Dear Classmates, it’s amazing how things change and yet stay
nearly the same.  It was unfortunate to miss the 40th reunion Up North after planning to attend.  Mimi and I stayed home to receive
friends that visit once a year from DC.   They won’t be coming this way
next year so we decided to stay home and kick up our heels with them.  As I told MJ, my wife had to miss out on meeting all the great looking women in my high school life, but that opportunity will come again when we have our 50th reunion.  I attached a photo of Mimi and me from last weekend on the Puget Sound.  [It’s not Vermillion, but it’ll do.]  Until then, or sooner if you let me know you’re in the Seattle area, I wish you all the very best!  Cheers,  Tom Dombeck
lastelladellanord@yahoo.com

A special thanks to the reunion committee, you did a great job of organizing a warm and welcoming gathering (and can someone please explain how it is that Hafdahl looks exactly the same after 40 years?)  Thank you Anne and Steve for graciously hosting the best looking group of people in their late-50s that I have seen in quite some time.  It was tremendous fun to see members of the class of '73 - even those I may have struggled to remember - and get updates on people's journeys, laugh and dance.  Finally, I would be remiss if I did not give a special shout-out to my three prom-mates from four decades back.  Not
surprisingly, you still look majestic.  I hope to see you all again in ten
years.                Mark Rukavina

Dear Reunion Committee,
Many thanks to all of you for a weekend that will go down as a
highlight of the summer! The reunion was so much fun. Your enthusiasm and detective work resulted in a great turnout, and whoever prayed to the weather gods should be richly rewarded! Mike and I enjoyed the getaway to Lake Vermilion at a spectacular time of year. 
 
Although we missed the Friday night event at the Sportspage, it
was fun to visit with folks at the Badanjaks’ gathering on our way to Fortune Bay for the night. So hospitality was abundant!

As we checked out of the hotel on Sunday, Carol Flaim remarked
that we might have to do this more often. I couldn’t agree more. I wasn’t the biggest fan of high school, but the reunions are fun – truly a testament to the fact that while we might be getting older, we’re getting better! 
Our compliments to you all!
Pat Wolff Sirek

Dear Virginia Roosevelt Classmates,
I look back on my days at Roosevelt HS with great fondness.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to the reunion, so I thought I'd send an email with my greetings and a brief summation of what's become of me.
I'll begin in 1984, when I was living in a tiny rent-controlled
basement apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Boston area), and became a street musician  for the next seven years. In 1988, while playing flute and guitar duets at the Park Street Station Metro Stop with my best friend Matt Turner, I met Jacqueline Lemonnier - the woman who would become my wife. Jacqueline was getting a Masters in
Communication at Boston University. She had an assignment to do a field observation, and - very fortunately for me - she decided to ask if she could observe and write about Matt and I performing in the subway. Later I wrote a song about it called "Park Street Serenade".  I also wrote a song called "The StreetMusicians" about my over-all experience as a Boston street musician. I send copies via attachment of those two 
lyrics plus one I wrote for my daughter Clara.

After Jacqueline finished her Masters, she got a job in Arlington, Virginia (Washington, DC area). We got married and moved to Arlington. Our daughter Clara was born in 1992. Raising Clara turned out to be
the most meaningful and important experience of my entire life. When Clara was six, I wrote a song for her that uses the North Country imagery of my youth. The "North Woods" of the first verse was a farm in Aurora owned by classmate Tony Hill, who was the drummer in a band I'd been in.
At some point I had to face the fact that I was not going to be
able to make enough money with my music to contribute sufficiently to supporting a family. So I became a freelance editor. The way this work is done today is through email. My clients send me the work via attachment. I do the work at my home computer, tracking all of the changes. And I send the completed work back to my clients via attachment. My editing work is mostly international technical
documents in areas such as transport, health, poverty-reduction, and economic development. I do continue to play music, and I must say that it is a relief to have freed the music from the shadow of financial
pressure.
I was deeply involved on the grassroots level in the state of
Virginia in the two Presidential Campaigns of Barack Obama. I'd never done canvassing before - I wound up knocking on thousands of doors. I also took on the role of lifting everyone else's spirits when things got really tough. Working in these two campaigns was by far the most meaningful and fulfillingpolitical experience of my entire
life.

Clara is now 21. She is majoring in Civil Engineering at Georgia
Tech. She is staying here with us this summer - she has a paid internship with a company called HNTB that has a branch here in Arlington. She will be graduating from Georgia Tech either in December or May (depending upon how certain opportunities play themselves out). Clara has truly forged her own path - both
of her parents are humanities/social science types, and she's studying hard-core math and science.
I hope that you all have a wonderful time - know that I am
thinking about you. Love, Rob