Recapping the activities:
- Golf at Peter Yegen Golf Course - 10:00 am and 12:00 pm tee off times.
- Barbecue at Red Door Lounge - 6:00 pm cash bar; 6:30 pm dinner
Saturday, September 14
- Coffee/Brunch at Janice Krings Geiger's home - 10:00 am
- Mass at St. Patrick's Co-Cathedral - 5:00 pm
- Dinner at Hiland's Golf Course - 6:00 pm cash bar; dinner 7:00 pm
We look forward to your attendance at the 50th Class Reunion, a true milestone in our lives. We are expecting some classmates that have not attended previous reunions, so there will be 50 years of catching up. See you in September!
BIOGRAPHIES
Jim Schaff
After high school, I worked for Albertson's for a short time before going on active duty for two years in the U.S. Navy, Pacific Fleet.
I worked at Pierce Flooring before going to auto repair school. I then worked at MacIntyre Motors as a transmission mechanic until I developed sensitivity in my hands to the cleaning solvents. From there, I went into auto parts sales.
I then went to work at Deaconess Hospital. I was assigned to work in the Psych Center. After nine years at the hospital, I went to work for Sears, unpacking freight and stocking the floor displays. I retired in 2005 due to arthritis and a herniated disk in my lower back.
In February 2012, I became caregiver for my mother until she passed away in September. Twenty-four hour care giving can be stressful at the end, but I had support from Riverton Hospice personnel.
Georgia Asp Shrader
What's been happening? I'd say not a lot but thinking back over the last five years.....
Traveled plenty: New York City over Easter break with our daughter and twins. Wonderful week of fun and memories. Cabo with all the family; South American cruise (the cruise from hell...got the Niro virus and was confined to my room for 63 hours); and the usual short trips around California and near states. Our last Montana trip was in January 2011 for my uncle's funeral in Twin Bridges.
Back surgery in 2011...getting older guys (smile).
The very best is family! Having grandkids makes us feel younger (sometimes very old). Our grandkids, twin girls, will be graduating eighth grade and going to high school at St. Ignacious in San Francisco. They were accepted with distinction and honors in honor class. So very proud of my girls. They are 4.5 students. They'll drive with Dad each day to school from San Jose. Dad is CFO of St. Ignacious.
Plus dear friends over all these years who come to visit us in San Jose and Truckee. My husband, Gary is known at the best tour guide and history buff. As I type this friends of 47 years will soon be arriving from Holland.
Truckee is still our main "get away"; love those mountains and more.
I do not think we'll attend the reunion; my Gary, all though in great health and handsome as every will be 78 in September. We like to drive for the beauty but it is hard on the ole bones, mostly mine after surgery. Sorry I can't be with you but you will be in my heart and spirit.
Blessings to all.
The past 50 years:
Married: Nancy Hambach in 1967
Children: Jamie (1968), Lisa (1972), Robin (1976)
Grandchild: Karen (2002)
Education: Dartmouth College - BS
Suffolk University - MS
University of Alabama - PhD
Places Lived: New Hampshire
New Mexico
Alabama
Massachusetts
Work: Defense contractors - 1967 to 2007
Current: Retired
Nancy and I enjoy traveling, gardening, paddle boating and Dobby, our long-hair Chihuahua.
Looking forward to the reunion!
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| Jim & Nancy Holzer - 1967 |
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| Jim & Nancy Holzer |
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| Jim Holzer & Dobby |
Paul & Nancy Ferro Staid
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| Jim Holzer |
(From Nancy): I graduated from what was then Eastern in secondary education in 1966 and moved to South Bend, Indiana, to teach high school English and French. Paul got his B.S. in 1967 and his M.S. in 1969 from Notre Dame in aerospace engineering. We married in 1967 and in 1969 moved to Cincinnati where Paul worked for G.E.'s jet engine group until 1979. We then relocated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where Paul worked for Exxon until 2005 when he retired.
