Monica Ponchellia

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring Monica Ponchellia Swander. Hi, Monica, and welcome to our interview series.

Hi, Sharon. It’s nice to be able to share my story with our classmates.

What have you been doing over the last almost 44 years since high school graduation?

I briefly attended both Sinclair Community College and Miami Jacobs Business College, but I was quickly hired at Miami Valley Hospital in Human Resources, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 42 years. I’m now Senior Consultant, Nurse Recruitment Manager, and have been promoted 8 times over the last 42 years. I was given many opportunities when I started at MVH in the Human Resources Department and I never left. I am glad that I came to MVH.

You have to love your job to have stayed there that long and 8 promotions is pretty impressive. Obviously you’re doing a great job for them, and they’re equally impressed with you. What about your family and extended family? Where are they now?

I married again since the last reunion, and my husband is Thomas Swander. I have two daughters, Stephanie and Michelle, and four step-children: Stephanie, Sarah, David and Doug. Michelle Harbosky, my natural daughter is age 40, is an independent contractor for the Federal Government in D.C. and my other daughter Stephanie Schond, age 37, owns and operates SLS Cleaning. Stephanie Medlin (stepdaughter) is an interior designer, Sarah Swander (stepdaughter) is unemployed, but worked for President Bush, Doug Stachler (stepson) owns a lawn care and snow removal company, and David Stachler (stepson) works for UPS. My grandchildren are Michelle’s children, Jessica, 18; Jacob, 16, and Seth, 14; and Stephanie’s children, Lauren, 7, and Zachary, 10. I also have two cats, Ester and Emma.

My father is deceased. My mother Betty is 83 and my brother Mark is 54. He owns his own industrial exterminating company. Both my mother and Mark live in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

You’ve got quite an extensive family now, and two of your grandchildren are almost grown. You have a lot to be proud of. What memorable trips have you taken over the years?

I have been to the Philippines four times to hire nurses. Tom and I also travel a great deal in the summer with his girls’ fast-pitch team.

It’s always nice to get to go to somewhere interesting, especially when your employer pays for the trip! And following your kids’ activities is fun for any parent. You’ve had a wonderful career, which I know you enjoy. Do you have any regrets about the path your life has taken?

I regret that I did not finish college.

But you’ve done well without having done that, so it hasn’t impeded where you are today. Do you think that your life is where you expected it to be when you were in high school?

No, my original plan was to open my own dancing school. But the opportunities I was given when I started to work at MVH overshadowed those original plans. I knew I could go further with MVH, so I stayed there.

You’re one of the lucky ones who found out early exactly what and where you wanted to be, and your skills were recognized and rewarded. If you could start over, would you make the same choices that you made the first time around?

I would not have married so young and would have completed college and moved away from Dayton.

That’s an interesting response, considering how well you’ve done at MVH, but there are probably many large hospitals around the country where you could have had an equally satisfying career. And many of our classmates married young and then found as time passed that they hadn’t made the best choice. Some things, we learn best from experience, but that’s knowledge we try to pass on to our children. What would you have done differently, besides not marrying so young?

I would have stayed home with my children while they were young.

There was a trend among our generation when our children were young to not stay home with them. I can remember working with young, pregnant women who were intent on working until the day they went into labor, and then coming back to work as soon as they possibly could. I suspect that many of them feel the way you do, now, that they wish they’d stayed home during those early childhood years. Maybe those possibilities will be more attractive to our adult children and even to our grandchildren. Our kids are only very young for a short time. To change the subject a bit, what are your memories of CHS?

My favorite teachers were Miss Owen, Ralph Bender, and Mr. Pfeiffer. Favorite classes were sewing, cooking, and math, and I loved competition with the Speech Team.  I enjoyed being in the plays, musicals, and choir. Classmates I remember include Carma Shank, Marsha Kyle, Patty Patrick, Linda Andrasik, and many other Co-Eds and of course all the good looking guys in our class.

It’s interesting that a few people have mentioned Miss Owen among their favorite teachers. She’s gone now, but she would have liked to have known that she was appreciated. I loved sewing class, also. And everyone who took Ralph Bender’s classes loved him. I never had a class with him, but in retrospect, I wish I had. You were among the popular girls who were involved in activities that many others of us could only watch from the sidelines. But they created many special memories for you. What are your future plans?

We’re thinking toward retirement, which will include trips between New Mexico, Florida and Dayton. I’d like to spend more time with my mother in Las Cruces.  My mother was just diagnosed with breast cancer and I am a two year survivor myself.

Well, New Mexico would certainly be a nice climate change from Dayton! Do you have any words of wisdom for our classmates?

Take time with your family and grandchildren. Relax and smell the roses.

That sounds like you’re speaking from a certain amount of personal experience, and its advice we all need to follow in our 60’s and beyond. We want them to have good memories of us, which they won’t have if we’re never around them. And this is the time of life when we’re all starting to see a bit beyond our professional lives that have consumed so many of us for so many years. It’s also what I’ve been told made the 40th reunion so different from past reunions. The “career competition” was winding down, and people were starting to talk about retirement and their plans for having some fun. You were very instrumental in making the 40th reunion so successful, and we’ll look forward to seeing you at meetings before the 45th reunion, as well as at the actual reunion. Until then, this is

 Sharon Erickson Howell.

Jim Dunn

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring Jim Dunn.

Your invitation to complete this alumni questionnaire is a wonderful opportunity, because, as Winston Churchill declared, “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”  Just as John Huston’s 1972 film, “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean”, intended on making the myth, recreating reality is about as important to this interview as upholding the law was to Judge Roy Bean; “This isn’t the way the West was, but maybe it’s the way it should have been.”

That was a much more creative introduction to an interview than the formulaic style (that I did not design) for this series, and I thank you for that! I know you’ve been pretty busy over the last 43 years since we graduated in 1965, so how about filling us in on some of it?

I’ve been a lawyer, Business Transactions Intermediary, and am presently a farm hand. I’m also a song writer and am still considering running for Congress. Carol and I raise alpacas. The barn houses 34 alpacas, two large Anatolian Shepherd dogs, and 24 barn cats. (Except for a handful of the cats, they all have names.) Then there are the other two dogs in the house. I’m not an animal person; I’m allergic to cats.

Yike! Not an “animal person” and you’re in charge of caring for all these animals, including the house dogs. And Anatolian Shepherds are very large, very protective dogs. I find myself wondering how you and Carol keep the names of at least 58 different animals straight. From the pictures I’ve seen of alpacas, they tend to look like very large, shaggy dogs. What about your family and extended family? Where are they now?

Carol, my wife, is very significant. Carol is a securities lawyer dealing in variable and fixed annuity products for large life insurance companies. Being an incurable romantic, I have to tell the story of how Carol and I met. It was Pearl Harbor Day, 1992; we were married the day before Easter, 1993. December 7^th was the night of the lawyers’ Christmas party that year. My date had called to stand me up. Carol had just returned to Columbus from a funeral. Neither of us was keen to go. Carol’s boss told her that she should go; after all, the company had paid for the ticket. I decided to go; after all, I had paid for the ticket. I walked down the long flight of stone walled stairs into the Wm. Graystone Winery in Columbus’ Brewery District and struck up a conversation with an acquaintance and her date. A very attractive redhead melted the cellar’s chill as she approached and greeted the couple. After some minutes, this cheery version of Audrey Hepburn (such a complete opposite to my Eeyore) realized that no one had introduced me to her. She stuck out her hand in “Put ‘er there” fashion and said, “Hi, I’m Carol Edwards, and I don’t believe we’ve met.” Ordinarily, such direct attention brings out the idiot in me, but in her sunlight I was able to muster, “I’m Jim Dunn, and I’m sure we haven’t, because if we had, I would have remembered.”  Pummeled by such a Rhett Butler line, what’s a girl to do? She spied the chocolate cake on the dessert table and headed straight for it! Naturally, it was love at first sight!

My children and grandchildren are Meryn and Josh (Katie); Meryn is a highly skilled teacher specializing in early childhood development. She will be entering the nursing program at Baylor University this fall. Alison is involved in public relations and recently presented a conference in Germany for Audi. (She refers to it as “babysitting a bunch of reporters in Dresden.”) Ian is a web developer for mPango Development Studios in Dayton and maintains a web site called FightingForALostCause.net.

Carol’s son is Aaron and wife Nissa (Kevin, Maggie, Sebastian); Aaron is a computer guru at Nationwide Life Insurance.

Mom and Dad are still living in Dayton and have taken on the role of Honorary Ten of Us parents.

Siblings are Judi, a nurse anesthetist (who “retired” because her malpractice insurance cost twice my annual salary) and Carolynn (who married the cowboy of her dreams and runs a construction company).

Obviously an incurable romantic, you are. I must concede that. A line like that would bowl any girl over, particularly given that you were both grudgingly attending a Christmas party when you met. Whoever would have known, back in our senior year that you had such romantic tendencies hiding deep within? And certainly no one else I’ve interviewed has described their spouse as “very significant”. That actually says a lot, and I’m impressed.  Your kids have done very well. You have much to be proud of in them. And you must know that you’re very fortunate indeed to have both of your parents still around. Many have lost theirs by now. Although it’s been years ago, I remember when your sister Susan passed, and the shock of that tragedy. I’m glad you were able to memorialize her. What are your hobbies?

My primary interests are music and theology. I still play the guitar, and am still trying to learn piano. I play bagpipes; a couple of my students have become quite proficient. One was asked to compete with the Windsor Police Pipe Band at the world championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Well, of course you play the guitar. You could probably play it in your sleep, after all these years. But you’re challenged, learning to play the piano? Surely there can’t be that much difference, if you can also play the bagpipes. And you teach bagpipes. Now, that’s probably unique among our classmates. Clearly you’re an excellent teacher, because students good enough to compete in world championships don’t spring from mediocre teachers. What memorable activities have you experienced?

In 1969, around the time of the Tet Offensive, I enlisted in the United States Army. It wasn’t entirely voluntary; my draft lottery number was 3. It was, however, the beginning of a great time. (I am aware that for a lot of our class, Viet Nam was not good at all. My basic training class was turned out in the company street and given our orders; half of us were slated for Officer Candidate School, the other half got orders for Fort Lewis, Washington, en route to Viet Nam.) I got to jump out of airplanes, live in Europe, and hear a military brass band play the German National Anthem (the tune of which is one of my favorite hymns) followed immediately by The Star Spangled Banner. I still snap to attention and salute when our flag is raised.

Viet Nam was obviously not a positive experience for all of our classmates, since the draft was still in place. However, that doesn’t necessarily make it a BAD experience for everyone, either. For you, it was positive, and that’s good. We as a country learned more than a few lessons from that war. What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment to date?

Making Carol happy. (Ask her; she’ll tell you.)

That’s not such a small accomplishment anymore. Making your significant other happy reflects on yourself, as you well know. Do you think your life is where you thought it would be when you were in high school?

Of course not! I thought by this time I’d be a successful lawyer, well-known in the profession, with a record of stunning legal victories making me the hero to my clients and the fear of evil-doers everywhere, but with a good and generous heart that would endear him to his friends and make little children flock to sit on his knee; in short, I thought I’d be Terry Butler.

And why is that; why haven’t things worked out in Terry Butler style?

My mother used to have a red Scotch tape dispenser that bore the motto, “We grow too soon old and too late smart.” Put another way, I didn’t take to heart soon enough the advice of Elwood P. Dowd. I played the character of E.J. Lofgren, the cab driver, in the play, Harvey, in which Elwood P. Dowd is the principal character. (Parenthetically, Elwood explains his respectably drunken life to a psychologist, Dr. Sanderson, as Nurse Kelly enters, by saying, “Doctor, I wrestled with reality for 35 years, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it.”) He says to Dr. Chumley, the psychiatrist, “Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be – she always called me Elwood – ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.’ Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.” And so, I do.

Hmmmm. So you’ve exchanged being the smart lawyer for the pleasant farmer/songwriter/music teacher of prodigies/maybe running for congress man? And you’re pleasant with all the farm animals every day, even though you’re a self-described “not an animal person”? Sounds like a challenging life to me, Jim. Does that leave Carol to be the “oh so smart” side of the two of you? I have a suspicion that she’d see things a bit differently. Somehow, you don’t come across as exactly run of the mill, but that could be just my perception. Based on the above, if you could start over, what would you have done differently?

I often think that I should have stayed in the Army. On balance, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to expect that my choices would have been different. One makes decisions based upon expectations and hopes. The experience gained from having made the decisions instructs future decisions.

But had you stayed in the Army, you would never have met Carol. You, the former lawyer is still oh so smart. None of us can see into the future, and it might scare us to death if we could. And the past is often the proverbial “path not taken”. And as usual at this point, I turn to what are becoming older and older memories. What are your memories of CHS?

As I explained to one of the later CHS classes when presenting the scholarship established in memory of my sister, Susan, coming to Centerville from Birmingham, Michigan, was like being given a “get out of jail free” card; it was like being released from Hell and getting a transfer to Heaven. To find a place where people actually accepted me was almost unbelievable. I had lived in at least five cities before coming to Centerville. Always being the new kid in class meant always being part of the out-group. What a change coming to Centerville! There was some ribbing, of course; Terry Butler, Denny Dutcher, Ken Reed, and Bill Curtis led me on a winding drive through Patterson Park only because I had no idea where I was going. But it was good-natured fun, quite different from the usual treatment in past years. Then there was the infamous tale of the Terror of the Chaminade Hitchhiker. Bill or Denny was driving, Ken and I were in the back seat, and Terry was riding shotgun. Terry opened the door, making it look as though he’d tried to knock the poor guy down. Terry looked over at the stunned hitchhiker (whose mother had warned him of such people) and said, “Get in; now’s your big chance!” Ken then remarked to Denny, “How come we had to bring him home this weekend?” Bill chimed in, “You know how he gets when he’s out for more than a day or two.” After a few minutes of this, the hitchhiker shrieked and tore at the door handle, desperate to escape. Terry was sitting there, staring straight ahead and grinning – and rubbing the hitchhiker’s leg!

Then there was the time that Terry organized the group into the diplomatic delegation from Switzerland to the Mock UN General Assembly of the Junior Council on World Affairs. After they seated us, apologizing profusely for having omitted Switzerland from their list, it took the officials quite some time to realize that Switzerland is not a member of the United Nations. Then there was the time that Terry took the whole group out to the airport to “perform for his mother who should be arriving on the next flight…or the next one…or….” She was home waiting for her vagabond troubadours; she’d been there all the time.

The Ten of Us:

The group has held together to the point where it has become a family. It seems that it takes years to realize how good life can be, or has been. There is more appreciation for each of us than there had ever been. It’s hard to summarize The Ten of Us. How does one convey over 400 years of living adequately? When the group is together, most of it is understood implicitly, and the spirit is truly accepting of each member. We are a family. It didn’t start that way; it grew. Like good single malt, it mellowed as it aged. Some of our class were there for our coffee house performance in Centerville, and got a taste of that family life. (The coffee house, by the way, is out of business; I do not believe that we had anything to do with that, but given the histories of the companies for which I’ve worked, I can’t discount it entirely.)

Classmates:
It was always astounding how Rusty Shoup and Charlie Cowman could play chess in algebra class and – simultaneously – be able to answer any question put to them.

You had a senior year at Centerville that many of the “lifers” from Centerville could only dream of. To be recognized and integrated into a folk music group in your senior year is the stuff of dreams, and you achieved it. No wonder you have such a love of the class. And I remember you as being popular, good looking and friendly. Most of the guys did not fit that mold, even those who had been around for years. You were fortunate, and so were those of us who were your classmates. Do you have any plans for retirement? And what would you do with all the alpacas if you retired?

What? What’s that? I’ve heard some people talking about that, but I’ve no idea what they’re talking about.

Oh, it’s just some dumb concept that some people start vaguely thinking about, around this time of life (me, for instance). You know; we’re pushing age 65, most of us can or already have applied for early Social Security benefits, that “old age” money that our parents get. And we know we’re not that old yet. We’re the Baby Boomers, and we weren’t ever supposed to trust anyone over age 30. So how’d we get past that age? Peter Pan never grew up; how did we? And yet, we have grandkids. Don’t only old people who’ve “retired” have those?? You even have them, Jim. Geez, you’re getting old (er) too….And finally, because all good things must sadly come to an end, do you have words of wisdom for our classmates?

By way of explanation of some of the references below, highland pipe tunes are often named for people or military exploits, for example, Flora MacDonald, Paardeberg, or The 76^th’s Farewell to Gibraltar. A “Kirking of the Tartan” is a church service that remembers the history of the clans. What follows is an excerpt from a letter originally published as Dunn’s Farewell to the Cincinnati Caledonian Pipes & Drums.

          Now it’s time for me to say,
“Goodbye.” That phrase, you know, originated as, “God be with ye.” I’d like to use it in that sense with you all.

Uncle James had survived the Bataan Death March. His buddy, Okie Pack, kept James alive in the prison camp by keeping James’ spirit up and giving him the will to survive. At the cemetery, Okie stood by James’ coffin for a moment. Then he snapped to attention and rendered his final salute to his friend. James had lived most of his life because of Okie. Okie Pack, by his salute to Uncle James, was saying, “God be with ye.”

          At Uncle James’ funeral, Reverend Birch preached from the book of John, chapter 14, which reads, “In my Father’s House are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and received you unto Myself; that where I am, ye may be also.”

          In saying “Goodbye”, I don’t know that I’ll see you all again before we get to “the place He has prepared for us”, so I want to do what I can to be sure that we’ll meet again there, if not before.

          I’ve tried to do that in the Kirking services we’ve done – “Clans are extended families and membership is by swearing allegiance to the Clan Chief.” Heeding the admonition to the watchman (Ezekiel chapters 3 and 33), may I speak a bit more plainly to you now?

          The only way to be assured that we’ll see each other again is to be assured that we’re all headed in the same direction toward the same destination. We enter “the place He has prepared for us” by “swearing allegiance to our Clan Chief,” to Jesus Christ. He has prepared the Parade Ground where we will march together again. It is up to each of us, however, to accept His invitation to attend.

                   Romans 3:32; “All have sinned.”
                   Romans 6:22; “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.”
                   Acts 16:31; “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”
                   Acts 10:9; “For if you tell others by your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in his heart that a man becomes right with God.”

          Each of us is faced with the question, “Do you accept Jesus Christ’s authority over your life; do you swear allegiance to Jesus Christ as your Clan Chief?” Only by making a conscious, logical, and considered decision, based upon good and sufficient evidence, to say, “Yes”, can we be assured of seeing each other again. Only by choosing to be members of His Family will we be together again in “the place He has prepared for us.”

          Therefore, I say to you, “God be with ye” till we meet again.

                                                Cheers,
                                                Jim

Well, there’s nothing I can add to that, Jim. You’ve said it all. God willing, we’ll see you at the 45^th Reunion in summer 2010, and we can sit and talk for a while. This is probably the longest interview that’s ever been on the website, so you take the honors. Until next time, this is

Ellen Hope

Welcome to another edition of CHS’s Featured Alumni. Today I am doing something different, and interviewing a member of the class of 1964. Since the class of 1965 appears to be the only CHS class with an active website, members of other classes have asked to be included, and as they step forward, that will happen. Anyone from the classes two to three years ahead of 1965, as well as those two to three years behind us, is welcome to participate. We are all now at a point in our lives where we have many more similarities than differences, and I hope that the people I interview from these other classes will demonstrate that. Also, many of you who check out the website regularly knew people from other classes, so feel free to suggest names of classmates who might be interested in talking about their lives.

Today we are featuring Ellen Hope from the class of 1964. Hi, Ellen, and welcome to our interview series.

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

What have you been doing during all the years since the class of 1964 graduated, and the class of 1965 watched in envy and waited eagerly for our turn?

I took a class or two at Sinclair, got married in 1966, then worked at several positions as a secretary or administrative assistant of one kind or another while our oldest daughter was young. I then stayed home for a few years after our second daughter was born. I returned to work around 1983, that’s when I started my career at NCR, which also provided job related education classes and I took advantage of those. I started in the Report Distribution Department. I then joined the EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) Department. In about 1985 NCR started closing down their involvement in the EFT field. Next I found myself in the Law Department. I remained in the Litigation Section of their Law Department until a big RIF (reduction in force) in 1995. I was able to find a position with a private practice attorney in the Centerville area.  The attorney became very ill in 1997 and subsequently died in 1998 and her practice closed.

It was at this time that my mother had a massive stroke while wintering in Florida. This was the same week we learned of my sister Brenda’s death (also in Florida) from a heart attack. These two events were not related.

You’ve had an amazing career! You were able to get involved in a large company, learn what you needed to for career advancement, and move among the various departments as needed to stay employed. Then you parlayed that into a completely new job with a different, small employer. That’s pretty impressive! You’ve already mentioned two major medical issues in your family, including Brenda’s death, and I know that people from the 1965 class certainly remember her. How did those impact your life and what about your own family?

Bob Gilley and I were married in April of 1966. He is a graduate of Stivers High School class of 1961. He served in the U.S. Navy and has worked for several companies in the area. He has also graduated from Sinclair (associate in law enforcement, legal assistance degree) and Wright State University with degrees in political science and urban affairs. Bob is employed by Setech, a subcontractor stationed at Tenneco, formerly Delphi. He hopes to retire soon. After my mother’s stroke, she and my Dad returned to Centerville and she had several more strokes. Within a year Dad started having health issues of his own and I could see he was struggling to care for Mom. They were living in a condo as were my husband, youngest daughter and I. We then sold both condos and purchased a house large enough for all of us to live in so that I could help with my parents’ health issues. Mom died in 2004 and Dad in 2005. I was so glad I was able to be there for them and give back to them for all the great care and love they had given us kids while we were growing up.

Our younger brother Barry is also a graduate of CHS class of ’72, I think. After graduating from Morehead State in Kentucky he taught for a while and then joined the U.S. Army. He is married and now lives in El Paso, Texas.  It seems like he has spent most of the last 30 years living out of the United States. He took his family with him for five years in Germany, then after a brief stay back in the U.S. he went to Korea, twice to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait with only short stays in the U.S. in between. He spent his last four years in Belgium. He is now retired and again teaching. He and his wife Lois have three grown children. Mary is 28, Jon is 26 and Jeff is 19.  Their daughter has given them two grandchildren.

Bob and I have two daughters. Heather (41 years old) is a married stay at home mom with three teenagers. Rob is 17, Alison is 16 and Danielle is 15. They live in Franklin, Ohio. Because of their busy schedules we don’t get to spend as much time with them as we would like. Heather is a graduate of Northmont High School as we lived in Englewood and Union from 1966 until 1992. Her husband, Dan Birtch, is from Binghamton, New York. They met while they were both in the U.S. Navy. Dan is an electrician for the Ford Motor Co. in Sharonville.

Emily (31 years old) is recently divorced with a 19 month old son. They are living with us while she gets back on her feet. Having a baby in the house again is certainly an adventure and a challenge. On the other hand, we enjoy watching him grow and learn about the world around him. Emily graduated from Fairmont High School. She would like to resume her studies at Sinclair in the near future. She is currently working for the Speedway Company.

You sound happy with the path your life has taken, and your daughters are doing well. It’s a good feeling to know you’ve raised two kids who are doing well, and you know you provided vital care for your parents when they were in a critical time of their lives. What are your hobbies?

My interests have always revolved around what my kids and husband were doing. I did bowl a lot when I was young. As a family we went camping and fishing quite a bit, too. As most of you know, once your kids get into school you usually don’t own your life anymore. Your whole life suddenly becomes involved in all of their activities. I was a leader for both Camp Fire Girls and Brownies when the girls were young and I’ve been a mother advisor both in Englewood and Brookville for the International Rainbow for Girls. This is a fraternal organization for girls between the ages of 12-20 with ties to the Masonic Lodge and the Order of Eastern Star. Both my husband and I are active in the Belmont Eastern Star Chapter now, too. Bob and I try to get up to Sault St. Marie, Michigan at least once a year for a couple of weeks where my family has a summer place on the St. Mary’s River. It’s so relaxing to watch the ore boats gliding down the river headed towards Cleveland, Toledo and Chicago. In the early years, when we could only get away from our jobs for a week or so at a time, it was a calming time because there were no phones and very little TV reception. Bob loves to go fishing more than just about anything. I always joke that Bob lives to eat and fish and not necessarily in that order.

All I can say is “WOW”!! Your family has led extremely busy lives! What do you feel your most important accomplishments have been?

I would say the challenges in marriage, child rearing, working and then caring for my parents have been my challenges and achievements. For me that is accomplishment and achievement enough. I’ve had a very good marriage (nothing is perfect), proudly raised two darn good kids and got them successfully through high school without any problems, headaches or heartaches of drugs, gangs or teen pregnancy. Pretty good life if I do say so myself.

I’d say we’d all agree with you completely. Raising kids who turn out well is something to brag about in our times. Do you have any regrets?

I joke that if I had known I was going to live this long I would have certainly taken better care of my body!

Most of us can identify with that sentiment, Ellen. Back then, “60” sounded so OLD. Heck, our parents weren’t usually even that old at that point.  Now we’re all past that point! And our minds and bodies aren’t always in agreement about what we’d like to do. Do you think that your life is where you thought it would be when you were in high school?

I guess I didn’t set very high standards for my life when I was in high school. I think I always knew I’d be “just” a wife and mother. As I said before, nothing is perfect, but I think I did a pretty darn good job of raising my husband and two daughters and for that I’m certainly satisfied.

I like your comment about raising both your daughters and your husband. We all have to do a bit of that with our spouses, don’t we? Part of a woman’s work, although it’s never described that way. If you could start over, would you make the same choices you made the first time around?

I’m far too tired to even think of starting anything over. Let’s just leave well enough alone. Although I would have used a lot more self-control in my diet and exercise; I’m still working on that one.

Everyone can identify with those thoughts. As for starting over, who has the energy now? We did what we did, made a few mistakes along the way, and hopefully learned from them. On to a different topic, Memories of CHS! Who were your favorite teachers and classes?

I wasn’t exactly what one would have called an overachiever in school. I should have worked harder. At this stage in my life I can admit I was lazy and just got by. I was one of the lucky ones, it didn’t seem to hurt my family or career life too much. I probably had the same problems during my teen years as others did, but I just don’t revisit those times much. I’m not going to name any names but my favorite teachers were the ones that taught me “stuff” that helped the most as an adult: home economics, speech, English, and business classes…especially typing.

When my sister and I were just little girls our grandparents lived about 4 houses down the street from Judy and Teri Brown. We also went to the same preschool (yes, we had preschools way back in the dark ages, too) with them, the same grade school (Westwood) and we were in the same Blue Bird troop. When they moved out of Dayton in about 1956 or so, they invited us to their new house for a few days over Easter break. I remember it seemed like such a long trip from our old neighborhood in West Dayton way out to their new neighborhood in Washington Township. When our parents came to pick us up they looked at homes that were available on the street. Within 6 months we were neighbors of the Browns again. This was the time a lot of city dwellers were making their way to the ‘burbs. Ours was a new development off Marshall Road right on the Kettering line. The streets weren’t paved yet and there were only about a dozen houses being lived in at that time. Bob and Larry Simison’s father worked with our father at Ohio Bell and they moved in across the street from us. The DeMint's and Schmidt's lived within two blocks, too, as did several others that were more my little brother’s age. We didn’t have sidewalks, we just cut through yards and it seemed like we were all so much closer than a couple of blocks. Kids actually played outside in those days and I remember playing out in the snow for hours, block parties in the summer, swimming at the Kettering pool and playing miniature golf. These were located at Stroop and Marshall at that time. A special treat was being allowed to ride our bikes through the back plat streets to Town & Country to shop at J.C. Penney and the W.T. Grant store and spend our baby sitting money without adult supervision. Ah, the good old days.

