Monday, March 16, 2009

Birthday Celebration guest list

Guessing who's coming to dinner at the Wooden Nickel in Monroeville on June 6 to celebrate the collective 60th birthday of the Gateway Class of 1967?

Or who expects to attend the June 5 get-together at D'Imperios?

Or the June 6 golf outing?

Or June 6 Breakfast Club?

If we all work together on this, we could have a better idea of who will, might or definitely won't attend our birthday bash.

Simply click the word "comments" at the end of this blog item and tell us what you can. Or click "comments" to find out what other Gators are saying about it.

If you are shy about making or have problems posting your comments, please write to me at: alana.miltak.baranick@gmail.com.

Thanks, Gators. I can't wait to see you in June!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Reasons to re-connect with classmates

Members of the 1967 graduating class of Gateway Senior High School in Monroeville, Pa., have long wondered whatever happened to . . . insert name here.

Eileen Ruffner, remembered widely as one of the most memorable characters of our class, was one of those insert-name-here classmates.

Thanks to Internet technology, public records data bases and cooperation among classmates, our reunion committee managed to find Eileen, whose name has changed over the years.

The reunion committee mailed information about our upcoming 60th Birthday Celebration to Eileen, who now lives out West. Since then, ecstatic emails have been flying from and to Eileen, including some from Becky Richards, who lives in a neighboring city.

Eileen reported the following to Peggy Loughner Fisher and asked that it be posted on this blog:

Becky Richards-Maley and Eileen (Ruffner) Baca have lived ten miles from one another in Nevada for decades, and didn't know it! So we met for brunch yesterday at Big Ed's Alley.

The first thing out of Becky's eyes were tears--the first words out of her mouth were, "You look just like Stockard Channing!" Well, now. Could a woman be paid a higher compliment?

Becky still has the same crinkly blue eyes she had in high school, she's still one of the brightest bulbs in the box, and she's still hysterically funny.

"Brunch" turned into almost three hours of non-stop chatter. (Luckily, she knows "Big Ed," and he just kept refilling our cups and letting us take up space.)

Can't even begin to tell you what it meant to me to "re-connect" with someone from the Class of '67.

I've had emails from many of you this past week. They woke up so many memories. Please keep writing, y'all. It's been a hoot-and-a-half.

Best,
Eileen (Ruffner) Baca