And now, heeeeeeerrrrrrrre's DANA!!!!!

Dana Bolles
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

JAMESTOWN, New York - Today's email contained a missive from
Dana Bolles, someone I've tried to track via the Internet for months and I know Randy et al have sent snail mail about the reunion to his address.

Here's what Dana said today:

=============

Hello Mike.

Thank you for taking the time to search me out and contact my wife. I have spent some time out of the country and am finally getting caught up on my e-mails.

Hard to believe it's been 40 years since roaming the halls at swcs. I will attend, and if I can help in some way, just drop me an e-mail. I'm looking forward to seeing you and other classmates.

Celeste (windoft) and I are still married (35 years) and will come together.

=============

The last time I remember seeing Dana, he was standing with an electric guitar and I believe Moonbrooke Country Club. We're going to have to get some information about this "I have spent some time out of the country..."

This reunion is really rounding up the old gang.

Here's Dana's email address:

danasplace@adelphia.net

Barb Bunce names her music picks for the Reunion

Barb Bunce
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

PITTSBURGH, Penn. - Barb Bunce sent along her picks of the must-hear, must-dance music for the July reunion.

Two of the songs jumped out at me.

One was her listing of any of the "Twist" songs, the other "Stranger on the Shore" by Acker Bilk.

I have always loved the Twist, it being perhaps the first dance I ever could do. Think about it: How do you goof up the Twist? Well, I did, of course, last summer, by wrenching my knee. But I've discovered I can still do the Twist (as long as my knee surgeon is kept out of the loop) by swiveling at the hips without too much knee action.

That's probably more than anyone needed to know. Let's move on.

And Stranger on the Shore I always think of as one of best slow dances ever. It's so slow, you barely have to move your feet, but you still get to hang onto to the girl.

It's a guy thing, perhaps.

Barb mentions in her note below (with her music picks) that Saturday night might be a "Sock Hop" themed evening. Sounds good to me. There is no way I could squeeze into my tuxedo anyway.

Here's Barb's note:

================

Hi Mike;

I have been holding onto my list of songs as I keep thinking I will want to add some more.

Many of my selections hold fond memories of the dances in the cafeteria and gym--or at Lakewood Beach on the tennis courts!

I couldn't remember some of the artists' names and was too lazy to look them up.

Any Johnny Mathis song
Be True to Your School - Beach Boys
Blue Velvet - Bobby Vinton
Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis
Cherish - Association
Do You Love Me? - Contours
Gimme Gimme Some Lovin' - Spencer Davis Group
Have you Heard? - Duprees
I Wanna Hold Your Hand - Beatles
Lady in Red
Little Honda - Beach Boys
Mony Mony - Tommy James
Shout - Isley Brothers
Since I Don't Have You - Jimmy Beaumont & the Skyliners
Stranger on the Shore - Acker Bilk
The Big Hurt - Toni Fischer (this is a hard one to find!)
There's a Moon Out Tonight
This Old Heart of Mine - Isley Brothers
Till Then - Classics
Any version of the Twist
Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
Unforgettable - Nat & Natalie Cole
You Belong to Me - Duprees
You Were Mine at the Time - Fireflys
(ballroom dancing class at Dorothy William's studio!)

Did we say that Saturday evening would be a Sock Hop theme?

Thanks for the photos from 1991. I do have mine somewhere.

See you soon.

Barb Bunce Garlock

=========================

Walk down memory lane - 1991 Reunion photos

1991 Reunion directory p1
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

JAMESTOWN, New York - In my looking for photos of Cathy Lindstrom Prince yesterday, I also found the whole directory and photo set from the 1991 reunion.

So, for those who have misplaced their directories (it has been 15 years!), I'm posting the individual (or couple) photos.

Send a rescue team to Georgia to get Cathy

Cathy Prince & Fitz, 1991
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

MAYVILLE, New York - As of this writing, it looks like Cathy Prince, aka Cathy Lindstrom will not be able to attend our 40th reunion in just a little over a month.

This human spark plug - who has been instrumental in getting us together as a group at all our previous class reunions, has moved to Georgia where she is helping her parents, I've been told, and thus is unlikely to escape the humidity of the Deep South in time for our soiree.

Cathy is responsible for this blog. She sent out an email more than a year ago, asking the folks on her email list if they wanted to get together for our 40th. I wanted to be of assistance, but at the time I was sitting in a bar in Mexico, wondering how-the-hell I could help from such a distance.