You may not have been active in school events, Ellen, (as many of us weren’t) but you more than made up for it with all your other neighborhood memories. What wonderful stories to tell your grandkids! What are your future plans?

My future plans pretty much revolve around getting by from day to day in this nasty economy and trying to enjoy what time I have left with my husband, our children and grandchildren.

That sounds exactly like what most of us need to do. Do you two have any retirement plans?

We don’t have any retirement plans at this time. Bob likes to work in the yard; I don’t. He likes to fish; I don’t. I like to shop; he doesn’t. I have turned into a first class couch potato and I’m not too ashamed to admit it. I love most of the reality shows and I think the guy that invented DVR should be given sainthood!

Well, I’m impressed! You’ve found exactly what you like about your own retirement, and you’re satisfied with it. That’s terrific! On a final note, do you have any words of wisdom for classmates?

No, I don’t think I have any great words of wisdom for anyone. I probably don’t even know any wise words. If I did, maybe I would say go forward, make your own mistakes, learn from them, laugh and enjoy life while you can. Getting old isn’t for sissies.

You don’t think those are wise words? I do!! If getting old isn’t for sissies, we’re all going to become some tough old birds!  Maybe you’d like to come to the next big reunion in 2010? There’s no rule that says it has to be just for the class of 1965. We had a few at the last reunion from other classes, and we’ll see that happening more as we get older and classes shrink from loss of members. We’ll keep each other going by sticking together. We came from a great high school! Until next time, this is

Steve Hendrickson

Sandy Fraley

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring Sandy Fraley. Hi, Sandy, and welcome to our interview series!

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

You and I had an interesting talk on the phone to create this interview, plus a few emails back and forth before we set our talk time, and in the process, I got to know you a bit. You’ve had a fascinating life since high school graduation 43 years ago. What would you like to share with all of us about those years?

I was in Catholic grade school until eighth grade and then entered public schools.  I spent my freshman and sophomore year in Kettering schools and only my last two years at CHS.  When I got to CHS, I was very shy, scared and tall.  After graduating from high school, I stayed home and attended U.D.  There I majored in psychology and education.  In the middle of my senior year at U.D., I started teaching.  Because I was one of the youngest in all of my classes, I think that set the stage for doing everything a little too early.

When I graduated from U.D., I was understandably bored with living at home. I moved to Boston with friends for two years, to have some fun.  I worked in human resource jobs and was a cocktail waitress at night.  I ran out of money and returned to Centerville.  I was lucky enough to get my same teaching job back at Croftshire Elementary teaching sixth grade.  Two years later I was offered the Assistant Director of Personnel job in Kettering and did lots of recruiting throughout the tri-state area.  I got my masters degree at Wright State in Supervision and Curriculum and I took the position of principal at Rolling Fields Primary School, a K-2 school in Kettering.  Those years saw a closing of two elementary schools in Kettering and I became a “roving” principal…filling in for principals who were on leave.  I met Rich Ochin in 1977.  I studied Judaism when I lived in a Jewish neighborhood in Boston in the early 70’s.  Rich was Jewish and meeting him gave me the incentive to continue my studies.  I converted in 1978 right before we were married.  We lived in North Dayton at the time and I took a position as elementary principal at Helke Elementary, a K-6 school in Vandalia.  I started my work on a doctorate in Supervision and Curriculum, but stopped two courses shy of my degree.  It was already creeping into my consciousness that public education was not my heart.  In 1981 Rich bought the insurance agency that he had been working for since he had come to Dayton in 1975.  Unfortunately, we were both too young to take that big a chunk out of life and the insurance agency was not successful.  We had started thinking about having children very late.  I was 37 when I left my position and began in vitro fertilization.  Three in vitro attempts and many thousands of dollars later we had no pregnancy and little money.  With Rich’s work at an end and no children, we realized we could do anything we wanted, live any place we wanted.  So, we headed back to Boston.  There I worked at various human resource positions for the City of Boston and for two not for profit agencies.  I even had my own h.r. consulting agency for a year there.

In 1997 we decided to move to Sarasota in the hope that it would be a better climate for my health.  I had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1995.

I’m currently working as a professional counseling astrologer.  I have studied astrology, tarot, numerology, etc. since I was 17.  I didn’t acknowledge any of that nor was I even conscious that I had an intuitive gift.  At age 50, I was very sick and could do very little.  I would work with friends on their charts and it soon became full time counseling.  My work is very fulfilling and I stay very busy, both with astrology consultations and workshops. I do about 60% of my work by phone throughout the U.S., Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, England, Scotland.  I don’t advertise; I am fortunate to have built my work by word of mouth.  My astrology is very Jungian based...i.e. I look at the planets as symbols of the energy a person has come into consciousness to work with and work on.  I help people validate who they are here to "be".  Many of my clients are working with their own therapists to transform their consciousness by incorporating the energy of their complexes as detailed in their charts.

I do very little outright prediction except in terms of the timing issues that are symbolized by the planets. When I first started the one-on-one counseling, I spent a year at a local new age book store reading astrology charts and tarot for many who wanted to decide heavy weight issues like "what color Mercedes should I buy...blue/black?"...not my forte!  I'm more accurately described as a counseling astrologer.   

In lots of ways I’m a very internal person.  Though I enjoy many close friendships, I’d often rather regenerate my energy by being by myself, with my cats and my husband.  I call Rich my “face person” because he’s the extrovert and I’m the introvert.  He’s the one who gets me “out there”.

Wow! Despite feeling that you were “faking it”, you did a good job of selling everyone on your abilities. I don’t know how many others have managed to do that, but it’s not something I’ve ever been able to do. I’m impressed!  You moved up rapidly through the education hierarchy. And you pretty much worked in management until you decided to pursue who you truly are. Not everyone even figures that out about themselves, much less is able to change directions and make a living at it. I really admire that. What about your extended family? Where are they now?

In 1994 my mom died in her sleep.  The shock of that seemed to set off my fibromyalgia. I felt like all my life I’d been holding my breath, faking it, trying to convince myself and everyone around me that I loved being an extravert…out in front of the world, managing and directing.  At 50, the fibromyalgia knocked me low, forcing me to stop and take stock of where I was in life.  I suddenly was face to face with who I really was.  I became aware that I really didn’t have to bring home any great titles or achievements to be worthwhile as a person.

My brother, Steve, is four years younger.  He has a wonderful wife and two children who each have two children.  Steve is Department Manager of Mechanical Estimating at Danis Construction.  My sister, Cynthi, is six years younger.  She is not married and is the Director of Hithergreen Senior Center in Centerville.  I hope many of you who are still in Centerville are involved with the center’s activities or go up and say “hi” to Cynthi and tell her you read about her here.  Cynthi and Steve went to Alter High School.  Dad died in 2005.  When I was young we moved a lot because of Dad’s promotions.  We lived in North Dayton, Kettering and Centerville.  Now Rich’s and my family include our friends and their children and our three cats, Murray, 20, and Sam and Jake, both 14. They’re street cats from Boston.

I’ve often felt the same way you used to feel professionally, so I can totally identify with it. It’s hard for someone who’s fundamentally shy to act like they aren’t, and I’d describe my husband as the “face person” in our family. He can talk to anyone. I can’t. You’ve found where you’re meant to be, professionally, so you’ve found your comfort zone. What are your hobbies and interests?

I love attending live theater and dance, and it’s all here in Sarasota.  My astrology and my intuitive nature became enhanced when I became involved with the C.G. Jung Society here.  My studies and work with that organization validated what I had sensed all my life; that our beings are comprised of both conscious and unconscious energy.  As individuals and as a culture we are driven more by energies that are unseen and unacknowledged than those energies that we are “sure” of.  I have begun giving time to the local hospice network and hope to do more with that group as time goes on.  I also love the outdoors in general, when my energy allows and the heat isn’t overpowering.  I garden, swim, golf, bike.  I’m an avid reader and love to decorate and play with color.  These next few months I’m hoping to become more proficient at photography so that I can pull together a book of poetry and pictures.

And outside of all that, your life is totally boring, right? Your astrology and how you combine it with psychology fascinate me, although I suspect it’s frequently done that way. It took you a while, and a serious illness, to find and believe in what you were supposed to be doing. Do you have any regrets about the path your life has taken, as you think back through the years?

I wonder if my life would have been different if I’d stayed in Dayton.  But I like change too much for that to have happened.  I’m close to my family, but I get bored easily so I couldn’t have stayed to do the traditional family things.  I do have some “wonder if’s, but I know that all that I’ve done has been meant to be, so I’m really pretty content.

I can identify with that. I couldn’t wait to get out of Dayton, spent 18 years moving around the country as the trailing spouse to my husband’s job changes, and then got terribly homesick and we moved back. There are things I miss about living in larger cities, but our kids are here and I’m tired of moving. And I’ve made such neat friends through talking with old classmates! What about memorable trips you’ve taken?

Money is a challenge for us, because the in vitro’s were very expensive and set us back financially.  Living in Boston was also expensive, but each of those experiences was worth it.  We’ve taken trips with Rich’s business to Mexico and many beautiful places in the U.S.  I would love to go to the U.K., Greece, Italy, Israel...but, who knows.  Maybe I will have to visit those places vicariously through my reading.  With me, wherever I am, that’s where I want to be.  So traveling to places isn’t such a treat…though I love it once I’m there.  I have lots of friends and family who visit and that’s always a treat.

I know the answer to this next question, but I’m going to ask it anyway. Is your life now as you thought it might be back when you were in high school?

I didn’t think about life in high school.  I had no sense of goals.  I guess I’ve always just taken it one day at a time.  I didn’t want to get married…never thought I would want to restrict my freedom that much.  Then I met Rich and it was ok.  I know now that I needed to be free of all the “should’s” that our generation was raised with, and one of those was we ‘should’ be married by our early 20’s.  We worked so hard for our parents’ approval, when we only needed our own approval.

Boy, are you speaking the truth. Despite the general cultural norms of the 60’s, we all still operated under our parents’ expectations, and felt we disappointed them if we didn’t follow through. I think I would have been afraid of my own approval, because I didn’t really know what I wanted to be when I “grew up”. And neither did you, nor did most of us. Some of us are still searching for what we really should have become. You’re one of the lucky ones who found it. Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently, in retrospect?

Not really because when I was young I wasn’t conscious enough about who I was to assert myself and state what I intuitively knew I would be good at.  For instance, I really wanted to go to Duke University and study parapsychology, but I didn’t have enough self-awareness to assert for that.

Wow! I had no idea that a university like Duke would have even offered a parapsychology major back then. That would really have been off the beaten path, and if you’d had the courage to stand up to your dad and tell him that, I almost shudder to think how he would have responded. I don’t know of anyone who had a private dream like that, but I’ve studied that area also, so I can identify with it. When you’re shy, following a dream like that is like rocket science! Now, it wouldn’t be so off-beat. Despite the permissiveness of the 60’s, that would’ve been really pushing things. But I admire you for knowing in some corner of your mind that you belonged that direction. I wish I’d known myself that well, even in a corner of my mind, back then.

Changing the subject completely, what are your memories of high school?

My high school years, especially at CHS were years of feeling like I didn’t belong and feeling that it was safer to stay below the radar.  At 6’1” that was tricky!  I do remember Mrs. Tite and how critical she was of my writing.  I was so sensitive to criticism then.  I remember Mr. McDaniel and loved biology.  I remember Miss Acheson because of all the things I couldn’t do physically.  I do wish now that p.e. had included golf…that I could have been good at.  I was never fast and I had very little body awareness.  I do have a vivid memory of the day JFK died.  It must have been the first time I felt unsafe in the world.

I was invited to join a sorority soon after I came to CHS.  It included Nancy Missal, Marquita List, Carol Behm, Karen Worner and I think Melinda Welsh.  If Melinda wasn’t in the sorority at least I considered her a friend.  We had a lot of fun and a lot of good get togethers.  I remember actively considering becoming a nun because Nancy Missal had made that decision.  I attended a weekend with her at a convent in Pennsylvania.  I was very serious about it, but my father nixed the idea and I am grateful now.  In my senior year I became friends with Peggy Vlerebome.  I remember being so amazed at how confident, active and intelligent she was and what a good writer.  I also thought her very brave to go to Indiana University.  I wished our friendship had developed more.  I didn’t have a dating life.  My family was very insular and I felt that it was expected that I stay home on weekends. Even the music of the 60’s didn’t resonate all that much with me, maybe because I wasn’t “in love”.  I vividly remember the senior prom.  I went with an Air Force guy, and I was very embarrassed because he was in full dress blues.  That certainly didn’t fit my need to be inconspicuous!

Gee, and I was completely the opposite, even though I didn’t date at all until after I graduated. I never dated anyone from CHS. I think the people I knew back then weren’t the ones who were in sororities, because I didn’t even know they existed in high school. But I loved the 60’s music! What are your plans for the future?

I want to be able to stay flexible and out of pain as much as possible and live, lucidly, until I’m 90!  Now there’s a goal for you!!  Realistically, I plan to live one day at a time with consciousness and with a sense of responsibility for making my small world a more caring place.  The more I allow myself to be myself, the more I stay pain-free.  I know I need connections and people in my life who draw me out.  My husband and friends are always up for fun and for going places, so that helps keep me going strong.

I like your understanding of how your body works with fibromyalgia, and what you know you need to do to keep the pain under control. Others in our class also have it, but don’t always act wisely with the knowledge of what they need to do. But then, neither do I, knowing what I need to do for pain control but remembering what I used to be able to do not many years ago! As someone mentioned to me not long ago, many of us feel younger mentally than our bodies tell us we are physically! Do you have any retirement plans?

None at all. I think our generation has more debt and more challenges ahead.  Besides, Rich and I would be bored with out-right retirement.  It seems there is so much more to “be” and I’m just too curious to give up experiencing.  Hopefully, my body will cooperate.

Many of us know we’d be bored with retirement in the traditional sense, and have turned to what we really wanted to do to begin with, or have turned a hobby into a second career. As we live longer, I think it’s a moral imperative to have something to give way beyond the traditional retirement years.

Sandy, this has been a wonderful talk with you. As with so many of our classmates, I never knew you back then, but I wish you lived closer now (even though I know you love life in Sarasota) so we could talk on a frequent basis. As we approach the end of it, do you have any thoughts to leave for our classmates?

Learn to live your life day by day to the best of your ability. Try to get to where you’re living your nature; who you’re here to “be”.  That’s not necessarily what you or society think you “should” do.  Live and let live is certainly my motto.  Be the best you can be, with compassion in mind.  Be open to all possibilities.

Years ago, when I was converting to Judaism, my mother went to her priest for guidance.  I am grateful to him for what he said to her.  He told her she could feel blessed that I believed in God enough to find my own way of worshipping.  Though Rich and I do not define ourselves by any dogma or ideology now, we do believe that there is an underlying intelligence that guides us all.  Some will call it God, some Goddess, some All There Is.  But, if we listen to our inner guidance we will hear that divine voice and continue to be good people.

Since I know you come up here periodically to visit with your brother and sister and for workshops and appointments, you’re one of the people I’d really like to have a chance to sit and talk with at our 45^th reunion in 2010, and I’d like to stay in touch with you in the meantime. I think I might have to stand in line to talk with you if you come to that reunion! I know Peggy Vlerebome comes to the reunions, and you and she could have your own reunion within a reunion, which is really what they’re all about, anyway. Until next time, this is

Pat Cox

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell and today we are featuring Pat Cox. Hi Pat, and welcome to our interview series.

Hi Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

It’s been a very long time since we graduated from CHS, and you and I didn’t know each other back then. What’s been keeping you busy over these past 43 years?

Since graduation from Centerville High School, let’s see. What have I been up to? Well, I went to Sinclair Junior College, graduated from the Electronic Computer Programming Institute of Dayton, Ohio, went to work for the Standard Register Co. and, on the eve of Martin Luther King’s assassination, decided there had to be more in life. I packed up and moved to Columbus, Ohio, got married to a loser, moved back to Dayton for a while and then moved to Houston, Texas where I spent the next 20 years or so as a Corporate Trainer for Safeway Stores Inc. That’s where I met Troy, my husband of 31 years. I was the queen of disco and quite the social butterfly. Troy and I got involved with Catholic Charities where I did a number of Toastmaster Roasts to raise money for the Houston food bank. We did much for Special Olympics through our grocery connections and I became quite the public speaker. We kayaked, scuba dived, entertained, vacationed 5 times a year and worked on our favorite charities. We had a home in Houston and a vacation home on a lake in Texas, where, on the weekends, we fished, sat in the hot tub and drank beer and socialized with the neighbors. You can understand why I have been hesitant to tell you what I have been doing for the last 43 years. I have not discovered the moon or found a cure for cancer like some of our other classmates claim. I’m all about living and giving. If scuba diving were a science, then I would be a scientist. I vote, pay my taxes and am a loyal fan of friendship.

 For the past five years, I have been caretaking Troy’s father, a Korean and Vietnam Veteran. He had a stem stroke in 1991, an amputation in 1998 and suffered from an array of debilitating diseases. After two more amputations in 1996, he passed. During this time and for the past 10 years, I worked as a freelance videographer. My specialty was mock-trial work. I learned much about who is suing who and about the legalities of lawsuits. Mostly I worked on airline crashes, drug suits and monopolies. The work was fascinating and it took me to places I would never have seen otherwise. Confidentiality was key in this line of work.

I became interested in stained glass 30 years ago, and have pretty much made it my business of late.

Wow! Pat, It’s too bad you’ve lived such a terribly boring life, and haven’t discovered the moon or some other obscure planet or found a cure for cancer. Has one of our classmates done these things, and I missed their stellar achievement in the process of writing up their story? Age is definitely taking its toll on my memory! You’ve lived a fascinating life and done a great deal, and your scuba diving and kayaking put my weekend biking to shame. And caretaking an elderly parent requires more patience than I would probably ever have, even though I know of other classmates doing just that, so I stand in admiration of you in that area, too. And on top of everything else, you have a strong creative side, at which you’re clearly doing well. I wish you lived closer to Dayton. I’d like to get to know you personally. My best friends are now former classmates that I never knew back then. So, after all this, tell us a little about your extended family, and about Troy.

Troy Mallett, my husband, is 9 years my junior.  We met when I was 28 and he was 19.  We have been married for a whopping 31 years. I waited until he turned 21 to marry him. My parents thought I had been taken over by aliens.  They met him and fell in love too.  My dad greeted him with a fishing pole.  He is a joy to be around and my best friend for life. We currently live in Rock Hill, S.C. on 2 acres in an equestrian neighborhood surrounded by a cow pasture in a cedar & pine forest.

No children… I live vicariously through my brother Jim’s three children and six grandchildren. Bravely, Troy and I took 13 of them to Disney World on a fabulous vacation. We had the time of our lives. We call it pre-spending their inheritance.

My father, Nevin, dropped dead on my toilet of a heart attack while visiting me in Texas in 1989 at Christmas time. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it was devastating.  My mother, Mary, passed in 1997 from pancreatic cancer. I moved from Charleston, SC back to Dayton to take care of her so she could die at home.

Mostly, our current family consists of two cats, Harley Doowapp Davidson and Cheeto, our Humane Society adopted son, and up to last week, our bird, Gizmo, who died of a heart attack at age 26. We were taking bets as to whether the bird would outlive me.  I won!

Well, I’m deeply relieved to know that you outlived the bird, because you promised me your story about three years ago, and had you died first, I never would have gotten it! I don’t think Gizmo’s life story would have been half as interesting as your’s is. What a horrible way for your father to die, and for you to know about it. I’m not sure I could ever laugh about something like that, but I admire you for being able to now. You’ve told us a bit about your hobbies, but it sounds like you’ve turned one of them into a business. Would you elaborate on that part of your life for us?

Sure!  We spent 10 years living in Charleston, SC, and, of course, Charleston is all about gardens, secret gardens.  I had rheumatoid arthritis by this time and I needed an outlet and activity to keep my joints flexible, so I started designing concrete garden stones in stained glass.  Then I started designing them in mosaics.  I actually got pretty good at it and have just been invited to join the South Carolina Artisans Society.  They want to put some of my work in a museum.  That’s when you know you’ve reached that pivotal time of your life when being showcased in a museum means, “dang, you’re old!”  I also have a retail store in Charlotte, NC, where I sell my work, Tiffany Lamps, hand-blown glass balls, which I design and have blown in the Appalachian Mountains, wind chimes, sun catchers and lots of glass things.  Since I don’t take myself real seriously, I tend to sell a lot of things for little profit, so, another place you’ll never see me is on the cover of Forbes.

Now, that’s a very creative way to keep your rheumatic joints flexible, create beautiful and original works of art, and earn money, too. You aren’t our first class member to turn a hobby into a second career, but it seems to be a fairly typical thing for our generation to do. Not too many of us are sitting around in rocking chairs or watching daytime TV. on a regular basis. And, when you’re not creating stained glass beauties, selling them, or being featured in the museum, what do you guys do for fun? Actually, your daily life sounds like fun to me.

We love cruising, hiking, RV’ing, kayaking, crabbing, fishing and pretty much anything that involves living.  You’ve never lived until you pull an angry crab into a little kayak and then miss the bucket he’s supposed to go into.  It’s truly a moment you’ll never forget.

Well, that covers a great deal! And how lucky you are to have the physical stamina at this point in life to be able to enjoy some fairly vigorous activities. I know that kayaking “ain’t for sissies”. The closest I’ve ever come to that was canoeing…once. We went years ago with our three kids, who delighted in swamping our canoe at regular intervals. I decided that I was not meant for the water. Do you have any regrets about “the road not taken”?

Now, let’s see! Regrets? There are a few. I wish I could have known all my classmates better, then, maybe I would have felt more comfortable returning to one of my class reunions. I regret that Mrs. Anglemeyer passed before I got to say goodbye to her. I regret that I lost track of most of my high school friends. If they knew me now, they would know that I am enjoying life the best I can. I regret that I have rheumatoid arthritis (a gift from my father). I would not change a thing about the choices I have made in my life. I do regret, however, that I do not have the ability to win the Nobel Peace Prize like so many in our family of graduates. When I read these life stories of all of you, I’m overwhelmed by your accomplishments.  I regret that I never told Doug Bushong how much I admired his kindness and intelligence.  I’m sure he turned out to be someone remarkable.  Oh, and I regret that I never joined the Drama Club.  After that weight thing with the Drill Team, I figured there wouldn’t be a place for slightly chubby, but delightful drama queen.  I did, however, join the Dayton Little Theater Group later down the road.

I’m awed even more that you’re able to do activities like kayaking with rheumatoid arthritis, because I know how much determination you have to be active in the face of that much constant pain. And creating beautiful stained glass requires a dexterity that has to be challenging for you, if your hands are affected. As for knowing your classmates better, coming to a reunion is the best way to remedy that. Our last reunion was quite a bit different from past ones, and the people who came had ample opportunity to meet people they’d never known back then, plus reconnect with old friends. The old cliques are gone now. And our class website is a great way to re-connect with those that you’d like to hear from again. Reconnection has happened through the website for several classmates. And, again, refresh my failing memory as to who in our class has won the Nobel Peace Prize. If any of them have, they sure haven’t bragged to me about it! Your accomplishments are going to sound pretty impressive to many of our classmates, myself included.

Now, a short journey back to the Dark Ages, those days when we were just kids in classes together. What are your memories of high school?

Yes, I was in the French Club and I was president of the Pep Club. Does anyone even remember that I was your junior class Editor of the Wapiti? I tried out for the drill team and didn’t make it because of weight discrimination. My friends cried for me.  I took it as a challenge.  I had already been studying dance with Mary Hyatt in Centerville for 13 years, so I became captain of her drill team. We worked our butts off and received an invitation to march in the Cotton Bowl in Florida.  It was a highlighting achievement for me.  Amazingly, I didn’t see one person from CHS’s drill team at the Cotton Bowl.  It taught me my first hard lesson about discrimination. I was the president of our Tri-Hi-Y and I remember we sold out our Sock Hop at the YMCA with Ivan and the Sabers in one day. My dad bought me Beatles concert tickets for my 16^th birthday present and I took my best friend of 53 years, Ellen Shannon.  We almost got arrested in Cincinnati because one of us threw a Coke bottle out of the window.  The police called my parents.  How embarrassing!  Mostly in high school, though,  I hung out with Carma Shank, Shelly Tettman, Marcia Howard and a bunch of the 1963 graduating class.  I was in two sororities.  Were they even legal in high school?  My 16^th birthday party lasted two days.  It started at LeSourdsville Lake and ended in a really big party.  My fondest memories of high school were in Mrs. Anglemeyer’s Class.  She was my friend and my mentor.  Also, much of my life centered around the Kettering Skating Rink.  It was where I spent most of the weekends when I wasn’t with the band.  My parents ran the concession stand at the football games, so I was held captive selling hot dogs and soft pretzels at every home game.  That is torture when you are 15.

Most of you knew me in high school because of my brother Jim, and Ivan and the Sabers. It was pretty much my life then. What people don’t know about me is that my dad managed the band and that taught me much about discretion. For example, one night my mom called me at Ellen’s and said I had to get home right away for supper.  Reluctantly, I came.  I sat down to dinner with a young gentleman named Michael Landon, Yes; it was “the” Michael Landon. My mom picked him up at LeSourdsville Lake between gigs with the band and invited him to dinner. He had just signed a contract to start a little show called Bonanza. He was courteous and polite and very, very good looking to a 16 year old. Herman’s Hermits arrived in my driveway one day driving a big, black hearse. I got to hang with Jay and the Americans, Jan and Dean, Marvin Gaye, The Beach Boys and on and on. I learned so much about discretion. I was with Otis Redding when he got on his last plane ride. It was a sad occasion in our house. This was my life away from Centerville High School. At the same time I was a high school student I was living with celebrities.  It was great preparation for the future.  I was asked to publish a teen magazine but my parents thought I was too young.  They were, unfortunately, right!   It was fun and the parties at the Cox house were always great! 

I am totally speechless! All these music legends, and you were hanging with them. Discretion, I understand, but your neighbors had to have seen a few things. Big black hearses in anyone’s driveway aren’t exactly every day occurrences. And Michael Landon…when did he NOT look very, very good looking, clear up to the last public pictures of him? He didn’t appeal just to 16 year old girls! Jeez, what memories you’ve got. The rest of us pale by comparison. I think I must have been living in a cave somewhere during my whole high school years. And after all these memories, and what you’re doing today despite the arthritis, what are your plans for the future? I’m almost afraid to ask.

My goal today? Troy and I want to arrive at old age with a great cruise itinerary, a bigger and badder RV and a great attitude. I still need to see Greece, Italy, Australia, Alaska and many parts of the U.S. before I go. Oh, and maybe I’ll run into all of you someday. We certainly hope so!   Come by the house if you happen to be in South Carolina.  You’ll find me in the swimming pool hanging on to a noodle for dear life, pretending to be an Olympic swimmer and you’ll find Troy bungeed tightly to his little John Deere tractor so he won’t fall off!

Today I am happy in my stained glass studio creating some beautiful mosaic piece that I feel confident no one else can duplicate. Early in my life, I wanted to be a lawyer. Coming from an Italian migrant blue-collar family, it wasn’t in the cards. It wasn’t meant to be. I find the most beauty in the simplest things these days. I wouldn’t change a thing! My biggest accomplishment besides my husband, Troy? I still have a great sense of humor!

