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Trenton High School
Class of '65
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Believe it or not...the way we were...
These pages are a tribute to the finest high school class I have ever been a part of (OK, it really deserves higher praise than that!). We would like to include old and new information about our alums, but we need both the information, and your permission to post.
A great way to share some photos is to post .jpg digital images to an
online shared service such as
google web gallery or snapfish.com, and then let me know to
include a link on this site under your Tawana info. For an example,
look at mine linked from my Tawana page 8 picture.
Other pictures to post for the class? Send
me e-mail.
We are all looking forward to this year's big Five Oh - 50 years since our graduation! I hope that we will have a record turnout, and I look forward to seeing everyone.
All of us are different people than we were 50 years ago. We know that high school did not define us, but we certainly shared good and bad with friends who influenced our lives.
Getting together should give us a chance to laugh like teenagers again. We can swap stories with old buddies (all of us are a bit old by now), while we enjoy the times with our
new self and with our family. This is a chance to reflect on our lives, as we prepare for the time ahead.
I have not seen some of my friends since high school days, and we are separated such that it is years between seeing anyone. Some of us stay in touch virtually, and fortunately for me, my wife Belle is tuned in to Facebook. I would like to share experiences in person, and group experiences are shared best as a group.
My life - I have seen and done, tried and failed, missed and sometimes hit, learned and taught, and shared - and have changed. Maybe the best we can hope for is that we have lived long enough and worthy enough to live forever in the hearts of family and friends. We have lost some of our early friends and this reminds us of our own mortality.
We hear sometimes that life should be lived without regrets, no excuses, and no resentments. If this is a goal, then of course I have failed with my mistakes that I could have changed. Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. Hopefully I have learned, but this does not mean that I don’t regret some of my decisions. Do you have any regrets in your life? Clearly, we will be more disappointed by the things we didn't do than by the things we did. My goal from this point is to spend quality time with my family and friends. This is also time to renew old friendships as well as make new ones. Don’t let regrets take the place of dreams.
None of us wish to go back to our high school days, but I do want to remember. I’m not sad because it's over, but gratified because it happened. At a reunion, everyone shows up older, and then grows young again, and all of us know just what it is like to be fully Social Security entitled. We know we look our age, maybe with less hair and more pounds, but we all have had our chance to reinvent ourselves.
Let’s not forget that one of the best reasons for us to get together is because we can. I look forward to seeing everyone who can share memories, history and dreams.
Our grade school's poet laureate, Cheryl Harlan (now Cheryl Sanders), offered the following tribute to Norton School, May 22, 1959
The Past Six YearsWhen first we came to Norton
We were met with happy smiles.
She said, "I'm glad to see you.
I'm your teacher, named Miss Giles."
Later on we were promoted
When the time had rolled around.
We crossed the hall to second
To a teacher named Miss Brown.
Then we crossed the hall again
To a grade we knew as third.
There we met another teacher,
And she was named Freiberg.
Later we climbed the stairs,
In the fourth she had to save us
From the perils of working problems,
And her name was Mrs. Davis.
Then came the time for fifth,
With hard work and needed push,
In the solving of long division,
Our thanks we give to Miss Bush.
Now our sixth is the closing year,
We are leaving recess with fun.
Miss Harris is a dandy teacher,
She taught us each day - each one.
Six wonderful years at Norton
Are coming to a close this May.
We love our teachers and friends.
In parting, "Good-bye" we say.
I uploaded shared photos of our 45th reunion to a Web gallery. How about some of the stories that go with these pictures? Please feel free to add your comments for all to see.
Look at a gang photo from our 40th reunion.
Looking for a classmate? Maybe you can find their email address.
I especially want to
remember class members we have lost over the years.
