The following are the memories our classmates chose to share.
West High Class of 1973 35th Year Reunion Reflections
Deb (Nortmann) Tyer wrote (July 28, 2008)Dave, I agree--I think our class reunion was a huge success! It was amazing how many people I recognized, even without the name tags---I would say we haven't aged at all! Steve and I had a wonderful time, and enjoyed catching up with old friends. Seems a shame that we have to wait another five years to do it all again. Cheri McCabe hosted a lovely brunch on saturday morning (Thanks Cheri!) and I have a few snapshots of that I will send off to you. Like you, I was so caught up in the moment saturday night I forgot to pull my camara out, but I have tried to help you identify classmates that you already have posted to the site as best as I could.Thanks to everyone out there who shared part of their day and evening with me--I enjoyed visiting with each and every one of you, and hope to see you all the next time around!
Deb Nortmann Tyer
Dave Gerlits wrote (July 21, 2008) Folks, I wanted to add my own message of appreciation and gratitude for what we all shared on Saturday. As I have told everyone for all the years I've been maintaining the Class of 1973 web site, the work I do is a labor of love, and my way of honoring all of you and our community through service. I wanted everyone to know how much I loved seeing each and every classmate I was able to connect with at the reunion. The turnout was so good that I'm sure there were folks that I never got to see, but I'm sure everyone had a great time. It felt so good to REALLY connect with the folks I talked to, and I cherish the memory of every hug, every handshake, and every conversation we shared. I'm especially thankful for the hard work done by everyone connected with the reunion itself. It was a great venue, and we filled the very large room with our laughter and our presence. I was TOTALLY blown away by the generosity you all showed me during the short, sweet, wonderful ceremony we shared with the City High folks. For those of you who could not make it, Bonnie and David Kacena presented me with two very generous gifts. The first gift came with a story. David Kacena explained to the assembly that every class has its President, Vice President and such, and our class wanted to give me a title as well. David Kacena was on the football team and remembered the years I spent, along with my good friend Tim Thomas, as a manager of the team. In that spirit, David said that the class had decided to name me "Class Manager", and gave me a West High letter jacket emblazoned with my title, my name, and our graduation year! I love the jacket, and I'm going to wear it to work and, heck, everywhere, as soon as the weather gets chilly. As always - pictures will follow. I also received a very generous gift card from the class, which I didn't open until Bobbi and I got back to our hotel room. Again, I was overwhelmed by your generosity! I want to do something special with the money you gave me, and would like to propose a legacy for our class - a chance to give back to West High as the place that brought us all together. Bobbi and I watched both of our children graduate from Franklin High school here in Franklin MA. Part of the graduation ceremonies include the disbursal of scholarship money from a large number of legacy funds, set up by alumni through the years as a way to give back to the living community of the school. As soon as I opened the card and found the gift card, my first thought was to "pay it forward" to the West High community. I would like to propose that our class set up a scholarship to honor the spirit of the class of 1973. I can convert the gift card to cash, add my own matching donation, and use this money as the seed money for the scholarship. I propose we set up an account, with three local classmates as as stewards of the fund, at a local bank. If anyone wanted to donate to the fund, these additional monies could be added. Classmates could scout around for the best interest rate and payment terms that would match the way we wanted to manage the fund. Depending on how large it grows, it could be a fund that pays a scholarship every year, or we could hold it back, let it accumulate interest, and donate it to a student as part of our 40th Reunion activities. I propose we have as many classmates who wish help to craft the vision statement for the award, using the web site. This might be a great way for us to make a statement about who we are as a class. My first thoughts run along the lines of a scholarship "to honor the student 'Who shows a strong, independent spirit, coupled with a deep commitment to his or her community through acts of stewardship and service'. " We can also use the web site as a way of involving the whole class, worldwide, in helping to choose the student who would get the award. We could tell the school that all applications will be made online, and we could use the web site as a platform to have the class review and vote on who should receive it. I want to take your generous gift and pass it on in a way that will harness our "Class of 1973 Power" honoring us as a class and the school we came from. Let me know what you think. Dave
Bonnie Weldon wrote (July 19, 2008) Everyone, I just wanted to thank all of those involved in helping with the reunion. Obviously, there were may other executive decision makers through out the process. Everyone did a great job of pulling together and making it happen. I especially want to thank everyone for the gift card. From what I could see and hear, we all had a fabulous time. I know I most certainly did! City High has asked that we do it again with them. I think that is a great idea. They also seemed to have a great time. As all of you know, the last eight months has been the absolute worst time of my life. Losing Larry is still the hardest thing I have ever had to go through and it will take me a long time to maybe even start to get through it all. He was the love of my life and the one thing I can be grateful for is the love we shared for over 34 years. I realize may people will never ever have that type of love. So thankfully, I was given that great gift to cherish forever. I also know Larry was at the reunion with me in spirit. Thank you to all the wonderful friends I have that have been there for me every step of the way. Brenda calls or stops by on a daily basis and many other people call, e-mail and stop by to make sure I am okay. I can now call many people from the class new found friends that have shown up out of the blue to be there for me. You all will never know what that means to me. I truly appreciate all of the support. Thanks to Dave Gerlits for all he does. He has made this all possible by his great work done on the web site of keeping us all connected. It was great that he and Bobbie got back for the reunion. It was great to finally see him in person. And thanks to Bobbie for making the suggestion in the first place. As I have learned in the past few months, we need to cherish every moment in the day we have with our family and friends as we never know what the next second will bring. Be kind to each other, never be afraid to say I love you to those you truly love and enjoy each moment as if it were your last. You will never regret it....... ever. I hope everyone did have a good time. And I just want to say I love you all. Bon
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