Hello to All,

When we had our cyber-reunion a few years ago I was so glad to hear what others in our class were doing. Thanks, Priscilla and Scott, for the info about out upcoming 40th Reunion and to you Ken, for starting the 38th Anniverserary Cyber-Updates.

I am still in my house a couple blocks up from the beach on Vancouver Island (on the east side, not the West Coast where the big waves are). I lost both breasts to cancer 11 years ago and my husband died from cancer 7 years ago. It was a hard few years back then but I have emerged with a nice, peaceful lifestyle on my own. I have become very selfish with my time and space and am not currently looking for anyone new to share them with! And, no, I am not anywhere near lonely---my life is full each and every day. I think that's what crisis does for you---makes you think of the future as one day at a time---to use a cliche'.

I continue to work full time in my own business. I taxonomically identify marine invertebrates and my business is now almost 30 years old. I like the freedom (my lab is in my house) to work like crazy but take a day off when I want to do something interesting.

Our daughter is 25 and has a degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia. She has an administrative job on campus at the moment but is planning to enter graduate school in the next few years for a PhD in Clinical Psych. She wants to work with kids at risk for or already in the justice system. She is a provincial level fitness competitor (Lindsey Lipovsky) and has her next competition July 21. The day after, she and her boyfriend head to Bali for a vacation.

Our son is 21 and still lives at home with me and helps out with yardwork and the occasional scary noise in the dark! He is doing some web design projects and has a small business sorting marine samples before they come to me for analysis. He was in a serious car accident a year and a half ago. It wasn't his fault--a guy in a big diesel truck pulled out in front of him and there was no way to avoid hitting him. His right femur snapped at impact and so he has a full-length nail and screw in his leg and aches, pains, and crackling noises in his other knee, elbows and shoulders. He hit the brake even though there was no way to avoid hitting the truck but his arms and legs were hyperextended at impact. So, this year his lawyer is sending him for lots of physical assessments so we all know what his short and long term outlooks are.

Like Ken and Joanne have said---I feel more like mid-30's than mid-50's except for the reading glasses and hair coloring. I can still stay up all night working or having fun with friends and I think 'I still have it'--but, the difference now is that it takes a few days to recover! And, a 'big drunk' now consists of a bottle of wine!

I think this time of my life is the best---I have worked hard up to this point and I know more of what in Life is important or not. I have had a LOT of difficult things to deal with since 1969 but all of it has made me who I am now and there is a contentment that I feel that I don't recall feeling when I was younger.

Take care,

Sandy (McConnell) Lipovsky

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I was just thinking about today’s date this morning while I was documenting my time teaching my exercise classes and was astonished to think that it had been 38 years ago today that we graduated – it is amazing since I, too, do not feel much older than 39! However, psychologically, I am loving the 50s even better – after all of these years, I have finally learned to just go with the flow and not get bothered by most of the obstacles that life sometimes throws my way (and, heck, most other things I can’t remember 5 minutes later anyway, so who cares?!).

My life has been a real roller coaster for the past year: my Dad was treated for another esophageal cancer (after having had it + lung cancer + a level 4 melanoma 12 years before), one of my closest friends lost her 16 year old son to cancer, my husband decided he didn’t want to married to me anymore (we’ve had lots of ups and downs over the years, particularly every 7 years and that was a week after our 28th anniversary), my Dad’s cancer came back and he was told he would likely die by Nov 2006 (he’s still alive and looking pretty good, though he is clearly fading now), I drove with older sister Carolyn from the south shore of NJ across country so she could move back to the Seattle area and in the middle one of our younger sisters (Nancy) was found to have breast cancer, and my husband and I agreed it was time to end our marriage. Because of my sister’s and Dad’s cancers, I have been making monthly trips up to Seattle, which has been pretty stressful. However, it has brought all four of us Watchie girls much closer, and has offered the added benefit of being able to see my son Tony, who is in the MD-PhD program at the U of W. Whew! What a fun year 2006 was…!!