Boy, do you ever! You had me chuckling through most of the reading of what you sent me. Well, I can tell you one way to accomplish part of that last wish, and that’s to come to the next reunion in 2010. We won’t all be there, and the girls you hung with in high school will have to be talked into coming…maybe by you?...but a lot of people will show. And several of those people can be accessed—I think—through the website, if we have the right email addresses for them. If not, I can help you with home addresses and sometimes with phone numbers. Our old classmates often are thrilled to be contacted by those from the past, particularly if it’s someone they knew, and never expected to hear from again. It’s really pretty flattering to be sought out by old friends! 

Now, Sharon wants words of wisdom from me!  My wisdom comes from a person with a debilitating disease, in denial about getting older.  Here it is:  If you are a person living with chronic pain, stop complaining.  There is always someone in worse shape than you and me.  People, we are older now, so, take your medications.   Keep moving!  Spend some of that money you’ve all worked so hard to save all of your life.  Adopt a puppy or a kitten from the Humane Society.  It can do wonders for your attitude.  Give back in some way.  I just donated some of my artwork to Hospice for their children’s garden.  It wasn’t much, but it made me proud of my meager accomplishments.  Be proud of your lives.  From what I’ve read, you’ve all done remarkable things with your lives.  I’ve much to learn in the future.  I just hope I don’t croak before I get it all done.  My heart tells me one thing but my body has a different agenda.  Some of you know of what I speak!  Let’s all just enjoy it as long as we can.  It’s not too late to go skinny dipping.

I think I know exactly what you mean, Pat. My body is 61, but recently I was asked how old I felt mentally, and to my surprise, I responded with “about 40”. I hadn’t even thought about it until then. Questions like that aren’t posed to most of us every day. I, like you, have my share of aches and pains, but I can’t seem to stop pushing myself each day to see if maybe I can still get away with something I used to be able to do, and I think you’re the same way. I really, seriously hope you come to the reunion in 2010, which isn’t all that far away now. You’ve changed a lot and become who you were meant to be; so have a lot of the rest of us. Come and meet us again! Until next time, this is

Jim Stark

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring Jim Stark. Hi, Jim, and welcome to our interview series.

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of this series. I knew you’d get around to asking me one day!

I know you’ve been in this immediate area your whole life, so how about telling us what all you’ve been doing all these 42 years.

I went to Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa for a degree in psychology, realized how much more education I’d have to have to be able to work in that field, and switched to a business degree. When I came back home, I started out at Rike’s, then went to Elder Beermans, for maybe 3 ½ years. Viet Nam was a big issue, and I had to participate in some way, so I went into the National Guard, which necessitated some annoying time away from home for a few weeks periodically each year plus one weekend a month for 6 years. My dad had just bought Centerville Bowling Lanes, so he asked me for some help, and I ended up working for him for 17 years. Eventually I sold the business; went to Europe for three months. One month I spent in Paris with Freddie Meyer of ’Ivan and The Sabers‘ fame.  He still performs around Europe. His web site is www.freddiemeyer.com ,then click the American Flag. Its fun!!!! I came home and opened the first Dayton office for Sprint with Ray’Red’Huss. Class ‘61. We became the number one sales team in the country very quickly in little old Dayton, Ohio, and we stayed in that office for 6 ½ years, in the long distance voice and data business. Along the way, my dad and I and Phil & Jerry of Foodarama fame donated seed money for the CHS radio station in what eventually became the new high school, not the one we all graduated from, and I also contributed seed money for the Washington Township Recreation Center, which started out as a YMCA. After Sprint, I took about five months of leisure, then got my commercial real estate license and became an independent contractor. We have merged or acquired five companies over the last four years and now are number two in the Day/Cin markets.

You have a well-deserved reputation for knowing just about everyone from not only our class, but several classes above and below ours, and I think you know about everyone else in the area, too. Everyone I’ve asked you about over the last almost a year, you’ve either known where they were, where they are, or have had contact with them recently. That’s amazing to me, but I know you got to know most of them through both school and the bowling lanes. Tell us about your family. Where they and what are are they doing?

My dad died at age 86, eight years ago, and my mom died at age 96 in 2006. Both my brother Tim and I were adopted, he as a toddler, myself as an infant, and we had pretty terrific lives because of that. Tim, 58, worked for Bob Evans for 20 years, and due to some personal health problems, is unemployed right now. I have a deeply loved daughter, Lauren, 28, who lives in San Francisco. She graduated from Montana State University, loves climbing mountains, extreme snowboarding, and works for Adidas in San Francisco. She educates and trains managers of retail stores to train their staff on products and services. Her territories are Calif., Ore., Wash., Nev., AZ, and Hawaii. We had a family wedding in Peru, South America in May and I sent her there to represent the North American part of the family, because I couldn't get away then. Needless to say, she’s pretty excited about that! I’ve been divorced from her mother for many years. I’ve had a very special lady in my life, one I wish I’d been lucky enough to have met a long time ago. Her name is Ann Bruning, former owner of Bruning Clock Shop locally, but she’s originally from Long Island, NY and a graduate of the University Of Dayton. By sheer coincidence, her best friend is Joanne Wallace Sabatino, from our class, who now lives in Florida! Life is strange!

Jim, your enthusiasm and zest for life are infectious, and you know everyone. I know you’re happy with the path you’ve chosen since high school, and you obviously love meeting and getting to know people and real estate sales. Do you have any hobbies? Not everyone does.

A little known fact is that in high school my family, Bob Heffner’s, Karen Armstrong’s, and Freddie Meyer belonged to the Crestwood Swim Club, and our swimming and diving team won many records and championships from age 11 thru 17. It was super to be recognized for those victories. Outside of that, I enjoy playing golf, love travel, dining out, fine wines, and gourmet cooking.

I, along with some other women, would just love to invite you to our homes to demonstrate your expertise! What memorable trips have you taken?

I’ve been to Japan, Europe, and all over the U.S. I’ve traveled quite a bit over the years.

Do you have any regrets about the path your life has taken, and is your life where you thought it would be, back when you were in high school?

I don’t really think I have any regrets. Just about everyone has a few things they would have done differently, but mostly, things have turned out just fine. And no, I had no idea back in high school what I wanted to do when I grew up! I don’t regret the choices I’ve made along the way, and my best achievement by far has been my daughter. I’m glad to be still here and still doing things that I really love to do. I’d maybe like to have been able to be a restaurant critic, because in my line of work I eat out frequently and I’ve learned to appreciate excellent food and wine. AND, I’d like to be a better golfer!

Well, you’ve had a great life since high school graduation. What are your best memories of those four years?

First and foremost, I remember Ralph Bender. I took speech as an elective, and he changed my life. I can handle public speaking easily now, thanks to his training back then. I remember Jim Van Tine’s government class, and Dick Hall. I knew, and still know, so many people from CHS. To name just a few: Bill Meckstroth, Monica Ponchellia, Ash Bloom, Steve Williamson, Wayne Kirby, Dwight Doench, Dennis Fallang, Bill Williams, Bob Heffner, Lila Waltrip, Joanne Wallace, Janet Scott, , Jerry Dice, Phil Meismer……and the list goes on and on. Those people who live locally, I still have frequent contact with, and I talk to Dwight, Wayne, and Bob. Wayne, Dennis, Dwight and their wives, and Ann and I gather regularly during the summer on the back terrace of the Yankee Trace Golf Club on Wednesday evenings for ‘Jazz on the Green’. We tell old stories and new ones; it’s fun! I’m also close to a lot of people from the classes of ’64 & ’66. The classes around us sort of blended together over time. One thing I remember most from my senior year, just days before graduation, is driving on Far Hills Ave., just south of David Rd. across the street from Steve Williamson’s apartment playing with the radio dial, not paying attention to what I was doing, and rear-ending a large Pontiac Grand Prix, putting the trunk in the back seat. When the driver got out, who did I see but Mr. Tite, with Mrs. Tite in the passenger seat. I really thought I was all washed up with high school at that moment and graduation was just a memory!!! BUT I STILL GRADUATED!!!

You’re probably one of the most amazing people I’ve talked to from our class. I think we know the answer to this next question, but I’ll ask it anyway. What are your plans for the future?

I will continue with commercial real estate because of the challenges and satisfactions of being a consultant for peoples businesse's, real estate, and investment portfolios. I don’t have any retirement plans at all. I know it will happen eventually, but I can’t predict when that time will come. Right now I’m enjoying my life too much to envision stopping what I’m doing.

My ending question to all my interviews is the same, Jim. What words of wisdom do you have for our classmates?

My words of wisdom came to me right after our 40^th reunion, which was one of the best ones our class has had. It’s been featured on the class website a couple of times.

REFLECTIONS 

Reflections of laughter, tears, other emotions, and shared moments years ago when we lived younger lives together…..

MEMORIES

We are forever bonded by those threads of time and in those quiet moments of our own personal reflections from then to our newly created…..

MEMORIES

To look upon you again, into your eyes and to hear the history of your life’s journey and moments shared with me and all of us were just fabulous…..

MEMORIES

Those smiles and oh! The laughter of yesterday and today makes us warm. It’s really like coming home and so many…..

MEMORIES

Wow! The echoes of those lost, please remember! Please remember! Please remember! Even though I was with you for a shorter time have…..MEMORIES.

Remember your friends, because you don’t know when or if you’ll see them again.

This has been a beautiful interview, Jim, and I’d like to hope that those reading it will lose some of their reluctance to talk with me as you’ve done today. As you told me, a lot of people are preferring to look forward, not backward, but sometimes a pause for reflection is good for all of us, to put all of our years of experience and living into perspective. Thank you for talking with me today so willingly, and I know that we’ll see you at the 45^th reunion.  Until then, this is

Karen Copp

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring Karen Copp Lachat. Hi, Karen, and welcome to our interview series!

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

You’ve had a busy, busy life since we all graduated from CHS 42 years ago. Will you tell us a little about what you’ve been doing?

I have a B.S. in psychology from University of Kentucky and an M.A. in school psychology from Ohio State. The school psychology degree got me into the career I am in now, because they had an opening for a full time education guidance counselor for the Air Force in Okinawa, Japan. At that time we were registering everyone for Community College of the Air Force which would give them an associate degree related to the job they held.  Since this associate degree is from a fully accredited community college, the credits will transfer to a bachelor’s degree program in many areas, even management.  I have been a civilian with the Air Force for 28 years now and have had assignments in many locations such as Washington, D.C., Germany, Japan, Hawaii, Colorado, and my current assignment in Texas.  I have been running the education program on Randolph Air Force Base for about 14 years now.  I am the equivalent of the chancellor of our college system here on base.  There are five different colleges that have sites on the base the help military and civilian personnel get their associate’s, bachelor’s, or master’s degrees in a variety of programs such as aeronautical engineering and computer and information science.  We have 28 classrooms, a 3 million dollar budget to help pay for the airman’s tuition, a large testing center, and we offer professional military training.  I enjoy this job tremendously, but it has gotten much more stressful since the Iraq war.  Our students get sent overseas in the middle of their courses, so they switch to distance learning so be able to complete.  This program is similar to the ones at all the other locations I have been in.

Wow! You’ve got a heavy responsibility in this job, but I could hear the pride in what you’ve created in your voice, and It’s certainly justified. I can also understand why retirement, even though age 65 isn’t too far away, might not be at the top of your list. What about your personal life?

I was married for 15 years and it was good for a long time, but it fell apart in 1984, and we had no kids. My parents retired to Florida, and my mom died of lung cancer in 1984; my dad died of it also in 1999. I have a sister, 57, who teaches in Cincinnati, another sister, 53 who’s a dental hygienist in Florida, and a brother, 50, who’s in real estate in Flint, Michigan. We’re sort of scattered all over the country. And I have my 2 “kids”, my poodles, Beau and Fiesta, who I compete in a variety of shows. I stay very busy!

I know you’re very busy, Karen, because it took us months to connect and talk long enough to get this interview with you. And it was worth the wait! What are your hobbies?

I love to garden, but last year was the first year I haven’t had a garden in years. My main interest is in training and competing with Beau and Fiesta, and there was an article about what the competition on the CHS ’65 website a few months ago about that. We had a very hot, wet summer last year here in Texas, and we were challenged with training our dogs, because we have no inside facility in which to train. It was too wet and muddy for the dogs, and we have to keep them in shape. I’m also heavily into my own physical fitness, because of the physical work involved in training and in the show ring. I work out five days a week, and my workout is pretty structured.

I envy you the dog training and competition. I’d love to do that with our own two dogs. And boy, does it force you to keep in shape, which I am not! What memorable trips have you taken?

My most memorable trip was the March on Washington to get our troops out of Vietnam, even though it was quite a while ago. When I was in Europe we would take a troop train to Berlin to go shopping (this was before the Berlin wall came down).  It kept stopping so no one got ambushed. I was also on a troop transport plane coming back from a trip to Korea. I sat there for a while before I realized that my feet were resting on a casket and I found out that the plane was bringing bodies back from a terrorist attack.  THAT was a jolt!

All I can say, again, is what an incredible life you have led! What do you consider to be the accomplishment you’re most proud of? You’d done so much!

I’ve watched a lot of military people go way beyond what they thought they could do academically. I got them into college level material, and they found out that 30 hours of their training from technical school would transfer as college credits. I have enabled them to get their advanced degrees and then retire and become successful in their second careers!  I now support the counselors, and help to work around the regulations when we need to help someone meet their goals.

That’s an incredibly satisfying thing to know you’re doing, especially with all the red tape the military can put in peoples’ way. What about any regrets you’ve had, or anything you might have done differently?

I don’t really have any serious regrets with the choices I’ve made, and the only thing I’d have done differently would have been to finish my Ph.D. I went overseas in the middle of working on it, and I just couldn’t get back into it, so I made a career out of what I’d already done.

And it worked out probably better than you could have imagined. Did you think you’d be going into work like this, back in high school?

NO!!  I thought I was going to be a veterinarian, but the schools wouldn’t accept me because I was a woman, so I chose psychology instead.

I had no idea there was that discrimination back then. My brother wanted to be a vet, but he couldn’t get into a school in Ohio, and was talked into poultry science instead. Very bad counseling, which YOU would never have done!  Now he works in computers. What about your memories from high school? You’ve led such a busy life; do you remember much from back then?

Truthfully, I don’t. I don’t remember any of my classes or teachers from back then, but I do remember field hockey and the tennis team. I remember Susan Johnson, Sally Mowry, who I talked to a week before she died, and few others, but I have not really kept in touch with anyone.  We all went such different directions.

I can understand why you have few memories from back then. Your life has been bursting at the seams for years now! What about future plans and retirement plans?

My goal is to keep running my dogs on the agility field at age 95, which is how old one of the men in our group is. And I just might make it. I’m eligible for retirement in two years, but whether I retire depends on my financial situation by that time. I love my job, so it’s not the end of the world if I’m not ready yet.

You have a terrific job and a terrific hobby, and working with dogs in training is one of the most satisfying things I can imagine. Do you have any words of wisdom for our classmates?

Look on the positive side! Don’t give up! There has to be a way out or a brighter side.

And you’ve clearly found both through all you’ve gone through in the last 42 years. Thank you for taking the time to share your busy life with us, Karen. Until next time, this is

Larry Manny
(Did not want to submit photo)

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series!

Well, I was drafted into the Army in 1966, and sent to Viet Nam. I was wounded in 1968 when I was hit by a mortar in the abdomen and intestines, and over 100 pieces of shrapnel were imbedded in me. I’m now very hard of hearing because of my military service, and I ended up discharged on permanent disability from my war wounds. I was discharged in ____. I attended Miami-Jacobs Business College and Sinclair Community College, but I didn’t graduate from either school, and the training I got there never helped me to get a job. I ended up in a job with the postal service as a clerk and a mail carrier in a rural area. I worked there for five years, retired, and went back to the job, but had to retire again because I was working more hours than my disability status would permit. I became completely retired in 1981.

I’ve been married since 1974 to my wife Linda, who I met in 1965 at a party. The minute I saw her walk in the door, I knew she was going to be my wife. She graduated from Bellbrook High School and had been a cheerleader. She’s had lupus for many years and now has severe arthritis. My dad died in 1978 and my mom is in Bethany Village with Alzheimer’s. My sister got guardianship of my mom, and because of my sister’s attitude toward me, I’ve been blocked from contact with my mom. My sister’s husband is the president of Bethany Village, so she has the connections to make sure I can’t see my mom. Linda and I have a daughter, Kimberly, who has a master’s degree in education and teaches in the Troy City schools. Her husband is a teacher in the Oakwood City schools and also coaches the girls’ basketball team. Kimberly and her husband just gave us our first grandson, Aiden Michael Oaks, born on January 4, 2007. Last but not least, we also have a Manchester terrier, Cody.

I dabbled in antique cars for a while years ago, but that got expensive and I sold them. I now enjoy hunting and fishing and golf. My plan at this point is to build a garage onto our home and add a pool table and a game room. My grandson will get older and I can teach him what Grandpa enjoys doing! I’ve also traveled a bit as retired military, with airplane "hops" to Hawaii. I get to travel free that way. My plan now is to go to Germany for ten days and see the Swiss Alps, and I’ve applied for my passport. I’ve stayed home with Linda for 20 years because of her lupus, and I asked her to go with me on this trip to Germany, but she’s chosen to stay home and be close to our daughter and grandson. Now I want to travel!

I’m sorry I didn’t do more in high school. I wanted to be on the wrestling team, but we lived way out in the country, and if I missed the bus, I had a 2 ½ mile walk home. That wasn’t too appealing back then. I’ve also had chances to travel throughout my careers, but I didn’t take those opportunities until now.

I sure never expected to be drafted or the life-changing serious injury I received as part of my military time. I put off getting a colonoscopy for 30 years because I was afraid of what the doctor would find in there. I finally got one recently and to my relief, everything is fine.

I would have taken better care of myself. I spent too much money with not enough to show for it. And, I would have gotten more education after high school, completed at least one of the programs that I started.

I especially remember Mr. McDaniel, Gary Weidner, and Mr. Bender. I really enjoyed science class although I struggled for my grades. School wasn’t easy for me. The classmates I remember include Linda Andrasik, Jenny Griffiths, Greg Ream, Mike H. Arnold, Glenn Turton, John Sauer, Rick Gay, Lynn Horton, Mike Wendling, Bonnie Simpson, and Adrienne Ridey. On weekend I played intramural basketball, and I went to the dances. I especially remember the crush I had on Sharon Watson. I finally worked up the nerve to ask her if she’d let me drive her home from school one day, and then was humiliated to discover that my car battery was dead. Salt Walther came along and took her home instead. I never got brave enough to ask her again.

I’d like to sell the house and buy a bigger one! And I want to travel, which I’d like to do with my wife, but since she’s not willing to, I’m going to go alone.

Do the best you can and be honest. Don’t cheat people.

John McEldowney

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring John McEldowney. Hi, John, and welcome to our interview series!

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for thinking of me for this series!

All right, as everyone knows by now, I always start off with the same question, so here goes. You were popular and well known back in high school, and everyone is dying to know…. what all have you been doing over all these years since we graduated from CHS together?

After high school, I went to the University of Dayton and graduated in 1969 with a marketing degree. First I was at Gem City Savings, right out of college, where I worked in the Savings area for five years, learning all about savings plans, bonds, and customer service. I moved to Sarasota, Florida in 1974, and I worked in a similar position at United First Federal. It was here that I learned about the lending business. I returned to Dayton in 1976, and was an assistant branch manager at Gem City Savings, Far Hills office, where you, Sharon, were also working as a teller! I became a branch manager of the Kettering office in 1977, but left to sell real estate in 1978. A realtor, I was not. So I returned to Gem City Savings and went into lending as manager of the Middletown lending center. In 1984, Gem Savings set up a mortgage company, Gem Mortgage, and I became the Dayton manager, and then was promoted to regional manager later, before the merger with National City Mortgage in 1980.  I was appointed as branch manager as a result of that merger. Before my retirement, I was finally a vice president, district manager for the Dayton area. I retired from NCM on June 1, 2006, after 25 years.

Well, I remember working in the same branch with you, but you made a stellar career of it after you finished college. I was as ill-suited for banking as you were for real estate, and went to college after I got married to pursue other directions. And you got married to a co-worker along the way, too. Tell us about your family and extended family. Where are they now?

My wife, Kathy, is a Carroll High School grad, and is divisional underwriting manager at National City Mortgage with the preferred lending center. We have six kids. Janet Gilkison, is a Wright State grad, and teaches at Mark Twain School in Miamisburg. This is her 13^th year of teaching, and she’s 36 years old. She and her husband Duane have three kids; Gabrielle, 8; and twins Grace and Graham, 2.

Jenny Chapman is an Ohio State grad, and is a civil engineer for a law firm in Columbus, Ohio. She’s 34. Jenny and her husband Phil have five kids. Alex is 10; Ty is 8; Lauryn is 4; Ryan is 2; and Katelyn is 1.

Jason McEldowney has a business degree, and is employed as a post-closing manager with National City Mortgage. He’s 31 years old, and he and his wife Jenny have three kids; Colin, 15; Marissa, 13; and Jack, 2.

Stephanie Ludwig is also an Ohio State grad, and teaches in the Dublin City Schools outside of Columbus, Ohio. This is her fifth year teaching, and she’s 32.

Amanda McEldowney is a biology major, however, she is working in the health insurance business for Wausau Insurance. This will be her fifth year there, and she’s 28 years old.

Last but not least, Jonathan McEldowney is a Marietta College grad, and teaches at Mound School in Miamisburg. This will be his second year, and he’s 25.

Jeepers! Six kids and eleven grandchildren. I know a few other classmates have had a lot of kids, and I know of one with eleven, but you’re the first one I’ve interviewed with six! You’ve got to be staying busy with such a large extended family. What do you do with them?

Our interests have centered around the children. We’ve kept busy with their sports, including basketball, baseball and soccer. They played them all, and now with eleven grandkids, it’s starting all over!

And I’ll bet they keep you busy. That’s a lot of sports events to be attending. You didn’t mention any other hobbies. What memorable trips have you and Kathy taken over the years?

As a result of working at National City Mortgage, we were invited on nine wonderful and memorable trips. These were awards trips for most profitable office managers or district managers. We went to Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Aruba, Los Cabos, and St. Thomas. These were great times and great parties.

National City treats their outstanding employees very well! I’ll bet there are a few classmates wishing they could re-think their career choices right now. What do you remember most from your years at CHS?

My favorite classes were math, and activities were Friday night football. What great teams we had! I was also involved in basketball and baseball. As far as classmates, we were the greatest! I remember everyone I knew, fondly. I really enjoyed high school.

And since I think everyone remembers you, that’s a pretty nice compliment to pay to the entire class. What are your plans for the future, now that you’re retired?

I want to travel and just enjoy life. I play golf when the weather permits, and often have lunch with friends.

John, when I spoke to you on the phone, you weren’t aware of our class website, which I know you’ve visited now, and I know you weren’t at the 40^th reunion, which people have told me was one of the best. We have another one coming up in 2010, which isn’t all that far away. If you don’t show up for that one, people are going to be calling you, asking where you are! You were fun and friendly on the phone, and I remember you well from the brief time we worked in the same office. Until next time, this is

Julie Garner

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring Julie Garner. Hi, Julie, and welcome to our interview series.

Hi, Sharon, and thanks for inviting me to lunch to talk and tell you about me. I hope I can help you keep your job as a beginner psychologist. We have so many from our class who’ve gone that route!

Well, actually I’m a social worker, but I seem to wear a variety of hats from time to time. Hey, we’re half way between our 40^th and 45^th reunions. Hasn’t the time gone fast? What have you been doing these past years?

What am I doing now? Working at being alive and well, and keeping a good testimony in the midst of some hard times. Most of my stuff was done years ago…art school, Sinclair Community College, marriage, children, more school, a move to Wisconsin, then back to Ohio, then more work, more school, more children, bigger house. Did you know that having four boys could cause you to change about 25,000 diapers over a 19 year period? Just thinking about that number… If I could have a dollar for every diaper or cigarette butt that I saw over the 29 years of my marriage I’d be rich! So much for the past! My life changed drastically in December of 1996 when our divorce was finalized. Our youngest son was only 13 when the papers evicting me from our home of ten years came, in early May. In January of 1996 the Kettering Police arrested me for being in a car that I didn’t know who it belonged to. I was charged with attempted assault and told that if I could post $1,000 bond I would be released. I was detained about five hours, and at 2:00 am they called my husband to come and get me, no bond required. I was totally in shock! They had grabbed my coat and forced me back against the car, bruising my face. The officer twisted my left arm up behind my back to hold me up. It took four years for that arm to heal. Oh, by the way, I don’t feel I’ve had a particularly hard life. I have four sons, David, born in 1968; Garner, born in 1970; Nicholas, born in 1980; and Andrew, born in 1984. Nick is 26 and has been in North Carolina for a while. He’s the one God promised to me and other than struggling with allergies, has brought me the most joy. Garner will be 37 on Easter, the first time his birthday has landed on Easter. He’s probably caused me the most gray hairs. Dave, as he likes to be called, will be 39, and was born ion Palm Sunday, but this year his birthday is the day before Easter. He is my workaholic, he is always busy. They each have areas that they excel at, more like their dad; intelligent, artistic, knowledgeable, and mechanical. Our four children are men now, and the youngest is 23, now the age his dad was when we got married. He did well in school without my help, because he was living with his dad by then, sad to say, He was the first to complete a degree from college. I may not know what he is doing, but I trust God enough to know he’s in good hands.

You’ve had a busy life, and now your kids are grown and on their own. What hobbies do you enjoy?

I like to read, stay in good health, play softball and volleyball, and bowl. I enjoy photography, gardening, sewing, children, walking, and bike riding.

You DO stay busy! What about your most memorable activities and accomplishments?

I volunteered in North Carolina with Samaritan’s Purse, Billy Graham’s Operation Christmas Child. I have a good family, a good name, good friends, and a good life.

You’ve been involved in religious based activities all your life, clear back to when we were friends in high school. It sounds like you’re happy with where you are with what you’ve done with your life. What about your extended family? Where are they now?

My mom worked in the Centerville schools for 24 years as the secretary of the junior high when Mr. Cline was the principal. I pretty much had to walk the line, so to speak, since Mom was always just down the hall the years I was in junior high. One perk for me was getting to work in the “book room” before school, selling school supplies and paperback work books for our classes. I thought that was cool. When I was in the sixth month of my fourth and last pregnancy, my mother decided to retire from Centerville Schools. She worked with at least four principals and over 15,000 students. She did morning announcements, attendance, and dealt with all the teachers in the junior high. My mom amazed me! I was so happy she was able to help me, especially when I was 50” around my middle the week before I gave birth to my son Andrew! Thankfully, there weren’t any complications. I was just bigger and it got difficult to get around and sometimes even to breathe, like having an eight pound bowling ball in my lap all the time. Whew!! Dad retired from NCR, and they both still live locally and are in fairly good health, good genes, healthy living, and lots of interests keep them busy and mobile. My brother Tom, class of 1963, lives in Oregonia, OH, and can’t seem to stay married.

If you could start over, would you make the same choices that you made the first time around?

Why would I want to start over? I’d lose all the good stuff that God has showed me. I’d just like to continue the learning, giving and taking. “Around” is not a time. Growth continues; things change.

I’m glad you feel that you’ve been showered with blessings, despite some of the pain that you’ve gone through with your divorce. What are your memories of your years at CHS?

I remember Mr. Vogler, who made English fun. Miss Acheson actually encouraged me in gym and Mr. Lindsey was great at putting me to sleep! Art and gym were favorite classes, but biology and home economics could have easily become my favorites. I was very into intramurals, and loved GAA, volleyball, hockey basketball, and softball. I remember those as bright spots in high school, which otherwise wasn’t the best of times in my life.