I finally retired in 2011 after 25 years at St. Aloysius School, a Catholic PreK through 8th grade elementary school, in Baton Rouge. For the first eleven years, I taught 8th grade English and the last fourteen years was the Curriculum Director. Paul's loved retirement from the first minute (golf, hunting, fishing, etc.); I like the freedom of retirement, but I miss the day-to-day contact with all my work friends and the students. I volunteer at St. Aloysius and also at Cancer Services and play bridge
We have two sons, Steve and Mike. Steve, his wife Jen, and their two daughters, Camille, 12 and Emma, 10, live in Colleyville, Texas (between Dallas and Fort Worth). Steve worked in London for three years so Paul and I had several great trips to Europe during that time. Two years ago Steve and his family moved back to the states, so now we visit Texas a lot. Our other son, Mike, his wife Mollie, and their two daughters, Annabelle, 17, and Amelia,15, live in Greenville, South Carolina. So we also travel to S.C. a lot too. Now that we're both retired, we can go see the boys and families whenever we feel like it, and that's been great.
We also make it back to Montana almost every summer. We spend time in Silvergate and Yellowstone and fishing the Big Horn with my sister Lynn and her husband Dan in their drift boat. We also enjoy Glacier. While we love Baton Rouge, we look forward to our time back in Montana every summer.
Paul and I are looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.
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| Paul & Nancy (Ferro) Staid & family |
Wow, 50 years! Where did the time go?
I attended Eastern and graduated from St. Vincent's School of Radiologic Technology with Elaine Lutgen Hine and Kathy Gainan Miller after having had way too much fun together. I was then off to San Francisco with my Billings sweetheart, Bill Sipes to follow my dreams. Bill worked for IBM as a field engineer during the birth of business computers and later in research and development in a think tank. I found my dream job in a satellite X-ray clinic right in Pacifica where we lived. Pursued the California dream for four years, experienced the Haight Ashbury Lifestyle (from a distance) and even pretended we were hippies for awhile. After all that cultural enlightenment and the birth of our baby boy, Bill decided it was time to head home to raise him in Montana so that he could know his grandparents. We bought his father's partners' share of their service stations and bulk gas distributorship in East Glacier Park, MT, liquidated the homestead and arrived in October. Yes, that's right, I did think I was in Siberia after having to leave my beautiful little home and garden. But, oh what a grand experience that was, population 350 in the winter and thousands in the summer. The long harsh winters were nothing compared to the beauty, serenity and sense of community we experienced there. We bought a home, had a beautiful baby girl and I started a home day care business after the gas shortages of the mid 70's threatened our livelihood. Remember the long lines in the cities and west coast to buy gas? We virtually lost our business and our marriage after struggling through that.
So, I found myself, literally (that's another story), back in Billings working at St. Vincent's as the solo X-ray tech on the night shift. Boy have times changed in hospitals since then. Three months later I was lucky enough to be hired by Dr. William Walton, my idol and a saint of a man, in this Orthopedic practice with four other physicians. In 2010, 33-1/2 years later, I retired from that practice, after wearing numerous hats as x-ray, cast and MRI tech, clinical medical assistant to several different physicians, clinical manager and surgery scheduler. There was never a dull moment with all the major changes in the health care field that were taking place. No way could you ever become bored. I loved it so much I always wondered how I would ever be able to retire. But age and a 4 by-pass heart surgery with a severe complication that almost took my life quickly changed that. I decided life was sliding by and I had so much left to do and so little time that I just didn't have time to work anymore.
Along the way, I loved a few and lost a few, but 30 years ago I found my faithful, hardworking, sweetheart of a man, Jerry, who is an ex-Hutterite. Friends refer to us as the hootie and the hippie. I guess you can say opposites attract or we compliment each other or just that he has the patience of Job to live with me:) We've lived in the same house for those 30 years, raising children, grandchildren (his son has two children and are here in Billings), vegetable and flower gardens, the walls as we remodel and continue to build and improve and savoring those memory making moments. We spend as much time as possible pursuing our loves, visiting family far and wide, camping, fishing, reading and traveling. We are fortunate to be of those Weird New Nuclear Families that loves and spends time with our exes and their spouses, their children, grandchildren and ex in-laws. My son, Russell and wife, Jen, live in Belgrade and daughter, Portia and husband, Paul are in Portland. See them often, but nearly as much as I would like.
