June 2010

June 30, 2010April 10, 2019

Central High School Reunion: The End (Maybe)

This isn’t my favorite photo of the weekend, far from it. It’s a mediocre image from a technical standpoint, but it’s the one that caused a wave of deja vu to wash over me.

It was the end of the evening. The crowd was starting to drift away. A few couples got up to dance. I climbed up on the stage for a higher angle and stood there holding my camera and waiting for a photo to happen.

Suddenly I was transported back forty-plus years. It dawned on me that my life had come full circle. I was the same kid I was in high school who was AT the event, but not part of the event.

He’s got his photographer’s face on

Shortly after my youngest son, Adam, married Carly, we went to my niece’s wedding. I’m not big on socializing, so I grabbed a camera and started walking around shooting candids. Carly turned to Adam and said something like, “Wow, I’ve never seen your dad with his photographer’s face on.”

I’m not sure exactly what he told her, but I assume he assured her that it wasn’t something that ran in the family.

How to be invisible

I worked a long time at being able to disengage when I’m shooting. One of my favorite photo stories was of an old barber in West Palm Beach who stayed open just because he was lonely. On a good day, he might get two customers, all as old or older than him.

After shooting pictures of him holding up a parking meter in front of his store and greeting one customer, I pulled back and started shooting detail shots around the shop. Eventually, he became so unaware of me that I shot him fully stretched out asleep in his barber’s chair. I figure that was the ultimate test of invisibility: to get someone who was starved for company to tune me out.

Enough self-analysis. You guys want to see photos from the reunion on Saturday night and a lunch for the Class of 65 (which was crashed by folks from other classes).

She still has the same freckles

Nancy Froemsdorf came up to me looking almost exactly like she did at Trinity Lutheran School in the first grade. I don’t think she’s added or subtracted a freckle. OK, she’s better looking than she was in first grade, who am I kidding?

Where was Pam?

Pam Taveggia promised all the way back in October that she was coming to the reunion so she, Jim Stone, and I could hook up with Ernie Chiles so she could “hug the stuffin'” out of him. First, Stone emails me on Thursday saying he couldn’t make it because he had to save the world or some other lame excuse, then Pam bails.

Sherry with her top down

I’ve already recounted how Sherry Huff Swanson led me to believe that this year’s reunion was going to be memorable when we got out to her car. I have to concede that she didn’t tell me any falsehoods, but the encounter, to steal Paul Simon’s words, didn’t “meet my sweet imagination.”

Here is Miz Sherry ensconced in Louise.

Terry Hopkins cleans up real good

Since I’ve poked fun at Terry Hopkins this week, I guess I should even things out by showing him resplendent in his tux. “I only have two kinds of clothes,” he said. “Shorts and a tux.” Who’d have thunk it?

Previous reunion stories

Photo Gallery from reunion and lunch

Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to step through the gallery.

We’re headed back to Florida Wednesday, so it’ll going to be sort of slow here for a few days.

There are a couple of more stories I’m going to do about folks I talked with at the reunion. I had lunch with a fellow I wish I had gotten to know better when I was growing up.

Some things in the works

Some of you have asked about getting copies of the photos. When the dust settles, I’m going to upload all of the photos to a site where you can download higher resolution copies of everything I’ve posted from the reunion.

I may also create a CHS Reunion fan page on Facebook where you can tag the photos with names. Give me a couple of weeks to pull all that together.

Thanks for all the kind words over the weekend. You all are as much a part of this blog as I am. Without readers, I’m just some poor fool standing on a tree stump shouting out at the forest. I love to hear your echoes.

June 28, 2010July 31, 2015

Tour of “Old” Central High School

When the reunion organizers proposed a tour of the “new” Central High School, there was a clamor for a tour of the “old” Central High School, because that’s where we built our memories. The Class of 66 scheduled a breakfast in the cafeteria at 9 Saturday morning. They and the other classes got to prowl the school later.

Table-dancing skills prove useful

Vicky Seabaugh asked me to shoot a photo of the Class of 66 after breakfast.

Some of the students are partially hidden because they didn’t heed my admonition, “If you can’t see ME, my camera can’t see YOU.” Some of the folks with apparent prior table dancing experience used their skills to become more visible. (No hips were broken in the making of this photograph.)