We had a few very good teachers at Centerville; yes, we had a few that didn’t count very well. Those that weren’t very good were new, and I’m sure they improved. I enjoyed school, but not especially the classes, but that’s a lot more invigorating than being isolated and alone. I wasn’t into parties or drinking, drugs nor cigarettes, and as a result I pretty much stayed out of trouble because I enjoyed sports and was reading and obeying God’s word, the Bible.

My friends were “The Group”…Nancy Elmenthaler, Judy Long, Ruth Ann Bishop, Nancy Overman, Rose Anne Bradfield, Sharon Erickson and the “Joneses”.

Socially, I only went to the eight grade dance, and Saturday nights I went to Youth for Christ.

You have some good memories from high school, Julie, and thankfully you were into sports, so you have really good memories from those. I remember Mr. Vogler fondly, too, although I think he only taught at CHS for one year. I remember “The Group” well, also, except for Judy Long. You and I were in home economics together for several years. What are your plans for the future?

I’m thinking about moving to North Carolina, because two of my boys are there. I’d like to be closer to them and watch them as they go through life. I miss them a lot.

You’ve had an interesting life, old friend, and you’ve stayed close to your core values and beliefs through it all. Many of us have changed and gone our own course, but you’ve stayed true to your early beliefs. Do you have any words of wisdom for our classmates?

Life can be a ringer, and we have to learn how to be pressed into a mold without hurting each other. Learning that, could be a real asset. We need God and we need each other. Romans 14:7…”No man, none, live to themselves, and no man dieth to himself.” (We all affect somebody, if only for a short time.) How many of our classmates have died? Who are they? Can we make a difference in the lives of any of the 271 that finished the course? “Graduation”. Oh, by the way, did you know you can lie and cheat and steal from people without them knowing it? But if you’re a Christian or just a good person, your conscience or the Holy Spirit WILL convict you and cause you to be ashamed and cause a change in your ways, or build a wall between you and that person. God have mercy, please.

Julie, you’ve given us much to ponder. You’ve gotten through a lot of difficulties with your faith to hold you up, and I admire you for that. I know you came to the Friday night part of the 40^th reunion, and we hope to see you at the 45^th reunion in 2010. We all manage to stay so busy, whether we’re still working, retired and doing new things, or whatever else, and you’re no exception. Until then, this is

Jemey Conway

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series!

After graduation, I was hired by Miami University to work in their horseback riding program, which was an elective class. I taught students during the school year, then went to Florida during the summers and took dressage lessons myself. I worked for Miami University for seven years. I got a bronze medal from competing in the 1968 Summer Olympics, so I got pretty good at this love of mine. I was accepted at a riding school in Spain, but my mother wouldn’t let me go so far away from home. I eventually married a Centerville police officer, but he was a serious alcoholic and after 8 years, we divorced. We had 3 children together, but after the marriage ended, I worked for ADP and a marketing research company on an hourly basis, and then took a job at WPAFB working in billing and scheduling for cable television. The kids and I moved to an apartment in The Woods in Centerville, and we got by. I just couldn’t imagine myself living anywhere but Centerville for many years. I’ve done some selling on eBay, selling posters from the 1950’s, which brought in some pretty good money. My mother left some rather valuable stuff in her house when she died, and I was able to make some money on eBay that way. Presently, I’m providing care for an elderly lady four days a week, mostly meal preparation. The work isn’t real hard, and the pay is good.

As I mentioned, my first marriage ended after 8 years, but I have 3 children from that marriage, Ross who is in Alabama as a land developer and not married; Julie, who works in heating and air conditioning at AmeriCool, a company she owns with her husband Brian, and they have a 9 year old son, Cole; and my son Jamie, who is married and works for his high school buddy at Koontz Construction, which builds and remodels Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises in the tri-state region. Jamie’s wife works in real estate. My kids have always been athletic. My boys used to play football and wrestle for the Big C (CHS). I married Bill Ivory quite a while after my divorce, and he has 3 kids. Trish, 36, lives in Lexington, KY with her husband who’s a landscaper and has 1 little boy; Kevin, 32, who is married to Teresa, and they have 2 young kids; and Heather, 30, my favorite step-child, who has 3 young kids. My Jamie and Heather are one week apart in age! My husband, Bill, hails from old North Dayton and is in charge of the entire phone system at Sinclair Community College. I lived in Centerville all during my first marriage and for years after that, and getting used to old North Dayton took some time! For a long time, I came back to Centerville to shop, etc., but I’m slowly getting used to doing these things in my adopted end of town. And Bill has life-long friends here, so we have a group of friends and our house is never quiet on weekends. All my extended family moved to Florida after high school, and my father died there around 11 years ago. My mother developed Alzheimer’s, and sort of got shuffled between my brother Ross and myself until she died 3 years ago. My mother was difficult to deal with even before the Alzheimer’s set in, and she and I never got along very well. I had a brother, Buzz, 2 years younger than me, who died of hepatitis C from drinking and drugs about 5 years ago, and my brother Ross, who’s 12 years younger than I am, are very close.

I wish my first husband and I had not moved to Hilton Head Island when our kids were young. I had an inheritance in investments, and we lost it by staying there, because of the challenges in our marriage. Life would have been simpler here, temptations less, and I would have been able to keep the money intact.

You know, I just had to learn a lot along the way. I would make the same choices with marrying Bill, and my kids have survived the early years very well. All of us went through counseling after my divorce, except for my oldest child. I was in group therapy for two years after the divorce, because I was very afraid. I learned differently when I met Bill.

I don’t have particularly good memories of high school. I have an unusual first name, and a couple of the teachers teased me mercilessly when I became one of the first girls to get my ears pierced. They called me "Jemimah", because of the lady pictured on the pancake mix box with her hoop earrings. That hurt. I was misdiagnosed with mononucleosis in high school…it was really lupus, but hard to diagnose back then. Miss Acheson got mad at me because I didn’t have the energy in gym class to do what was expected of me. And my mother made me take speech, thinking it would help me to get past my shyness. I hated it. I loved home economics until Miss Owen gave me a "D" on a coat I made. I loved what I’d created, and I felt it was a very unfair grade. It was an original coat, not the run-of-the mill stuff the other girls were sewing, and she didn’t approve of my madras plaid lining in it. I tried extracurricular activities by getting involved in Tri-Hi-Y for a short time, but it wasn’t my thing.

I have better memories of classmates. I hung around with Lynn Horton, Lindy Moore, Marquita List, Ellen Shannon, and Janice Milthaler because I ate lunch with them. I was in classes with all the hoods…all the kids who either hated school as much as I did or weren’t smart enough to be in the "smarter" classes. So I got labeled as being part of that group. I was mostly involved with horses, and school was something I was required to do. Weekends and every day after school, I was out at the horse barn, doing what I really loved to do. When I was 17, I cut classes for a week with my horse friends. We went to the Louisville, KY State Fair, got on a plane for the Bahamas, and I called my mom the day before we were due back home. She wasn’t happy with me! I still have contact with my horse girlfriends, but I’m not actively involved with riding horses now. I go out to the barn 2 or 3 times a year to keep in touch with everyone.

I want to be an "Alabama snowbird", because that’s where my oldest son Ross is. I do what I want to do and when I want to do it at this point in my life. I want to keep as healthy as I can. I wish I had a gardener, and I enjoy my kids and my step-kids! I retired when I left WPAFB, so the job I’m working now is just to help me keep busy until Bill reaches retirement age.

WE MADE IT!! Everyone had to do what they had to do.

Phil Miesmer

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni. I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring Phil Miesmer. Hi, Phil, and welcome to our interview series!

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

Tell us what you’ve been doing over these 43 years since we all graduated from CHS together.

I was in Viet Nam for 18 months, where I was exposed to Agent Orange but fortunately survived the exposure, and then I attended college, both at Sinclair Community College and Wright State University, planning for a business degree. I ended up with about two years of college, off and on, but I was also working full time with Hewitt Soap Sales, and decided that I didn’t need the degree to get where I was headed professionally. I became a regional sales manager with Hewitt and stayed there for 35 years, traveling all over the country. I’ve been to Idaho Falls, Racine, WI, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, San Francisco…the list goes on and on. I found Chicago to be the friendliest city and New York City to be the most rude, by far. I retired in ’04, and now I’ve been driving a school bus for Bellbrook City Schools for the last 3 ½ years. I drive grades K through 12, and I love it!

I’d heard through the “local grapevine” several years ago that you were driving a school bus, but I had no idea that you were doing exactly what you are. I’m really glad to hear about that. It takes a very special person to handle a busload of kids like that and actually enjoy it. You’ve been around people all your adult life as a regional sales manager, and you’ve managed to transition the skills you learned there in a very interesting, rather unique way. This is a pretty amazing “second career” you’ve chosen for yourself. What about your family and extended family? Where are they now?

I’ll have been married to my wife Linda for 30 years in August, and we have no kids. We do have dogs and cats, which are our surrogate kids. We’re on our 4^th German short hair pointer, and we’ve had several cats. My parents are both deceased, my mother about 20 years ago and my dad about 10 years ago. Both lived locally until their deaths. One brother, Gary, 54, and my sister, Lori Rowe, 52, are in Centerville, and my other brother David is 55 and lives out of town.

You sound very content with the life you’ve had, Phil, and you’ve traveled so much! What are your hobbies and what memorable trips have you taken? You’ve seen most of this country, I think.

My hobby is golf, golf, and more golf….lots of golf!! I also enjoy working in the yard. Linda and I have traveled extensively for the last 25 consecutive winters, all over the country. We’ve been to Hawaii, Palm Springs, Scottsdale, the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, New England, Virginia, Myrtle Beach, and we’ve played golf in each state we’ve visited! We both enjoy traveling and playing golf, and since my retirement, we travel as much as we can.

Unlike some people who travel for a living and then stop after retirement, it sounds like you’ve been permanently bitten by the “travel bug”.  What do you consider to be your most important accomplishments? Any regrets?

I’m very proud that I managed to stay employed at the same company for 35 years, and that I did an excellent job while I was there. I’m also very proud of my long marriage, which is not so common nowadays. I really don’t have any regrets. I’ve lived a full life, been very blessed, very blessed.

Do you think that your life is where you thought it would be when you were in high school? Would you make the same choices over again? 

I had no idea what I’d end up doing, back when I was in high school. I just wanted to graduate and get out of school. If I could change anything, I’d make mostly the same choices, but I’d have gotten better educated and stayed with college long enough to graduate.

You’ve had a very different life than what you probably thought you’d be doing while you were in high school. What are your favorite memories of CHS?

I remember Jim Van Tine, Jim Blue, Dick Hall, mostly because I socialized with them during high school and right after graduation, playing golf and bowling with them. I still golf with Jim occasionally.  I remember government because Jim Van Tine taught it, geometry because Dick Hall taught it, and biology because Mr. McDaniel taught it. My “activities” were smoking cigarettes, drinking beer, and playing some freshman football. I had a weekend job at Wally’s Shell, so I didn’t have time for much in the way of outside activities. Classmates I remember are Jerry Dice, Jeff Leland, Ash Bloom, Trace Swisher, Bill Meckstroth, Dave Young, and Brad Tiller. I came to the Friday night part of the 40^th reunion just to see some of these guys again after all those years, but I didn’t stay too long.

It sounds like for you, as for a bunch of others, high school was something you had to get through, so you did, but “life” began after graduation. You didn’t really know what you wanted to do, but you found your niche pretty quickly, which was a blessing. You’ve done well, have a lot to be proud of, and you’re now working in your own way with some pretty difficult kids. What are your future plans, since you’re already retired and traveling to so many different places?

We don’t have any concrete plans, but I suspect we’ll be doing more traveling.

Do you have any final words of wisdom for our fellow classmates?

Stay happy and stay healthy. Keep it light!!!

I think you’ve pretty much followed your own “golden rule” over the years, Phil. I think you know we’re having a 60^th birthday party in August, even though turning 60 didn’t faze you. A bunch of us have been hit a bit hard by this particular birthday. I hope we get to see you there, and again at the 45^th reunion.

Sue King

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Feature Alumni series.

After high school, I went to St. Elizabeth nursing school in Dayton and obtained my R.N. degree. My first job after graduating was at Barney’s Children’s Medical Center in Dayton. After I got married, I moved to Philadelphia and worked there for four years before moving to Long Island. I worked part-time for about 14 years in private medical offices before returning to school in 1981, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hofstra University in 1986. My initial plan was to become a nurse practitioner, but mid-way through my course work managed care came on the scene and there was major controversy regarding nurse practitioners obtaining independent practice rights in NY State. After rethinking things, I decided to apply to the Clinical/School Psychology program at Hofstra. I was accepted into the program and graduated with my Ph.D. in psychology in 1991. In 1990, I separated from my first husband, Frank, after 23 years of marriage, and divorced a couple of years later. I started working in the public school system in 9/90 and have been working for Connetquot School District since 1992. After obtaining my licensure, I started a part-time private practice in 1994 and continue to work 18-20 hours a week.

My husband, Howard B. Hecht, and I married in 1998, and have been together 15 years. He is also a psychologist and practices full time. We work out of our home. My kids are Lisa, age 36, and Amy, age 30. Lisa is a school social worker and is married to John Dimitri. John is a chiropractor and practices in the town where we live. John and Lisa have two children, Michael, age 8 and Julia, age 5. They live in a neighboring town, Oakdale, which is less than 10 minutes away. Amy is also a social worker and is married to Adam Buckley. Adam is a surgeon and practices out of Stony Brook Hospital. They live in Setauket and have no children yet. I have two stepchildren, Howard, age 39 and Jocelyn, age 33. They contribute 5 additional grandchildren, ages 11 to 2. Howard lives in Port Washington, NY and Jocelyn lives in the Champlain Islands. I was one of 6 siblings. My younger sister, Mary, died at the age of 19 in 1976. Both of my brothers and one sister still live in Dayton. Another sister lives in N.C. Mom and Dad still live in Dayton. They have had some health concerns within the past few years, but for their ages, they are actually doing quite well.

I have had some wonderful off shore trips over the years…Hawaii, China, Barbados, Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, England, Italy, in addition to travel within the states. Last year we took our first extended family vacation to Turks and Caicos. I’m looking forward to a trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona this summer with my two sisters. It seems wherever we have traveled, it always feels good to come home to Long Island. This is a very special place with unparalleled beauty.

I love spending time with my children and grandchildren. The girls and I get away yearly for an annual "girls weekend". We have a very close relationship. Family events are very special to me and we get together quite often. I love to cook, read, and get together with friends. My husband and I bought a seasonal condo on the water on the north fork in East Marion in 1999. East Marion is about 8 miles west of Orient Point. It is a small community of 21 owners and is directly on the water with wonderful views of Gardiner’s Bay. We love sailing in the bay and spending leisure time there during the spring, summer and fall.

I always say my greatest accomplishment, unequivocally, is my two children. I’m so proud of them. They are terrific!

None, I would have done everything all over again. I love my family, my profession, and my life.

I might not have imagined myself as accomplished and successful as I am. I would never have dreamed that I would reside in Long Island, so far away from Dayton. I really love it here. Long Island has been my home since 1973.

If given the opportunity, I would probably have gone away to college instead of being so close to home. I feel that being away from familiar territory adds to self-discovery, independence, and self-confidence. Mine was a longer journey.

I have so many memories…Teachers…I’m not too good with remembering names, but I can see their faces. Classes…I enjoyed science and math. As far as special extracurricular activities were concerned, I really enjoyed being in the coeds. I will never forget how awesome it was winning the State championship two years in a row! Classmates…Jim Easton, the love of my life...we had a wonderful relationship! Weekend events…I remember the sock hops, football and basketball games, the numerous dances, junior and senior prom, and pep rallies. High school was a wonderful experience for me. Since I now work in a High School, I realize just how painful the experience can be for so many kids. I don’t ever remember having social workers or psychologists on staff in High School…Columbine certainly changed all that.

I’ll probably continue to work privately, part-time. I would like to travel more and visit China again. I’d also like to retire from the school system after putting in my 20 years.

Live each day as if it were your last! Laugh often and don’t take yourself so seriously.

Melinda Welch

Hi, Sharon, and thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

After high school, I tried to follow in my mom’s footsteps by going to Central Academy of Commercial Art in Cincinnati, but discovered I hadn’t the true talent necessary. But I struggled along for one and a half years until I had to take a leave of absence to take care of my mother, who had a recurrence of cancer. For the next several years my life was a rollercoaster journey of emotions. After year and a half of heartbreaking times, my dear mom passed away in June of 1968. I tried to return to school, but that dream died with my mother. Then Dad and I moved from the only home I’d ever known there at 113 N. Main St., I met Dick Pierce, marrying him a year later. My dad married a wonderful lady, Millie, shortly after that. Then they moved to Florida and after Dick, who had worked at Frigidare, had been laid off for quite a while, we too moved to Spring Hill, Florida in Nov. of ’71, near to my dad. Over the years I’ve had a plethora of "interesting"(?) jobs, most of which I’m fairly certain my illustrious fellow classmates have never had the "pleasure" of doing…like candling and packing eggs in an egg packing plant, or how about assembling condensers? I’ve picked oranges, thrown newspapers at midnight, and worked at various restaurant jobs, though no one today believes me when I tell them I used to be a cook!! I did anything to make ends meet, as in Florida, work for people such as my husband and myself with only high school diplomas was mostly minimum wage and seasonal. So when I got divorced, I ended up working several jobs to keep a roof over my head. But as I was quite heavy then, and as most all my jobs were ones where I was on my feet constantly, my body was beginning to feel the effects. Finally a friend who had just opened a real estate office thought I’d be good at selling property. So after getting my license, I went to work for her. Unfortunately, she was mistaken, as I soon discovered that one needs to be assertive and a wee bit aggressive to do well in that field, and I was neither. But, hanging in there, I changed brokers, becoming a property manager there first. Then I finally found my niche in careers when I began doing the bookkeeping for both the real estate office and my broker’s husband’s construction company. I did this happily for several years until they sold their business in 1990. Since we had never gone to using computers in the office, I then took computer courses, only to discover that by then all businesses, etc. wanted people who had three or four years experience. So…

When my father was ill, we had lots of talks-one of the things he regretted most was not traveling more before he physically couldn’t do it. So since he knew I loved to travel also, he made me promise to do some traveling after he died, as he would provide the funds to do so. By this time I had found a Spirit-filled church and gotten saved. One of my friends from there, Barb Mayhew, moved in with me "temporarily" after her husband died in ’86. a move that lasted 12 years! By 1994 she had retired, so we decided to do that traveling Dad had mentioned. As Barb had RV’d before, she suggested trying that. So after renting one and loving the experience, we bought a used 30’ motor home, hooked up her old car on the back, closed up the Florida house, and off we went that summer out West to several of the National Parks. We fell in love with the RV lifestyle, its simplicity, the wonderful, helpful campers we met along the way, and seeing this beautiful country that the Lord has created. So when we returned to Florida in October, I decided to sell the house and go RV’ing full time, which we did. For the next couple of summers we headed first to New England and Maine, where Barb comes from (and one of my favorite states), then to the Midwest and the nostalgic stop in Centerville, going back to Florida in the winters. By 1997, our RV, which was never meant to be a full-time rig, began to fall apart as did the car, but we persevered, traveling out to the Pacific Coast. While in CA, visiting good camping buddies, they insisted that we stop somewhere along the Oregon coast (we were going to just zip through Oregon!). We decided to see Keiko, the whale of Free Willie fame and the Sea Lion Caves. And what was right in between them—Waldport! Coming up Rt. 101, after seeing awesome sights of sea and coastline, when we came down the hill into Waldport, as I spied the Alsea Bay and bridge and going through this funky town with one traffic light (sound familiar?), I immediately knew I was home! As a week turned into a month, we decided to stay a winter to see if we liked it enough to stay permanently. The only place for rent was an old beach house on the ocean, a dream come true for me, so we took it, furnishing it with "early Salvation Army" furniture and garage sale stuff. Well, I loved it here, meeting super friendly people and so enjoying the gorgeous landscape of ocean, bay, and river, with the Coast Range Mountains as a backdrop. As an avid birdwatcher, I was in "bird heaven"! Unfortunately, though Barb loved the same things, she couldn’t handle the months of rain and constant gloom of the winter storms. So by May it was clear she couldn’t stay, and I couldn’t leave, so tearfully she took the rig and went back to Florida, where she still resides. I guess it was time for us to part, but we are still best friends! I love this small town of 2,500—I reinvented myself here, by losing 120 pounds by going to the gym daily and walking all over the place. I found a very special church, realizing that the Lord had orchestrated this whole new life of mine! I’ve volunteered at the Visitor Center/Interpretive Center here, been involved with free clothing giveaways for the community’s needy, and even served on the Waldport Economic Development Committee, a real eye-opener with local and state government! I’ve been very blessed to be able to live on my investments, as my body has definitely deteriorated to the point where I am now housebound much of the time. But I rent a cozy cottage now, up the river, with a slough across the street and woods behind me, so I’m able to see my "birdies" and wildlife right outside my window. I am truly blessed!!

My parents are both deceased, and as I had no siblings—yes, I was a spoiled brat!—or any children from my marriage, I now have no immediate family. I do have cousins scattered all over the country, with several from California visiting me in summers, which is fun. I was married for nine years to Dick Pierce, but we divorced in 1978. So now my church family is truly "family" to me, as they love, care, and encourage me in all ways! My significant "other" is my ever-present Maine coon cat, Ozzy, who entertains me 24/7 with his antics!

Well, I loved art, and thought I’d become a commercial artist, so that part didn’t work out, but I’ve found happiness in other ways that I would never have expected. I expected to get married, have kids, be a housewife, all the things that girls our age were "supposed" to do, and none of that happened. But I don’t think I would have liked that life anyway. Though I do strive to have a positive attitude all the time, believe me, friends can tell you what a whiner and complainer I still can be. I have my own pity-parties to prove it! All I can do is keep trying, right?

In hindsight, of course I’d do some things differently, as I’ve made some poor choices. But as we have only one time around on this journey called life, the more time I spend dwelling on them and my past, the less time I have to enjoy what the Lord has given to me now—all my senses, a roof over my head, a church full of "family", special friends all over the country. I’m one blessed lady and I thank the Lord for my life just the way it is! And I’m enjoying the opportunity to get to know some of my old classmates again.

Mr. Weidner was a favorite of mine. He was able to make history fun and interesting, while actually learning something, too! Miss Heilman, my art teacher, was always encouraging and supportive of me and other "wannabe" artists. Loving sports and being on the girls’ teams, I had a lot of contact with Miss Acheson—"dear" Miss. A., whom I probably got into trouble with more than any other teacher. All my teachers brought some change into my academic life, and I thank them for trying to mold me and shape me for the future. I was on most of the girls’ sports teams during my high school years, where I enjoyed the fellowship of my teammates and meeting girls from other schools. And it was one of the few areas of school life where I felt I excelled. Remembering my classmates, if I began to name all the kids I knew over my 13 years at Washington Township schools, I’d be mentioning almost everyone. When I think back to those school years, I believe most were the best times of my life. Times of innocence for the most part, when families and communities really stayed together and worked together in a truly caring way. And each of you in your own unique way, shared a bit of that special time with me in some special way. I do find it heartbreaking, though, when I discovered that some good friends whom I shared a season with, are no longer with us, and that’s sad. Talking about regrets, I wish I’d kept up with them better after high school. I didn’t do much on the weekends, other than attending a football game or two each season. But I do remember the Ox Roast that occurred shortly after school got out every summer. It was such a fun time, seeing friends and different families together—small town America at its best!!

As I said earlier, I’ve been so blessed to have already done most of the things I always wanted to do and see. So its just living each day as it comes along, to the fullest!

The Lord gives me each day. If I miss one of those days by worrying, I miss what the Lord has given me. I’ve also learned that it’s very important to tell loved ones how you feel about them. I wish I’d learned to do that before my parents became ill, but I did learn to do it, and I use that gift regularly now.

David Channel

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

I’ve loved the outdoors, cars, trucks, and engines since I was a kid, and that’s what I’ve spent my life doing. In my teens, instead of getting the kind of part-time jobs that everyone else seemed to be getting, me and a friend cut and hauled wood for spending money. A man who knew both of us and admired our ingenuity felled entire woods and gave us the wood to sell. We paid someone to haul it until we were able to get a truck of our own, and that eliminated the middleman who hauled it, so our profits increased. I attended Wright State University for less than a quarter, started wondering what I was doing there when I knew I hated formal academic studying, and just dropped out one day. I got a job at the CHS bus barn, maintaining the engines of their 64 buses, and I worked there for 31 years. The number of buses increased as the pupil population increased, but I made a lot of good friends there, almost like family. In 2002, I was discovered to have a heart valve infection, and I spent several weeks in the hospital and then at home on I.V. antibiotics, recovering. A year later I had heart surgery to have a valve replacement. The heart trouble derailed my retirement by a few years, so I’m just now getting there. I retired from that job in December 2005, and went back to cutting wood, using a tractor and a bush hog. The doctor told me to ease off the heavy physical labor I’d done all my life, so I switched to shoveling snow. I had to stop cutting wood and shoveling truckloads of rock for my mom’s gravel driveway like I’d done all my life. I’ve traveled all over the U.S., and bought an old truck in 1980 in Arizona, dirt cheap. I got it running pretty well and took it to our family farm in French Lick, Indiana, a property my dad bought years ago. The farm belongs to my mom, but I bought land immediately adjacent to it, and built a 30’ x 64’ barn for my collection of trucks, tools, and antique cars. My dream is to build a log cabin there.

I never married, but I’ve had several long-term special women in my life, including my fiancée, Sharon. We’ve been together for many years, and were going to get married after I retired, but I found out that I only had 31 days after my retirement to put her on my retirement insurance, and we had to be married to do that. She’s 50, and works for Jasper, Indiana Sulphur, a 30 mile drive each way from our acreage. She runs a spooling machine there, which makes gaskets for rubber washers. Sharon has three daughters, six grandsons and one granddaughter, all of whom call me "grandpa"! Her granddaughter is the only one who has any interest in what I do, and loves to follow me around, doing whatever I’m doing. At home in Spring Valley, my dad died in 1993, and my mom is 83, doing fine, and lives in the home we grew up in. My sister Holly got top grades in high school and college, and is a dietician at a dialysis center. She moved out of town for a few years, but moved back in 1978, and seems content to live with my mom. Holly never married, but loves animals and has horses and a variety of other animals at home. I live in Indiana but drive back to my mom’s house at least a couple of weekends a month to help out with whatever needs doing. I don’t like to sit still!

My hobbies and my work are pretty much the same thing. Activities that other people consider "work", I consider fun and relaxing, such as chopping wood, putting up hay, and hauling things. And I love working on my antique cars and trucks, which is basically the same work I’ve done all my life. As I mentioned before, I’ve driven all around the country, seen almost every state, and I’d like to do more of that. I love to drive and see what the rest of the country looks like, and who knows what great deal I’ll find on an old car or truck along the way? I also prioritize keeping my mom’s gravel driveway in good shape, getting loads of limestone from a quarry in Cedarville and spreading it myself; to make sure it goes on evenly. It sounds pretty simple, but this is what I enjoy doing.

I never really thought about what I’d do in the future, during high school. I knew I hated school, hated studying; that I wanted to be outside doing things. I couldn’t get involved in sports activities because I only had half of a functioning kidney, and the doctor forbade me to be in athletics.

I was in Boy Scouts with Keith Hardin, Kim Deeter, and Rod Richley. I see Bill Meckstroth twice a year when our two families have reunions in Jackson, Ohio. Bill and his wife have a cabin not far from where our family reunion is. I didn’t really hang around with much of anyone in high school, but I did have a crush on Linda Gessner!