Like so many other times in my life, I decided to write my way out of the problem.

In this photo, Cathy was taking a well-deserved bow for her accomplishments at the 25th reunion (which was a wild time!). How I got to stand there while she did -- with my arm around her -- is a mystery, one I will likely to have to explain to my wife after she reads this blog.

But action is called for.

I believe we should dispatch the Class of '66 Learjet to Georgia with a team of classmates to perform an emergency extraction and get her to Bemus Point and Mayville in time for the reunion. I'll offer up our governor of California to lead the mission. (And most of the voters would gladly send him, too. Anywhere...)

But, one big question: Is it even legal to have a Class of '66 reunion without Cathy?

Our class attorney, Steve Olson, will have to check out the SWCS constitution to see.

In the meantime - and in case all rescue efforts fail - here's Cathy's address and contact information in Georgia:

Cathy Prince
3331 Donna Way
Gainesville, Ga. 30504
cell phone: 716-450-4964

On the road to Webb's Resort for the Reunion

Deck at Webb's
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

MAYVILLE, New York - I don't think I have ever spent more than a few minutes passing through Mayville - it was never exactly on the route anyplace I was headed. And it was so far up the lake from Lakewood, that I never made it that far by boat either. Odd, now that I think about it.

Perhaps the longest time I spent there was when a group of us walked around Lake Chautauqua - part of the response to JFK's call for physical fitness. It wasn't even the halfway point and my feet were killing me.

But Mayville is where we will be for the Class of '66 reunion, at least the dinner Saturday night.

It looks like a nice operation, complete with a miniature golf course (my kind of golf) a pretty good pool (definitely my kind of relaxation) and an exercise room with the usual assortment of muscle-stretching, bone-crunching, disc-twisting machines guaranteed to send me back to my chiropracter.

I'll be by the pool holding the margarita in my hand.

Here's a link to Webb's and below I posted photos of the pool and the torture, er, exercise room.

Webb's

Coach Ward Romer offers his musical picks

Ward Romer, the coach
Originally uploaded by Brite Lights photos.

ITHACA, New York - Ward Romer has weighed in with his musical picks for the Class of '66 reunion, coming up on us like an Erie-Lackawanna freight train in the night. (Does that railroad even exist anymore?)

Here's the missive from Ward with his picks:

=================
MIKE:

I’ll cast some votes for reunion tunes. Dancing and me, we’re not really on the same planet, but I do appreciate the melodies and the memories. Some of these are not from Cheryl Towers’ list, but they are from the same era (or epoch, you know, Jurassic, Pleistocene, somewhere back then… )

Along Comes Mary – Association

Bus Stop – Hollies

Candy Girl – FV 4 Seasons

8 Miles High – Byrds

Eleanor Rigby – now what was that group again?

Groovin’ (on a Sunday afternoon) - Young Rascals

Saw Her Again Last Night – Mamas & Papas

Lady Godiva - Peter & Gordon

Mellow Yellow – Donovan

One Fine Day – L Gore

You Keep Me Hanging On – Supremes

Yellow Submarine – yeah, it just slipped my mind again

=================

So, I count 39 days until we are all swilling club soda with lime at the See-Zurh House in Bemus and then dancing to some of the fine tunes Ward suggests here the next night at Webb's. Somewhere in all this, there are going to be some margaritas "Puerto-Vallarta-style" served.

They are guaranteed to get Ward Romer and dancing on the same planet.

Arriba!

John Rupp's Hawaii ceremony - a photo collage

John Rupp ceremony collage
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

KAUAI, Hawaii - John Rupp's friends and family held a celebration in honor of John on May 13 - a giant Aloha.

This collage with today's posting shows how John went out, Hawaiian-style.

If you want a larger version of this photo, just click on it and it will take you to my Flickr page.

In other SWCS news, Tom Priester is about to arrive here in Sacramento to officiate at the the NCAA Track and Field Trials at my university, California State University, Sacramento.

Yup, the very Tom who taught P.E. and was the butt of waaaaay too many jokes.

My granddaughter and I will pick up Tom at the airport Tuesday and hope to take in some of the track events. We will probably go to the early morning or evening stuff. Temperatures on the track will probably be in the high 90s this coming week. Too damned hot for me.

Watch for photos of Tom next week.