Pete Wohld's Takes

Hello all you Redskins and companions that attended (and some that didn't attend!) our recent, 50th anniversary of graduation from good old Naperville Community High School - and that are on my E-mail list. As I remember Bob's numbers, there were 66 classmates attending out of an original, 124 classmates, plus or minus one. About 30 brought companions. What a great attendance and sign of our close friendships and camaraderie!

Talk about peaks and valleys, I spent Monday and Tuesday after the reunion with Roto-Rooter ? not a good follow up. But, OK, I'm recovered and you can see I'm E-mail ready now. This may be a long typing session. Will see. This is work! ? even if a labor of love. If you, the reader, do not read to the end -- then pox on you. Just a warning!

How about Gracie Herbert's and Larry Hilliard's project to put together our souvenir books! What a nice result! And Mr. Jansen did a super job of leading the way for the whole event. And, what great hosts, Don and Carol Hamman! Don looked a little frazzled by it all, as well he should, but Carol was the gracious hostess to come around to chat with everybody and add to the very gracious welcome they both extended to us all. And, what a place Don and Carol shared with us! Beautiful!

A very special thanks to you above named rascals!

What an intense weekend! You rascals forced me to pay attention, listen, remember, and talk - for four days! Just paying attention and listening are difficult enough. But I didn't want to miss a minute so I forgive all y'all.

Memories of the whole weekend stir my mind like pieces of color in one of those old kaleidoscopes. It's hard to sort it all out and I'm still laughing at the hilarious parts as they pop up.

Having Naperville Mayor, George Pradle, as well as his sisters, Ruth and Grace, at the reunion was a treat. I was next to Pete Schmieler when George recognized him with a burst of emotion. The funniest story of the night, to me, was George's recounting to everybody how he and Pete got busted by our principal, Robert Van Adestine, for playing hooky during a trip into Chicago.

How about the hugs? I love hugs. It's sort of an "I'm OK, you're OK" thing for me. There can be phony hugs, like you get from a daughter-in-law but, generally, a hug cuts through the "how do you do?" nonsense we generally go through too often. You gals are decent enough but I got the best hug from Joel Swallow. Remember that rascal we haven't seen for years? It was so great to see him come to the reunion. Anyway, we both have the body mass to effect a good bear hug and Joel gets the number one hug prize.

What else? How about our Ron Keller? He is already campaigning for his son-in-law, Fred Thompson, wearing campaign paraphernalia, etc. Even the mayor made note of it. If Fred wins, we need to put in for a reservation on Air Force One for our next reunion.

I don't know ? how did we get connected to mayors, presidential candidates, leaders of the band, world travelers, etc.? How about Sylvia and Mike? Where are they off to next?

Take a look at the book Larry and Grace put together. Even though all white, we are a pretty diverse group by any sense of measure. We have three professors in our group, Bo Berry, Jim Murphy (actually a Dean now), and Ed Perkins. That is special in itself.

Just last month Ed explained convertible bonds to me. Where else can you get that kind of stuff? And, Ed knows the history behind it all. But, of course, we know that Ed is still 100% rascal. Don't ever go canoeing with him unless you are ready for canoe-walking. He is not good at predicting water conditions.

How about the good-looking gals in our class? -- still looking good! I got to eat brunch with one of the classic good lookers of our class, Kay (Wortz). And, how about the Barbs and Sharon and Gracie and Shirl and all the rest?

How about Judd's old place? What nice weather and a super place to gather under a beautiful old magnolia tree and relax while waiting for the feed to begin. Did you also notice the majestic old oak trees nearby?

And, Spike, of course -- now 50 years our president ? and so many others, too many to name in a short E-mail ? but we have the class picture and book of bios to help remember.

Thanks to all you rascals that came to remember and to share,

Pete W