From Reunions.com

Most successful reunion planners begin planning their class reunion at least 1 year in advance -- factoid

Martha Shoemaker Farley

Hi Debby, Terry told me you were trying to find folks from FM. That was a long time ago. My hubby of 41 years, James, and I moved to Arizona 20 years ago and have lived in Mesa, Gilbert and now live in Chandler. We have 3 kids, a daughter, Shelly, who is a Real Estate managing broker; and 2 sons, Brad, a cable installer and Trevor, a prison guard in Minn. Trev is the only one married. No Grandkids yet. I am semi retired, I work for my hubby when I can't avoid it(LOL) and about 12 years ago I joined the Civil AirPatrol, with Trev. When he moved on(something about the Marines being more exciting) I stayed cause I was having too much fun and am now a LtCol. I have recently been assigned as a Squadron Commander in Casa Grande, AZ at a new Squadron forming there. hummm working for my hubby would be easier.

I read one of the entries from Diane Storm Allen and couldn't believe she lives so close. My hubby has the labor contract for food services at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista and we have a condo there for when he works down there. About 4 days a week and then up here in Chandler 3 days a week. I'll try to contact her when I'm there on Sunday. all for now

Martha Shoemaker Farley

Bob Grace

Wanted to let you know that i read the blog today and I think what you have created is great. You have done a wonderful job and I for one really appreciated it.
Thank you for all the time and effort you have put into it.
Bob Grace

Larry English

I noticed that you were encouraging folks to send in pictures from the 1970’s. Here is one from the fall of 1978 at Green Lakes State Park, it was taken nearly 31 years ago. How do you like those pants!!! Like most men, when you look through the family photo collections, the Dad’s are typically missing. Always the one behind the camera, it is like we go through life being invisible. Boy where has the time gone. Busy settling my Mom’s estate, what a pain that is. Trying to get 3 brothers and 2 sisters to agree on everything is like herding cats. Thanks for the continued good work on the class blog, it is always interesting to scan through it.

Robert Grace

Another find on Facebook -- Bob Grace

Dave Wells

This is Dave wells – thanks for all of your efforts and recollecting us. you indicated October 2011, but you also indicated it was just over a year away – either way I am “in” and will send a check out shortly.

Diane Storm Allen

A thought just came to me as I was emailing Kirsten..What if we had each class member write a short biography of what they've been up to in the last 40 years...I know some info is on Facebook, but this would give everyone a chance to elaborate. If it something you would like me to do, I'd be glad to coordinate it and put it together. I would prefer a hard copy ('cause I'm not very computer savvy). Starting now would give classmates plenty of time to reply. So what do you think? My home address is:

Diane Allen
4400 E. Busby Way
Apt. 1124 J
Sierra Vista, AZ 85635

Charlene Owens Maguire

Charlene and I had lunch today. We had not seen each other in 40 plus years. She is traveling from Kansas City east to see a new grand child. I picked her up at a nearby hotel and we went out for a long lunch.

Diane Storm Allen

I am currently living in a small military town about 30 miles fom the Mexican border, Sierra Vista. I never thought I'd end up in such a god-forsaken place. But, here I am after traveling around the world until my Ex retired as a LTC from the army. I have 4 kids (Kim, Cindy, Carrie and Kevin). Cindy and Kevin live nearby. Kim lives in NH and Carrie is in Houston. And...I have 10 grandchildren including newborn triplets! I spend my days by the pool, actually in it, but we are now in the monsoon season where we get lots of thunder and lightning but very little rain. So, if I don't hit the pool in the AM, I'm out of luck. I am also working on my Master's Degree in counseling...we'll see how that goes! I have a list of things I want to do before I leave this good earth. #1 was to see Andrea Bocelli in Concert. I flew out to L.A. on Sunday, went to the concert and flew back here on Monday...I want to see him again - up close - I'm waiting to hit the jackpot to get a great seat! Yep, here I am in this so called city working on the rest of my list. Hope all is well with you and thanks for getting in touch.
Diane Storm Allen"

