A Twofer: Patty Barry Burns' & Kim Kessaris Barry's X Chromosomes Rule!

"I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone! The top photo is my card for this year with my girls - Maryn (rhymes with Karen!) who is 14, and Emily who is almost 13! The second one has my girls and their absolute favorite cousins! They are my brother Peter, and sister-in-law Kim (Kessaris) Barry's girls. Far right is Kristen (23), and far left is Michelle (21). Happy Holidays to all!!" -- Patty (Barry) Burns

Cheryl Foster's Twin-Kins

Shane and Sean Foster

Diane DeScenza Herth Clan

Diane (DeScenza), Juilan, John, Jake and Micaela Herth

Sue Graham Winslow's Junior Achievers

Lexie, Sam and Keelie Winslow

Susan Carroll Burdsall's Progeny

Will (age 9) and Sam (age 11) Burdsall

"Here's a picture of our two children (Sam, 11 and Will, 9) goofing with stuffed friends. Sam & Will are great buddies and wonderful brothers... Lucky for us, they've been blessed with their Dad's study habits and they're both excellent students and actually like school (I don't understand how this happened, but I'm rolling with it)! Sam's almost as tall as I am and recently attended his first 6th grade school dance - time flies :) Wishing all the '75er's a balanced and happy 2006! love, Susan"

Cindy Hinch Ginsberg's Tiny Dancer

Kimberly Ginsberg, age 10

Catherine and Jonathan Shailor

Meet your middle-aged self, Jonathan. Knew you'd be surprised.

And yes, you found yourself a girl.

Trudy Rendall Ames' Successors

Carlos and Luke Ames

John Costello's Heirs

Aaron (13) and Adam (16) Costello

John sez: "Please wish everyone a Happy New Year for us!"

John McIntire's "children and stuff"

Cobalt and Polaris McIntire...just darling!

Kathy Brown Bilodeau Brood

Sean (also known as Spike), Courtney, and Ashly Bilodeau

"And our animals are very important too! Reilly the crazy Jack Russell, Pete the draft mule (with Spike rototilling the garden last summer) -- Merry Christmas!!" - Kathy B

Dubba's Lil' Nippers

Eleyna (2), Nathan (6), and Madelyn (9) Dubrow

Peter Locke's Ol' Block Chips

Daisy and Olly Locke with beast Brownie

Anne Sullivan Tobin Spawn

Hey Bob,Great to hear from you! Here you will find Shawn and Kaleigh Tobin, who continue to marvel at the fact that I insist on sending a picture of them when they feel like they are way too old for such foolish tradition! I probably have one or two years left before I will only be able to send a picture of Jazzy, my ever so adorable pug daughter! My very best to you and your family and all of the 1975 HWRHSers!! Cheers! Anne

The Lord's Hill Reunion Pad

Rather than putting any details up on this 1975 HWRHS REVISITED blog (since it is really a separate group with but a few intersecting members), I figure I'll just alert you here to the new blog I set up for my old neighbors from Lord's Hill in Wenham. Yeah, we had a party/reunion on July 10th and it was written up in the H-W Chronicle this week. This one had three generations of families present...and it was in its own way just as fab as was our 30th class reunion.

Go to http://lordhillian.blogspot.com/ if you want to gawk.

Meanwhile, I am learning how this kind of forum can get plenty lonely when you're almost the only one posting (yes, there have been some occasional comments tacked on to posts, but even those are few and far between). I do of course understand how 1) we all have busy lives and this blog is far from a priority (2) the technology, even though user-friendly, can still be daunting to late '40-somethings who didn't necessarily grow up with it (3) people can be so &%#@)! lazy. One good thing is that the blog can sit here patiently and wait for you to contribute. There is no deadline. So maybe over the next 5 years, before what I hope is our next stab at a reunion, there will be some activity on it besides my own cries in the wilderness. (If a post drops in the blogstream and there is no one there to read it, has its creator really made a sound?)

Meaning, do what you will. That's cool. But I like to write. And mess with shit like this. So I'll mention again: if posting ain't your style, you can send me anything (family photos, old class photos, the like) and I'll get it up for you. Work me! I am yer willing slave, pant pant.

So good of you to drop in--

Bob

List of Email Addresses

Nobody emailed me to object to having their email addresses posted, so here they all are. If upon seeing it posted you get an urge to have it removed, just let me know and thy will shall be done.

