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
Fantastic job, Bonita
THANKS TO ALL MY GUARDIAN ANGELS…bl
Thank you so much for making the reunion possible. The way I feel right now I’m not too sure I could handle another. I had a great time, I wouldn’t trade it for anything…I’ll be honest, I’m kind of bummed out. I wasn’t satisfied just shaking hands with my old friends and then not being able to spend more time with them. It was the nature of the beast (I guess), we had to move on to say “hi” to everyone. We were cramming 6 pounds of sand into a one pound bag. To ALL of my wonderful friends from McPherson and Amundsen, you deserve nothing but the best, you’re the greatest bunch of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of being with and I’ll forever think of you.
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.
Hi:
Besides repeating myself over and over about the fantastic job Bonita Lovison and the reunion committee did to put it together, I have a bunch to type about what went on….but I don’t think it can all be done in just one laborious dose. I’ll start with a small one…
Phil Oellrich posted that he and the missus like to attend “oldies” concerts. Two great, and coincidentally Chicago based, resources on “oldies” music are Kent Kotal’s http://www.forgottenhits60‘s.blogspot.com and Ronald Smith’s http://www.oldiesmusic.com. Oldies fans can easily spend too much time at these websites about our long time music faves. I use them to get real oldies content for my variety centered freeform radio station [linked at my name above).
Somehow, I don’t like the terms “oldies” or “old school,” I prefer something like “classic” In any case, this is all for anyone interested in the tunes and those who made them…
About the deejay on the cruise….With some pointers, research and the gadgets, I think I could’ve done a better job. Not bragging, just my opinion….
There’s more, even some visual, to come…
Best Regards!
John B. Krug
Bonnie
Thank you so much for all you did to make the reunion a great one.
Seeing everyone was so great and remembering all the times we had in high school. Please keep in touch. My husband enjoyed meeting my friends . It also was nice to hear them tell stories about my mother because he never knew her. I thank you so much and wish all my alumni good health and happiness.
Rhonda Kaplan Fishkin
How wonderful the reunion must have been! Everyone looks the same! I’d know all of you anywhere! Larry, maybe the next reunion in 5 years will be a time we can connect. Remember you said to other friends one time, “Marguerite’s brother? He IS the army.” My brother was a black beret, a division of the greem berets during Viet Nam times.
Philip, remember Mrs. Kennedy’s first and second grade classes at McPherson, singing the song “Down by the Station”, and your train whistle was always the loudest?” and Jay, after going K through 12, once we were in highschool, we NEVER had any classes together? Perhaps those of us that live in the Chicago area can get together? I’m in Oak Forest, IL (southwest suburb) but teach in Chicago. Contact me through Bonnie. My husband is still trying to figure out how he married the one Greek girl who’s father DOESN’T own a restaurant. Good luck, and health to all. Marguerite
p.s. Bonnie, this website and your reunion planning work, are spectacular.
Marguerite, You and Jay remember much more from McPherson than I do! I brought some class photos from 1956 to 1963 to the Fireside Luncheon, and Jay could identify almost everyone in each photo! I think a Chicago area get-together is a good idea, both McPherson and Amundsen Alumni.I know some Chicago area Alumni who could not attend the reunion, but are still interested in contacting those of us who live nearby. My email is: aametrohomeinspections@gmail.com. Phil Oellrich