I am also learning to be a volunteer Docent at the Yellowstone Art Museum. I have always had an interest in and dabbled in different art mediums and this is such a great opportunity to learn AND give back. We mostly work with children teaching them about and how to do Art. So fun and interesting and keeps the cob webs out of my brain.
Looking forward to seeing everyone.
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| Jerry & LaFawn (Lewis) Kleinsasser, October 2012 |
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| LaFawn & Jerry Kleinsasser - Crab Feast! |
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| LaFawn & Family - New Zealand March 2013 |
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| Dan & Kay (Anderson) Shull, daughter Courtney, grandchildren Mason & Bella at Disneyland, 2012 |
$5.37!
That's what the kid behind the counter at Taco Bell said to me.
I dug into my pocket and pulled out some lint and two dimes and
something that used to be a Jolly Rancher.
Having already handed the kid a five-spot, I started to head back out
to the truck to grab some change
when the kid with the Elmo hairdo said the hardest thing anyone has
ever said to me.
He said, "It's OK. I'll just give you the senior citizen discount."
I turned to see who he was talking to and then heard the sound of
change hitting the counter in front of me.
"Only $4.68" he said cheerfully.
I stood there stupefied. I am 56, not even 60 yet?
A mere child!
Senior citizen?
I took my burrito and walked out to the truck wondering what was wrong
with Elmo.
Was he blind?
As I sat in the truck, my blood began to boil.
Old? Me?
I'll show him, I thought.
I opened the door and headed back inside. I strode to the counter,
and there he was waiting with a smile.
Before I could say a word, he held up something and jingled it in front of me,
like I could be that easily distracted!
What am I now?
A toddler?
"Dude! Can't get too far without your car keys, eh?"
I stared with utter disdain at the keys.
I began to rationalize in my mind!
"Leaving keys behind hardly makes a man elderly!
It could happen to anyone!"
I turned and headed back to the truck.
I slipped the key into the ignition, but it wouldn't turn.
What now?
I checked my keys and tried another.
Still nothing.
That's when I noticed the purple beads hanging from my rear view mirror.
I had no purple beads hanging from my rear view mirror.
Then, a few other objects came into focus:
The car seat in the back seat.
Happy Meal toys spread all over the floorboard.
A partially eaten doughnut on the dashboard.
Faster than you can say ginkgo biloba, I flew out of the alien vehicle.
Moments later I was speeding out of the parking lot,
relieved to finally be leaving this nightmarish stop in my life.
That is when I felt it, deep in the bowels of my stomach: hunger!
My stomach growled and churned, and I reached to grab my burrito,
only it was nowhere to be found.
I swung the truck around, gathered my courage,
and strode back into the restaurant one final time.
There Elmo stood, draped in youth and black nail polish.
All I could think was, "What is the world coming to?"
All I could say was, "Did I leave my food and drink in here"?
At this point I was ready to ask a Boy Scout to help me back to my vehicle,
and then go straight home and apply for Social Security benefits.
Elmo had no clue.
I walked back out to the truck,
and suddenly a young lad came up and tugged on my jeans to get my attention.
He was holding up a drink and a bag.
His mother explained,
"I think you left this in my truck by mistake."
I took the food and drink from the little boy and sheepishly apologized.
She offered these kind words:
"It's OK. My grandfather does stuff like this all the time."
All of this is to explain how I got a ticket doing 85 in a 40 mph zone.
Yessss, I was racing some punk kid in a Toyota Prius.
And no, I told the officer, I'm not too old to be driving this fast.
As I walked in the front door, my wife met me halfway down the hall.
I handed her a bag of cold food and a $300 speeding ticket.
I promptly sat in my rocking chair and covered up my legs with a blankey.
The good news was that I had successfully found my way home.
Shared by LaFawn Lewis Kleinsasser
