Welcome to Amundsen High School’s Class of 1969 40th Reunion Website!

April 24, 2011

Hello to all.  It seems I tend to blog on special days of the year and this Easter Sunday I sadly add one more picture to the In Remembrance page.  As we come one year closer to our next reunion, two more have passed away (that I am aware) bringing the total to 26.   But, spring has sprung in my part of the world and with it the reminder that while we may sleep some part of us continues, as does all things in nature.  Make each moment count classmates!   And keep it healthy so we can meet again.     Bonita

Even though the goal may be a thousand miles away, it takes the first step to begin.  JFK

March 17, 2010

Happy St. Pat’s to all who celebrate the day!

I’m amazed at the number of hits the blog site still receives.  Mostly folks seem interested in our photos which leads me to believe that we are thinking about each other.  So, being the consummate party planner I’ve been thinking about having a “gathering” shall we call it.   Around the first weekend  in August  2010 on a Saturday–BEFORE the Air and Water Show weekend….if you please.  Just an informal meet-up at a picnic pavilion, probably out in the burbs, a “bring anything you want to consume” event…well, let’s do keep it legal for the sake of the one being held responsible.  Wondering if there are any ’69ers  interested in attending?  (Click here to respond.)    Just a way to keep “The Chain” rattling as we march toward the GULP!!!!!! 45th year.   I’ve been pondering that reunion too…thinking of putting together an event (year 2014) with lots of genre music which was sorely lacking previously–although I sure did try to provide it.  Oh well, we were pretty busy talking as I recall.  Missing you all and wishing Vikings everywhere a great summer and prosperous, adventurous, and mighty fine 2010.

Bonita

p.s. To all those who have kept in touch, thanks so much for the memories, both old and new.

SAFE AND HEALHY NEW YEAR TO ALL VIKINGS!!

HAPPY 2010!

Thanks for the memories…That’s the refrain I hear from everyone who attended the class of 1969′s 40th Reunion…around 115 alumni, about a dozen friends and many, many spouses.  However, let the pictures speak for themselves as you look through the various pages (pictures and comments posted by event).  There is also a page “On the Town” that was created for those who broke out into individual parties and also for alumni pictures of any sort.  I also began a page of family photos…why not? (Send me photos on a CD or a few at a time via email (lovison@gmail.com or click here) and I’ll put them into tabs by event (enclose your thoughts and they’ll be posted too).

A special thank you to all those who have submitted photos thus far:  Tom Smoody, Kathy Koclanis Horan, JoAnne Harris Hoffman, John Krug, Susanna Hartig Burke, Wayne Schleehauf, Lynn Rizzo Gaffney, Susan Hill, Cindy Kaiser Hart, Alan Gerber’s help in fowarding CDs to me, and anyone I have forgotten.

This blog site will remain up as long as WordPress is in business; hopefully long enough to organize the 45th reunion in–gulp, 2014.  I can only promise that if I have a hand in the organization of same it will be different–in a good way!  Send me your ideas and I’ll post them.  Lots of time to consider where/when/how.

I have received emails and phone calls from alumni that have told me they are continuing to gather – either in relation to the grade school they attended, clubs they were in or regions they currently live in.  I hope you have been a participant and I can help facilitate your participation if you send me a note by email letting me know who you are looking for.  I’ll do my best to put you in touch with a friend.

Here is a wonderful posting by Phil Ollerich – one of the earliest responders to the 40th reunion.  Something to ponder.

“Thanks to the excellent work of Bonnie and the Reunion committee, I was able to not only get reacquainted with old friends in person, but also with those who could not attend, through email.  By establishing contact with most AHS Alumni throughout the country and providing a comprehensive list with multiple communication options, Bonnie has made it possible for me to locate old classmates and have some good online chats with them.  Also, by finding out about those who have passed on, I now realize that time is getting short, and the opportunity to contact them has slipped by, sometimes only by a year or two.  My wife and I like to attend “Oldies Concerts” where surviving 60′s musicians still perform.  The list of those artists still active grows smaller with each passing year.  So it goes with the Class Of ’69.  How many of us will be able to attend the next reunion?  Now that we all know the status of most classmates, there is perhaps one more opportunity to connect with some of them before time marches on.   Thank you, Bonnie, for making this possible.”

No, thank you Class of 1969!

A quote from one who inspired me…
Dr. Leo Buscaglia: The essence of love is getting out of oneself and into others. When we care less about our feelings, our rights, our happiness, our security, etc., and begin to concern ourselves with the feelings, rights, happiness, and security of others, we will have found the true power of love.
We can ask ourselves daily what we have done to make the world a better place, to make someone smile, to help someone to feel more secure, etc. It’s the simple things which have the greatest effect. We must never underestimate the strength of a smile or act of kindness.

And, something to ponder from the journalist P.J. O’Rourke who wrote, “…one finds, especially by the time one reaches their fifties, that there are a limited number of types of people in the world, and you went to high school with every single one of them.  You can visit the Eskimos, you can visit the Bushmen in the Kalahari, you can go to Israel, you can go to Egypt, but everybody you meet is going to be somebody you went to high school with.”

Till we meet again, HAPPY TRAILS!   Bon

Photos to:

Bonita Lovison
27 Bruce Roy Lane
Becket, MA 01223

Amundsen High School Today; copyright Bonita Lovison, 2007-2008