Here's What I learned about my high school classmates

 If you're a first time reader I'm going to present my personal poop. I was born in Boone, Iowa(15 mi. west of Ames and 45 miles NW of Des Moines). It seemed like a great place to grow up. There were, and still are, 12,000 citizens. I truly believe, like most small towns, the entire community revolved around its high school sports teams. Stores were open on Friday nights but every proprietor had its radio tuned to Toreador football or basketball or baseball games. I was very lucky. The teams I played on could be called Boone's glory years; 1961-64. 

We had a high school class of 212 students. I think that's the same number of bones in our body as if that has any meaning. We were extremely benefited with our teachers. Most of the men had been in WWII so they knew the value of life. All of them grew up in the Depression Era so, they too, knew the values of life.

I never once in my life heard one of them utter so much as a 'damn' or 'hell'. I do recall my history teacher and football coach, Mr. Paar, refer to someone as a 'durn fool'. That's as close as anyone came to uttering a profanity.

I had and still do about 15 guys and gals with whom I keep in touch. Last week one our class officers, Verne Schmickley, published a near complete list of where all our classmates are located. I called Verne the other night or maybe I returned his phone call. He was always a good guy in h.s. but we never messed around. The last time I spoke to him was, most likely, around 1964. After our lengthy conversation had ended I emailed him and stated, "This might be the best two way conversation I've had in years". Heck, he told me he was a psychologist in Raleigh N.C. I wasn't surprised but impressed. Heck, when one is a Physical Education Major shoe shiners can be impressive.

Verne did yeomans work on updating our class list. I was initially shocked to see the number of folks who had left this earth. A couple I knew quite well. Others, and it's sad to say this, I always figured they'd go first. You know what I mean, right? They had drag races, got in fights for the fun of it, drank a lot, etc.

I found a slew of names with email addresses and sent them a note. The very nice aspect of being an old codger is the memory of all things negative goes by the board. People you knew who didn't like you or you yourself didn't care for them means absolutely nothing. Say hello someone and tell them something good about themselves and they become a new best friend. Try it. You'll like it.