If I had it to do over, I would have skipped Wright State completely and gone to trade school instead. Higher education wasn’t as important for our generation as it is for kids nowadays. I want to see my grandkids get education beyond high school.

I loved driver’s education and industrial arts. I remember Jack Longcreek, Tom Seal, and Roger Schultz. I knew Roger only because he lived near a friend of mine, but he was a nice guy.

I want to keep working a little, maybe get a job where my fiancé works, I’m expecting some "second retirement" money from some investments I’ve made over the years, and I want to buy and build more things! To me, retirement is like a storage building. No matter how much you have, it’s never enough!!

If you’re not retired and you can retire, you’d better do it. It opens up your options. If you love what you retired from doing and you can go back and continue doing it, the pressure is off for upward mobility and keeping up with the others who are working full time because you’ve already retired!

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series!

I’ve worked at a variety of "action" jobs since high school, because I just can’t stand to sit still for very long. I worked at a horse-training stable for 10 years, tending to a 20-horse stall. Horses are my passion in life. I’ve worked at a wine store, delivering wine, and before that I worked on the loading dock at UPS, unloading trucks. I also worked at a plastics company in Centerville as a compression molder, and met my second husband, Rodney, there. Basically I love being in the outdoors and I love to keep moving. At this point in my life, I’m at home out in the country outside of Germantown, OH, tending to my horse, my dog and my cat. One of my 2 horses died about a year ago, and that about broke my heart. I also have a Glock 99 mm. pistol, and I love to do target practice.

I grew up on a farm in the country, and all I ever wanted to do was to follow my father into farming. Unfortunately, personal life circumstances intervened and I wasn’t able to actually graduate with our class, but then my dad died at age 60 and the farm was sold, ending my dream of farming with him. My mother died in 2004 of Alzheimer’s, and my brother died of emphysema at age 66, six months before my mother died. My sister, Carolyn Young, is age 65 and doing well. I had a daughter, Robin, age 42, from a first marriage, and she and I are very close. Robin’s daughter, Rachel Catherine, is 9, and they live in Bellbrook. Robin graduated from U.D. and now works at Lexis Nexus. I married again a few years ago. We had a wedding on horseback, exactly the way I wanted it to be. It was very romantic! I’ve kept my first married name because of Robin, and Rodney doesn’t mind.

My dream is now to sell our house and move to a farm in Hillsboro, OH where we can be away from the housing and retail development that’s arrived in Germantown. I hate being anywhere near city life, and the farther I can live from it, the happier I’ll be. My husband works for Delphi, and at age 50 is too young for the buy-outs they’re offering to other employees, so he’ll be driving a semi-tractor trailer when his lay off happens.

Not really, except that I didn’t visit my mom often enough when she was in the nursing home with Alzheimer’s, and that’s weighed on my conscience. But it was really hard to see her like that, and often she didn’t recognize me. And I’m not truly living the life I wanted to live. All I ever wanted to be was a farmer, and I never got that chance. I never thought about any different choices even being possible in my life. The other thing I would have changed was to not have been married to my first husband, but that’s over and done with.

I remember Mr. Bender, who I had for math, which I loved, and Miss Atchison, for gym. Naturally I loved gym! I played field hockey in gym class, and that was one of the few things I enjoyed.

I remember Julie Garner, Nancy Benbow, Phyllis Meinke, Nancy Overman, and Glen Turton. I never really hung around with very many people. I was very shy, and I was happier at home, out on the farm. And, truthfully, I hated school. I couldn’t see any relationship for the classes being taught to the farming life that I longed to lead.

I want to move to the large acreage in Hillsboro, but because of my husband’s age, we can’t really have retirement plans. He won’t be 65 for another 15 years, so work in one form or another will be in our lives for a long time to come.

That’s a frustrating position to be caught in, but sometimes there’s no choice. And it’s happening to many of us, either through retirement and a second career, or the situation that you’re in.

DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO!!! I didn’t go to college or do what the other kids did, but I’m happy with what I chose to do. Too many people do what they’re expected to do, and not try to follow their hearts.

Until next time, this is
Sharon Erickson Howell.

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series!

I completed my BSN in 1969, and my, MSN, and EdD degrees a few years later at the University of Cincinnati.. I have been employed in either nursing practice or nursing education since college graduation. My career choice and higher education have provided me with a myriad of challenging positions. I have worked in psychiatric nursing, both inpatient and outpatient settings. Also I have worked in management and teaching positions in nursing education with traditional and adult students. I teach parish nursing as a health ministry, and my clinical specialty is adult mental health. Health care has changed dramatically, but adapting to it and moving forward have been great opportunities. Now I’m a faculty member of College of Mount St. Joseph, I teach in an RN-BSN articulation program, I serve on a variety of department and college committees, I enjoy the small liberal arts college environment and teaching adult students, and I have been a part time faculty member for 14 years at the Mount.

My husband Wayne died in 1995. We had been married 26 years. We had no children. Wayne and I had a wonderful life together, had many adventures and learned so much from each other. How fortunate I am to have had such a special relationship, which now blesses me with precious memories. My parents are deceased and my brother lives in New London, CT. I live in a rural area and have always had dogs as pets. Right now I have one chocolate Labrador named Ruby (13 years old) and two yellow Labradors who are sisters. I just got the new puppies in June 2005; they are 10 months old and named Heidi and Gretel. Certainly some extra work, but great fun!

I enjoy knitting, plants and gardening, baking and cooking, reading history and biography, church activities, UC Alumni Association activities, I’m a member of boards for community non-profit agencies, and I’m involved at the Cincinnati Women’s Club.

In 1972 we took a three-month camping trip to Alaska, and in 1989 a two-week sailing trip around the Hawaiian Islands. In 1997 I took a ten day small ship cruise in the British Virgin Islands, and in 2001 I took a ten day small ship trip on Columbia River and Snake River in the Northwest U.S.A.

When I was in high school my major goal was going on to college. The experience was all plus much more than what I expected it to be. I made many good friends, enjoyed Greek life, and many other experiences. My father always said that I "minored in nursing and majored in activities"! After that, my life just sort of evolved, with my making several major life decisions along the way, none of which I have regretted.

I attended Centerville schools from first grade onward, so my memories go back many years. I remember riding the school buses in elementary school when all 12 grades went to school at the same time!

My favorite courses in high school were chemistry and biology, Latin, and history. All gave me a great foundation for critical thinking and further learning. My favorite activity was working on the yearbook, and I have good memories of assistance from Mrs. A., our faculty advisor, and working all the deadline crunches with my fellow yearbook staff members.

At present, I will probably stay in Cincinnati for a while. I looked at homes in Florida about 5 years ago, but just was not ready to have close neighbors. I’ve lived "in the country" for 30 years and enjoy the peace of these surroundings. I’ve worked part-time since 1992 and probably will continue another 3-5 years. The academic setting is flexible in time commitments and also I’ve become used to summers and semester breaks being my own time to do with as I wish.

Enjoy each day to the fullest and cherish every dear person in your life and every opportunity that comes your way.

Tom Taylor

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni Hits!

I spent 31 great years in the Navy in health care, from 1965 to 1996. I retired as a Master Chief Petty Officer (E-9), in 1996. I got to travel, meet very interesting people, and participate in some projects and activities that most people could only dream of…believe me. I graduated from the University of North Florida, with a B.A. in government in 1981, did graduate work in history, from 1994 to 1996, taught Western Civilization to college freshmen as a part-time graduate instructor, in 1995 and 1996.

I’ve been married to my wife Sheryl O’Connor since 1996, she’s an R.N. with a master’s in management, who also has recently retired from the U.S. Naval Reserve as a Commander; we live in Titusville, Florida. My son, John, age 23, is single, and a custom furniture and cabinet-maker lives in Gainesville, Florida; my step-daughter, Ashley O’Connor, age 27, is a photographer, and her husband, our son-in-law, Pearl Jam rocker Mike McCready, age 40, live in Seattle, Washington. No grandchildren yet, but we are hoping! We also have 2 Boston terriers, Molly and Gert, ages 2 and 1.

My parents both died too young, in the late 60’s and early 70’s. My brother Dick (CHS ’66) still lives in Centerville and is married to Teri Holton—Toni and Marci’s sister. Carl Jones (CHS ’65) is married to Marci, so Carl and I are "family".

I do all of the cooking and grocery shopping. Cooking is instant gratification…either the dish tastes good or it doesn’t…no long wait for results. I played tennis until age 45 or so, and now, golf, golf, and more golf; occasionally, some bridge. I try to read a book a week and I am usually successful. Many years ago, I did quite a bit of Community and Little Theater, as near as I can remember about 15 different productions in various places, but nothing in the last 25 years, though. I kinda miss it…maybe I’ll get back to it again.

I served three tours of duty in Washington, D.C., two of them at the Headquarters for Navy Medicine (Bureau of Medicine and Surgery). I had terrific jobs that enabled me to significantly participate in the formulation of training policy and mobilization planning for the Naval Reserve.

The Navy took me to Europe (Spain, England, France), Viet Nam, and many places in between and all over the U.S. Our daughter and her husband live in Seattle, so we get out to the West Coast fairly often. This summer for a couple of weeks, while Pearl Jam is on tour in Europe, my wife and daughter will tour Spain and I’ll meet them for 10 days in Italy; I’m really looking forward to that.

My wife and I LOVE New York City, and we both think we would have made good New Yorkers. When we lived in Philly we were frequent visitors…easy to go by train. By the way, we loved Philly, too…a truly wonderful place to live and work. My hospital was located in South Philadelphia in the Italian neighborhood and there were 20 great restaurants within a short walk. I gained 12 pounds the first year I was there! And the "cheese-steaks", oh, my…absolutely nothing like them, anywhere.

I have had two successful careers: The Navy (I went as far up the enlisted promotional ladder as I could go); and a second career in the healthcare management and administration with the University of Florida Jacksonville (FL) Healthcare (Physician Group Practice Administrator, 1996-1999); Jefferson Health System, Philadelphia, PA (Director of Ambulatory Services, Methodist Hospital, 1999-2004) and my current semi-retirement job as Director of Physician Recruiting, Wuesthoff Health System here in Florida.

And, a REAL distinction, I am the oldest guy in the class…I turned 60 in February 2006.

Sure, we all have a few regrets, don’t we? I guess my biggest regret is that it took me so many marriages (4) to find happiness and my soul-mate; pretty costly, too, believe me. I probably wouldn’t have gotten married so early or so many times, but otherwise, I really wouldn’t change much. I’m having a pretty good time.

Life, by and large, has been a pleasant surprise. I have enjoyed the excitement of living: my family, my work…even my unsuccessful marriages, have made for a very full and, well, "un-dull" experience. Life has "kept me on my toes", and I have pretty much enjoyed and relished most of it.

I remember teachers…Ralph Bender, Harry Hoover, Dave McDaniel, Loretta Heilman. Gary Weidner, who was my guidance counselor, was a good guy, too. I remember speech, history, civics, biology, and art… debate team and school plays. I really was closer, I think, to my various girlfriends (who shall remain nameless), but I did hang out with Ron McNew some. I also remember football and basketball on Fridays…dates on Saturday nights…and working at Foodarama all my other free time. I drank a little 3.2% beer.

We want to finish building our retirement home on a golf course and have some grandchildren. I’m already starting to "wind down" some…this Recruiting job is really pretty easy, but I think in 2008 I’ll add Social Security to my Navy Retirement pay and Methodist Hospital pension and just play golf and travel. My wife Sherry is 5 years younger, so she’ll work a little while longer, but we’ll be in a very good place in our lives and we are looking forward to it. We are in pretty decent shape and enjoying good health.

Centerville is a great place to be "from". The mid-Western social values that I learned there have stayed with me all of my life. If I am a "solid citizen" then it is because of those values. I do not regret having "joined the Navy and seen the world". Having done that has made me a more complete and, I hope, more interesting person. I have learned to make a home for myself and my family wherever I have needed to be…but, in a real sense, Centerville will always be "home"; it will always be a great place to visit and reminisce.

Last Christmas, I took my wife and my son and his girlfriend "home" to Ohio. My wife, who is from the south of Cleveland area, has made that trip before, but my son had never been "home" with me. I took him everywhere. I tried to show him everything. I only got lost a couple of times (lots of stuff has been torn down), but it was a real nostalgia trip for me. I think he enjoyed it…maybe because I enjoyed sharing it with him…but it was something that I "had to do"; the something essential that I felt was missing form his life was that bit of knowledge about where his Dad and Uncle had come from…why they are who they are. It was a great trip.

I do not think I could live there now, though. Too much has changed from my familiar recollection and, to be sure, the traffic is abysmal and I’m no longer physically tolerant of the winter weather. Florida will do that to you…cold is evil, hot is good! As much as I liked living in Philly, I don’t think I could go back there either. But, the weather and the traffic notwithstanding, I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to go "home" and visit a while…maybe play a little golf, whatever…for sure, we’ll try to make the 60^th Birthday Bash! Keep well, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity to share a part of my life with you.

Wayne Schwegel

Hi, Sharon, (is this in real time?) thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni hits! Gosh is this Internet big (Hello, hello, hello….), and very dark too! Well hello to anyone nuts enough to read this stuff.

Where have the decades gone? (Decades, not years, scary, isn’t it? It almost sounds like the Gettysburg Address!) Archeologists are working on an answer as we speak, but as I remember it:

I attended the University of Maryland (Europe) while in the Air Force, Miami University, The Ohio State University, and graduated from Wright State University, with a B.A. in 1977 in political science/fine arts in art/ environmental studies. I was told I would be the last student permitted to graduate from WSU with a triple major, in retrospect---big deal! I did graduate work in counseling in ’77-’78. I’m retired from the City of Dayton now, but I’ve been a counselor, photographer, commercial artist, weather observer, restaurant manager (at Sugarcreek Ski Hills for Bill Staley---one of the nicest people I’ve ever worked for or with!), warehouse manager, instructor, bartender/bouncer at the Lion’s Den, and a psychometrist (test developer, employment specialist, consultant, test writer, or other euphemism of your choice).

My wife is Carol Ann (AKA Coup or Coupee), who I met while dumpster diving outside the Dorothy Lane Burger King when our heads bumped in a mad scramble for half a Whopper …oops, wrong story! I actually met her by placing an ad in the Cincinnati Enquirer looking for a lady who was into flying, skiing, sailing, and Ohio State and Bengal’s football -- and she responded positively. Little did I know I’d be raising two teenage daughters and little did she know she was marrying a perfectionist and little did I know she was as tight (financially, you guys, geeez) as a…ooops, there I go again, digressing.

We met in 1990 and married in 1998---I don’t just jump into anything!

Actually, we had to wait until the girls graduated from college so they wouldn’t lose their financial aid---soon as they did, I popped the question, and she handed me a pre-nupt---some gratitude! (Really, she thought I was living out of my car and I thought she was a welfare momma when we first met! But that’s another long story!)

I flew a Piper Cub look-alike ultra light from 1985 – 1995, and then Coup and I bought an airplane together (1946 Ercoupe), and sold it a couple of years later when it wanted more of our money than our kids did. Our daughters are Amy and Laurie. Amy graduated from U.C. and Laurie from BGSU. Amy lives in Hebron, KY and Laurie lives in Chicago. We have a grandson (Amy’s), Carson "Scooter," and we are "best buds." We are expecting our first granddaughter (Amy’s again) on the 28^th of March ‘06!!!

I’ve already informed Scooter that what is hers is hers and what is his is hers also – I know, I am an older brother.

We also have pets: Cubby (very small human boy in a cat suit—has no clue he’s a cat and is working on the development of opposable thumbs), Cali (a feral cat it took me one summer to partially tame), Oreo (the ultra-hyper anti-Christ in a cat suit), Tibby (the animated feline lump that looks like a sumo wrestler and jumps like Magic Johnson) and two raccoons (who come back each year and bring their entire families and all their friends---we do our best to discourage them, but last August we had 21!!!)

My mom and dad have passed, and my sister lives in Ridgeville/Springboro, OH.

Most important, my grandson Carson (I can change diapers without using my hands – now that’s multi-tasking), photography, woodworking, Formula 1 racing, drawing/painting, sailing (Lake Charlevoix, Michigan – best sailing in the mid-west), skiing (just got snow blades so I can still do 360s – what a visual, imagine Santa Claus doing "helicopters"), traveling (SEE ALASKA if you haven’t done so already), Teddy Roosevelt, Civil War history (particularly Grant, Joshua Chamberlain, Eli Parker, James Longstreet, Lincoln, Gettysburg and my great, great grandfather, Pvt. Jacob Schwegel of the 106^th O.V.I. – the first all German/Irish regiment from the Dayton/Montgomery-Preble county area).

Former athlete now, (failing knees and greater girth), and More of a "man for all seasons" than a true Renaissance man.

We’ve taken trips to Europe, Great Britain and Ireland (they laugh at you when you tell them that you’d like to research your grandmother’s family), the A,B,C Islands, Puerto Rico, most of the lower 48, seen all of the National Parks in Utah, Yosemite, the State of Washington (it has every type of climate from desert to rain forest, and the San Juan Islands – especially Friday Harbor), Vancouver and ALASKA!!

Surviving for 59 years with all my limbs and sufficient grey matter to keep me from picking my nose in public (most of the time) and allowing me to find my car keys and cell phone (some of the time)!

Why waste the time? Just do what you still can do while you are able—tempus fugit!!

Good Lord, no! And why not?

I always wanted to be an attorney, and then I worked in the Ohio State Legislature for 6 months as a legal intern---best 12-step program for legal dream withdrawal in the world! You see the best (Rocky Saxbe) and the worst (for legal reasons…) I don’t regret dropping my law school intentions one bit. I also dealt with attorneys on a daily basis for 25 years.

Much of where I am was pure chance, nothing more.

But, if:

I’d work harder on learning more in the 9 months preceding my birth!

I’m working on an intrauterine IPod with Bluetooth and GPS capability right now!

Oh, I’d have longer fingers – when I make cord changes on the guitar, it sounds like a vibrating bed in a cheap motel (so I’m told).

My classes with Harry Hoover (actually 8^th grade) and the overall quality of my education. My favorite classes were all of my science courses, and I remember David Laird with great respect. I enjoyed my time on the Wapiti staff (I produced some illustrations and wrote a political column (I thought I was soooo savvy)) – Mary Ellen and Peg could be hard with a blue pencil! Also, the speech tournament trips and my experiences in debate and boy’s extemp – never did beat Rich Cunningham. Those trips were so "educational" -- we had great fun chuckin’ pennies out of the 7^th floor window of the Commodore Perry Hotel in downtown Toledo tryin’ to hit cars – we could’a killed somebody!

And Terry Butler and I wrote an underground newspaper for a short time in, I believe, the 9^th grade (do you remember that Terry?). It was kind of "Mad" magazine meets "Us" meets "US News," only we thought we were much funnier. We wrote political and teacher satire – first we were warned, and then we were told to cease and desist. For me it was great fun.

Classmates I remember fondly (in no particular order and a real "Duke’s mixture") include Carol Elliott, George Maxson (where are you?), Linda Hochwalt, Kent Sorrell, Judy Long (what a gracious, talented, kind human being), Ron McNew, Janice Milthaler, Jack Madden, Jack Baty (and his dad), Bob Thobaben (and his dad), Marsha Kyle (I miss her smile), Ken Achor (always had a laugh), Lindy Moore (bless her heart), Hugh Lynch, Keith Hardin, Alan McNeil, Allan Hartman, Vic Johnson, Terry Butler, whose sense of humor was as sick as mine, and Rick Miller (we go back to Cub Scouts – miss you Rick)---I learned much from all of them! They helped make me what I am today – a happily retired old man!

Live in good health for 30+ years, spend time with my family, write, photograph, travel (we are going to Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail this summer) and finish finishing my basement (I’m a fair carpenter and have nothing but respect for plumbers!!).

Working and playing hard toward La dolce vita!

On the inside of my Wright State class ring, where your initials, name, or SSN are supposed to be, I had inscribed "By learning I live" and that has been the best advice I could have ever given myself. I love learning! It keeps you young, vital and (I hope) interesting!

Help those you can, accept help when you need it, don’t waste time (you don’t have it to waste), try, I mean really try, to love those you find it most difficult to endure (--trust me, if we all did this the world would be in far better shape—think of all those recycled greeting cards you’d have to send!), forgive those you should have forgiven years ago, if for no other sake than your own, be ethical in all you do, be a true example for your grandchildren and finally, love those in your life more and tell them more often—and OH! DON’T LOOK BACK, ‘CAUSE HE’S GAININ’ ON YA!

And my greatest thanks to Sharon, Keith and Nancy for all of their hard work in putting this together. GREAT WORK GUYS!!!!!

As Radar would say, "That is all."

Karen Armstrong

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni hits!

In the late 60’s, I worked in the Publicity/Promotion department at the old WLWD television station. (I think they have new call letters now). I worked with Phil Donahue, Paul Dixon, Bob Braun (the old Ruth Lyons Show out of Cincinnati)—bring back memories? I frequently hosted cocktail parties and receptions for Phil’s guests so I got to meet a lot of interesting people. I also co-produced a woman’s roller derby television pilot, which was quite an experience! You wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of any of those women, believe me!

After my daughter was born, I was mostly a stay-at-home mom, secretary and then president of the local PTO, and member of the Junior League. I didn’t start my career until 1991 when my youngest was in high school. I graduated from "everywhere" college in 1991 with a B.S. in Business, having attended seven different universities in two different states! I’m now a Global Project Manager in Corporate Finance with Whirlpool Corporation, which is a large international company with almost 100,000 employees globally, 58,000 just in the U.S. My son Michael also works in Finance at Whirlpool, just as I do. It is such a large organization that our paths seldom cross, but it is always enjoyable for me when they do. My heart is definitely in Ohio, and I’m still a fan of Miami U. and Ohio State. I even have an Ohio State Buckeye plate holder on my car for my Michigan plate. It’s a wonder I haven’t been rear-ended!

I was married for 28 years to Dennis Colston from Waynesville, Ohio. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Sept. 1998. He was a devoted runner since high school, and a varsity runner at Indiana University. Since he had no health issues whatsoever and was so physically fit, the entire community was shocked.

For now, I live right off Lake Michigan and enjoy our wonderful summers and the lake. Winter snow averages 72 inches, so as you can guess, winter sports are hot! The town is small (12,000). People are very friendly, and after living here for 23 years, I’ve made many close friends. I enjoy the small town life and also the fact that it’s only an hour and a half ride to Chicago, when I need a dose of the high life!

My daughter, Cyndi, teaches middle school science and lives in Boulder, CO. She graduated from Western Michigan College in Kalamazoo. She loves her job and the students! She is into camping and hiking and loves the mountains---interests that she didn’t get from me! I’ll take a 5 star hotel room with room service any day! My son Michael (named after my deceased brother) is married and works in Finance at Whirlpool, as I mentioned. In high school he followed in his father’s footsteps and was the State Champion in Michigan for Cross Country. At Indiana University he ran Varsity and we enjoyed the many trips throughout Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio to watch him run. It’s wonderful seeing, one-on-one, what a great person and businessman he is. Whirlpool is helping him with his Executive MBA program at Notre Dame and he is currently in China as part of his education. For fun, he loves the water! So I have one in love with the mountains and one in love with the water! He takes full advantage of living near Lake Michigan with kayaking, scuba diving, and swimming.

No grandchildren so far, but I "adopted" two Chinese grandchildren last year. Since their real grandparents live in China, and I have no grandchildren, I thought it would be ideal for all of us! Jesse is nine and Ashley is five. Of course, they are just darling and are trying to teach me Chinese! I do all the typical grandmother things---attend all their school activities, baby-sit and celebrate holidays with them! My at–home family member is my loving German hunting dog, otherwise known as a standard poodle---the big ones!! Don’t laugh, and no, she’s not cut all phoo-phoo! Her name is K.C, which is very self-centered of me since those are my initials. She’s honestly the best thing that has happened to me in the past eight years.

My father passed away in 2000 at 87 after a very short illness. Mother is 90 and in great health. Going back in time, we moved to Centerville in 1956 when I started third grade at Centerville Elementary School in "downtown" Centerville before John Hole was built. My mother just moved out of that house in 2004. Brother Mike, class of 1962, died in a car accident outside of Dayton Mall in 1970. He was only 25 and was married at that time to CHS 65 alumni, Marie Cowden, who is now deceased.

I love gardening, which I learned from my father. While growing up, summer rides and vacations always included trips to nurseries and formal gardens so I guess it comes naturally. He was a great gardener and most of the plants I have, are from his gardens in Centerville. Besides the local Garden Club, I belong to the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan that hosts guests such as Hillary Clinton, Barbara Walters, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Garrison Keelor and Margaret Thatcher, which is quite remarkable for our small town.

Overseas trips include Hawaii, Bahamas, Alaska, London, Amsterdam, Italy, Australia, and Ireland. Some trips business, some pleasure! I’m looking forward to vacationing in Thailand in January 2007. I’m extremely proud of my success at a major corporation. Lots of great "business" memories, but it was most memorable when I broke my ankle on an Ireland business trip while running to a cab in the rain! But I prefer most people’s version---I broke it dancing on a pub table! Having a great marriage and raising two wonderful children are my highest achievements! Second would be the experiences I’ve had through my career.

Even though life has taken me down some pretty steep roads, altogether, it’s been great! Looking forward to the next adventure, as my Dad said when he knew he was dying. I think it’s a great philosophy!

Definitely not. If someone would have told me my future---widowed at 52 and working in Finance for a global, Fortune 200 company, I would have thought they were crazy! I never imagined I’d be single at this stage of my life when I should be looking forward to a slower-paced life with my husband. On the upside, I have two wonderful, caring children, great friends, great grandchildren and I’ve been very fortunate in my successful career.

I don’t regret the choices I made, even the ones that didn’t turn out so well. My best choice was marrying Dennis. My worst was missing him so much that I rushed into a bad marriage trying to get back a small part of what I had lost. The death of my 25 year-old brother was very difficult, and losing my husband was unbearable. Since then I’ve had to make choices as a mother and a father, especially since both of our children were in college at that time and very much a part of our daily lives. Dennis really spoiled me and his death forced me to become a stronger person.

My third grade teacher, Mrs. Burnette, for being so kind; Mr. Weidner for opening up the world to me; Mr. Bender, whose speech techniques I still use when making presentations. Mrs. Boecker who taught business classes. (Not sure of the spelling.) Mrs. A. for the experience of a page editor on the Wapiti school paper, which led to being a writer for Miami University’s school paper. And the experiences of cheerleading, which led to being on the Miami University’s drill team and later to being a dance aerobics teacher.

I also remember double dating with Jim Easton—his older sister’s cool car (a Mustang convertible??). Sliding down Lynn Horton’s stairs on cookie sheets! Lynn shooting straw wrappers around the table at the King Cole restaurant in Downtown Dayton and yelling Yabba-Dabba-Doooo in the restaurant’s restroom, where it reverberated like crazy!! And the dinner with Jim and Bob at Lynn’s house that we passed off as cooking ourselves! Or we tried to, until Mr. Haskell came inside from the grill holding the main dish!

I remember dances at Normandy Church in the Ship’s Room with Dan Kelly (he smelled so good)! The lazy swimming days at Normandy, and the sleepover when some of the rowdies ran Tim Hearsum’s undies up the flagpole in front of the church (Class of '64?)! By the way, he's married to Judy Gahris from our class. I remember Cheerleading camps and try-outs---8^th grade---the year Sally Mowry didn’t make the cut, and the first year that I did. The powers-that-be and the newly elected cheerleaders agreed to expand the squad so she could cheer with us. Next year, she whipped our little behinds, making Varsity! I remember the pep rallies and making posters after school with the squad. I remember double dating with Monica Ponchellia after we both married---sitting on lawn chairs in our apartments because we didn’t have any furniture and swimming at the apartment’s pool where we all lived.

