John Visser

Hi Debby,

Just the usual busy stuff with the kids. One is graduating HS this year, one is working on his drivers license, and my 10 yr old is working on her social life. My oldest is on temp. assignment in San Francisco resetting a store for the company she works for. (West Marine) She is also finding out the cost of living difference between there and southern CA. A good economics lesson for her.

I did check the blog and enjoyed reading what has been going on with the alumni. My younger sister still lives in Fayetteville. I'll probably be back in the area this late summer/early fall.

Best wishes to all.

John Visser

Judy Lapham Drake

Debby,

You are very good to keep communicating. I spend my time at work on the computer or the phone, so when I get home i become a hermit. My oldest son Josh, who is the Associate Director of Residence Life At St. Lawrence, is getting married this summer and he and his fiancee have asked us to decorate for the reception. The theme is "A Midsummer Night's Dream". My husband Jay and I have been prop masters for Roberts Wesleyan Community Theater here in Rochester for 12 years. Jay also acts and directs, I just stay out of sight. So that is the challenge of the moment. We usually can set up and leave it, we are trying to figure out how to get in and out with a minimum of effort, and it is two hours from here. I am enjoying it so far, haven't started to panic yet.Our daughter Amelia is finishing her 1st year of her Master's in Art Therapy. She went back to school after working 6 years in TV and movies (props)Our youngest son Aaron, the one in Cleveland, is deciding which internship in Industrial Design to work at for the summer.

Thanks for asking,

Now I will check out the blog-still not sure about all this.

Judy

Junior High Book Club

Does anyone remember being in a book club in jr. high. All I can remember is Bix Norman and myself. Does anyone remember meeting at different houses to read and dicuss classic books, like a "Tale of Two Cities?"
My mind is a blank.

Help

Linda Badgley D'Agostino

Hi Debby,
Just tried doing a "comment" on the F-M Blog to today's birthday question. I just couldn't contain myself to 300 characters. So I wanted to say.......

My usual comment to any discussion of one's birthday is always, "You're only a day older than the day before." But WOW, we're 60!! And we're doing big things! How did we get here?
This class is so amazing, so much talent and giving back, in every way.
I need to say that I'm in awe of all that's been accomplished by this incredible
F-M Class of '66. Every time I take a few minutes to read what's going on I find myself amazed that, to name just a very few; Wayne and his wife are saving penguins in Antarctica, and Dave Neary is on the political trail with a potential President, that Guy Beck spent 5 years in India studying Hindustani music, and Dave Vermilya and his wife are helping to keep local youth on the right path .
We're no longer just in Manlius and Fayetteville. We're in Afganistan, Alaska,
Africa, all over the globe doing good things, leaving a positive influence
throughout the world.
And those of us that aren't doing the big things are doing our part in the little things that make a difference in our families, friends and communities.
"Hi" to everyone and thanks, Debby, for all your work on the blog. And thanks, everyone else, for all that you are doing, big or small, to assert a positive influence to everyone around us. As a genealogy researcher I have to say that our parents, our grandparents, and all our ancestors would be very proud.

Linda Badgley D'Agostino

Am on a quest:

Am on a quest to contact
Bix(Christopher)Norman. He was with us until jr. high and then left. His father ran a bookclub that many of us took part in and was very significant in getting one to read good books. Found an address for him in Holland, MI. at least I hope it is the right one. Mike Krall and Rick Cook are assisting me on this. If anyone has any information or memories about Bix, let me know.

Any thoughts.....

Any thoughts about turning 60? We are at the heart of the baby boom.

Don't Forget To....

Check out the other class blog sites: just click on the address and you'll go there

http://thennow66.blogspot.com/

http://fm66memorial.blogspot.com/

http://1966missingandlost.blogspot.com/

http://www.fmschools.org/

and my personal blogs if you're interested:

http://ddoolittle.blogspot.com/ (debby and her dogs)

http://gardeninginmo.blogspot.com/

Mike Krall

Lander, Wyoming near where Mike Krall and his wife Sarah live.

Harriet Evans Betts

Hi Debby:

Attached is a photo taken yesterday at our year end celebration for Motheread/Fatheread.
Motheread is a nationally acclaimed private, non-profit organization that combines the teaching of literacy skills with child development and family empowerment issues. Parents and children learn to use the power of language to discover more about themselves, their families, and their communities.

