35th reunion - party at Jon & Cheryl Aaron's house

Last night was an enjoyable night. While the attendance was not at record levels, I think the folks who showed up enjoyed the conviviality. Of course the tales were hilarious and memorable. For a link to Fred Teeter's photographs, go to http://web.mac.com/fkteeter/iWeb/McD%20Reunion%202007/Hail%20the%20Class%20of%20'72!.html

Russ DeVan gets the award for traveling the furthest from Scottsdale, Arizona. Actually, Russ was in Singapore a week or so earlier, so he was in a travel mode. Many thanks to Karen, his wife, for allowing him to make the trip. Russ brought us a letter from Fernando Prol, our classmate through 7th grade. If Russ sends me that letter, I'll post it here.

Terry Victor and his wife Robin attended as well. Terry informed us that his oldest grandchild (yes, you heard that right!) is three. I told Terry that I was glad that my twin daughters are older than his oldest grandchild.

Dave and Peggy Carr were present at Jon & Cheryl's. Their two youngest children (17 year old twin son and daughter) are headed off for college this Fall, and Peggy is already making plans for their added free time. I think I heard York College for the accounting program and Bucknell, but I could be wrong about that.

I spent some time talking with John Steinberg and Jeff Levin about their activities. John still conducts his medical continuing education business for physicians. Said that he had a seminar in upstate New York that Ken Hertzl-Betz attended. John's passion, however, appears to be fireworks. He talked at length about the shows that his firm has conducted. On May 8th, John will conduct a fireworks display at McDonogh. Jeff Levin was at Booz Allen the last I knew. Last night, he said that he had moved to a smaller firm, Optnet, that provides specialized software for managing sophisticated corporate computer networks. Jeff works on the consulting side of the firm, helping clients maximize their utilization of the software. Jeff's firm is based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Hugh and Janet Sisson provided a little information about their daughter, Caroline, who is a junior at McDonogh. Hugh is the General Partner at Clipper City Brewing and has been actively managing its activities for 10 + years. He also provided the beer for our event. Some of the guys enjoyed the brews and a few others said as long as it's beer, I don't care (Hugh, I won't tell you who that was). Hugh just returned from a wine trip to Italy and offered to share his knowledge of Tuscany and the Super Tuscan wines (that sounds like an idea for another reunion, Hugh!).

Nash Childs arrived with Dan Newell and Sherry. Nash pointed out early that the Cook Kid (or Sherry) was his designated driver (good idea, Nash). Nash is EVP of a Wilmington, Delaware construction firm. He regaled us with stories about his new dog (you won't believe what he named him, I'll urge you to contact Nash personally about his dog's name) as well as stories about his days playing baseball and catching for Frank Favazza and Frank Zanti. Nash and Russ DeVan later performed their famous "16 Tons and whataya get" song for the group remaining.

I apologize to Debbie Trail for not having a conversation. Somehow, I must have missed my opportunity. I did spend some time with Bremen remembering why we avoided demerits (who wanted to spend another two days at McDonogh when you were there for five already?) and who the real derelicts were on the boarder side (what, we had derelict boarders?). Bremen and Dave Carr also contributed to some of Nash's baseball stories.

Roger Weinberg and his wife, Jackie, are regulars at our reunion, but Jackie was a bit under the weather this year, so Roger came solo (as did I, but that's another story). Roger's stories were a scream. My favorite was the story about when he was called into Major Levy's office after lunch early in our ninth grade year. When Roger walked in the door, Maj said "Weinberg, Mr. Thompson has filled me in about you. He said to not let you open your mouth whenever you're talking about what you've done wrong, so I'm telling you that you are getting three demerits. See you." Roger said that he went over to the Middle School after class and asked Q.D. why he had to brief Maj about his behavior. Roger restarted his career after working his way up to Vice President of the Heilig Meyers furniture chain. He's the number one salesman at Nordstrom's in Richmond and says that he enjoys the hours, the lower stress, and couldn't be happier.

Chris Shane attended. Chris and I were rooommates in 7th grade as brand new scholarship students. We had some good laughs about events over the years. Discussing the off-campus trips that Chris and Vic Svec made (when it wasn't allowed), the funniest might have been the time that they rode bicycles into Randallstown, walked into the public library and ran into Ray Oliver. Ray told them that he would see them in the morning, so he at least let them ride the bikes back to campus (Chris says that they found the bikes, they weren't theirs). Chris and a partner operate an environmental testing lab in Baltimore (send me an email Chris and I'll put a link for it here). They specialize in testing for chemicals and not mold. Chris had a conversation about his grad school days at Cornell where Nollie starred on the football team (evidently, there was one year of overlap).

Frank Thomas drove up from Calvert County. Of course, Nash couldn't resist the "Yom" salutation. Frank gets the award for the whitest hair, while Bremen gets the award for the least hair. Frank's still in the banking business, running facilities, ATM's and jack-of-all-trades stuff for a five branch Calvert County bank. During a discussion with Chris Shane about the passing of Kurt Vonnegut, I remembered that Frank's brother-in-law was Tom Clancy (Tom married Frank's sister, since divorced). Frank told us that he was in the wedding (I always learn new stuff), but that he doesn't get a chance for autographed first editions anymore.

Fred and Janice Teeter were the first to arrive at the Aaron's (I was the second outsider, so that's how I know Fred and Janice were first). Fred put in a lot of time and effort for this event including assembling emails for most of you. Fred deserves the kudos as much as anyone. He even picked up orange and black balloons from McDonogh to mark Jon & Cheryl's mailbox and walkway. A link to Fred's photos is posted at the beginning of this post. Fred and Janice live in Uniontown, Maryland which is about five miles from Taneytown, home to the Antrim Restaurant and Bed and Breakfast (I highly recommend the place, but Fred insists it's not much fun going to a high-priced restaurant five minutes from your house). Fred and Janice are partners in a Malleuca business (I hope I spelled that correctly, Fred, if not, email me and I'll change it). Fred's tales about boarding in the Middle School and then switching to day student status were hilarious. I reminded him about how he didn't let me know he was switching, so I ended up with Bosco as my 10th grade roommate. Of course, I managed to switch rooms with Shelby Carter later in the year, so Shelby roomed with Bosco and I roomed with Dale Kern (hey, how are you, Dale?).

I'll finish the rest of this later. Have to get back to the family for a while.

Wally