Birmingham, Alabama, August 17, 2003

Greetings from your class of 78 volunteer webmaster.

Lisa Sabbagh Gholmia was gracious enough to send in some pictures of our class trip to Salvador - thanks Lisa!  See them in the 70s Pictures section.

Our 25th class reunion was held July 18-20 at the beautiful Lago Mar resort in Fort Lauderdale and I can unconditionally say that everyone had a BLAST!    Hats off and super-parabens to Mark Wilson and Tami (Harris) Darden for putting together such a worldy event.

Unfortunately a lot of folks who would have liked to come weren't able to, so I've uploaded all of the pictures I took and will continue to upload more as they trickle in.  Click here to see what a great time we had.  A few narrative thoughts were broadcast shortly after the reunion which emphasizes the exuberance that we experienced:

From Dan Reddan:

Wow!  24 hours later and my thoughts are still clearly focused on the weekends activities.  I went in with no real idea what to expect, and found that many long buried itches were being scratched... It's cool that wearing your favorite camiseta can bring validation to others.  I have always had to tell people that I was 'like this' because I was born in the Hospital dos Estrangeiros, but now I KNOW there are others.  Part of what brought it all together for me was the warmth and openness displayed by the people who were NOT  at Graded the same years I was, and for that matter, those who never attended at all (Note to Seth: any woman who will buy you a Lowden is a big time keeper).  To those who were unable to attend, I was sorry that we could not revisit our dias viceado com a futebol, and hoping that I can convey enough sense of 'you really missed a good one' to induce enough saudades to get you there the next time.  (Rumor has it that the number of those is limited.)   To my 'newly met best friends', it is a privilege to finally meet you, and add faces to the stories.  I take comfort in knowing that somebody had the good sense to put our names on the same list; Life IS good!  To the class stalwarts, you made us who we are/it's all your fault... you deserve to dislocate your shoulders patting yourselves on the back.  If you don't feel you belong in any of these groups, we all love you too.  And if you happen to be Mark Wilson- Valeu Amigo! Abracao  Dan Reddan
PS can anybody tell me how I can teach my computer Portugues? My spell check wants to change 'saudades' to 'sausages'.  Perhaps I should be contacting Hormel about my broken heart...

From Anna Chalmers: 

What a weekend!!  First, to all the attendees of the 2003 Graded Reunion in Ft. Lauderdale, thanks for making the trip.  I do still believe that it was a secret experiment of caiprinha induced memory recall. Results still being evaluated. The opportunity to spend time with all the 1978 classmates, alumni and our solo faculty member, Matt Kenny; was tremendous. Lots of laughs, sometimes until we cried.  Second, to all the wonderful spouses that joined us. You were all so gracious. At least now you know all the stories are true. Our few junior attendees, allowing  us all to see the same small faces some of us grew up with. A proven fact of the truth about the "circle of life".  To all of you that could not attend this year; be assured that each of you were asked about, updated about (we now know who has lost all or most of their hair). The photos of years gone by brought back the memories of events in our lives that most of us had forgotten. As the old 1978 yearbook was passed around, every classmate and faculty member was refreshed in our memory.

Some final thoughts: True high school love can and does last, thanks D2. Mr. Kenny can now officially be referred to as Matt, except by the waiters. Dunn is still done, just very well done now.  All Billy(s) can now be called Bill. Helium is an inert gas. Mongo is now Mango. The 40 plus crowd can stay up past midnight, one, two, three and even four AM. And for all those in attendance the word of the weekend is       . Old friends are still friends, now they are just old. To our parents, where ever they may be, "Thank you" for giving us the opportunity to be a part of an incredible experience at such a young age.

To our fearless leader, Mark Wilson. The weekend was the best. If we did not get a chance to thank you, then just wait for the photos (hundreds of them) about to explode on line. Every smile, every gesture, and every antic is us
telling you thanks for a job done so very well.  Everyone, clear of email files, the collection of photos is on the way.
 

Because of limitations of our web host, I was unable to upload full size images of the 2003 reunion pictures.  If you see a picture that you'd like to have a full size copy of for printing, send me an email and I'll zap it / them to you.  I took over 30 megs of pics and more are on the way...

Please visit and leave a note on our new message board where you all can post messages and exchange ideas in a common forum.  Please post away - I hope you enjoy it.