Fortunately, 2007 is looking much better! I have recently moved into my own great condo in Pasadena (CA) with my golden retriever, while my husband is still sitting in our big house down the street in San Marino (he thought it was too stressful to quickly fix up the house so we could sell it, and so is going to deal with it himself on a more leisurely pace). We are in the no-man’s land between marriage and divorce at least until the house is sold, but at least I have health insurance this way! And I have the freedom to be my naturally joyful self (something my husband had trouble tolerating), and I am loving it!! And sister Nancy has completed her chemo and then had her mastectomy the 1st of May and is now training for the Seattle 3-Day Walk in Sept, sister Monica has returned to her HS teaching after having a total knee replacement in mid-April, and sister Carolyn is finally free after spending the past 6 months taking care of the younger two, so she can finally take the WA state real estate law exam so she can return to work as a real estate broker, probably in the Tacoma area.

As for work, I retired from teaching in the doctoral of Physical Therapy program at Mount St. Mary’s College in LA a year ago (spending endless hours, including two all-nighters a week, on prep and grading, etc was taking a toll on me while earning me only ~$9K a year…) and have been working on a 2nd edition of the cardiopulmonary physical therapy book I wrote a decade ago, which I hope to complete by the end of the summer. I still teach exercise classes for the South Pasadena YMCA, including laughter classes I created (I also give presentation around the country, “Laugh and Live Longer,” including next October for the USC Trojans Parents Weekend). I am no longer able to practice PT in the hospital due to a bad neck and back injury from a fall (I can not lift patients any more, and heaven knows, cardiac patients often get dizzy and faint during treatment). So now I have to figure out what I want to do for income (other than spousal support) after I finish the book – expand my laughter business or my private training targeting clients with heart and/or lung disease, or…? Maybe I’ll have it figured out by the time of our 40th reunion.

Take care!

Joanne Watchie

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May 7, 2006

Hello – I just looked at this website. You all have such wonderful lives, have achieved so much, and kept in touch with each other! I have stayed in really close touch with Robin Johnson (Blackbourn) – we've been friends since the third grade in Miss Hoodless's class at Enatai. She has been a wonderful friend - more like a sister. Daryl Anderson and I have written and emailed for decades and when he dropped Tierney off at college, he and his wife, Kathy came by for dinner. I try to touch base often with Presha Sparling, especially since so many things remind me of her and make me miss her. Her family had such a positive influence on me. And sometimes I get in touch with Kandy Kelly and Heidi Keil (Richards), both cheerful and upbeat people that give me a lift just talking to them. I have known Heidi since Mrs. Shoulder's nursery school and maybe even before, because our parents were friends.

After high school I became friends with Carol Jensen (Johnsen), who graduated our same year from Sammamish High School. Her father had been my dentist my whole life, so I had always seen her picture with her three sisters and two brothers on his office wall, and spent many hours wondering about them and hearing stories – I visited the dentist a lot. They also heard stories about me – like I thanked their dad for the nice time when I left and once fell asleep in the chair when he was working on my teeth. Anyway, Carol and her sisters were cheerleaders at Sammamish, so we always talked at our rival games. We worked at the Butcher Restaurant when we were in college and we've been close friends since. Her son, Justen just graduated from law school in San Diego on Saturday, so I went down and saw her and her whole family at the graduation. So that's the other Bellevue connection I have.

It is a little intimidating to offer any information about myself…..I feel like writing about Roger Lewis's subject, but then he was obviously kidding and is really living an idyllic life in Napa. The two best things that happened to me in these years since high school were my kids. I have two sons that grew into wonderful men. Austin is my oldest – he turns 27 this month and is in the US Coast Guard stationed at Air Station Miami. He is in Avionic Electronics and rides in jets, locating boats and sending coordinates to ships below. He just got married March 1 st. Jennifer, my new daughter-in-law, is a flight attendant for Jet Blue. They are selling their condos and buying a house in Coral Springs, Florida, and will move into that in June. He plans to start graduate school in the fall to get his Masters in ….Tax Preparation. (His Bachelor's was in Accounting). He is half way through the six years he enlisted for in the Coast Guard.

Austin went to college on a football scholarship to UNLV. He bought a house there when he was in school and had a house full of roommates, finally bringing Ajay, his brother – three years younger, out from California to live with him. Austin moved away and Ajay stayed in Las Vegas and managed Austin's house for a couple of years, while he worked and also went to school. Ajay is an EMT and goes to school full time at UNLV, working towards the goal of becoming a doctor. Austin sold his Las Vegas house last summer, so Ajay now lives in a condo with his girlfriend, Josie. He is about six hours away from me, so I have become quite familiar with that Mojave desert drive.

