First Meeting

We had our first meeting for the reunion yesterday. We held the meeting at 6:00pm at the Elk's in Granite City. In attendance was Alex Paz, Lisa Waltenberger Maurer, John Six and Suzette Neubauer Holmes. Rocky Lupardus was under the weather and couldn't make it.

The top issue addressed was finding our alumni. The group threw out names and I verified if I had their addresses or not and did a little reminiscing. John Six had a lot of good stories...... Bottom line is we as a class have to do a lot better finding our alumni and this is a call to all of you for help. If everyone on the blog helps with a name or two we can really make some progress. I will post the list soon of the names we have good info on and people we need help with. We did discuss putting an ad in the Suburban Journal and on the public channel on Charter Cable.

We also discussed the idea of having Ravenelli's cater the event, can you really go wrong with broasted chicken? Also threw in pasta and salad blah blah blah. Nothing exciting with the menu but it's all about the company and conversation right? So saying that what helps get the conversation going is an open bar so we are figuring that into the equation as well. : )

A big thanks to John Six who arranged for us to rent the Elk's but also booked the band as well. The band is good friends of John's and they are cutting us a good deal. You can see the band's playlist (Less Than Serious) at http://www.LTSBand.com . Thank's John!

Finally we made a quick walk through of the hall and it looks like a great place for the reunion.

I want to take this opportunity to also plug the blog again. I really hope more people will send me their stories on what they have been up since graduation. All you have to do is email the stories to me at lxpaz@yahoo.com and I will make sure it makes it on the blog. A special thanks to the few that have already shared their stories!!!!

Have a great day everyone!!! Next meeting is the last Sunday of the month in April at 6:00pm at the Elk's. We need help so please show up if your interested in helping.....

Alex Paz
lxpaz@yahoo.com

Karen (Doty) Beasley

Since graduation I have had a wide variety in my working career. I worked as a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant for Drs. Schnellmann and Doisy for 13 years. It was an interesting field and I especially enjoyed learning to assist in cataract surgery. I did however, become tired of "checking eyes" all day and wanted a change of pace. I have since worked as a scale house clerk in GC Steel, payroll/accounts payable clerk for a local trucking company, and an Office Manager for a real estate title company. I am now currently employed at Nicol Financial Services as a Client Relations Specialist.

I have been married to Dennis Beasley for 22 years. We have 3 kids, Dennis II is 30 married and has a 2 1/2 year old daughter, is an IT Manager, Kyle is 20 a junior at SIU-E and works at Pizza Hut and Rachel is 16 a junior at GCHS and is in the Marching & Concert bands and active in our church youth group.

Karen

John W. Nicol Sr.

I have six children, two step children and two grandsons, with another grandchild on the way. I have been working for the Madison County Sheriff's Office for 13 years as a Jail Deputy. My wife's name is Judy (Hoelter). My phone number is 618-406-6153 if anyone would like to talk about old times. I hope you are having a great life.

Thanks.

John

Joni (Smith) Walters

My name is Joni Walters now. I graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from SIUE. I was married to Rick Willmore for 7 years and we had two children Robyn and Evan who are now 23 and 20. Rick has remarried and is currently living in Pacific, MO. He and I have remained great friends.

I went on and spent 20+ years doing technology support for many area law firms and am now the Technology Coordinator for OASIS Institute in Clayton, MO. Evan is going to college at St. Louis Community College @ Meramec where his dad works and delivers pizza for Pizza Hut here in Granite. Robyn works at Steak N' Shake and is an avid gamer.

After another attempt at marriage, at the young age of 40, I had two more beautiful children, Isaac, 8 and Sarah Walters 7. The kids and I live in Granite City and are members of Suburban Baptist Church. In addition to working with computers and networks, I am a Southern Gospel Music promoter and organize and frequently sing at large Gospel Concerts. I am a huge animal lover and have a Chihuahua, cat, two guinea pigs, a bird and gerbil. My family is really into the Wii right now and we love fishing and camping in the summer. Life is truly beautiful.

I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2007 requiring chemotherapy and radiation. As of this writing I am cancer free and back to living life to it's fullest. I truly am thankful to celebrate 30 years of anything!

Joni (Smith) Walters

A productive Sunday....

I made some progress today and the number is up to 114 verified alumni. I also made some calls to today to try and catch people at home and sent a few emails as well. I recieved emails from:

Jeff Davis
Joni Smith
Vahe Habeshian

I also talked to the following alumni on the phone:
Mike Christich
Mark Linhart
Steven Burns
Charles Bulva
Vicky Barnstable Tognarelli
Marilee House Burch (Spoke to her daughter)
Billy Dalton
Laura Wickham Dalton (their son)

Then there was one disturbing call. The one you dread, the awkward call to a deceased alumni. I felt aweful!!!!! I called Veronica "Vicki" Segedy Cain. I had no idea that she has been deceased for 2-3 years. Not sure who answered but I quickly apologized and said I was sorry for their loss. I was tongue tied and could not get out who I was or say anything else.