Richard Wilson

Hi all,
I just found this blog site, or should I say Debby found me. I’ve spent the last few days reading through over a year’s worth of entries which stir up a lot of memories.
So first Debby, I’ll echo the many positive comments and thank-you’s that have been expressed by others. It is really wonderful that you do this. What a great way to re-connect and keep up.
Now where do I start? It’s been almost 45 years. [WOW]
Since I only moved into the F-M district in my freshman year, and I don’t have the long history of grade school and Jr. High that many of you have together; I’ll forgive if some of you struggle to remember me.
After graduation and 2 years at OCC, I went to work for Bristol Labs. (Now Bristol-Myers Squibb). I guess I knew that I had a good thing going, because I stayed there for the next 39 years and 9 months, retiring in Nov. of 2007. My time at Bristol was briefly interrupted by our favorite Uncle (Sam), but that worked out fine. While working at Bristol, I used to regularly see our friend and classmate John Pearson.
I’ve stayed in the Central New York area living in Chittenango, then Fayetteville, Onondaga Hill, and now in Syracuse where my wife Diane and I have an Arts & Crafts style Bungalow in historic Strathmore by the Park.
Diane owns a successful Salon/Day Spa in Dewitt, and continues to work, although since I retired she’s starting to take more time off so we can travel. Since Diane is still working, I got bored pretty quickly and got my license to sell real estate. It’s been a great second career that allows me to keep a flexible schedule, and provides a little extra income for traveling and such.
My health has been good, and I try to stay active doing the things I enjoy. Fly fishing has always been an interest of mine and I fish the Lake Ontario Tributaries as often as I can from September through April. I also enjoy playing guitar and play at several open mics in Syracuse.
I’ll leave it at that for now, but I am looking forward to contributing to the blog and hearing more news of friends and classmates. We aren’t getting any younger, you know!

Warmest Regards,
Rick
http://www.rickwilson-homes.com/
http://dianesimageprofessionals.com/

Steve Martin ...... Still in Florida

I spent most of the summer bouncing from Syracuse to Mass. seeing relatives, mostly grand kids. We left Florida June 24Th dragging our 29' trailer (that can be an experience in itself) and made our first stop in Raleigh, NC to see my son and his new baby. Then is was on to Lafayette to see my daughter's 4 kids. I call them "The Wild Bunch" because they are. Then to Mass. to see my wife's side of the family. After about a month visiting and traveling around Mass. and Maine it was back to Fayetteville's Green Lakes State Park. That went well except for our neighbors in the next camping spot - Darrell & Darrell. Ended up calling the cops on them. Then it was back to Raleigh and finally back to our house in Venice, Florida.
I'm still teaching math at the "State College of Florida". It's supposed to be a part time job, but they gave me enough classes to keep me very busy. Free time is spent under water SCUBAing (is that a word) looking for sharks teeth, weekend camping, sometimes with Jack Mapstone and his lovely wife (Poo - did I just score some points), kayaking in the inter coastal waterway, visiting my father in Ft. Pierce, Fl and my sister Jeni in Tampa.
When I was in Fayetteville I had to drop off one of my grand kids at FM to take a test. The place sure looks different. While at FM I found out that the principal of FM Jr. High was an old friend of mine. We were waiters at the "Square D Ranch" in Manlius. Many of you may not remember that, but later it turned into the "Red Dog Saloon" (many of you may remember that). Many a good time there.
Debby, thanks for keeping the site going.
Steve Martin

Theresa Butler Bork

Found on Facebook another classmate who was just a name in the directory. Now we have an email address and home location.

Phone Call

He doesn't like to be mentioned but I will say I had a great phone conversation with Jim Carroll. He doesn't like computers and he said if he had it his way he'd have a cell phone with a rotary dial. He's an old fashioned guy.
Jim recently was in Fayetteville and got together with Gordy Webb.
It was great to catch up.
dd

Have just made contact with...

Am so excited to have made contact with Barb Crusan Morthland on Facebook. I've been looking for her it seems forever. Have also found Rick Wilson and Sharon Phillips Murray.

Diane Storm Allen

Just got word from Anita Cottrell that Diane Storm Allen may have surfaced on Facebook.

Having lunch...

Charlene Owens Maguire is traveling from Kansas City, MO to St. Louis. As luck would have it she and her husband are staying about 8 miles from my house. We will be having lunch on Tuesday, 9/15.
They are on their way east to see a new grandchild.

Friends are Like Balloons by Emily Crosby

by Emily Crosby a friend from Facebook:

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
Love the people who treat you right.
Forget about the ones who don't.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
If it changes your life, let it.
Nobody said life would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it.

Friends are like balloons.
Once you let them go, you can't get them back.
So I'm gonna tie you to my heart so I never lose you.

Cousins -- Have you wondered what that means?

I have a lot of cousins and it's starting to get confusing. What's the difference between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cousins. I was able, mercifully, to find one good explanation. Most of the charts are tres confusing:

(1st ) your first cousin is your mother's niece or nephew.
(2nd) your second cousin is your mother's niece's or nephew's son or daughter.
(3rd) your third cousin is your mother's niece's or nephew's son's or daughter's son or daughter.