Ten years ago, my husband was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. Life became horrific and seven years ago, Ajay and I were able to leave, survive, and start over. Ajay now has some contact with him and his dad has remarried, lives in the San Diego area, and seems to have stabilized.

When something like this happens, your life becomes severed at that point. They say "life is short", but when I look back, it seems like I have lived many different separate lives. So instead of trying to recap those lives, I will just describe this most current one. I have lived in Newport Beach, California with my boyfriend Mark for four and a half years. We live on the Balboa Peninsula, a narrow finger of land that sticks out into the Pacific Ocean and creates Newport Harbor. The bay is less than 100 yards behind us and the ocean less than 100 yards in front. It is a very scenic place to live with the boats, the ferry, the Fun Zone, the Balboa Pier, the beach, seals, dolphins, and even whales, just outside the door. Some nights the fog horn goes all night, and in the morning when there is no traffic I can hear the waves. Also, what sounds like a lot of dogs barking, but it is really all the seals – they all climbed on a sailboat last summer and sank it!

Mark and I are equity traders at WM Financial in Irvine. We sit about two feet away from each other at work, so we're together about 24/7 and get along great. We knew each other from work and got together after we decided to go skiing a couple of times and then he asked me to dinner. I impressed him with my skiing and he impressed me with his cooking! Mark is a fantastic cook and unfortunately we have eaten well…We are trying to cut down and get more active, but it might require some more extreme measures? We are both trying to leave our current job. Mark is planning on changing careers and has gone back to school with plans to go to medical school, something he has in common with Ajay. (Mark was born in 1969, so this is feasible).

I am adding an insurance license to my other licenses, so hopefully I can go somewhere else. At one time the security and benefits seemed like a good idea, but I have gotten into a rut and want to make more money! So I am going somewhere….it could involve moving – we'll just have to see. So, by the time another reunion comes around, hopefully I will have another whole new life to tell you about.

Until then … Sherry Madsen

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Dear Bellevue HS Classmate of 1969.... Today June 9, 2005 marks the 36th anniversary of our graduation date. Please send any updates on email addresses to me. Counting down 4 years to our 40th anniversary party!PS: for those of you who attended Medina Elementary School, the district is going to demolished the current building and build a new school. Medina Elementary School is hosting a "Building Farewell Ceremony" on Wed. June 22, 2005, Reception at 10am, School Gym, Ceremony 10:30 am - 11:30 am, Main Courtyard. (see website for more info: www.medinapta.org)

Priscilla Taylor Hickey

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March, 2005 Thanks to the trusty Ken Bankson, we have the first new photo of the year. Yep, it's the proud Grandpa and Conner T. Use the link above to send your pictures, folks.A few tidbits of news have trickled in. If you were watching the Oscars and saw Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor win for the screenplay of "Sideways," you were watching Doug Taylor's younger brother up there. Nice.I'm afraid I'll be updating the In Memoriam page soon. We lost history teacher Jim Hershey a while back. Rest in Peace, Jim.I'm going to try to update and improve our little reunion page as the year wears on, anticipating the emotional outpour that's due come June 9, 2005 -- our 36th, but who's counting. Keep those cards and letters coming. ~Daryl

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Thanks, Priscilla!!  Looking forward to 2009! So how is life with you? Guess what?  Tony (son of Joanne and Andrew Raubitschek) is going to be moving to Seattle in July to go to the Medical Scientist Training Program at the U of W!  He'll be there 8 years to get his MD + a PhD in cancer research.  He chose it over UCLA because he didn't want to live in LA and U of W has a really good program in his area of interest, not to mention that is more highly ranked in both medicine and research!  I will be driving up there with him July 15-16th to keep him company and help him get settled.Take care!

Joanne Watchie

Roger,

Until we see some photo evidence I think we have no alternative but to assume you are actually living in a cardboard box behind a McDonalds somewhere---and you showed such promise---jeez what a pity.