I remember junior high dance parties at Brad Tiller’s, and at Greg Sabatino’s—doing the stroll! I remember watching the CHS boys play baseball in the summer at the park behind Judy Gahris’ house, winning dance contests with Larry Denny, and ice skating on his pond, sock hops, sorority initiations, Prom and dates with Bob Heffner, every Saturday night movie dates in downtown Dayton, the excitement of cheering at weekend football games and basketball games. Watching John McEldowney swish the net!

Special classmates include Judy Gahris, Patsy Bair, Lynn Horton, Gretchen Trichler, Joanne Wallace, Dwight Doench and Jim Stark. From the class of ’64---Joy Miller; from the class of ’66---Sue Reed and Cathy Reed.

I’m probably going to retire by the end of this year. Most of all, I would like to live near at least one of my children so I can be the kind of grandparent my mother and father were to my kids. I’d like to teach adults to read, learn Spanish, grow more flowers, volunteer at church and in the community, write a novel, go back to school and become a nurse, certify K.C. as a Therapy dog to visit hospitals and nursing homes, teach computer skills to youngsters or oldsters - I have an entire list!

Life is a roller coaster, with all its ups and downs. Enjoy the ride!

Eudora Tite

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Teacher exclusive interviews!

I’d be glad to, Sharon. I had wanted to be a teacher since I was in the third grade, which was interesting because my mother became a third grade teacher, in the Northmont school system when I was a freshman. I loved my third grade teacher, and from third grade onward, I wanted to be an elementary grade teacher. I placed at very high levels on every standardized student test, but in my school, only 7 students out of 64 in our graduating class went on to college. I was one of those seven. I wanted to TEACH!

My majors were secondary English and elementary education, and my minor was in history, which is relevant to teaching English literature. I went to Bowling Green State University for my B.S. and University of Dayton for my masters. I graduated from B.G.S.U. in 3 ½ years---I love learning! I also completed all of my Ph.D. work except for my dissertation at U.D. I dated John Tite while I was a senior in college, and married him the summer after graduation. One of my regrets is that I didn’t wait for two years after graduating from B.G.S.U. until I got married, but in those days, there was a lot of societal pressure for a woman to marry earlier---as there was for your generation. A lot of divorces happened because of those too-early marriages.

At any rate, I student-taught fourth grade at Findlay Elementary School in Findlay, OH, then went on to student-teach in English at Randolph High School, which was my alma mater. My supervising teacher was in a bad accident, and I was asked to stay on and teach as her substitute when it became clear that she would not be able to return to teaching. I taught at Randolph for 2 ½ years, and students often return and visit me from college and thank me for the preparation I had given them for college Freshman English. Mr. Gingrich, my principal, became assistant superintendent at Centerville, then talked to Hadley Watts, the superintendent of Centerville Schools, and asked him to interview me for the job of teaching Senior English at CHS. CHS seniors were failing college freshman English at an alarming rate, and in some cases had to repeat that basic course several times to pass it. They needed someone teaching at CHS who could teach college preparatory English, and I had a good reputation at Randolph H.S. by then.

I wasn’t too excited about leaving Randolph High School, but Hadley Watts kept calling me to come and interview. He asked me if I would interview for the job was if John were also interviewed, because we only had one car and we were teaching in 2 different, but physically close, school systems, we agreed to the interview and accepted the teaching jobs. John and I moved to a house on West Franklin St. for five years and then bought this house, where I’ve lived since 1965. I taught the graduating English classes at CHS from 1960 through 1966. In the fall of 1966, I decided to interview and then teach seniors at Fairmont East. I was hired to teach 4 classes a day, with 25 students per class at Centerville. When I left there, I was teaching 6 classes a day and had over 180 students. At Fairmont East and then Fairmont I taught four classes a day with 25 students per class. That meant much less paper-grading. Again, I had college freshman returning to tell me what excellent preparation I gave them for freshman English, which they were passing with no problem. Teachers can retire in Ohio after 30 years, but I taught for 36 ½ years because I liked teaching.

Well, Shasta, now 29, and Tracie, now 25 have been an important part of my life since 1980. Their mother is Hawaiian; their father is from West Milton; and they’ve lived across the street from my mother. They’re like daughters to me, and I love them dearly. John and I divorced in 1977, and I became active socially in two Christian singles groups. I have friends in this area that I’ve known since high school, from college days, and from teaching; and since the divorce, I’ve traveled and taken college courses. I’ve been a HUGE Tom Jones fan since 1979, and I’ve been to 104 of his concerts all over the U.S I have a list of every concert that I’ve been to, the date and the location! I’m a member of two Tom Jones Fan Clubs. My sister, Jenny, and her husband, and I have traveled throughout the U.S. to see him. As you’ve noticed around my house, I have Tom Jones autographed pictures, pictures of myself with Tom Jones, pictures of Snickers leis that Shasta and Tracie made for him, that were given to him before or during his shows and that he wore during his shows. I absolutely love his voice and the fact that he sings such a variety of song styles, not just romantic songs, like Englebert Humperdinck.

After John’s and my divorce, in July 1977, when I was 42, my cousin Pam was student teaching near London. I flew to London by myself, the first time I’d ever flown or traveled abroad, and stayed in a hotel near the British Museum. Pam was working during the day, so I made my own list of what I wanted to see in London, and I learned how to get about the city and went sightseeing on my own! Pam and I went to the theater at night; we both love live theater. Then we traveled throughout Great Britain by Brit Rail. I was proud of myself. I’d only been divorced for five months, and the entire experience of traveling and setting my own itinerary was hugely liberating! After that experience, I knew I could do whatever I wanted to do. I’ve been to Great Britain twice with Pam and once by myself. I’ve also been to Hawaii with a friend and on an Alaskan cruise with my sister and brother-in-law. Travel certainly enriches our lives!

Family, and family history, is also very important to me. I have a collection of scrapbooks of old family pictures, a basic family genealogy compiled, and I even took a course in scrapbooking to learn to store my photographs on acid-free paper and label them well. And of course, the same scrapbooking applies to my collection of Tom Jones memorabilia and to my travels.

I would have done what I wanted to do, which was to get my English degree and teach, but I would have waited two more years to get married. I would have been more independent, and not necessarily done what I did just because that was what John wanted me to do, and the societal expectation. But the divorce helped me to become independent and develop my own identity, and it was very good for me, from that perspective.

I loved seeing everyone again at your 40^th reunion, and I was delighted to be there. I had a wonderful evening and I was surprised to remember so many of you! When I went, I expected to stay an hour. I stayed over three hours and went home happy to have visited with so many in your class.

Ron McNew

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured alumni series!

After high school, I got my B.S.and my M.A. in sociology from Ball State University in Muncie, IN, and then my M.S.W. in social work from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. I’m now a clinical social worker and clinical coordinator of the Day Therapy program at Gallahue Mental Health Center associated with Community Hospitals of Indiana. Previously, I’ve been a parole officer for the State of Ohio Corrections, and a correctional counselor in the State of Indiana.

I’m married to Jeannie McNew, my wife of 36 years, and we have a son, Scott, 33 years old, who graduated from Miami University, which is where I always wanted to attend. Scott and his wife Nicki now live in Denver, which is where I always wanted to live! My parents are both deceased, and I was an only child.

I enjoy hiking, camping, reading, cooking, and philosophizing with my wife. We’ve taken wonderful trips to France, where we enjoyed the urbanity and magic of Paris; Chemonix, where we hiked in the Alps, and Nice, France, where we loved the blue Mediterranean. It doesn’t get any better!

I have a successful marriage, a wonderful child, and have had a rewarding and meaningful career for the same employer for the last 27 years.

No regrets. I’ve learned valuable lessons from the challenges I’ve faced, as well as the successes.

I’m exactly in the right place! When I tell you all that I had been in three high schools during the same year and was suffering from a lack of stability and feeling connected---in my job, I get to help create an experience of family for people that often never had that. I wouldn’t make any changes in the direction I’ve gone in my life at all.

Kristie Browne was very kind to me when she helped with orientation when I joined you all at CHS in the spring of 1964. I developed a special friendship with Patsy Bair, had great debates with Judy Long, and I remember hanging out with Tom Taylor and feeling like a part of a wonderful, accepting family with Lynn Hochwalt and her family.

I remember Sandra Wayman, who taught sociology. She challenged me, appreciated me, and planted the seeds of my evolving social consciousness.

I wish I had arrived at CHS in time to have been more involved in extracurricular activities. Though I was at CHS such a short time, I met so many fine people, and I have many fond memories of them.

I hope to take a trip to Scotland. A few years ago I learned that I am a descendent of the MacGregor clan, and I want to visit the West Central Highland.

Maybe we might move to Denver and hike in the mountains until my body goes completely bad on me.

Keep inviting me to reunions! I want to make it to one, someday.

Larry Grider

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni hits!

I graduated from Miami University with a B.S. in Marketing. I thought I would wind up on Madison Avenue in advertising, but instead spent 31 years with Marriott, mostly in Food and Services Management. Jan and I did live in New York City but I did not work on Madison Avenue. Finally, after retiring from Marriott, I worked for two years with a spin-off company was Marketing Director for the Southeast. We lived in several states, having moved eight times in my first eleven years of work and four more times after that. New York City and Chicago were most memorable but we liked Atlanta the best. I guess that is why we would up back in Georgia for retirement.

As I mentioned, my wife is Janice, and we’ve been happily married for 33 years now. As everyone has probably read by now, my brother Garry was a recent featured Alumni. Garry and Marian are in Beavercreek, OH and he also is retired. They both fully enjoy being grandparents. I always have to call Garry in late winter and let him know I just finished playing golf when I know he has been shoveling snow. Our mother lives in Kettering and is doing very well.

I am an avid golfer and tennis player. We live an hour and a half east of Atlanta in a lake, golf and tennis community, and Jan and I take full advantage of the activities. Like most, we are so busy we can’t figure out how we ever had time to work. I also like to read, enjoy cooking, volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and I volunteer at a few of the local professional golf tournaments. Jan is active with Bible Study and volunteers at the elementary school in a program called Dreamers.

Jan and I have taken many enjoyable trips both within the U.S.A. and to Europe. We take a special trip on each fifth anniversary with our best friends of 33 years who have an anniversary date three weeks from ours. The last two trips were to Napa Valley and Italy. I have also traveled far and wide with Marriott. One advantage of working for an international hotel chain has been great hotel rooms and resort perks with no or very nominal expense.

Being happily married for 33 years is something I am thankful for. Being in management, I believe I helped mentor many people through their careers and I am still in touch with several of them.

I wish I had done a better job of staying in touch with some of my high school and college friends.

Like many of us, I thought I would rise rapidly to the top of the corporate ranks. But after working for about 15 years I just didn’t want to do the extra travel (160-180 nights per year) and relocating needed to keep being promoted. So I guess I didn’t climb the corporate ladder quite as high as I thought but I believe I took more time to enjoy the world around me and, for that, am probably a happier person. As for life, having a great wife, being able to live in several different places, travel and to stay healthy were as much as I hoped for in high school.

I wish I had studied harder in college. I don’t know if it would have made a big difference in my career but I would have pleased my parents. Otherwise, I might change a few smaller things but I am extremely happy with where I am now so why try to change anything in the past?

No particular classes stand out. I always enjoyed math and history. I had a great time with JCOWA and taking a group trip to Washington, D.C. and New York City. I worked at Hill’s pharmacy for three years with Jim Archdeacon and that was a lot of fun. I also started playing tennis, which I have continued all my life. I hung out mostly with Jeff Robbins, Jim Archdeacon, Rick Miller, Ken Achor, and my brother. As I said earlier, I wish I had been better at staying in touch with these guys, and, for a few, it is now too late.

I want to keep doing what I’m doing now, and start traveling more. I highly recommend retirement!

Don’t waste money buying putters, looking around for the right one. Take a lesson and practice. If you like golf, send me an email and I will respond, telling you how to get into a lottery for tickets for practice rounds at the Masters. As you can see, much of my time revolves around golf!

Dennis Wyckoff

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni hits!

I was in the U.S. Air Force, and attended ITT Technical Institute in Dayton, majoring in architectural engineering technology. I was my class Valedictorian. Since high school I’ve had many different types of work, from paperboy/drug store clerk/draftsman for Dayton City Planning Board, as well as interior design and architectural design firms. I was a computer operator in the U.S. Air Force for 3 ½ years in Germany, assistant manager of a Sherwin Williams paint store, a cabinet maker for companies in Ohio, Iowa, and Maryland, a construction estimator, and salesman for architectural cabinetry. I did computer sales to the cabinetry industry, I was a construction coordinator, a project manager, and I will soon be moving into a project administrator position at the hospital in Baltimore where I have worked for the past 16 years.

My wife, Elaine, was born and raised in NE Pennsylvania and has three older siblings, two sisters and a brother. Her ability to see into the lives of those we know and understand how they are feeling has baffled me ever since we were first married. Of course, all you ladies may have that ability and I just never knew it, because I was surrounded by brothers. Elaine has the wonderful ability to love me even though I get wrapped up in my job or other activities and lose my ability to communicate to her. I don’t think anyone else could have put up with it so I praise God for bringing us together. Our daughter, Wendie Furches, 29, has been married for 6 years and has been into interior design, floral design, kitchen design, and is presently a manufacturer’s rep for several kitchen cabinet manufacturers. Her husband, Aaron, is a computer tech and we praise God for his ability to keep our computer system up to date. Aaron is working for a contractor who keeps the computers operational at Aberdeen Proving Ground, a U.S. Army base only a few miles from where we live. No grandchildren yet, but we’re hopeful.

I enjoy travel, woodworking (I’ve built furniture both as a hobby, because I’m too cheap to go out and buy ready-made stuff, and to make a living when I’ve been laid off from work), sports and any home project I can find time to work on. I’ve done my own remodeling, replaced siding and windows and other types of construction projects around the house.

I took a skiing trip to Austria with a lot of Christian guys with a group called "The Navigators" while in Germany. It was also during this trip that I realized that I wanted to be able to share times such as those with the girl I was then writing to. She is now my wife of almost 35 years (May 1^st). Since we have been married, every trip is memorable in one way or another, but we’ve enjoyed trips to Colorado, Florida, Maine and places in between. Most of our trips are to see family in PA or Ohio. Those 3+ years in Germany provided opportunities to go to places like Paris, Belgium, Austria. You know those scenes in the Sound of Music that are taken in Salzburg and the Von Trapp mansion on that lake? I’ve been there! My wife hates me for saying that. She loves the Sound of Music. I’ve been to Luxembourg, many cities and trips in Germany, including a cruise down the Moselle River where we passed hundreds of different castles and a bike trip with two Christian Air Force buddies to the 1,000 Kilometers of Nurburgring auto race where we had the opportunity to be on the pit roof and see some of the best drivers back in the ‘60’s. Talk about sore muscles. After 5 hours each way and watching the race for a couple of hours we were hurting for a couple of days.

My mother passed away back in the mid ‘80’s from complications of colitis. My father retired from NCR before my mom died and has since remarried and lived in Florida until several years ago, when they were convinced to come back to Ohio and see his 4 youngest granddaughters grow up. They are living in the Sycamore Glen retirement community in Miamisburg. My stepmother has been enduring nerve pain from shingles for about 12 years and the medications she has taken have taken their toll on her. She is now into definite stages of dementia and it is very hard for my dad to take care of her. My dad is 87.

My oldest brother, Barry and his second wife live in Vandalia. He works for a tool and die design company in Kettering. He has four boys. Two are firemen for the Columbus fire dept., and one lives in the Springfield area and works with computers at Wright Pat. His oldest also works with computers but I have not seen him for years. My next youngest brother, Keith, and his family live in Brownsberg, Indiana. He is a welding engineer and has worked at jobs from designing turbine blades for aircraft engines in New York state to designing welds for the steel plating on battleships in Newport News, VA. He is an auto racing enthusiast and has worked for various racing teams and traveled across the country towing race cars. He is presently working for a company in Indianapolis that designs and builds race cars such as the type used at LeMans and other endurance races. Their design has been in contention lately and several racing teams are using their cars. My youngest brother, Dan, is an architect. He and his wife, Jenny, and 4 beautiful girls live in Kettering. After having one daughter of our own, I really enjoy when we can spend time with those girls.

I guess I’ve never been one for trying to do more than survive. Writing this out to let others know what’s been happening is an accomplishment for me. I hate paperwork! Reading about the many accomplishments by other members of our class has been exciting, and although I could be envious about some, I am glad I can enjoy the everyday challenges and get through them. Figuring things out and building what I’ve planned has been enough to keep me satisfied with my life.

Yup! (1) Spent wayyyyyyy too much time working when my daughter was growing up. Praise God that my wife had a vision and she was able to home school her from 3^rd grade through high school, and we are very proud of what she has become and the way she handles herself. (2) Spend wayyyyy too much time working now that my daughter is out of the house. I’ve not developed the proper relationship with my wife over the years and the more I allow my job to keep me away from home, the harder it becomes to keep a happy home. I guess another regret would be that I have not maintained contacts with many friends from high school, Air Force buddies, previous neighborhood friends and church friends from places we’ve lived over the years.

No Way!! It’s not where I thought it would be a year ago, either. Every day is new and different, and it is only by the grace of God that we can continue to make it into our beds each night to get rested for the upcoming day. Like my wife says, "I’m satisfied to just deal with whatever comes my way and nothing much gets planned for."

I am sure there would be things done differently. I was very shy and never got to know many of my classmates in school like I should have. How can a guy get through high school and not realize that girls are not something to be afraid of? If I’d known I could talk to you girls without it having to become a meaningful situation, I may have communicated to you more. Sorry for that.

I guess I remember that many of the teachers played a very important role in my life, one way or another. Mr. McDaniel, Mr. Carper, and others had an impact. I enjoyed shop class and drafting and gym classes. The math courses were enjoyable, too. I was involved in sports and band. Remember the old tetherball pole in the area outside of the cafeteria? Guess it was easier to be out there fooling around than spending time talking with classmates and getting to know them better. Not many of our classmates became real good friends, but I remember most of my classmates to one degree or another. I’d list ones that seemed special but you’d really get bored by the time you got through that list. Suffice it to say that all of you ladies and gents made my high school years memorable and I’d enjoy hearing from any who will take the time to write. My weekends weren’t anything special. I usually spent them doing things with my brothers and going to church on Sunday.

I want to make it through the next 8 years, or less, until I can retire. We’d like to see some of the places in this great country that we’ve never had the opportunity to see. Hope we can afford the gas.

From the stories I’ve read on the CHS website, everyone’s life has been memorable and it is exciting to hear what you’ve been doing. I know that Sharon will appreciate the effort it takes for those who have not shared their story to put together your thoughts. It has probably taken about 3 or 4 weeks for me to put my thoughts together and I apologize to Sharon for taking so long. She has done a great job, as have all those involved in providing the website. I have shown friends and colleagues the site and they have all been extremely impressed with your efforts. Thanks to you all! I trust that God will bless each one as you continue on life’s journey and you start to experience those "golden years". I wonder why they call them golden years? It can’t be because of all that gold we’ve saved that we are planning to enjoy during our retirement years. Maybe its because the only food we’ll be able to afford is from the "Golden Arches". Yum!? The healthy choice of young America. Hope to get to the NEXT reunion (if I can still walk). SEE YA!!

Suzy Oakes

Welcome to another edition of CHS Class of 1965’s Featured Alumni! I am Sharon Erickson Howell, and today we are featuring Susie Oakes. Hi, Susie, and welcome to our show.

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series!

A forty-year synopsis of one’s life is a tall order, but the stroll down memory lane should be fun. After graduation from CHS and right before going to college, I came down with mononucleosis. In those days, a.k.a. the Dark Ages, they made you go to bed for weeks on end. I remember Larry Denny’s mother calling to cheer me up because all my friends were gone. So I actually started at Ohio State University in January of 1966. I stayed a full two years before marrying Bill Ringo (CHS ’63). We moved to St. Louis where we both worked and attended St. Louis University. After 6 months, Bill was notified he would soon be drafted, but we could finish our semester if he enlisted instead.

So less than a year after being married, I moved back home and he became a ward of Uncle Sam. I enrolled at Wright State and worked in my father’s dental office until Bill finished his training. He went to Officer’s Candidate School in Virginia (Military Intelligence) and I moved to Alexandria halfway through his program. He then was assigned to the Pentagon for 2 years, and we lived in Washington, D.C. He ended up delivering top-secret messages to William Westmoreland every day, while I was the assistant manager of a dress shop in Tyson’s Corner, VA. His job didn’t do much to enhance our conversation skills, as I constantly pumped for information that he couldn’t give.

Finally he went to Viet Nam and I moved back to Centerville, Wright State, and a teacher’s aid job at John Hole Elementary School. His tour of duty was relatively safe and he returned to Ohio at the end of the Viet Nam war. We stayed long enough for him to get his MBA and a job with Eli Lilly and Company. He sold pharmaceuticals in Dayton for two years and became part of Lilly’s executive career track. We had a warm up act with moving in the service, but nothing like the nomads we were about to become! First we moved to Indianapolis, Lilly’s home office, for 14 months. From there we moved to Tampa, Indy, Minneapolis, Indy, Toronto, and Indy for the fourth and final time. Bill retired from Lilly about 5 years ago at age 55. He began serving on several boards, a few which were in California. The thing about moving is that it gets in your blood, and after a few years, you find yourself itching to pave a new path! After 3 years of retirement, Bill took a CEO job at a biotech company in San Francisco, and we are hooked by the city and the state. His company was recently purchased by Amgen so we are about to start retirement #2, but we are going to remain in San Francisco, at least for a while.

We have a different lifestyle here, as we’re not suburban. We live on Russian Hill, and have a sweeping view of the Bay. If I’m not careful, I can spend hours watching the ferries, freighters, cruise ships, sailboats, and my favorite, the little tugboat that rules the entire harbor. We walk everywhere as our neighborhood is kind of like Sesame Street. We’ve gotten to know all the dog walkers, the vendors, and the people in the incredible restaurants that continually comprise whatever diet I happen to be on!

The biggest draw for remaining in CA is that both our children live here. We have a son, Cory, 31. His school sport was ice hockey; so living in Minneapolis and Toronto was okay by him. He still plays to this day, and attends tournaments in Canada and beyond. He got his BA from Miami of Ohio and moved with a bunch of fraternity brothers to D.C. While there, aside from working, he got his MBA from George Washington University. He then moved to Chicago with his girlfriend, where he did the corporate thing. Lacking passion for the corporate life, he decided to turn his strong interest in architecture into a career. He moved to Los Angeles and took a summer architecture program at Southern California Institute of Architecture. He finally found his niche, worked hard on a portfolio, and plans to attend Sci Arc or UCLA for a Masters, which is a 3 year program. Today’s generation doesn’t seem to worry about age or time restraints. While he waits for his program to start, he is building coffee tables and chairs to sell in a local shop. He and his girlfriend broke up after 5 years, and he is currently dating someone in L.A.

Our daughter, Sloane, 26, lives in Santa Barbara. She was the first of our family to go west. After high school, she attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, for two years. She then moved to D.C., rooming with her brother, while working for a congressman who currently chairs the Ways and Means Committee on Capital Hill. She stayed for 2 years before the partisanship in politics got the best of her. Working on Capital Hill was a great education in itself but not without it’s tensions. Her stint was during Chandra Levy’s disappearance and 9/11 so it was never dull. She met some incredible people in her role and gained fantastic organizational skills. During her time in D.C. she decided she wanted to major in photojournalism. She gets her B.A. this April from Brook’s Institute of Photography. After a few serious boyfriends, she has finally found THE ONE. They are excitedly planning for the future, but no firm news yet.

Bill’s dad still lives on Whipp Road. He works part-time for an electrical company and is involved in the Lion’s Club and Centerville Methodist. Bill’s mother passed away about 10 years ago and he married a lady named Pauline Waldrop. Jan Waldrop and her husband, Steve Colson, became surrogate family. Unfortunately, Steve passed away a few years after we reconnected. My father died when he was 44 years old of a heart attack. It was quite a shock and hard to assimilate. My mother never remarried and died in 1999. My sister resides in Kettering with her husband and daughter, Kelsey. Kelsey goes to Fairmont High School but has many friends at Centerville. My sister is the Admissions Director for First School.

Aside from become a moving specialist, getting my children settled in their new schools, and decorating a lot of new houses, I became a professional volunteer! I joined the Junior League, which is in every state, and became very active. In Minneapolis I edited the JLI Newsletter and also their JLI Magazine. Through the League, I was also involved in the Arts and Education Committee, which exposed elementary school children to the local arts community. In conjunction with the Guthrie Theater, I visited classrooms giving talks on set design, props, lighting, etc. That culminated in the children going to see a play at the Guthrie. It was a very rewarding three-year period. In Indy, I chaired a Book and Author Luncheon that raised scholarship money for inner city children to attend college. I had to make a speech in front of 700 people including four authors, which almost undid me. I thought of Ken Carper a lot, who I believe I told that I would never make speeches again after his class! Ginny Pulos, where are you when I need you?! It seems all I have done is make speeches! My last ten-year volunteer stint was with a Guild in Indy that sponsors one of the most profitable Decorator Showhouses in the country. I chaired the Showhouse 2 times, 3 years apart, to raise money for the inner city hospital including the only level one trauma burn unit in a tri-state area. One of my years, I am pleased to say, set the financial record for over 50 years of the Showhouse and unfortunately has yet to be beat. I also edited and sold ads for my son’s high school hockey team magazine an edited and sold ads for my daughter’s high school fundraiser, the Park Tudor Applefest. I was very involved volunteering at my children’s various schools during the years, working in the classroom, library, and on committees. I had one two- year stint as a money maker by selling clothing with a good friend out of our homes. We finally called it quits when all of our friends started running from us the grocery store.

Now I am retired as we travel much of the time, and after years of holding down the fort while Bill pretty much traveled the world, I am not missing any chance to load my suitcase and tag along.

Aside from travel, I love to read and participate in a few book clubs, play Scrabble, work jigsaw puzzles at the lake, work crossword puzzles wherever, and am now a Sudoku addict. Obviously, I am desperately trying to stave off Alzheimer’s! I have also gone back to knitting. I’m definitely right-brained as I write a bit and dream of being a budding novelist. I fancy myself an unrealized artist. I keep buying sketchpads, but they remain empty. I am still enthralled with the theater and see as many plays as I can, and am now enthralled with the ballet since there is such a good company here. I love movies which I am behind on, as the weather is better here than in Indy. As for sports, I can’t forget that we are rabid Indy Pacer fans (Goodbye, Reggie!) and fickle Indy Colts fans (only into it when they are winning) but what a sad end to their amazing season. Finally, I could not totally complete a profile of myself without admitting to my, so-like-a-woman, obsession with shoes and handbags!