--Bob

Alan Agrella
agrella@comcast.net
Alan Banks
akbanks@aol.com
Alan Mahar
amainc@aol.com
Andrew Kay
akay@gis.net
Ann Carlson Guy
annguy@uwmb.org
Ann Schmitz Essensa
miltonmongoose@comcast.net
Anne Foley White
anneewhite@comcast.net
Anne Sullivan Tobin
annetobin@comcast.net
Annemarie Linnehan
annemarie.linnehan@kingarthurflour.com
Arlene LaRette Pecevich
pecevi@aol.com
Bill Damato
wdamato2002@comcast.net
Bill Dempsey
kathydempsey@comcast.net
Bill Stanton
bill.stanton@novell.com
Bill Thompson
billtstudio@verizon.net
Bob Dubrow
bob@kimcheerecords.com
Bob Littlefield
bob.littlefield@raymondjames.com
Bob Quinn
rjquinn2@earthlink.net
Bob Snow
snoscape@comcast.net
Brad Standley
bstandley@anchorpoint.com
Brian O'Neil
bco@adelphia.net
Charlie Johnson
chaz1231@aol.com
Cheryl Hindman Pulkowski
cpulkow@comcast.net
Cherylann Foster
f.cherylann@verizon.net
Chris Bursaw
christopher_bursaw@dom.com
Chris Rabot
mckevie@earthlink.net
Cindy Hinch Ginsberg
cagkim@aol.com
Craig Capano
capano@email.wcu.edu
Craig Ramini
cramini@thoughtworks.com
Cynthia Crosby
ccrosby2@yahoo.com
Dan Provost
bonnieprovost@myfamily.com
Daun Bynum King
kinginal@knology.net
David Brown
dsbrown1957@aol.com
David Cuthbertson
cubby@gwi.net
David Greeley
djgreeley@comcast.net
Deb Wagner Knopf
deb-k@comcast.net
Deb Wheeler
wheelberry@comcast.net
Debby Thompson
debbythomp@yahoo.com
Dennis Vienneau
mrvno@aol.com
Diane Breda Silva
silva.db@gmail.com
Diane DeScenza Herth
DianeHerth@comcast.net
Diane Dodge Mason
dianemason@adelphia.net
Diane Dunn Thompson
charliethompson007@comcast.net
Diane Pollard
depollard@hotmail.com
Elizabeth Ray Gamache
elizabeth.gamache@libertymutual.com
Emily Swanson Foley
ecfoley@verizon.net
Faye Morin
fayemorin@comcast.net
Gary Ackerman
gackerman@hotmail.com
George Potter
seayalabs@adelphia.net
George Wallick/ Cindy Poore
synbad58@aol.com
Ginny Marks
virginia.m.marks@lahey.org
Glenn Baylis
lisa-baylis@excite.com
Jackie Mansur Shamshoyan
jackie.shamshoyan@nemoves.com
Janet Thompson Willwerth
willy23@verizon.net
Jeannie Roy Perkins
jmperkins@comcast.net
Jeff Fanning
gfanning@rinker.com
Jeff Phipps
jpphipps@verizon.net
Jeff Shute
big1015@metrocast.net
Jill Pelletier Malhoit
jmailhoit@appledoreeng.com
Jim Hopkins
jmhops327@aol.com
Jo-Alice Spires Stockwell
jojo1@verizonmail.com
Joan McGuiness Santarelli
rustyacres@comcast.net
Joe Peltier
jjdlpel@aol.com
John and Maureen Tucker
mojotuck@comcast.net
John Costello
costellj@nycap.rr.com
John David Suminsby
jdavidsuminsby@yahoo.com
John Francescon
marilynandjohn@nyc.rr.com
John McIntire
macka@comcast.net
John Politis
johnnyj5@cox.net
John Wetson
a12pck2@aol.com
Jonathan Shailor
shailor@uwp.edu
Joyce Hancock
moomoomoosic@yahoo.com
Julie Grocott Sheflin
xojhshef290ox@yahoo.com
Kathy Brown Bilodeau
bilodeau9@charter.net
Kathye O'Neil Eaton
mokami@adelphia.net
Kevin Duffy
buzzy2@comcast.net
Kevin Puopolo
kpuopolo@cmbteam.com
Kevin Weaver
kabonka99@aol.com
Kim Abplanalp
kim.abplanalp@teradyne.com
Kim Brettler Diebboll
rekdiebboll@yahoo.com
Kim Hamilton
kimberham57@yahoo.com
Kim Heenan Bullis
kimbullis@hotmail.com
Kim Kessaris Barry
pbarry@weinerco.com
Kim White Sousa
kimmyws@aol.com
Lane Mann
lanehmann@aol.com
Laura Heitz
lheitz@prucarre.com
Laura Scott
laura@highlandsoles.com
Leamon Hodge
leanancijoshsam@msn.com
Linda Michaels Donahue
lindadonahue@gmail.com
Linda Shactman Day
linda.day@sylvania.com
Lisa Hartnett
lhartnett@actioninc.org
Margo Wallace Druschel
margo@communityhouse.org
Mark Beauregard
m_jbeauregard@comcast.net
Mark Olsen
olsen25@netzero.com
Mary Hawke Piepenbrink
marypiepenbrink21@msn.com
Meg Lukens Noonan
meg.l.noonan@valley.net
Melanie Widen Moller
melmoller@comcast.net
Meredith Macleod
cbaytile@whidbey.com
Mignon Kolz Montalvo
mignon@suscom-maine.com
Mike McTigue
jmmctigue@comcast.net
Nancy Doyle Lowry
nancylowry@comcast.net
Norma Jean Weldon
njclausen@yahoo.com
Norman Hurley
norman@hurley-eng.com
Pam Riddle Morris
bennymo17@aol.com
Patty Barry Burns
pburns922@comcast.net
Paul Kelley
kelleymedia@comcast.net
Paul Ricker
ricker828@hotmail.com
Pete Locke
pete.locke@tac.com
Pete Stevens
pdsbrady@comcast.net
Peter Frerk
pfrerk@analogic.com
Randy Diggle
mbdiggle@verizon.net
Ray Gamble
rgamblenh@comcast.net
Robert Sheppard Jones
jonesfamily335@hotmail.com
Robin Kingsley Brooks
brooksrrjl@comcast.net
Ron Grove
mjgrove@comcast.net
Ronald Brooks
stooge33@localnet.com
Sandy Duryea
sdw26@comcast.net
Scott Roy
scottroy@deckedoutdesign.com
Sharon Hall-Hunt
shall@arcadis-us.com
Sharon Thompson Hayward
sharon_hayward@hotmail.com
Shawn Donovan
sdonovan@berry.com
Stephen Comeau
trip2028@aol.com
Sue Graham
eastmeadowfarm@comcast.net
Susan Carroll Burdsall
sfcarroll@ureach.com
Susan Hartley
suma1800@aol.com
Susan Provost Dionne
cuoutdoors@comcast.net
Ted Rogers
boxcars@blackfoot.net
Theron/Paul Niederer
abken_bouviers@mindspring.com
Tim Coolidge
seatime@comcast.net
Tim Patterson
tim.patterson1@comcast.net
Tim Ropes
timandbobbieropes@comcast.net
Tom Curry
tcurry@tomcurrymaineartist.com
Tom Fields
tom.fields@vsea.com
Trudy Rendall Ames
ames129@verizon.net
Wendy Maddix Stanley
wstanley169@verizon.net