Each week we read and explore a new book. All of our books are bilingual so that the parents can take them home and read them again with their children. We never run out of issues to discuss and this year each participant created their own book; In My Family/En mi familia. As you can tell, I am loving this experience!

Bruce, Kristina and I are off to Alaska in late May for a week. I will send some news and photos once we return.

It is always a treat to hear from you-
Harriet

Dan Sheedy

Hi Deb,
Not much to report. My eldest son Ben has been cast for the summer at the Renaissance Festival in Sterling (NY) near Oswego. I'll send you a link to the
website.
Jonathan just returned from a 4 day music festival in Virginia Beach and a side trip to Busch Gardens.
Our weather has turned unseasonably cool. We actually saw some snow in the air
yesterday. I can't tell you how much I despise this climate.
Dan

Duke Leonard

Hi,
You can remember who sat next to you in home room? That is pretty good, because I can't remember who I sat next to last night.
Not much going on here. I just relocated from outside Mosul to Erbil. We just rented a villa in Ainkow, a Christian suburb of Erbil and transformed it into office space on the first deck and living quarters topside. l will probably be working out of here for the next couple of months and transit each week to a job site just North of Diyala Province.
Lot of new construction and investments in Erbil. You would never know you were in Iraq. Much different than Mosul or Baghdad, no car bombs, mortars or IEDs. They say Erbil is the oldest, continuously living city in the world.
Weather is running about 103 F, but it is going to get a lot hotter. In 2004, we saw the temp hit 136 F and it was rough just trying to breathe.
Duke

Sandy Jackson Epoch

Hi Debby,

I finally viewed your Blogger: FM Class of 1966 and enjoyed catching up on what some of our class is up to. Thank you for all the time you put into this. I am presently living in Georgetown, Texas just outside Austin. After my two daughters, Kirsten and Becky graduated from college they moved to Texas. So, after 30 years I retired from the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, I sold my house and contents , packed my two cats up and drove to Austin where I have been most of the time for the last three years. I say most of the time because my grandson is in Texas, The rest of the time I spend in San Diego with my brother, Ted. He and his son own a sports bar called JTS Pub and Grill and if anyone is ever in San Diego, they must stop in and say hello. I will be leaving for San Diego in May and will be celebrating my 60th at the pub on the 26th. Come on out and join us. I never thought I would ever leave the east coast, but now I feel I enjoy the best of two great cities beyond the Mississippi River. Have a great summer and I will try me best to continue to keep in touch.

Sandy

Penny Zimmerman Jackson

Hi and Hello ...

I had six solid weeks of dawn 'til dusk meetings from the middle of February until early April and am still trying to dig out while confronted with "budget season" (a real treat in a large organization) and with the (happy) prospect of leaving for Belize for a week on Saturday.
Neither you nor FM have been forgotten. So wonderful how much $$ people contributed for Dick Shanahan (I gave and ... quite frankly ... felt good.)
Am well, managing to squeeze in too-little-but-some exercise, and looking forward to leaving the office on Friday with 0 emails in my in box!
Hope you, too, are well and that life is engaging in the ways you want it to be ...

Best!
Penrose

Click on Pictures

FYI, if you right click on any photo it will enlarge, then hit the back arrow to return to the current page.

Larry English

Well OK… I admit it, I have not looked at the blog in a while.
I did just now and you are doing an impressive job. Who would have guessed that a kid who had never even heard of a computer in high school could do so well in her “older age”. I guess it just shows you that we can STILL learn.
Working hard, our flooring business is establishing new shipment and production records weekly. We feel blessed, the rest of our industry is not doing as well. The hard part is that it requires constant attention and a lot of hours. I really did not expect to be working this hard at age 60. I had more envisioned sailing the Caribbean and drinking champagne, as a profession. Once we get ourselves into these leadership jobs it is not that easy to extricate yourself.
Yes 60… well, not news to the class of ’66 crowd, we could get a group discount on old age cards this year. Had a wonderful celebration in January with my family and friends. I try not to focus too much on getting older. I don’t feel 60… yet.
My son Justin is on a cruise this week to Mexico. He got accepted to several graduate schools, narrowed it down to Dartmouth and NC State at Chapel Hill. He wisely picked the warm climate of NC. He is planning to get engaged soon, to the girl that he has been dating since 7th grade! That doesn’t happen too often these days. My daughter is heading to Bangladesh this August to visit two friends from Ithaca College. I am not at all sure about this. Political unrest, flooding and half way around the world. She is an adventurer and nothing that I can say will stop her. Hope the cobra’s don’t get her!!
Our family is headed to Paris for 8 days on July 11th. We have rented a marvelous house just across the Seine River from the Louvre, should be a great location. We have a friend who lives in Paris, he is going to be our tour guide. Everyone is excited. I have been there 4 other times, but for the kids this is their first trip. Our friend Antoine stayed with us for the summer of 2001 and 2002, he is also excited that we are coming.
Went to Stuttgart, Munich and Salzburg last month, visiting equipment manufacturers for our new higher volume flooring line. Boy they drive FAST in Germany, I have been there twice in the last year and I just can’t force my foot down on the accelerator that far. You have to keep up, but when they get over 150 KH (93 MPH) I just can’t take it. Everything was passing me.
Looking forward to the warmer weather and getting back into the yard work.