One of the perks of moving a lot is that you get a good sense of where you might like to retire. That happened for us in Toronto. While there, we visited a region of lakes two hours north of Toronto called Muskoka. For our children, its home, as it’s been the only constant in their lives for 17 years. We built a cottage on an island in 1997 and have summered there ever since. Life is very different on our island, as we have to do everything by boat—groceries, golf, dinner, etc., yet we aren’t isolated. We are 1 and a half miles from shore, but get the New York Times delivered to our dock everyday. I can’t describe the beauty of the area and do it justice. It’s rocky like Maine, and the water is crystal clear. It’s a big area for antique mahogany wooden boats that reside in the charming boathouses that dot the shore. We water ski, tube, swim, visit old resorts for dinner, and take nighttime cruises at sunset. It’s our R&R for family and friends. Our other hobby is downhill skiing. We have a 4-week fractional condo in Aspen and love our time there. Since moving to San Francisco, we like to walk and explore the city, we are very into the food scene and love going to Napa and Sonoma and learning more about wine. We enjoy hiking and Bill recently purchased a road bike for long distance rides, which are popular here. Obviously we have many friends in Indy, so we kept a small condo when we left, although we haven’t been using it as much as we thought. It’s come in handy when we visit relatives in Ohio.

What a life you have lived, girl!! I know this didn’t all start when you left CHS for college. What are your memories of CHS?

I have wonderful memories of my time at CHS. I loved Mrs. Anglemyer and being a page editor of the Wapiti. I loved every English class I ever took. I remember speech and Ken Carper, who was a dear. I even purchased carpet from him, post high school. I really liked Dave McDaniel but not his subject. Art class was memorable because of Tim Swango and Tom Gabrielson and their antics. I also worked behind the scenes of several CHS plays which was always fun. I have fond memories of being a Centerville Coed and especially lining up outside the football stadium for pre-game and hearing that wonderful drum cadence that never ceased to excite me and get my adrenalin pumping. I have fond memories of a made-up sorority called Omega Sigma Chi with royal blue and white sweatshirts and all my best friends. I will never forget our many slumber parties where we hypnotized people and actually thought we were successful at it. I also have fond memories of a crazy guy, Emil Mario Gullia, Jr., who made our house his second home and never failed to create mischief. I remember fast dancing with Larry Denny at parties with Ivan and the Sabers who were the best. At OSU I roomed with Lila Waltrip, and saw Terry Butler quite a bit. And best of all, CHS is where I met Bill, who picked me up after school every day my senior year from his classes at U.D., and our friendship blossomed into love.

I hated missing our 40^th reunion, but we were having our own family reunion in Muskoka, and it was hard for me to leave. I would like to thank the reunion committee for a job done above and beyond the call of duty. I logged onto the amazing web site every day in July. They always say that your high school years are the best years of your life. I’ve been blessed to have continued on that wonderful path, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Bill turned 60 at the end of 2005, and it was the birthday that got to him the most. I have to say I was even a bit shocked to think that I was actually married to a 60 year old. It’s only because we both feel so young. The class of ’65 is scarily close to that milestone themselves. Above all, exercise and stay healthy! And let’s throw ourselves one big birthday bash!!!

Mr. Kenneth Carper

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni hits!

Well, I was raised in Batesville, OH, near Tiffin, graduated from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, OH in 1963 with an education degree, and was told by David Blum that there was an opening in the Centerville Schools for a speech teacher. I interviewed, and was hired. I brought with me my wife and soul-mate, Beverly, who received her degree from Miami University shortly after I graduated, and worked as a social worker at Shawn Acres in Dayton for a couple of years, until she was ready to become a full time homemaker. The class of ’65 was my favorite class of all those that I taught, and I’m not just saying that because this interview is for the class of ’65! Your class was special, very talented, very bright, and I loved teaching all of you and being involved beyond the classroom in the plays we produced. I loved mixing with the kids, and my best memories are from those days. I taught from 1963 until 1995, had a great career, and then turned to my floor covering business, which I started in 1970 for a new income.

Bev and I had 2 wonderful sons, Scott and Matt. Scott has a daughter, Casey, who is 14 and lives in the country surrounded by the pets that she loves…2 horses, 2 dogs, and assorted other animal friends. Matt is 37 and a police officer. He’s a Lieutenant Commander of the downtown Dayton business district, and we’re very proud of him. He has 2 sons, John, 10, and Mike, 8. We’re very close to both Matt and our 3 grandchildren. I also have 2 older brothers and a sister. One of my brothers, Gordon, is a retired college professor of political science, and Gene is a businessman. Eileen is a homemaker.

I sent Bev to Jerusalem for 2 weeks for her 50^th birthday present, and together we’ve gone to Sedona, the Grand Canyon, a Caribbean cruise, and we borrow a condo in Ft. Myers Beach, FL in January for a get-away. It’s a good time of the year with my floor covering business for me to be gone a month, and we both enjoy it.

The faculty was very tight-knit when I was there, and we played basketball for years, and then got into golf also. What I enjoyed the most was 2 different things that were interrelated. In 1970, I condensed a 2 ½ hour play, ‘J.B.". based on the book of Job of the Bible, by Archibald Macleash, into a 1 act play, and we put it on for the usual 2-night weekend run of a high school play. At the after-the-play cast party, I was presented with a very special thank-you present from my students. It was a Scofield Reference Bible, inscribed "Thank You For Opening the Door", and it was signed by every single member of the over 70-member part of that play. That was also the night, at that moment, that I accepted Christ into my life.

The play affected the entire cast and crew enormously, and I went to the principal the following Monday morning, and asked that we be allowed to present it to the entire school. This was a somewhat brave move on my part, as we as faculty had just been told the previous week that there were too many in-school assemblies and they had to stop! I was told that I could present my request to the faculty, and that if they agreed, we could present the play to the entire student body, in a morning and an afternoon presentation, for $1.00 apiece for tickets. My request was granted, and we presented the play. The atmosphere in the auditorium was quite hushed and profound during these presentations, and it was obvious that the entire student body was as affected as we had been. That play went on in competition to O.S.U., and we were the first group to present our plays on the day of the competition. We took first place, and were told that even before the judges had seen the other plays. We drove back home on a cloud.

Shortly before the play happened, I had been approached by 2 students, requesting that I lead Bible studies in my home. I was deeply involved in church and youth activities, as well as plays, etc. at school, and was flattered by the request but didn’t feel I had time to do this. After the breath-taking success of the play, Bev and I re-thought our priorities, and we began a non-denominational Bible study at our home on Tuesday nights, which lasted from 1970 to 1985.

I’ve always enjoyed golf, and I just got invited to Myrtle Beach for a golf outing. I’m also into home remodeling, and have just about completely remodeled our 70 year old home on the inside, updating it, making it very personally our house, and adding rooms to it, plus enlarging the garage for my carpet business. I do some home rehabilitation work, buying houses, rehabbing them, and then re-selling them, and my son Matt is involved with me in this. Plus, I’ve always enjoyed music, and played the trumpet in high school. I continue that interest today, as I have time. I also work out, partly as a natural result of my business. Basically, I keep busy, mentally and physically. So, I may be 65, but I don’t feel it, just as your class has said that they don’t feel like they’re almost 60, at least in their minds! And the age gap between your class and me isn’t really so great!

I’d like to retire, or at least cut back somewhat on my work, in 5 more years when I turn 70. Otherwise, I intend to keep occupied until the Lord comes for me!

George Yingling

Hi, Sharon, and thank you for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

Well, I’ve been a cab driver, a factory worker for GM, a bartender, a teacher, and a bandsman in the U.S. Army. I attended University of Michigan and got a B. Ed., and then went to J.D. Marshall-Wythe School of Law at College of William and Mary. I’m an attorney in private practice at this point in time. Many years ago, I quit my job as a city attorney. Retirement would have been all taken care of if I had stayed. Until recently, I played in a ballroom dance band and made some money that way. I play clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax and baritone sax. Currently I play lead saxophone (alto sax) in the Denver Jazz Orchestra. It is an 18-piece big band and we play on Monday nights in a bar called Herb’s Hideout. The leader writes almost all the arrangements and they are very good and a challenge to play. I was married for a while, but I made a poor choice when I got married. Both she and I would have been better off had we not married. There were no children from the marriage.

My mother and brother live in Bemidji, MN. I have a nephew, Ben, in Madison, WI, and my niece Rebecca is a senior at University of Wisconsin, Platteville.

I have an interest in cooking. I first developed the interest while stationed at Ft. Sheridan in Chicago. We marched in a lot of parades downtown and Mayor Daly always set us up with a good meal afterwards in a good restaurant. Chicago has a lot of really good places to eat, especially ethnic neighborhood restaurants. My favorite place was called "The Bakery" and the chef, Louis Szathmary, published several cookbooks. So after I bought the first one, I started fixing some pretty good food at home. Back in the early ‘80’s there was a professional cooking school in Denver and I took some adult education courses, which were good. The school went out of business because the head guy embezzled a bunch of money I let cooking go for several years until I discovered Emeril Live on the food channel. A local cooking school advertises on the channel and that recently led me to take several recreational classes there that were really first rate. So I’m back to fixing myself good food again. At my brother’s for Christmas I did all the cooking for 14 for several days and had lots of fun!

An essay on "My Summer Vacation", eh? Well, my first trip overseas was to England in ’74. My law school had a summer session in Exeter, England. I was able to do some sightseeing on the weekends. I had my first visit to Stonehenge and noticed that people had carved their initials in the soft stone. Why idiots would deface the stones is beyond me. My first visit to the continent was in ’83. I had saved up some 3 years of vacation time and went to the continent for 4 weeks and toured England and Scotland with my father for 3 weeks. I was also able to take my parents to Paris with me at a time when my father’s health was declining. They were able to meet my friend Christophe, his parents and his fiancée Stephanie. The next year, I went to the south of France for their wedding, which was absolutely the best wedding I’ve ever attended. On one of my trips to Paris, I also saw Freddie Meyer, who you might remember was the drummer in Ivan and the Sabres. He was making a living as a rock singer.

Since college, I’ve had an interest in history, particularly European history. Visiting the sites of historical events gives one a better feel for past events. Whether it is visiting the very spot where Henry II’s assassins murdered Thomas a Becket, the many gothic cathedrals where people pray and light votive candles, the Normandy D-Day beaches, battlegrounds and the American cemetery, the concentration camp at Dachau, the magnificent statue of David by Michelangelo, Rembrandt’s famous painting called "The Nightwatch", seeing Mozart’s actual manuscripts in his home in Saltzburg, or the very spot where Jeanne D’Arc was burnt at the stake, the result is a greater appreciation and understanding of those events and artistic creations that have gone before and form what today is called western civilization.

Upon graduation, my plans were eventually to become a high school band director. Obviously, I changed my mind. Because of some courses I took at Michigan, I have an interest in history, particularly the Middle Ages and English legal history.

I doubt I would be a lawyer. I think I’d get a Masters Degree and teach.

The teachers I remember the most are Gary Weidner, Mr. Case, Mr. Croy, Mr. Laird, Mr. Blum, Mrs. Will, Mrs. Gindelsburger (8^th grade English), and in 3^rd grade, the best of all, Mrs. Craft. More than any other teacher, Mrs. Craft pushed me hard and got the best out of me. Classes I liked included biology, chemistry, physics, and plane geometry. I placed well in music contests, and loved being in the NCR band in the summers. I was also in the All Ohio Boys Band, the summer of ’63. I remember all too well in 8^th grade the sheer terror of having to memorize and recite a poem in front of Mrs. G.’s class. I remember hearing Casey at the Bat way too many times. I remember where I was Bill Mazeroski hit the winning home run in the 1960 World Series, and I remember the exact spot in school where I was when the news broke about John Kennedy’s assassination. And I remember dissecting an earthworm and a starfish with Bill Albin in freshman biology. I remember Mr. Leyda blasting Tom Meyer with his CO2 fire extinguisher for being late to chemistry class. Tom sat directly behind me, and I was in the line of fire! I remember playing in the pit band for the CHS musicals and how well Ginny Pulos sang in Brigadoon. Then there was Richard Cunningham who was a walking billboard for Barry Goldwater in ’64. Every day he was plastered with Goldwater campaign buttons. I remember Rusty Shoup usually being late for the school bus and doing his homework rapidly on the ride to school. Finally, I remember a lot of late-night discussions I had with Steve Siek in my back yard and at his house.

Steve Siek was always my closest friend. I’ve known him since kindergarten. I was close with Richard Moore. There are lots of other classmates that I liked, mostly people who played in the band.

My weekend "event" was mowing the lawn. Ugh!

Nothing specific. I’d like to get back to Paris and visit my friend Christophe, his wife Stephanie, and their three children, in addition to also seeing Christophe’s father and mother. Christophe was the French lawyer I had stay with me one summer. I actually was able to refer a client to him about three years ago.

As I get older, it seems that family and childhood friends and acquaintances take on added importance. I’m lucky that my mother is still alive. I call her frequently. I am grateful that through the CHS website I have maintained contact with some of whom I didn’t know all that well in high school. I think we had a lot of good people in our class and a lot of people worth knowing. I know I now appreciate the quality of people I went to school with more than I did when I was in high school.

Music continues to be a part of my life. I think it is important that everyone has some activity that provides nourishment to the soul. For me, music supplies that need.

Garry Grider

Hi, Sharon, and thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series! I’m sure I can speak for my CHS classmates when I say how much we appreciate your (and Keith and all the others) time and efforts in creating such an interesting website and reunion activities!

After CHS graduation, I attended Miami University for four years and received a B.A. in physics. After college I worked at NCR Materials Research Dept. (where they pioneered micro encapsulation technology, things like scratch-and-sniff and time release capsules) as a research physicist for 3 ½ years. Then I worked as a civilian for the USAF Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB for almost 31 years, as a physicist and electronics engineer. I worked in the R&D world on aircraft avionics. I retired in July 2003.

My wife Marian and I have been married for 34+ years, and we have two adult children, Matt, 33, and Andy, 30, who have given us two grandchildren, Madison, 7, and Grant, 5. Matt and the grandkids live in the Dallas area and Andy is in Toledo. My father is deceased and my mother lives in Kettering. My twin brother Larry (CHS ’65 also) and his wife Jan live in Georgia. He also is retired, and is the most successful sibling, since he lives on a golf course!

I love to golf (even though I’m mostly a duffer) and trying to be a handyman around home. I enjoy woodworking on my ShopSmith (a Dayton product) and all kinds of travel. We hope to visit friends in England later this year. Marian and I cherish our large group of friends that we enjoy lots of activities with. I’ve been playing poker monthly with the same group of seven guys for over 30 years, which proves that at least some people, besides Marian, have learned to put up with me for extended periods of time!

I’ve had lots of traveling for the USAF, including most of the U.S. and numerous foreign countries. I’ve been to many U.S. places I never would have seen otherwise, and have spent work time in Canada, England, France, Belgium, Portugal, and Italy (Sardinia). I really enjoy seeing how people in other countries live and work, and how we could learn and benefit from some of their customs and ideas. In southwest France they take 2 hours for lunch and if you get a speeding ticket (not me, but a colleague) you can pay the patrolman on the spot!

I’m very proud of my family and my two terrific sons who (as I’ve said before) are still taller, smarter, and better looking than their dad! If that isn’t success, I don’t know what is! I also enjoyed my last years at WPAFB…I was a supervisor/manager of many fine individuals and enjoyed helping (even if in small ways) them excel and grow in their careers.

We all have lots of things we would do differently if we had the chance, but life is for learning and living, not regretting. I do remember once back in CHS days, I was alone in a photographic darkroom with one of our very good-looking lady classmates…I regret that I was a shy as I was back then.

In high school, I don’t remember thinking that far ahead very often. I just remember being very anxious to get out into the "real world" and be independent.

I can’t really think of any drastic changes I would make, except maybe mature faster. I might have studied computer science and engineering more in college, and been more self-promoting at work, which seems to work for many folks these days, but I was never very good at tooting my own horn (I should have asked trumpeter Ken Reed for advice).

I remember Mr. McDaniel and Mr. Laird, my science teachers, who inspired me in that direction. I remember enjoying math classes, which seemed to come fairly easily for me, but none of us could keep up with Rusty Shoup. I wasn’t in that many activities, but still remember the jobs I had at The Wishing Well Inn, and Antonio’s Italian Restaurant. Tony’s daughter was "Miss Ohio" one year, and I still remember her…I think she had to suppress her feelings for me because she was already engaged (Ha-Ha)!

In the early CHS days my brother Larry, Jeff Robbins, Jim Archdeacon, and Tim Carhartt (CHS ’64) and I were buddies and played sports and cards together. As juniors and seniors we had a large group of guy and gal friends that had lots of parties and good times, which was a lot of fun. Bill Richards and I discovered girls together and I still remember his big sister Linda trying to teach us how to dance. Then on our first double date, we had to backtrack to Bill’s house, because he forgot to put on his "Canoe" after-shave lotion! Tom Schubert and I were roommates at Miami University for a year or two and we had many CHS classmates there also.

I plan to look for a part-time job (for fun, not money) or maybe do some volunteer work like Habitat for Humanity. We plan to travel a lot, spoil our grandkids, help my mother with home projects, and enjoy life while we have good health. I’ve been enjoying catching up on many projects since my retirement. I say, as many others say, "I don’t know how I had time to work".

Be conservative when playing "Texas Hold-Em"…most people play too loose. But seriously, I just think it’s important to enjoy the life and days God gives us, and to be as positive an influence as we can in the lives of our family, friends, and colleagues.

Melinda Miller

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series!

Well, Sharon, after reading all the other Featured Alumni I can definitely state that my life seems a little mundane. I attended Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, going for a degree in secondary education. When I met my husband, we moved to Kansas, where he was finishing his engineering degree. We lived in Kansas for over two years and our son Joe was born there. I then became pregnant with Suzanne and then Michael. I became a full-time stay at home Mom, a choice that I never regretted.

The family got older and we then hauled everyone off to college. We had three kids in college at the same time. It took great planning and the renting of a large van every fall when returning all three back to school…but what a wonderful time we shared!

So, Sharon, in the last 39 years I’ll sum it up…school, marriage, birth of three children, raising the three children, sending them off and now the best part, playing with the grandchildren! I haven’t worked outside our home—I’ve always been a kept woman!

Tom, my husband is a professional Consulting Engineer with a Pittsburg-based company. We have been married for almost 36 years. We met just after he returned from Viet Nam after serving in the Marine Corps.

Tom and I have 3 wonderful children. Joseph, 35, our oldest, was born in Kansas City but was raised in PA. Joe attended the University of Pennsylvania and onto Hanhemann Medical School in Philly. He accepted a residence at Brown University in Rhode Island in Internal Medicine. He now has a practice in Warwick, RI. Joe and his wife Sharyn have a beautiful little boy, Thomas, who is 1 year old. Joe and Sharyn are expecting their second child in February!

Suzanne, 32, our daughter, graduated from Yale with a degree in education and history. She returned home and met her husband, Todd Ashmore. They have given us two absolutely great grandchildren, Jessica, 5, and Tyler who is 2 ½. Since they live about 10 minutes from us…we spoil them rotten…, as it should be!

Michael, our youngest, is 29 and graduated from Ashland University, my alma mater, with a degree in criminal justice. He is a private investigator and owns his own company, Academy Security and Investigations. Michael lives outside of Pittsburg and at 6’5", 230 lbs. Is an imposing figure to deal with in his line of work.

My dad passed away in 198. My mom is 92 and living in Centerville (we are blessed to still have her). My sister, Barbara, still lives in Centerville and substitutes in the middle schools at Centerville. She and her husband Steve have two children and four grandchildren. I lost my brother Jim on December 24, 2002 doe to a random act of violence. Two strangers killed him. No reason. Jim had just finished work and met my son for a late night dinner, and went to the men’s room, where he was beaten to death by two drunken thugs who had been partying and drinking all day for the Monday night football game. This has devastated our family. No one ever thinks that this could happen to their family…but it does. Two years to go to trial, and the sentence handed down is never enough. Jim left behind three beautiful children and a precious granddaughter. They all live in Centerville.

Since this tragedy, my daughter and I have started the James C. Miller Memorial Foundation. We have had various fundraisers. Once we reach our financial goal the foundation will generate monies to be given back to the community for worthwhile causes. I am concentrating on victims of violent crimes and their families. I needed to find something positive to focus on after this horrific crime was committed on my brother. I miss him so, and I’m still trying to understand why.

Believe it or not, I do take time for myself. I’ve been active for about twenty years in a women’s club in our community that does fund-raising and supports our local library. I play contract bridge but haven’t been able yet to get that Life Masters…need a few more Gold Points. I crochet and will need to start on a new baby afghan very soon for the next new arrival. My true love has been doing genealogy. I go a little nuts. I’m like Agatha Christy trying to solve a murder. I’ve been doing this for about eight years with great success but I still have a few mysteries to solve.

Raising three great human beings who give back to their community and my brother’s Foundation. And I have no regrets about the path I chose after high school. I would do it all over again.

This is hard to answer because in high school I had no idea what I really wanted. I did not plot out a future. I guess you would say that I went with the gut instinct and followed my heart. For me it was the right thing because I love where I am in my life.

Please, I don’t want to start over! Knowing how my life has turned out I would do almost everything the same. I may have passed up a sale item that I regretted later not getting, but…nah…I wouldn’t look back with any regrets.

As many of my classmates have also stated, my favorite teachers were Mr. Carper and Mr. Bender (the "REB"), as we called him. Both of these men gave me the confidence I needed to face the public and address any public speaking event that has come my way. They were great guides and I’ll always be thankful to them.

Being in class plays was a wonderful experience for me. Getting up at dawn to get onto the Speech bus to compete in National Forensics was a labor of love. Mr. Carper and Mr. Bender will be happy to know that because of their influence I was an assistance speech coach for my children’s high school. My son Joe placed fourth in the State of Pennsylvania in Humor, and my daughter took 3^rd in Drama one year and 2^nd in Original Oratory the next, and even went to Nationals. Looks like my love of Speech and Debate was passed down!

My girlfriends were Debbie Emm, Marquita List and Karen Worner…probably the tallest girls at CHS, and many friends thorough Speech and Debate. I remember with great fondness, Bill Curtis, Tom Croft and Kenny Achor. Dear Kenny Achor was in a play with me and had to take a swig out of an old jug, and we put real whiskey in it! I still remember his smiling face…boy, there was a group of us sweating it out on that one!

Plans for the future are to keep the ones I love near. I have been blessed, and I try not to take anything for granted. Retirement will be a few years yet. We still have college loans to finish off. Tom and I will be traveling a lot to New England. I want to visit Scotland to do some genealogy research. My daughter-in-law is full-blooded Irish, and we have discussed a trip to Ireland (she has been there twice) and then a jaunt to Scotland for me.

I have no words of wisdom for my fellow classmates. I only give sage advice to my kids. We all get busy with everyday living and tend to forget about years gone by. I have enjoyed getting reacquainted with some of my classmates and getting to know about the lives of others from the class of ’65. Our website has brought me some smiles and sadness when I see who is no longer with us. I would like everyone to find contentment in life. I would like to thank Keith for bringing so many back together….and Sharon for being such a diplomat in dealing with all of us. You guys are Great!

The only thing I would like to leave my fellow classmates with is that I hope every one of them finds true contentment! I feel finding true contentment in one’s life makes your life a success. I can honestly say that I have found the contentment with my life and family and I pray that I always will have it.

Gerry VanEiszner

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series!

High school was about as far as I went formally. I was also a graduate of a beautician school in Dayton. Mostly, I have been an Army spouse. My husband Mike retired in 1998 after 30 years as a Colonel in the Army. He remains in the security business, now a part-time consultant and contractor. I have done some beautician work, worked as a receptionist/office manager for doctors, and for twelve years, I was an Assigning Baseball Umpire Commissioner for a 100-person organization that provided umpire services for the greater Washington, D.C. metro area. That was quite an experience and turned out to be a full time, somewhat stressful job. I got into this because my husband’s other love is baseball, and he has been an umpire at all levels for years. Thanks to he and his cohorts, they got me involved in that crazy job. I’ve basically spent the last 40 years trying to raise four children and enjoying and perhaps spoiling my grandchildren. Since we moved to Texas a year ago, I have been staying at home and helping my oldest daughter, Patricia, who resides just two miles away. I love being a wife, mom, and grandmother.

We have four grown children, Patricia, born 1968, Michael Jr., 1970, Dominic in 1973, and Therasa in 1979. We have been blessed with six adorable grandchildren and two wonderful step-grandchildren. They are Kyle, born in 1999, son to Therasa; Samuel born in 2003 and his sister Emily born just a few months ago, children to Patricia; Brandon born in 2003 and his sister Kinsey born just a few months ago, children to Dominic; and Syndey born in 2003 (a very busy year) to our son Michael. He also married a wonderful young lady who had two children of her own, Anthony and Amanda. We have a pet named Bell, a Jack Russell terrier who thinks she is human.

My father died September 7, 1978, and my mother sadly passed away of cancer last May. My sister Raney and her husband Dan Nord are living in Spring Hill, FL. They have two beautiful daughters. Darci, the eldest, was married last September. Addie is going to law school. My brother Don is still living in Centerville, working for Bell Telephone Co.

I enjoy shopping, traveling, decorating the house, especially at holiday time, cooking, swimming, reading, and of course, being with the family.

Our last trip was in March ’03. We were celebrating our 35^th wedding anniversary and were gone a month. We traveled to Australia for a land tour and then took an eighteen-day cruise from Sydney to Bangkok. In the 1970’s we really loved being in Germany. We were there for three and a half years. We were also fortunate to have a three --year tour in Hawaii some ten years later. Mike’s job at the White House was indeed the most memorable assignment of his career, and one that allowed us as a family to experience many things that most citizens do not get to see or enjoy.

Learning to cook Italian food (a requirement for marrying into the Mastrangelo family!) and watching my family grow. There are many things that I enjoy doing, but being Mike’s wife and the mother of our children tops it all!!

I have had a few regrets, but then again, too few to mention. I did it my way! And no, I wouldn’t change any of my choices.

Teachers---Mr. Van Tine. Without him, I never would have graduated. My favorite classes were German and biology, and I loved all sports. My best friends were Nancy Overman and Monica Ponchellia, and since I loved all sports, I remember the Friday night football games.

To enjoy life to the fullest!

Success is measured in how much you can smile when you think of the past, and how much hope you have for the future.

Until next time, this is
Sharon Erickson Howell.

Debbie Emm

Hi, Sharon, and thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni interviews!

After graduation, I had a great summer going out with Melinda Miller to places we weren't allowed to visit; we effectively created alternative names for locations where we would meet older guys. I also discovered that some of my classmates that I would have liked to date never asked me out, thinking I was dating someone outside of the class. I won't share the names, but boy, was I disappointed to hear that.

As for college, I wanted to go to University of Michigan. I know, what a traitor! Actually, I really wanted to attend some of the arts colleges in the East, but those were definitely out of the price range, and my dad wanted me to go to U.D. He wouldn’t let me apply anywhere except there, and I wouldn’t back off from telling him that either I got to go away to college, or my babysitting money would take me to New York City. I told him I would probably get lost in the adventure there, and he might not hear from me, so I got my way to some extent, and ended up at OSU- the only school that accepted late admissions. But I had a wonderful experience there, made life-long friends, dated a lot and still managed to get a B.A. in sociology despite being a bit of a party girl. I shouldn't present myself that way exclusively, since I also wrote poetry, short stories, got all A's in 45 hours of philosophy courses, and took part in some serious activities. I do believe however, that Mr. Watts had expected the serious and less outspoken young lady when he invited me to speak to the 1966 graduating class about college life. My speech ended with "Make love not war!" I had been writing as a pen pal to a paratrooper all fall quarter of 1965, and after the 8th letter, I got the death notice. It had a profound effect on just how sheltered and safe I was. I didn't like studying politics or reading news about such unpleasantries as what was going on in Vietnam, until I got letters from Brian. One of my favorite movies is "Coming Home".