I have some of each.

Marsha Osborn DiSantis

Found on Facebook -- Marsha Osborn DiSantis. She leaves in CT. Hope to hear from her with news and some photos.

Is it a honey bee or a yellow jacket?

I was recently stung by a honey bee. They have discovered my hummingbird feeders and created a serious hazard. There are so many bees I can't go out the back deck door. I can't even put out the feeders cause they go after me. My husband said you were stung by a yellow jacket. Well no. You weren't there. It was a honey bee. They leave stingers yellow jackets don't and the

Is it a Yellowjacket or Honey Bee? From Living with bugs.com

Almost everyone calls yellowjackets “bees”. This is unfortunate because it maligns one of
our most important and beneficial insects – the honey bee. Usually the context of the statement is something negative, as in “I've just been stung by a blankety, blank bee!” Most of the time stings are the result of an encounter with a yellowjacket wasp, not a honey bee. Below is some
information about telling the difference and why it might be important.
Honey bees are tan or brownish yellow in color and clothed in a dense coat of hairs.
Yellowjacket wasps are brighter in color overall being bright yellow and shiny black or all black with a white face (yes, baldfaced hornets are a type of yellowjacket). Yellowjackets are not clothed in fine hairs. For color images of yellowjackets and honey bees see www.LivingWithBugs.com.
Yellowjackets are a type of wasp. They live in colonies that are located either above- or
belowground. Yellowjacket wasps are always either predators that require live prey or scavengers that utilize carrion. Both predator and scavenger yellowjackets use plant sap and fruit juices as well. Honey bees, on the other hand, collect plant pollen, which makes them important as pollinators, and plant nectar, which plants use to encourage bee visitation and increase pollination. Because honey bees are plant-oriented they are almost never as aggressive and dangerous as predator/scavenger yellowjackets.
Another important distinction between yellowjackets and honey bees is the seasonality of
their nests. Because honey bee colonies last more than one year (some last several years) you can encounter mature honey bee nests at any time. Yellowjacket nests, with few exceptions, start new each spring, grow throughout the summer and die in the fall or winter. For this reason dangerous yellowjacket nests are usually only encountered in late summer and early fall when these nests are at maximum size. Both insects sting and both inject venom through the stinger. Yellowjackets have a smooth, barbless stinger that is withdrawn after the venom is delivered leaving no stinger behind. Individual yellowjackets can therefore sting multiple times. Honey bees have a barbed stinger, like a fish hook, that remains embedded in the wound. The anchored bee stinger pulls out some of the insect's internal organs including the poison glands. Thus honey bees die after delivering a sting. It is important that you carefully remove the honey bee stinger and associated poison gland to stop delivery of venom. Carefully scrape away the stinger with the edge of a card or finger nail, don't squeeze it.
Yellowjackets are generally more dangerous than honey bees because of their tendancy to
swarm in defense of their nest. Any disturbance of the nest, whether accidental or not, often
provokes this swarming behavior. Even the rumble of a nearby lawnmower can cause the defensive behavior and result in someone getting attacked. Honey bee hives, which are constructed aboveground, often hidden in the branches of a tree, almost never display this level of aggression and don't swarm in defense of the colony. If honey bees were as aggressive as yellowjackets beekeeping would be a much more hazardous profession!
One exception to the rule that yellowjackets are aggressive and dangerous while honey bees
are not is a type of honey bee called the Africanized bee. In brief, a number of years ago a type of
honey bee was accidentally introduced into South America that was extremely aggressive
compared to our more native honey bee, called the European honey bee. The aggressive honey bee is an excellent colonizer and often displaces the more docile European honey bee where they occur together. So far the aggressive bee only occurs from the southwestern US south into Central and South America (in this hemisphere). If you are in areas where the Africanized bee occurs you should exercise special caution around these nests.
While it is sometimes necessary to destroy a yellowjacket nest, especialy in late summer, it
is never a good idea, or necessary, to destroy a honey bee hive. If relocation of a bee hive is needed contact a local beekeeper to remove it. See www.LivingWithBugs.com for articles about
yellowjacket biology, how to destroy dangerous nests, and using yellowjacket decoys to keep them away from your picnic. Since honey bees are important pollinators of many agricultural crops as well as our fruit gardens their hives should be left alone.
copyright 2005 LivingWithBugs.com

September Issue Finally Magazine

Finally Magazinethe online magazinefor BabyBoomers
http://www.finallymagazine.net/click on this link and check out the magazine