In closing, I'd like to ask for everyone's help.  Whenever I get an email returned undeliverable, I update their profile and the Class List with RECENTLY CHANGED EMAIL.  Whenever you see this and know of someone's current addy, please let me know.  Spread the word about our website to other folks you know from Graded.  Chances are they might know where some of our missing 78'ers are...

Please enjoy your visit, and as always, may your God be with you.

Dave

UPDATES

8/17/03 - Added pictures from the 1978 class trip to Salvador, courtesy of Lisa (Sabbagh) Gholmia.

8/5/03 - Added CV for George Baker, Monica (Scheidler) Baker and Alfredo Glik.  Also added a super-cool link to an intercative batucada Brasileira.  Click on each of the players to turn them on or off!

7/25/03 - Uploaded 2003 reunion pictures, and new pic from Eric Vaughan

7/4/03 - Uploaded more high school yearbook pictures, general overhaul

3/29/03 - Overhaul day

2/6/03 - Nancy sent me a new picture, updated her email address and sent me some more 70s pictures.  Keep 'em coming!

2/5/03 - Eric Craig sent me a new email address eric.craig@e-systems.uk.com and a request to complete a survey for his MBA ( http://www.e-systems.uk.com/SurveyInd.htm ) if anyone has a few minutes to spare.

2/3/03 - Received a bio from Beth Brownson who attended Graded from 72 to 74.

9/24/02 Sylmara Valente checked in with her bio and a short message.

9/23/02 Tami (Harris) Darden dropped me a note to tell me that Margie Enriquez is a grandmother with a second on the way!

9/22/02: Website overhaul day.

9/14/02 Bill Gay checked in with a short message.

9/10/02 Tami(Harris) Darden sent in Susie (Mangels) Cox's e-mail address and short profile.

9/2/02:  Waldir Chao sent me Fernando Beer’s email addy.

9/1/02 Suzy Schwartz dropped in to let us know her first CD has been published; check it out at http://www.cdbaby.com/suzys.

9/1/02:  Tami forwarded to me Sylmara Valente’s email addy.

8/31/02 Lisa Sabbagh dropped in with a note and bio.

8/30/02 Waldir Chao sent in his bio. 

8/29/02 Dan Reddan sent in a picture and a link to a website where you can check out his CD Cara De Pau http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/330/cara_de_pau.html.

8/28/02 Marco Suplicy sends in his compliments about the pictures of 45 year-old women on the web.  This was met with a barrage of emails pointing out we aren’t 45 years old…yet…

8/27/02 Marcelo Rangel sent in his bio.

8/26/02 Jeff Kenyon sent in an updated bio.

8/26/02 short note from Waldir Chao promising to send more info later…

8/25/02 update from Donna Case.

8/25/02 Mike Scott sent in his bio.

8/25/02 Andy Beery sent in his bio and a pic of his family.

8/25/02 Elsie Rotenburg sent in a short note with promise to send more info later.

8/23/02 Dennis Dunn officially enquires about the 2003 reunion

February 18, 2001 from Richard Woodard  DickWoodward@Yahoo.com

Hi David,

I taught math three years at Graded '76-'79. Thanks for the updated Aquila. These community building projects take a lot of work. I truly appreciated virtually reacquainting with the class of '78. It sure is interesting how former student's lives have played forward. Judging from how successful everyone's bios read, I can only conclude that you students must have learned better than we teachers taught. Even twenty-five years after, former students whom I occasionally run into still greet me as "Mr. Woodward". Somehow, teachers forever remain at that emotional arm's length that was appropriate at the time. The distinction blurs though - especially after 25 years. I am as interested as anyone in learning how your lives played forward.

I quit teaching after leaving Brazil, but my daughter Margaret (who was born in Sao Paulo) and I visited Graded last year. It is the only time I've been back. The place sure has exploded. What hasn't changed, surprisingly, was the little group of row houses where I lived in Brooklyn Paulista. Of the nine houses in around our little cul-de-sac, eight families still resided where they lived when I lived in the ninth. A very pleasant little reunion in itself.

Thanks,

Richard Woodward
Cedar Rapids, IA

Home: (319) 362-9890 DickWoodward@Yahoo.com
Work: (319) 851-7318 DickWoodward@Alliant-Energy.com