My first job before college graduation was as a guard at a maximum-security juvenile institution for girls. I left before a cold murderess, who was older and taller than I, had a chance to deck me or pour scalding hot water over my head as she did to the other social worker hired along with me. I found my method for safety there. Never be predictable! And don't work there more than a year. After a year, a teenage resident had injured everyone at least once. Later, I worked at the Human Services Department before I went on to Children's Services.

I loved this job, but I had wanted to be a psychologist since I was six years old, so I needed to move on to graduate school.

Following the first trip to graduate school, which was almost Duquesne in Pittsburg, PA, at an existential/phenomenological psychology Ph.D. program, I avoided the requisite nervous breakdown from living with steel-colored skies and industrial fumes, coupled with Sartre’s thoughts about life and death, No Exit, Is There a God? What is the Meaning of Life? Fortunately, I had sent my belongings down south to a tiny little town outside of Atlanta, GA., where they taught the experiential version of Existential and Phenomenological psychology. I am sure this sounds very esoteric--it’s just a branch of clinical psychology that suited me well. It is a particular way of thinking, and of how people exist in the world. Like nature or nurture, this is a different point of view. We "experience" ourselves through each other. For example, the proper phenomenological greeting is not "Hi, how are you?" but, "You look (take your pick—unhappy, tired, sick, etc."), "How am I?"

Following graduation from West Georgia where there were more New Yorkers and small town Georgians together than any other place on earth, I went on a trip to Lowell, MA. Having run out of money after paying for graduate school, I had a car and my friend’s friend had money and a place to live, where he was working on John Kerry’s congressional campaign. I was visiting Boston feminist groups and libraries, finishing my Master’s degree in clinical psychology, and writing a paper on the psychological aspect of a political organization. It is sad to say, but Massachusetts’s voters at that time were considered the most sophisticated and intelligent voters in the country. What I found was that, they voted for the best looking and tallest candidate! Gee, that was scary.

Following the communal experience of living with Harvard graduate students, marketing and ad managers, I returned to Columbus, the only city to offer me five jobs. Compared to better pay in Kentucky, I took it, since the only single men there were under age 15! My employer told me that I was not allowed to consider incest a mental health problem or illegal, but warned me that if I lived with my boyfriend, we would likely be shot and have our place burned down with the cross in the front yard! I wasn't all that upset about the living arrangements, but I felt a definite opposition to the prevailing subculture there. Onward to Columbus, though I had promised myself I would never return! Never say never, especially where survival is involved.

Back in Columbus, I worked some more with children, families and adults within the court system. By 1976 I was still trying to leave the city of quicksand and gloom (that’s Columbus, for those of you who haven’t lived there in the ‘70’s--the Almanac confirmed what I had suspected, long before Seasonal Affective Disorder was a diagnosis--that Columbus, with 289 days of overcast skies or rain, was the darkest city and also the worst place for single women to find a partner--3x more single women than men. At 5'10, with advanced college degrees, etc, it was no wonder I rarely met anyone.

I had been trying to obtain my PH.D. in New York City and couldn't afford to. Shortly after I got home I became a victim of a violent crime. That changed my life, my belief system, and everything you can imagine. My politics, my sleep cycle, my perceptions. Rather than ruining my life though, it was an impetus for me to put my feelings into action, to begin expressing my thoughts more assertively, and to recognize the stronger spiritual connection I had with God and humanity. I viewed what happened as a positive transformation, rather than a recovery, since there was no going back to what I had been before. I became interested in how to get legislation passed and became part of President Reagan's task force on violent crime, as well as Ohio organizations that created the crime victim rights laws now in force.

One of the best experiences I had was being invited to participate in the FBI’S Criminal profiling project as an expert. FBI agents are a special type of person and boy, did I like them! At the time, there were no female agents! They were just starting to hire and I received an offer, but believe it or not, the salary was even lower than what I was making at a county agency.

By now it was the 1980’s and the Ohio State Penitentiary desperately needed psychologists, because those in their left mind, will not go there. Only right-minded (read: right-brained) psychologists will go there! Actually, it was called "much better salary, and who wants to keep preventing the insane from killing presidents for 25K a year and no "thank-yous ".

From there I was offered the opportunity I couldn't refuse--I would finally be able to get my PhD. at Ohio State, paid for by my employer. It was just that at that time, I didn't care about it anymore, and didn't need it.

1983… Got it, though, 18 months later, along with a grant from the state to do research on sexual assault.

I also became a crime victim advocate and specialized in the treatment of trauma. My dissertation was on the short and long term impact of violence not just for the victim but also for significant others. This time of my life seemed to be laden with good luck and good timing. My dissertation research was funded by the state. Then I was able to do research on the other victims of the same perpetrator, which made for a unique and very powerful research finding. That led to founding a crime victim service center, also funded by federal and state funds, and a great experience in changing the tide of blaming people for being victimized, making sure they had support and information about court actions, parole, treatment etc. and most of all, their loved ones were included in the process. and helped to help them as well. Many people deal with violence successfully if they have sufficient support from their friends or loved ones, and not too much stress or previous psychological difficulties prior to the crime. Even so, short-term intervention always makes it easier. Today, I work for a National Crisis Care center, to do just that. I work with bank employees after a robbery, or staff where a murder or assault has occurred, for example.

My parents are deceased. Unfortunately, I was not there when either died. I so appreciated the tribute of a moment of silence that Dayton gave my father during his funeral. I miss him very much, and wish that people could have known how sensitive, caring and kind he was. He always had a good word for everyone he met, never complained though he had a lot of legitimate issues and he wouldn't have liked me saying this, but he was a humanitarian. A lot of his work was volunteer. Sadly, he refused medical help the day he died, and he refused to get yearly check ups or see a doctor even if he didn't feel well. He would just tough it out, like the stoic philosophy I too tried to live that way for a period of time. Many men do this, and they die when they could have been saved, so please, guys, get yearly checkups so your loved ones don't have to lose you because of it.

My significant other is Snoopy, my blond cocker spaniel, age 10. I've been fortunate to know many wonderful people in my life, and have several life long friends. There are several past loves. (I have been known to live in the past!) I have over 200 children: oh, not biological ones, these are the ones I have nurtured, worked with, and been locked up with (in juvenile detention). No biological children, although I wanted them. Adoption was not a choice at the time, athough. I checked into being a single mother, so I have satisfied myself with other peoples’ children.

Besides surviving in this country, my biggest accomplishment has been to find, create, train, direct and operate a comprehensive crime victim center. At the time, there were only five in the country, and none of them provided the breadth of services that this program did. It was a wonderful time in my life. This specialty, working with crime victims and trauma survivors, brought me in contact with so many other great people, clients, professionals, etc. I also was part of state and federal agencies, which changed legislation, trained professionals and law enforcement on how to handle crime and crime victims. I was asked to be an expert consultant to the FBI Criminal Profiling project at Quantico, VA, at the time that John Douglas and Bob Reston were in charge. Ten years later, I was able to get the perpetrator to cooperate with them, expanding the database in the serial offender category that allows them to find and arrest violent offenders in less than two weeks!

In 1988, a triad of bad things happened. The sponsor and physical entity that housed the Crime Victim Center went bankrupt and had to close before I could find another facility. En route to the YWCA one day, my car was hit, and the wreck put me into 18 years of constant pain. That cut short my tennis career, and definitely changed how I was able to work, since I have permanent damage from that accident and another one two years ago.

I like to think I am retired part-time. I am now much more interested in writing, and in voice work, than in continuing as a psychotherapist. Trying to get paid in the health care field the last 10 years is enough to warrant its own diagnostic category.

I would love to travel more, having been so fortunate professionally and personally to go to Egypt, England, Ireland and Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, Costa Rica (very over-rated, by the way) and Italy. Of course, Hawaii was wonderful. I got to go with Dad about five times during the years he hosted the Richard Lewis tours.

I moved to Atlanta again in the early ‘90’s, where I could finally enjoy the sun again, and the beauty of the forests, flowers, etc. I have a beautiful house in the woods, good friends, and good doctors, luckily. My body has taken more beatings from one thing or another than it should in five lifetimes, but I am still going. So, anyone looking for a travel buddy, give me a ring!!

I was also fortunate to be talented athletically. I loved playing golf, and had won tournaments in high school. But in the ‘60’s, girls were not considered real athletes, so there wasn’t much encouragement. Nevertheless, I was offered a tour spot and sponsor, but I felt I needed to have a college education and not having had much dating experience, I didn't like the idea that boys shied away from girls who could out-shoot them! Besides, now I realize I probably would have had to replace every joint in my body by the time I was 30!

This is going to sound weird, but if mental health services and the kind of books, information and understanding that we have now, would have been available while I was in high school, my life would have been quite different.

I wish that I had not been so self-conscious and a celebrity’s daughter. It wasn’t what others may have thought it was like. No privacy, and for 10 years my father received death threats, that I would get on the phone sometimes. He actually had to have a bodyguard at work.

And some people never gave me a chance to know them or me. They just assumed that I was snotty, conceited and must have a perfect life, and ignored me or shunned my interest in them. .

I regret that I wasn’t as self confident or assertive and didn’t insist that my parents let me go to Germany as a foreign exchange student, since I won the selection process. I was asked to allow them to send someone else in my place, because it didn’t look good that everyone they chose was Caucasian and I was the last region to be picked.

I loved Centerville, though I did not know many people very well. I had great friends- Melinda Miller, Carol Elliott, Cindy Croy, Adrienne Ridey, Jackie Liffick, Ron Granberg, and Jim Metzger. I will never forget Mr. Van Tine telling me I should be a politician. He meant it in a nice way, but I took it as an insult. I pretty much despise politicians to this day. I liked Mr. Hoover, and Miss Owen and I loved the JCOWA trips!!!

A great memory that marks the transition from Catholic grade school, to feeling normal at Centerville, was the first day in Latin class freshman year, sitting next to Sue King. She had gone to Holy Angels with me in grade school. So here we are in Latin class and as the teacher walks in, up Sue and I jump, parroting our morning greeting. "Good morning, Sister Mary Ur….", before we realized what robots we were! The laughter from the other students and the strange look on her face…that was when I realized that I was free!!

I loved the JCOWA trips; Jerry Dice and I were the top sellers of the fund raising magazine sales. Maybe I should have gone into sales....

I have many thoughts about retirement. Since Bush II has become President, I have seriously considered moving to Mexico for retirement so that I will have money to live on. There are many towns now in Mexico that are at least half American or Canadian, and the lifestyle is calm, polite, and affordable. I suspect that in another 10 years, we may see something like the retirement communities becoming more communal, especially if the economy goes downhill as I suspect it will. We may have much less to rely on, and need to rely more on a community of others.

Hi, Sharon, thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni hits!

After high school, I got my B.S. degree from Ohio State University, 1969, graduating Cum Laude, and got my M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Microbiology and Immunology from Chicago Medical School, taking 3 ½ years to complete the program while writing journal articles and presenting research papers at various national scientific meetings at least four times a year. I worked as a technician in the Microbiology Department of Mt. Sinai Hospital, an inner city hospital, then was a Professor at Idaho State University. Coming back to Ohio, I was a Professor and course director at Wright State University Medical School, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Director of Nat’l Paternity Laboratory and later left WSU and took charge of the Paternity/Forensic Division (27,000 cases a year) of GeneScreen. I retired a few years ago, and now I work part-time at my own business - RAS Computing (custom build, upgrade and repair computers, set up DSL and Cable modems/software installation and give instructional lessons to beginners – usually older couples or singles) and Tutoring HS and college students in basic math (algebra, geometry, etc.), biology, chemistry, etc.

I have 2 sons and a daughter. Carey, 38, his wife Rachel, also 38, and their 2 year old twins—Owen and Clara—live in Ft. Collins, CO, where Carey owns his own recycling company, which is a good-sized business. Colby, 34, his wife Erin, 29, and the newest member of the family Finley Kate Smith (a little over 2 months old) live in Denver, CO. Colby has an advanced level position in Environmental Health and Safety (CIH rating – analogous to an accountant getting becoming a CPA) in Denver, CO., heading up clean-up crews from everything from Beryllium, asbestos and plutonium (yes, they were making nuclear warheads in Denver, CO!). Erica, 21, is taking cosmetology courses in Kettering, OH and is working at Fairfield Commons Mall at Glamour Shots. Last but not least, Boz is my 1-½ year old Briard—my faithful companion who is always there with me – take him everywhere I go including computer jobs or tutoring – if individuals don’t want a dog in their house who doesn’t shed then I don’t go – a package deal!

My parents are both 83 and live in Oklahoma City, OK but drive back and forth between Oklahoma City and their lake-house mansion located in Grove, OK, on the shores of Grand Lake Of The Cherokees. My second oldest sister, Stacey, 47, and her husband, Dennis Millican, and their two kids, Kyle, 18, and Lindsey, 20, all live at the lake house and Shelley and Dennis are both school teachers in Grove where Dennis is also the head football coach. Nancy, my youngest sister, 46, and her husband Mike DePrang and their two kids, Kelsey, 6, and Katie, 2, live in Edmond, OK. Shelley, my oldest sister, 56, and her husband Ron Martin, live in College Station, TX (home of Texas A&M University) along with their two kids, Megan, 22, and Emily, 17.

I was deeply involved in Karate (Moo Duk Kwon and Kempo—4^th Dan) for over 17 years, and now I spend time weightlifting, reading, walking, fishing, and I spend as much time as possible with my daughter, Erica, who has moved in with me temporarily until she can find a dependable roommate to rent an apartment – she has already had 2 bad experiences so helping her out as much as I can financially until she is back on her feet: as well as getting out West to visit sons and their families as well as parents and sisters. I also have frequent phone and email contact with my sons. I enjoy investigating things I rarely had time for in the past, and I’ve had a chance to get to know some of my old high school classmates!

I would consider the most joyful and memorable day occurring in the very early part of 1976, while we were living in Pocatello, ID (I was teaching at ID State Univ.), a town of 47,000, located at the base of a U-shaped mountain range. Because of this the town was frequently subject to atmospheric inversions, resulting in a very, very heavy fog and smog cover (from a very large fertilizer production plant at the base of the mountain range). Both Carey, 7, and Colby, 3, were really wound up, so I loaded them into the car along with their mother, Sue, my first wife, and very carefully made it through town, which took about 20 minutes because of the density of the fog. I headed up to Scout Mountain—about a 12,000 ft. vertical drop. I could only drive the car up the mountain road for a short way, and then the snow was too deep. I parked the car and pulled Carey on the sled, with Colby on my shoulders along with Sue and Joy (our first Briard) and we walked up the mountain via a well-groomed cross-country ski/snowmobile path. We reached one place where we could look down at the city and see nothing but what looked like a cloud cover. Where we were, it was in the high 30’s, no wind and the sun was shining brightly. The boys, and Sue along with me, loved the walk and taking the time to stop and play in the snow with all of them. As it became dark and I was clearly tired from pulling the sled and carrying Colby on my shoulders all day (I had sent Sue down to the car), I waited until I was sure she was there, and then put the sled on what would have been the road to go higher up the mountain, and laid down on the sled with Carey on top of me and Colby on top of him and we ran the sled down the snow-covered road for about ¾ of a mile. I loved it and the boys went crazy as to how much fun it was! After they got in the car, I decided to continue the journey on the sled, and followed Sue down the mountain road until there was very little snow and we had to stop. What a rush, and I’ll never forget what a great day it was!!

The other very memorable and touching experience, which will always be a part of my heart, relates to the birth of my daughter. My girlfriend was going to have a Cesarean section to deliver our baby. I knew her doctor well and he knew I was a Medical School Professor, so he allowed me to watch the entire process. I’m not squeamish about watching that type of thing after working as an orderly in the non-ambulatory section at Washington Manor Nursing Home on McEwen Road from 9^th through 12^th grades in high school.

I cannot even express the warmth in my heart I felt when our baby was removed from her mother and cleaned off and placed in my arms. I am not a very emotional person, but tears ran down my face as soon as she was placed in my arms and I had a chance to look at her. It was such a touching time for me emotionally, and it will never leave me.

This is the most difficult section for me to talk about, because after all, almost anything could be considered an accomplishment or an achievement. So, where to begin? I’ll keep it simple, starting with jobs. I received a Teaching Excellence Award from Wright State Medical when I was both the course director of our two-quarter (14 hr. credits a quarter) sequence taught to second year medical students; I graduated numerous M.S. and Ph.D. students who performed their work in my laboratories. Concurrent to my tenure at WSU I co-authored a medical immunology textbook, which was used by not only WSU medical school but also medical schools and microbiology and immunology graduate departments around the country. Later, following a single month as one of the Directors at GeneScreen, productivity of the Paternity Division went up 20% and when I left, we were doing over 27,000 cases a year which was a 100% increase in contracts and productivity. Down side is that even though they paid me a great deal of money plus bonuses, I worked 12 - 13 hr. days including no less than a half day or more on Sat. and Sun. So even though I had accrued a great deal of sick leave and vacation time I could never use it – finally wore me down and resigned to take the time to smell the roses treading along the highway of life --- after all these are our remaining "good" years of our lives so why not enjoy them. We only have a guarantee for the "right now" in TODAY. Live now a very simple life – learn from YESTERDAY and attempt to not repeat mistakes but also savor good memories; live in TODAY as is was the last one you had --- the glass is always HALF-FULL; I can plan for tomorrow but the results are out of my hands since I live in today. From AA and it works!!

I took an active role in raising my two sons, spending a significant amount of time with them during which time I attempted to show them how to live in a harmonious fashion and care for others. Today both sons have great jobs, wonderful wives and terrific kids, and we are as close today as we were years ago when they were just kids. I took an active role in raising my daughter regardless of her mother trying constantly to keep me away from her. Today she stops by regularly, and we have a very good relationship and now has moved in with me which has not been a problem because she has learned from me to be upfront and honest. We have a very harmonious relationship, which is something very nice in this day and age.

I was married and a father at age 19, and totally on my own to take care of my family while Sue, my wife, worked at night to help support our family while I was completing my undergraduate program. I got through graduate school on my own and struggled through all the problems over the years that led to my divorce from Sue, and then through a second marriage that ended in divorce. I’m still friends with both ex-wives, and am very good friends with Sue and her second husband, Tom.

The biggest and most significant regret to me is unknowingly promoting my alcoholism early on in my life. I was born an "Early Onset Alcoholic" which simply is stating that there are certain characteristics associated with this form versus "Late Onset Alcoholism" including a high propensity for heredity to play a key role. Alcoholism runs on both sides of my family as close as my father and his father and my mother’s grandfather. After my first drunk at 14 years old I spent the next almost 13 years attempting to battle a disease, which had already won the battles and the war, and was significantly greater than me at my best. At 27 I was blessed and made it into a treatment center north of Chicago and after 22 days came out sober and worked diligently at the AA program. I remained sober for 12 years continuously but about half way along the way I started doing more and more things related to my professional background and karate and ultimately started cutting back on AA and living their program both inside and outside the doors of AA. So what happened to me was not unexpected or a shock to me, I just thought I could get everything back in order and return to where I had been in the past, during the long period of sobriety. Not so—once Pandora’s Box is opened, there is absolutely no assurance about what will happen. I’ve had significant problems over the years, even though I have been sober as long as three years more than one time. So when I go to bed at night I thank God for granting me another day of sobriety JUST FOR TODAY and ask Him for ANOTHER DAY OF SOBRIETY TOMORROW, WITH HIS HELP!

No. I went to college to play football and had the perhaps not so realistic wish of making it to the pros. However, being the person I had been for so many years, I rarely followed the rules, so I signed my own course outline for each trimester at Miami and started taking courses in microbiology and immunology, which I found I liked very much, and wanted to pursue that area for my degree. I had no idea that I would be married and a father at 19, that my wealthy parents would essentially disown me over this. I also never expected to teach in a college, much less be the course director of a medical school two-quarter sequence, or be a director of a very large laboratory.

From spending time looking at my past and all that I accomplished on my vocational and professional fronts, and the time I was able to allocate to my sons and daughter---I would change nothing, and that includes my alcoholism! It was through that struggle that I became the person who could smell the roses along the way, not let success get to my head, and be able to help other people in need, and normally be an honest and happy person living JUST IN TODAY!

I remember Dave McDaniel—he knew of my interest in the biological sciences and attempted to give me ideas of what I could do, and also never mixed what went on in the sports arena with what went on in the classroom. My favorite classes were biology I and II, physics, chemistry, and all math courses. Naturally I was into football and track along with other sports, but I also like some of the limited school activities that I participated in during high school. I would consider Doug Goodwin to have been my best friend, since we had many things in common, from working out with weights to going out drinking. And I could never leave out the first loves of my life—Kristie Browne and later, Sue Owens, who was also my first wife and the mother of our sons. Weekend events included participating in football games on Friday nights, going out with girlfriends, particularly to various events at CHS such as dances, etc. I worked on weekends from 9^th through 12^th grades as a nursing home orderly, principally with the non-ambulatory patients. I did and saw things there that no orderly would be permitted to do or see today!

Take your time going through life, so you can smell the roses along the way. Enjoy time with your families; enjoy their hobbies and interests. NEVER SAY NEVER. Try and live in TODAY. Learn from yesterday and attempt to correct any mistakes that were made, in preparation for the next day. And perhaps most significant is STAY OUT OF TOMORROW!! It rarely goes as planned, and the only assurance anyone has is the moment and perhaps only TODAY!

Jack Baty

Hi, Sharon, and thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series!

Hmm…I’m presently a radio announcer, and I do corporate presentation narrations. I received a B.A. in Communications in 1969 from the University of Arizona, and I’ve worked mostly in radio, a little TV, a little politics, and a little advertising agency experience, too.

I’ve been married for 37 years to Billie Sage Baty, and we have a 26-year-old son, David, who is a database administrator for the University of Arizona. We started the year with two young dogs and two old cats, and when we moved three and a half years ago the group included 2 dogs, 3 cats and a grown-up kid. (He moved out two and a half years ago.)

My parents are deceased, my dad in 1970 and mom in 1987. My brother Phil is in Tucson, and we get together once a week along with our son, David. Brother Rick (CHS ’63) and I have renewed contact with each other. He had quadruple-bypass surgery in mid-August, and I flew down to spend September 11-18 with him. (That was right between hurricanes as far as Florida was concerned, and the weather was much drier than usual because the hurricane that hit the Carolinas was sucking up most of their usual moisture.) It was wonderful to clear up old misunderstandings and to see him begin to make progress in his recovery. He was already at home when I was there and progressed from hardly being able to navigate from his chair to the bathroom, to being able to walk to the stop sign about 100 feet from his house. We spoke on the phone the end of September, and he was already up to walking around the block. He’s scheduled for cardiac rehab 3 days a week and the docs say he should be able to go back to work sometime between November and January. My nephew, Patrick, son of Rick and ex-wife Irene King Baty, now has three children, 2 girls and a boy. The girls are Lila and Marissa and the boy is Jack Baty. Guess who my favorite is…….!

My biggest accomplishment has been to stay out of jail (so far…:>), and "Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention". (Reminds me of a song, somehow.)

I worked as Press Secretary for Congressman Jim Kolbe. I was almost run down by a truck on my first day walking to work in the Longworth House Office Building. That was in 1985, and I dove back onto the sidewalk unharmed. The most interesting fact about that incident: I tore my trousers and skinned my left knee in the hasty retreat. No one said a word or offered to help me. Dorothy said it best, "Toto, we’re not in Centerville anymore."

I never expected to live to be old enough to vote, much less watch my hair turn white, so pretty much everything is a surprise. I would have started investing in the early ‘70’s. My life has gone pretty much the way it was supposed to, I assume, and even though I’m a little short in the accomplishment side, I’m contented.

Not too many stand out. I had 12 pretty good years in the Centerville school system and enjoyed the friendship of a number of people. Gary Weidner was my favorite teacher. (Uncle Gary, as a lot of his students called him.) I remember Mrs. Dewey’s French classes (all 4 years), I can still recite the Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance in Latin from the two years of Latin class. Too bad that appendicitis in 1963 put me way behind in that school year. I came in about six weeks after the fall semester started and never did catch up in algebra. Higher math is still pretty much a mystery to me.

No school activities for me, because we lived 3 miles away from school and I didn’t have a car until my junior year. I had a 5-evening a week job in the last two years on the home delivery loading dock at Rike’s. Remember those brown Rike’s home-delivery trucks? They look very much like today’s UPS trucks. It was a fun job and I was making $1.25 an hour on 15 to 25 hours a week. No rent to pay, and just a $60 a month car payment. I was rich! (Wish I’d kept that brand-new ’63 light-green VW bug. It had both available options, a lap belt that cost less than $20 installed and a factory-installed radio complete with a tiny and very tinny sounding speaker. But I loved it.)

Lots of us hung around together at various events. My yearbook is full of kind and cheerful comments from a number of friends. Weekend events were Friday night football games.

My future plan is losing weight. (This one has been a plan of mine for about 30 years.) My wife and I are in our retirement home. At least that’s what we told ourselves when we downsized to the condo almost four years ago. We both love it and we love Tucson. We have close friends who own their future retirement home near Tombstone, and we spend a few weekends a year with them, pretending we’re part of the Old West, only we do our exploring in a Jeep with a winch on the front and wheels that can roll over some pretty scary terrain.

Use sunscreen!!

Jerry Poff

Hi, Sharon, and thanks for inviting me to be a part of the Featured Alumni series.

I went to Bowling Green State University, Masters School of Divinity, and Global University. After college, I worked for General Electric as a cost accountant until the military came knocking. I was a business manager and accountant for a large church in Denver, CO after the military., then I worked for Ohio Presbyterian Homes as Accounting Manager, and taught for Urbana University as an adjunct instructor at the London Correctional Facility. I was the executive director of a drug rehabilitation center called Teen Challenge, and I am now pasturing a church my wife and I pioneered.

I’ve been married for 36 years to my wife, Dana, and we have 3 children, Jared, 32, a corporate treasurer of Big Lots, Justin, 30, manager of a Tuffy Auto Center, and Janelle, 28, a teacher. Jared has 2 boys, Ethan, 4, Evan, 2, and a boy expected this September. Justin has 2 boys, Tyler, 9, Dalton, 7, and a girl, Brianna, 1. Janelle had a girl, Layla, who died at 7 months gestation.

Both of my parents have died. Our son Jared lives in Hilliard, OH, and Justin lives in Westerville, OH. Janelle lives in Charlotte, N. C.

My favorite interest is flying. I have owned 2 planes and been in partnership in two other planes. I have flown many medical emergency situations for Pilots for Christ and Air Life Line. I also still run to stay physically active.

We went on a cruise for our 25^th anniversary to the Caribbean. I have been to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico, England, Hawaii, and Haiti.

The greatest privileges I have had in my life were to lead my mom to Christ before her death, and listening to my dad give thanks for the cancer he had because it was what led him to Christ before his death. I teach at a Seminary in Haiti each year. It has been a real privilege to work with people who have been bound by witchcraft and seen them set free. It is indescribable to work with someone who has had loved ones killed by voodoo and occult activities and lived in fear all their lives to be set free from this bondage and fear.

As Frank Sinatra sang, "Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention".

Not in a million years! I had always taken God as a "weird thing". I never expected to be where I am now. Dana said she would never marry a pastor, and she didn’t!

Mr. McDaniel was an inspiration to me. He always had encouraging and challenging words for me whether in class or on the field.

I never had any classes I would say I enjoyed. I went to school because we had to go, not for enjoyment. But I did enjoy all the activities I participated in at CHS. I enjoyed the friendships that made up those activities most of all.

I plan to keep on doing what I am doing now for another 25 years, if my health holds out. Retirement is out of this world!!

Read The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren.

Some of us have already read that book, and others have it on their calendars to begin.