We are all friends here, don't try to keep up appearances on our account (and speaking of appearances--how obese are you?...because I'm thinking Jabba the Hutt). Anyway as friends you can tell us the truth and we will listen sympathetically and not laugh (this is cyberspace so you won't be able to hear us when we do....I mean, if we did......which we won't....although I really can't speak for everyone.)

Jo

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Note from the Webmaster:
In response to the widespread panic caused by his last posting, Roger Lewis sends the following reassurance:

July 6, 2004

Dear Class:

We may have lost our hair and girlish figures but hopefully not our sense of humor. I am alive and well, with a great family, successful practice, beautiful home, etc. Apparently I better not give up my day job, as my career as a humorist is in jeopardy.

Keep your letters and pictures coming, it is fun. By the way the GMO group looks pretty good to me, if my kids can help me figure out how to do it, we will try and send a picture along.

Fondly,
Roger

Jump to the earlier message that got Roger into all this trouble. Was he really class president?

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June 30, 2004

Dear BHS '69,

As many of you have already mentioned, I am also very pleased to contribute to our cyberspace 35th reunion. After many valuable lessons learned over the years, I prophesize that none of us are the same person that we thought we knew long ago. As for me, Bill Rahe, the story continues…..

	After graduation from BHS, I moved to Santa Barbara, CA. and found a great job as a personal chauffeur for a movie personality at Universal Studios. My first 2 years of college were in Grand Junction, CO. During those early years I was a full-time crazy ski instructor at several ski areas including a year at Steamboat Springs. After a year at USC, I finally graduated from Sonoma State University in CA in 1975. Within a year I married & we moved to Reno NV where I was a restaurant manager at one of the major casinos. By the late 70’s, a military career seemed to be a good idea. To tell you my job titles and all the skills attained would be a useless and boring endeavor. Suffice it to say that at the height of my career I was once personally responsible for over $6B in military assets (another over achiever?). After 18 yrs, 4mos & 29 days I was afforded a unique opportunity to accept an early retirement package, even though I maintain that I was intentionally “let out for good behavior.”
	In 1997 I started working for an international staffing and professional services company. I started off as a Project Manager in FL, was promoted to their East Coast Operations and Finance Manager, then eventually became a Senior Business Analyst in their Information Technology business unit. Like many others during 2001, I was part of a corporate downsizing effort (along with 400 others on the same day). When the hatchet came we were fortunately settled quite comfortably into our mountain home about 50 miles west of Colorado Springs, CO. A local town called Cripple Creek has legalized gaming so my family & I all have jobs (an easy commute) just 5 miles down the road. Unfortunately, a family member living near Napa, CA has developed some serious physical problems so just this week we’ve had to list our home in order to allow us the freedom to go take care of family business. Anyone want/need a beautiful mountain chalet? It’s available for immediate occupancy.
	As for me, who knows what’s in store or what kind of person I’ll continue to evolve into. I could soon be living in CA near Lake Berryessa or perhaps I’ll still be a CO mountain man. Only time will tell. As for our daughter Kelly, she graduated from HS this June and only needs one semester of college to attain her AA degree in Criminal Justice. I don’t know what I’m going to do with her after one semester (the age of a Freshman, soon to begin her Junior year?). Oh my gawd! Hey, it’s been fun. Drop me a line if you ever want to chat. Bill Rahe Back to Top

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Dear Classmates:

I have thoroughly enjoyed our e-reunion and decided to write in more detail, since my previous email was sent to Priscilla only, in response to her original message. It's hard to write about yourself and family without sounding like a braggart. Obvioulsy nobody wants to talk about their obesity, depression, negative net worth or spoiled kids. So I decided I would. I am depressed, obese, broke and my kids are rotten. There you have it.

When people ask what was it like growing up in Bellevue, I say white and Republican. I am still white and still a Democrat. If you look closely in your Beacon you might spot me proudly wearing my HHH '68 button, not too many of you had one of those. I guess most of us still share our parents political leanings--indeed my fifteen year old daughter recently asked me to explain the difference between a Democrat and Republican. Not wanting to unduly influence her and hoping to inspire her political independence I told her I had no idea. I guess that means she will be a Democrat, and so it goes.