Have a nice summer.

Larry

Bob Jacobson

Hi Debby,

It has been awhile. We are busy with family and the business. Lots of travel so far this year, Naples , Atlanta , Mystic, and Phoenix with more to come in the next six weeks – Reno , Chicago , Las Vegas & sailing in St. Maartens.

Our youngest daughter, Sarah, is engaged with a May 2009 wedding scheduled. Planning for that event is keeping Debbie and Sarah busy. Plus Sarah graduates this May, but has all ready started her job.
Bob

Mike Krall

Here's a picture of me and my best buddy "bunny". She made 4 winters before she went missing... would come to a whistle for rabbit pellets as far away as she could hear me.

Dave Vermilya

hey Debby......here are two bits that you might find newsworthy for FM blog. #1...the youth program where cheryl and i have worked for more than 37 years as co-directors was the recent recipient of "Oprah's Big Give CNY", not a huge amount of $ but worth a million dollars in good press. after more than 500 nominations we were one of 10 to be awarded. complete local television newscast can be seen on home page of Town Shop's website (http://www.camillustownshop.org/). #2 in the realm of "6 degrees of separation" and "it is really a very small world"......a young woman we have known named Katrina moved to southern California 6 years ago when she was 20. we have known her since age 13 as an active participant in the youth program where we work, and she continues to be a good friend. last summer Katrina began dating a young man named Jefferson, and from the start he raved about 2 people that he did research with and called his "mentors". not to be outdone, Katrina raved back that she has mentors too, dave and cheryl, back in her hometown of Camillus. finally in September Katrina was invited to a dinner party at the home of Jefferson's "mentors". over dinner the question was asked "where is everyone from originally" and when Katrina answered "Camillus, New York" the host responded "i know Camillus, i grew up in Manlius"........Jefferson's "mentors" were none other than Wayne and Sue Trivelpiece. even MORE amazing....when Katrina was 16 she and another teen volunteered to help my mom with yardwork on Eureka Drive in Manlius. my mom wanted to pay them but the girls said "we can't accept your money Mrs. Vermilya". while they were finishing up Martha Trivelpiece stopped by to visit my mom, and seeing the girls, queried "where did you find them Margaret and can i hire them too?". "Martha, they're from Camillus and they won't accept money." but they would accept lunch, and half an hour later we were all sharing Chinese food from Ling Lings' in Manlius. how remarkable is it that 10 years later Katrina would be dining again with Martha's son Wayne in southern California. .........hope all is well with you. we see and socialize often with Frank Carrol, and recently all got together with Carmen Coleman. dv

Take a look at Fayetteville Manlius High School

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayetteville-Manlius_High_School click on this

Mike Krall

Hello Debby,

When I think about the amount of time between then and now, the size of it seems pretty large... a lot of life... a lot of details. I don't think it's possible to tell the whole story well and it feels like giving you a synopsis will be pretty dry.I got out of Fayetteville because Pat Neary had been to Lander, Wyo. on a science trip in junior high school. Dave Neary and I put a lot of miles on his red Dodge van traveling the country after college and after Dave had connected into Lander, Wyo. through Pat. In the end, all three of us ended up in Lander because of the National Outdoor Leadership School.