Curious, isn't he?

Hey, Emily called him Curious George, not me. Mr. George Wallick, who, along with wife Cindy, runs the Whittier. I've taken my family there for a couple weekend breakfasts since the reunion. The food is good. And the ambience of early-morning grizzled truckers and an American flag on a stick in every table's flower vase is even better!

Plus a Wallick

Just added between Em and Jack: Cindy (Poore) Wallick and a Whittier Motel backdrop. Edging closer to the reunion up the street.

Swanson and Mansur

Emily and Jackie just before descending upon the reunion.

Sharon Hall

Sharon Hall-Hunt and her hubsman Doug

Johnny Mac!

John and Erin McIntire

The Costello Family

From L to R: Adam (16), John (same age as the rest of you), Lauren (age unknown), Aaron (12).

The '74 Float...plus word on John Politis and an old friend's passing

Thanks to Paul Kelley for this photo. I had not been aware that Dan Thomas, pictured above, passed away from cancer in 1998. John Politis was very close to him, and wrote: "Dan had completed his stint in the USNavy, a couple of years after completing St. Anselm's College (NH), and was back in civilian life, while maintaining a commission in the Naval Reserves. He was married and had 4 children." I remember Dan as a really lovely guy.

As for John: "I am married (23 years this July) and live in RI. I have two sons, 20 and 16. The elder has just completed his sophomore year at Lyndon State College (VT), where he is majoring in meteorology (yes, bring on the jokes!) and minoring in Computer Science. The younger is anxiously awaiting the end of his sophomore year of high school. Grey hairs, yep, got them, my friend."

