October 4, 2009

Fellow 64 Catonites,

Those of you missed our 45th reunion missed a great time, as anyone who was there will attest. Catching up with folks, seeing people we hadn't seen in quite a few years, and reminiscing about our high school years was a blast. We've all taken varied and divergent paths over the years, but our one unbreakable continuity is our growing up in what I believe was the best place, at the best time, in the 20th century. We've lost some hair, gained some weight, gotten a little grayer and more wrinkled, and we've gotten over the heartbreak of teenage romance that some of us caused each other. We're Catonites, and we're friends, and that will never change.

Sadly, there are fewer of us each year, aging baby boomers marching into Social Security and beyond. And there are still far too many of us who seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth. Out of a class of almost 600, there are still about 200 people who are totally unaccounted for.

That said, we know for a fact that a 50th reunion will be coming in 2014, probably in late September, again. Mark your calendars, put a note on your Blackberries, do whatever it takes to make sure you've got the time cleared. No one cares if you've become a rabid conservative or a knee-jerk liberal, or what you look like now, or who's heart you might've broken 50 years ago - we all just want to see each other while we can.

Go to our class website, www.catonsville1964.com and check out the list of missing classmates. Make it your job to pick out a dozen - or more - folks you'd like to see again, and start tracking them down. Maiden names are tough, but between classmates.com, reunion.com, Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, and all the various people search engines we ought to be able to finally find a lot of the missing. If you do locate and/or get in touch with someone, forward any contact information to any member of the reunion committee (email addresses are on the class website) and we'll get them back in the loop. And while you're at it, if you have any doubt that we don't have the correct contact information for you, please send it to a committee member.

Our 50th reunion is going to be a big one, the economy and wars permitting, and it would be nice to get as many of us together again as is possible. We're rapidly reaching the point where mortality and health issues are going make reunions a little tougher to handle, so let's make the best of what we've got while we can.

On a final note, if any of you would like a copy of this year's Reunion Book, contact Rick Webb. If you want a copy of the Reunion DVD, get in touch with Ed Fishel or Dennis Colson (dlctx@comcast.net). All proceeds go towards the next big bash.

Hope to see all of you and more in 2014. Keep in touch.

Your Prez,

Steiny