent in their information, to let us know that they WILL be coming in August. In no particular order: Bob DeSimio; Jerry Webb; Jim Rigby; Susan Yarolin; Deborah Lacy; Kris Hostetler In an effort to raise the number of classmates attending the Reunion, and also to get more classmates posting comments to the blog, additional names will be added at random (up to the registration deadline). Tricky huh? So, if you want to see if whatsherhisname is going to be at the Reunion...you'll just have to come back and check!

REUNION REMINDER

Emails went out today to all classmates we have email addresses for. In hopes of covering all our bases in hopes of reaching those who for some reason might not have received the email but visit our blog often. So, below is the email that was sent out.....Additional photos of our 8th grade year at Brown Jr. High will be posted soon. Dear Classmates: You all should have received (by regular U.S. mail) your 40th class reunion information packets by now. If you haven’t received yours, please let me know and I will send you all information via email. If you have returned the requested sheets and payment to Patti Mazzola Buchanan, THANK YOU! Even if you are not able to attend the reunion, please complete both sides of page 3 and return it to Patti, so our information is up to date. If you are not attending the reunion, but will, or have ordered the coffee mug, Eric Courtney will send the mug(s) to you as the orders arrive and are processed. Those attending, who have ordered mugs, can pick them up Saturday night when they “sign-in” for the reunion. Whether you are or are not attending, Address Books/and or Photo disk will be mailed to all who ordered soon AFTER the reunion. ******************** Ok, here is the core of the message… With only 11 days (!) to the required deadline (June 15th) in all honesty - we (the committee) are a bit concerned. Returned reservations are low. As of right now, we have less than 40 class members who have indicated they will be attending. Simply put…that’s just pathetic! While we realize that many of you may be waiting until the last minute, to determine if you will be able to attend…it is important that we have an accurate count by June 15, in order to proceed with the preparations. So, this is it…this is the last minute! If you ARE going to attend… please take a few minutes right now, fill out the reservation/information (Checks made payable to “RAVENNA HIGH CLASS OF 69), and drop it in the mail TODAY! Send To: RHS 1969 40th Reunion Patti Mazzola Buchanan 1305 Woodbend Road Ravenna, OH 44266 We have added a few new things to our Reunion blog http://ravennahs1969.blogspot.com/ so please check it out. We will be posting photos from 1965, our 8th grade year at Brown Junior High. Also, posted will be the names of classmates who have sent in their reservation and will be attending the reunion. We urge you to keep checking the blog, http://ravennahs1969.blogspot.com/ as new information and pictures will be added between now and the reunion. Of course, your comments and postings are always welcome and encouraged! If you have any questions at all, you can contact: Pam Summers Lee mailto:pjjammers@sbcglobal.net Home: 317-255-4380 - Cell: 317-341-0266, Or Eric Courtney at courtney.e@att.net Cell: 330-524-0155. Thanks and we are looking forward to seeing you all the weekend of August 7th and 8th!

8th GRADE GIRLS' VOLLEY BALL CHAMPIONS

This photo is one of many photos out of our"1965 Falcon" yearbook from Brown Junior High. We will be posting various photos from this this period of our lives in the next several weeks, so please check this site out often. Our thanks go to Bill Shorts for loaning me his edition of "The Falcon" Yes Bill.....As promised, I have guarded this book with my life!

TO ALL OF US WHO SURVIVED....

As we prepare for our upcoming reunion, I tend to reflect on the past and look at all the wonderful things that happened through my many years on this earth. I feel nostalgia is the best remedy for almost anything that ails me these days! As I have seen and gotten together with a few old school friends, old neighborhood bullies and visits with aging parents of friends this past year, I reflect on the "good old days". Not every part of my life has been all peaches and cream, but it's wonderful to get together to bring back memories of those days, see those friends I haven't seen in 40 years, have a good laugh about something someone did, or even shed a tear about a sad moment we remembered....

I received the below email, which I feel is pretty appropriate timing for our upcoming reunion. I hope each and every one of you will make every effort to attend our 40th reunion on August 8 so we can catch up with each others lives, reflect on the past and look to the future..... perhaps cry a little, but most certainly laugh a lot!....Laughter is good for the heart and soul, so I try to do it as often as possible!

New Jr. High photos will be coming soon, so please check back in a few days. I am looking forward to seeing you all in a couple months!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930's, 40's AND 50's First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air-bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose, not from a bottle.We shared one soft drink with four friends from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight.

WHY?

Because we were always outside playing....that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on, or when we were called to come in because it was too dark outside.

No one was able to reach us all day...And, we were OK.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Play Stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet and no chat rooms.

We had friends and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We made mud pies from dirt, we ate worms and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door, rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment....Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

Those 30 years were an explosion of innovation and new ideas……AHHH!!!....The good old days!

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

WE ARE the lucky ones and we made it! CONGRATULATIONS!

Have YOU registered for the Reunion? It only takes a minute and a stamp- so what are you waiting for? Get your information and payment to Patti!

Is this how some of us are starting to feel?

"I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor's permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors. I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down, and perspired for an hour. But, by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over."