A Mechanical Man in Overdrive: The Jonathan Shailor Update

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your story.

My story: Graduated from UMass-Amherst with a B.A. in "Communication Education." Spent my junior year at Roehampton Institute in London. After graduation, taught English, Drama and Communication courses at high schools in Amherstand in Nashua, NH. Spent 2 years in Jamaica (West Indies) teaching similar courses and getting into trouble. Returned to UMass for Master's and Ph.D. in Communication (just couldn't get enough of that place!). Taught at Ithaca College 1989-1994, then at University of Wisconsin-Parkside 1994-present. Got married to Catherine McConnell (clincal psychologist, and no, we did not meet "on the couch") in 1996. Three cats, no kids (yet).

I've enjoyed your e-mails and the bits of information that have trickled through about various classmates. Please say "hi" to all at the big do.

A few scattered memories of jr. and high school days that you can feel free to make part of any of the trivia games that you guys decide to play:

*Admiring Linda Shactman's fudgies (I'll let you explain that one).

*Does anyone remember what I carried in that briefcase? (Somebody wrote a Sound-Off article that described me as moving like "a mechanical man in overdrive")

*Getting Lee Hodge in trouble by persuading him to answer Mr. Dorman's study hall attendance call with "In attendance, SIR!"

*Freshman year: appearing with Bill Thompson in the one-act play contest:"Hear Ye! Hear Ye!" written and directed by now-famous David Morse. Bill and I played a pair of human ears (I believe I was the right ear). We were shirtless, and wore only pantyhose below. Zowie. A few young ladies held center stage as "brain cells." I'd be interested to know if anyone at the reunion was a brain cell.

That's all for now!

Jon

Notes from Bob:

Jonathan's reference above has to do with the time he and I were standing over a large bowl of candy at Linda's Bat Mitzvah during our Jr. High years. Jon remarked: "Gee, I really like the fudgies." According to him, I then loudly announced to the gathered multitudes of kids, "Jonathan Shailor loves Linda Shactman's fudgies!" I have no recollection of this, thankfully.

Jon recently got a bunch of press for his production of Shakespeare in a prison with inmates as actors. There was a big New York Times article, but that you would probably have to pay to read if you can find it. There is an account of the happening in a "lesser' journal at:
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/05/29/local/iq_3540689.txt

Major Ray Gamble and Mrs. Gamble's Piano School!

This email from Ray and Sharon (Fowler) Gamble actually came in on the day of the Reunion (May 28) and is just the sort of update that would be excellent to receive from many of the rest of you, if you would be so kind and forthcoming.

Hi Bob,

Sorry for the last minute answer to your evite to your home for the reunion...We were really hoping we could come, but will not be able to. We held out as long as we could, trying to make it work, so hopefully we get some credit for that. Here's an update for all of you who will be there:

Ray: Retired from the army as a Major and now is Department Head of the History department at Portsmouth Christian Academy. Loves his job. Works hard. Loves summers off.

Sharon: Operates Mrs. Gamble's Piano School and is also state coordinator for a women's ministry called Moms In Touch International.

Our family: We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this November, have two daughters, a dog, a cat, and a fish. We live in Dover, NH, about two minutes from the school where Ray teaches. Our oldest daughter, Kathryn, attends Liberty University and is majoring in Psychology. She is getting married to a great guy this December. She will graduate in June of next year. Our younger daughter, Mary, attends George Mason University, and is majoring in English. She is considering becoming a lawyer and, as a teenager, certainly demonstrated a remarkable aptitude in arguing, so we think it is a great career choice.

That about does it. Say "hi" to everyone for us and it sounds like you all are going to have a great time!

Thanks to the reunion the night before, these gals are, quite simply, glowing. They've all had plenty of photo ops from the DeScenza Herth camera. Might there be other attendees who took photos of the many others present that night? If so, PLEASE post them...or you can even send them to me and I'll do your dirty work. I have more witless sarcasm to spare, I assure you.

Vito (also known as "The Don" by his mommy to his right) has a gig bodyguarding post-reunion Dianes. You do not mess with Vito. This was taken the next morning when a few of us met at a Beverly Starbucks (don't forget to visit www.spacehijackers.co.uk/starbucks/ or http://www.ihatestarbucks.com/).

I swear I know this girl from somewhere...betcha 6-to-1.