I worked with NOLS for 11 years... living and working in the Rocky Mountains and surrounding region... teaching mountaineering, rock climbing, caving, desert living, a lot of other things. In part of 7 of those years with NOLS I worked horse packing... delivering re-rations to NOLS courses over a large part of the wild country in NW Wyoming. Through NOLS I met a fellow who had been to Antarctica working on the support side for National Science Foundation grantees doing scientific study there. For 20 years I did contract support work, 5 to 6 months a year, with the National Science Foundation in Antarctica. I've got good friends from "the ice" (Marylee Atkins and Tracy Stiehr) who worked with Wayne Trivelpiece out of Palmer Station (Antarctic Peninsula, below the tip of S.A.). That's thousands of miles from my part of Antarctica (Ross Sea, Ross Is., McMurdo Station).

I met Sarah in 1980... another NOLS instructor and horse packer, originally from Burlington, Iowa. Sarah worked with NOLS over 20 years. We were together in Antarctica for 18 years. Sarah still goes to the ice October through February. Sarah and I were married in 1987. The only kids we've had are horses and children of friends, informally adopted. To answer your question... "retired or still working?". I've never had what many consider a real job. Everything I've done in my life has been part time or short term. I "lived" NOLS for the 11 years but never put in more than 10 months in any 12. Since 1983, my first time in Antarctica, I've been semi-retired... some, Dave Neary for one, might say "semi-retarded"and that I've been that way for a lot longer. In February of 2003 I left the ice for the last time and became "fully-retarded".

Sarah and I have been building a house and shop, one peck at a time, as money allows, for years and still are. I'm building a custom rifle, forging and building damascus knives, talking to the wild bunnies that live in the piles of stuff around our place and wandering the country side looking to see what's there and how it feels.Do with this as you choose, Debby... post it all... "synopsize" the synopsis... whatever... Mike Krall

Who Should have a Colonoscopy?

Anyone over 50 and now 60 should have a routine colonoscopy. I'm having my 2nd one tomorrow. Nothing is wrong. This is just a maintenance or preventative test. This may be more information than you ever wanted to know about me, but it is important for everyone to read and know about and consider if you have not heard so from your own doctor.

From Web MD/eMedicine
"A colonoscopy is a test to look at the inside of your colon. The colon is the large intestine and the last part of your digestive system. Its job is to dry, process, and eliminate the waste left after the small intestine has absorbed the nutrients in food. The colon is about 3-5 feet long. It travels from the lower right corner of your abdomen (where the small intestine ends) up to your liver, across your body to the spleen in the upper left corner and then down to form your rectum and anus.
The doctor will use an instrument called the colonoscope to perform a colonoscopy. It is a long (about 3 ft), thin (about 1 in), flexible fiberoptic camera that allows the doctor to visualize your entire colon.
Your doctor may order a colonoscopy to investigate many different diseases of the colon.
Colonoscopy is best known for its use as a screening tool for the early detection of colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.
Colon cancer develops from growths within the wall of the intestine such as polyps or tumors.
These growths often take 5-10 years to develop and may not cause many symptoms.
You may not have any symptoms of colon cancer, but having a close relative with the disease increases your risk for the disease compared to the general public.
Most people who develop polyps do so after age 50, so the American College of Gastroenterology (the digestive specialists) recommends screening examinations every 5 years for early detection and removal of these cancer-causing growths after that age."

FM Alumni Site

These are the only people who have registered on the FM High School site. We should do better than this. Please go to that site and register.

Welcome to the Class of 1966's Alumni Section
Class Mates - Year 1966
Albig, Cheryl
Betts, Harriet (Evans)
Cottrell, Anita
D'Agostino, Linda (Badgley)
Davis, Judy (Spaulding)
Doolittle, Deborah (Larus)
Hutchinson, Joanne (DeMore)
Jackson, Penrose (Penny Zimmerman)
Jacobson, Robert
Levy, Maria (Pulos)
Lockwood, Melinda (Mussi)
Maguire, Charlene (Owens)
Revercomb, Gary
Revercomb, Pamela (Lipe)

People Heard from this Week

Gary Peterson
Jamie Steele
Dick Shanahan
Dan Sheedy
Pamela Revercomb
Rick Cook
Tad Collins

Grand TOTAL for Dick's Fund

The grand total so far for Dick's fund is $ 6,750 .

Thank you to everyone who so generously contributed.

Today is EARTH DAY

Green for a day!