The search goes on.....

Quick note....

So the class prez is off to Cozumel I will keep forging ahead. Would love to be anywhere warm right now. My business trip the following week takes me to Ontario, Canada. Hmmmmm... Wonder if Rocky wants to trade? Anyway the only thing to report this week is we broke 100 alumni verified. Still lots of people to find. I am doing my best folks....

ap

Rocky Lupardus

This is my first blogging attempt. Alex wanted me to be the first to start updates about ourselves since graduating. I am not sure how detailed to get but here it goes... I went on to the University of Illinois and graduated with a degree in Food Science which really didn't matter because I went right into dental school in Tulsa, OK at Oral Roberts Univ. While there I met and married my wife, Christine in 1984. I only attended 2 out of my 4 years of dental school in Tulsa because the school closed and then I finished my last 2 years near home at SIU in Alton. I then joined the Army as a dentist and we traveled the world for over 6 years: Ft. Jackson, SC; Munich, Germany ( 3 years); San Antonio, TX; Chicago,IL; Ft. Loenard Wood, MO. In 1993, I bought the dental practice in Eureka, MO where I still am. Chris and I have been married now for almost 25 years and we have 3 children: Brittany is 20 and in her 3rd year at Mizzou and married to Kris who is almost graduating in Electical Engineering. They plan on going into the missions with Campus Crusade For Christ and will probably spend a year or two somewhere in Asia. Ryan is 15 and a freshman in HS at Eureka and Amanda is 14 and in 8th grade. We love to travel and keep busy with the kids activities. Hope to read more about all of you....take care, Rocky

Becky Corzilius (Rebecca Jane Corzilius)

This morning I had a pleasant call with Becky Corzilius to kick off the first interview for the blog.

So the basics....

Name: Becky Corzilius
Spouse: Robert Clauss (23 years)
Home: Mt. Prospect, IL
College: Eastern Illinois University (Charleston, IL)

Becky was very modest on her accomplishments but I see her as a very successful business woman and quite the entreprenuer. As I understand it, she has a couple of businesses up and running at the moment, but her primary business has been operational for 18 years. Her business, Becky & Company, involves being an independent sales representitive for the gift industry. She even has a showroom in the prestigeous Merchadise Mart in Chicago on the gift floors. (Go Becky!) She also has a 3 year old business that started as a hobby and has now taken on a life of its own. The company is a wholesale candle company called Crash Candles. I am going to have to check my manly hood and say these are some really sweet candles. Unfortanately, Crash Candles are only available at higher end gift shops so guess I won't see them at the local WalMart. So how does our senior year book editor and also her college year book editor as well wind up to be in business for herself? It turns out her first job out of college was working for a yearbook publishing company in Michagan. This opportunity lasted for two years before her then boss informed her she didn't play well with others and had a problem with authority!!! Who would have thought our mild mannered Becky Jane would have a problem with authority. So she packed herself up and moved back to Chicago and the rest is as they say......history.

What happend today.......

I recieved an email from Rocky bright and early to let me know he doesn't know much about blogging but if it is a way to get the word out about the reunion he was all for it. I think once I get some people interviewed or submitting their stories we should draw some attention. So bare with me and my rambling....
Lets see, I didnt make too much progress on finding people today, but I did get a few more people verified. Lets see Rocky forwarded me Kim Dittrich-Diest with a new email address, I spoke with Gary Vogeler, Jan Purkey Cook passed on Cherie Hahne's email address, Margret Lovins Brandt who passed on an email address for Sue Cambell Ropac and recieved an email from Rosalie Ponce Christopher. So now the running tally is 84 alumni we have found. I have a stack of paperwork from the 10, 20 and 25 year reunion that I am trying to reference but is a bit time consuming. So the search continues........

-ap

Site and date selected...

Well i know it was posted already but thought I would say it one more time. The site and date for our 30 year reunion has been set for:

Date: Sat. August 15th, 2009

Place: Elks Lodge
4801 Maryville Rd
Granite City, IL 62040

As more details emerge I will post them!

Well I thought I would try to blog the forming of our 30th reunion and maybe we can get other people to write some things down and I can post them here. Maybe feature one of our Alumni a week? Just not sure how much time I can dedicate to the search of classmates and blogging. We shall see....

Alex Paz
lxpaz61@gmail.com