This is a one of a number of photos that came out too dark, so I will spare you most of them. But this showed some good Trudy gam, so it has real merit. Kathye and Meg too!

It must be getting late. Anne would seem to be as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (not quite sure if that's an appropriate term...) as ever, but Trudy, Deb Wagner and Annemarie look like they've entered the last stages of a very lost weekend. Reunions can do that to you.

Mignon and various other people.

No, I never did lose those extra 30 pounds for the event....here is the photographic proof. But I ask you: who needs to do that when you've got double rainbows following you around? (My right foot, not pictured, is planted in dogshit, however.)

Well now...might that be Mignon stage left? I believe that makes it 4. "Ubiquitous" is the polite word to describe such a presence. With Mary and Kim.

I have read that Chris is "responsible for managing regulatory risk through the development and advocacy of generator/supplier positions in the design of efficient bulk power markets." If he is mismanaging the positioning of his right hand in this photo, it appears it has not generated any concern from Diane.

Joyce, Meg and Deb exhibit varying degrees of amusement. Joyce: bemused. Meg: ecstatic. Deb: impatient. The source of such "emotion"? Sam Bick has just promised them a lap dance.

Kim, Mignon, and Arlene. I'm getting the feeling that Mignon is something of a photo-hog. Let's start our count now. That's 3 already, right?

Two beauties back together again: Diane (1st Runner-Up Miss USA 1978) and Anne (HWRHS Homecoming Queen 1975). Defying the notion that anything "fades."

Diane receives some valuable support from Mignon. It is sometimes difficult to stand while one hand encircles the stem of some glassware, you know?

The night before the 30th. Mignon, Mary, and Sandy, plus hands belonging to two other martini-mommas, toast the silly high school boys they left behind.

Here be some pre-reunion revellers, namely Annemarie and Meg. Yes, they are old enough to drink. And pose.

The First Post: Will it stick?

I'm middle-aged...how 'bout you?

As previously advertised on the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School Class of 1975 30th Reunion Evite, I've taken the dubious next step of establishing this weblog (or blog) as a place for all my crassmates to seek contact info on each other, disseminate details about their lives since graduation, reminisce about their spud-like teenage selves, and generally foul up the net with inane/profound chatter. It's a multi-faceted soapbox, if you will (and you should!), wherein we can give each other the virtual hugs necessary to keep the buzz from the May 28th reunion going in the hope that we might do it again sooner rather than later.

I mean, why see each other for a measly few hours and drop each other like hot latkes? Like every damn reunion I've been to, the latest ended way too early (thanks especially, no doubt, to proofed lubricants). That's not optimal if you were having fun. And who wasn't? This blog will hopefully be the engine enabling MORE FUN (see, I can make a little of it happen simply by putting words in caps...IT'S EASY!), as well as a sense of community among people who have more things in common (starting with the antiseptic halls they used to walk through for 4 years) than they might ever have wished to acknowledge before.

Hey, man, we have a shared history here! So let's maybe work that into the future and use it to entertain and illuminate. Or, failing that, to arrange some mini get-togethers where George Wallick can lunch with Paul Ricker...or Randy Diggle can hang with Meg Lukens!

You think I'm kidding? OK, maybe a little. But what might have seemed like unlikely peer pairings 30 years ago can indeed be a possibility today. I already have promises from Pete Locke, Diane Dunn, Anne Sullivan, and Bill Thompson to meet up this summer "famille a famille." Do you think I hung out with these people in High School? Heck no! I gave Diane up for lost in 7th grade, and now I find out she was in music promotion for years post-graduation. Think we have anything to talk about now? You bet! And how funny/cool was it when she showed up on Memorial Day, two mornings after the reunion, in parade dress uniform with a blank-filled rifle with which she insisted my kids wake up late-sleepers in the neighborhood? I lean toward being a pacifist Dad, but anything for Diane, you know?

This is the type of thing that reunions can engender. Opportunities for laughs AT THE VERY LEAST.

Meanwhile, in the recent present, we had 55 fellow grads attend the reunion. That's just over 25% of the class. Meaning close to 75% didn't experience the benefits inherent in the event. But how about getting many of them (you!) to experience the benefits "deriving" from the event? That's also what this blog is for.

I've never hosted one of these online journals. I think I may have a lot to learn here. So I ask you all now: would you be so good as to climb aboard this word train as it leaves the Hamilton-Wenham depot and tracks its way backwards and forwards through time? It's no fun travelling alone.

--Bob Dubrow