That’s my locker

Bill Stone said he was lucky enough to share a locker with a small-time local hoodlum. “Nobody messed with MY locker,” he said. Our old tan lockers have been replaced by spiffy orange ones.

Auditorium seats have been recovered

I don’t know if these folks are looking for their initials or what. The auditorium looked as serviceable as ever.

Terry Hopkins shows his prowess

I kept telling Terry Hopkins that I needed him to do one more rep to make sure I got a good picture, but he finally wised up.

We got to walk across the gym floor

Walking across the gym floor was taboo when we were in school. You just didn’t do it. Not more than once, at least.

Standards must have been relaxed, because Terry Kitchen led us right on to it. (Go here to here Terry’s account of the Ghosts of the Trophy Case.) He’s the fellow in the orange and white shoes at left.

The ADA brings elevators to CHS

Janet Zickfield had to depend on other students to carry her up and down the many stairs at Central High School when we were there. Today’s students can use an elevator.

Photo Gallery of CHS tour

Here’s a photo gallery of our tour. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left of right side of the photo to move through the gallery. We’re not done yet. More photos are coming.

June 27, 2010April 1, 2021

Central High’s 60’s Reunion, Day 1

The Central High School 60’s Decade Reunion is over. These pictures are from Friday’s events. I’ll have photos from Saturday’s tour of the high school on Monday. I may post more pictures from other Saturday activities on Tuesday. Then we’re done for at least another five years.

It was better than expected

Friday night was spent wandering around trying to read name tags to see if you recognized anyone. Frequent contributors Bill East (blue shirt) and Terry Hopkins (bleep-eating grin) are here.

I have to admit that I wasn’t sure I was looking forward to the reunion. I haven’t kept in touch with my old classmates, and I hadn’t enjoyed the two reunions I had attended.

People at the 20th were still trying to impress each other. (OK, I was guilty of that, too.) The 2005 reunion had music that was played so loudly that it was almost impossible to talk, and everyone was packed so tightly together that it was hard to mingle.

What you need for a great reunion

The organizers this year told the DJ to keep the volume at a reasonable level.
The tables were far enough apart that you could maneuver around them.
There were interesting displays around the outside of the room.
The event wasn’t bogged down with a program and lots of announcements.

Because of the setup of the room, it was possible to have more, longer conversations with classmates than ever before. I had the feeling that we’re all hitting the age where we’re interesting in connecting with each other and our pasts more than in previous years.

Here’s what I look like

My wife took this and insisted that I put in at least one shot of me if I was going to show how gray everyone else had turned. That’s Sherry Huff Swanson in the middle and Joe Snell on the right.

Sherry just about induced a heart attack when she pulled me over to the side and said we should go outside to her convertible where she’d take her top down. Holy Cow! I missed the 10th reunion where skinny dipping was alleged, but the 2010 reunion sounded like it might be memorable.

Turned out my hearing is slipping. We went out to her convertible, but it was the CAR that had the top down. And, all she had in mind was being photographed IN the car. Alone.

My favorite reunion photo

I ran this as a placeholder yesterday, but it’s my favorite reunion photo so far. It captures the spirit of our decade. We may have some miles on the odometer, but we can still rev it up when we need to.

Photo Gallery

Click on any image to make it larger, then click on the right or left side of the photo to move through the gallery.

June 27, 2010

Central High School 60s Reunion Rel. 1

If the path to Hell is paved with good intentions, I must be about half-way to Heck. I had hoped to get Friday’s 60s’ Decade class reunion photos up on Saturday, then follow up with Saturday’s activities on Sunday.

As it turned out, I stayed later at the high school tour than I thought I would. (When Linda Stone and Tricia Tipton invite you for a literal walk down memory lane – OK, Themis Street – I’d have been a fool to turn them down. Then, I had a great conversation with Gerald Love over lunch, so IT went long.

Nap magnet strikes

I started editing the first couple hundred photos when the nap magnet reached out, grabbed me by the arm and flung me flat on my back. I learned a long time ago that fighting the nap magnet only tires you out more and is counterproductive, so I played dead until it released me.

This is just a long way of saying that this is all you’re going to see until Sunday. It’s almost 1 a.m. and I’m tired and retired.

After all, what are you folks gonna do, fire me?