One challenge of raising teenagers is the issue of friendship. Everybody wants friends but most kids have to figure out just what constitues a friend. For the younger kids, their friends from yesterday are their thorns today, because of something said or done on the playground. For the older kids there is usually something about the other that isn't just what they hoped (kind of like dating). When I was in high school I felt like I had more friends that I could count, but now I cannot even think of who they were or what they looked like. Here we are thirty five years later reaching out to past friends with the same yearnings and uncertainty as our own kids.

Ok, you can add one more to the list, l am lonely too. Depressed, obese, broke, rotten kids AND lonely. Certainly missing the excitement, comfort, laughter, variety and companionship that we took for granted in our earlier days.

Now for the details. I am in my 27th year of law practice, as a family law specialist. You won't find that in my statement of goals in 1969. I have a 2 person firm in Napa, in a 1904 building, across the street from the Courthouse built in 1878. I drive about 8 minutes a day, total. Not too bad. Napa is something like Bellevue in 1969, no buildings over 2 stories and no stoplights you miss. It is also sunny about 300 days a year.

My wife, Denise, is a stay at home Mom having retired from pharmaceutical sales to be a mother. I certainly appreciate her job and wouldn't trade with her.

Emily is 15, a sophomore at Napa High School (2660 kids). She's an honors kid, sax player in the band and number 2 on the girls golf team. A great kid.

Paul and Hannah are starting Middle School (6th grade) in August. They are eleven, good friends but very different. Hannah is a foot taller, great disposition, really "normal"; Paul has a great sense of humor but never goes outdoors. At least not until he has wireless equipment that will allow him to be online outside. I have been collecting Paulisms for a few years, a few favorites are: "I 'm not flying (after 9/11), I don't want to spend the rest of my life dead" or my all time favorite "I'm lactose, but I'm not tolerant."

Here's to fond memories and a great high school experience. Here's to friends near and far. To those of you in poor health I wish you companionship and humor and the strength to allow us to get together on our next big anniversary.

Fondly,
Roger Lewis

Jump to Roger's first message

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THE EMAIL MESSAGE THAT STARTED ALL THIS:

Monday, June 21, 2004

"Hi" from Debbie Bishop. This is great! So good to hear from everybody so far. I wasn't going to write in, but then when I started wishing that more people would write, I realized that I was one of the ones who wasn't.

Since Ken has already written in about our kids, I won't bore you all with more news of them, even though I can't imagine boring anyone... Except that being a grandparent is very exciting! As for me, I have been married for over 15 years and have just recently moved back to the Bellevue area after living in Tucson, Arizona. We are currently living in a hotel while looking for a house. The housing market here is a bit depressing after Tucson, but hopefully, we will find something soon.

After reading that most of you are close to, or in retirement, my husband and I made a big decision (that may be crazy) to go into business for ourselves. My husband has been an Executive Director in the Nonprofit world (Music) forever and decided that it was a time for a change. His next love, besides music, is building and so we went into business with a good friend of ours who has been building homes for years. Which meant that I had to dust off my working shoes and get back to work. I had been in the Dental field for over 30 years and I'm actually enjoying being back to work again. At this time in our lives, when things should be winding down, I find that it's just the opposite. It's wonderful to be back in the Seattle area with family, friends and seeing 'new excitement' in my husband again.

Life has been good. Wonderful husband, kids, friends and health. I couldn't ask for more and wouldn't change a thing. Hope all is well with everyone and looking forward to seeing most of you if we have a 40th.

Debbie Bishop Bankson Murray

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Hi Priscilla,

It's Laurie Fish DePonty. Thank you so much for sending the Class of 1969 website to me. It has been such fun to read the emails and entries. It sounds like you and Scott are doing well on the east coast. I loved your picture of Ned's wedding.

We are still living in Spokane. I am an independent sales rep. for Red Apple Morley, a fundraising company, and cover all of eastern and central Washington and now the Portland area. I have done quite well over the past 5 years fortunately and hope to work about 5 more years. I am in the process of hiring and training reps. for the Portland territory. Frank is still selling birdseed. We sold our birdseed manufacturing company 6 years ago and he stayed on with them.

Tom, our oldest, graduated from University of Puget Sound in May of 2003 and is working for a political consulting firm in Seattle. He may go to graduate school in 2005 in political policy/law. He is getting great experience at the job he has presently. Katie, 21, is beginning her senior year at U. of Redlands majoring in English Lit and Religious studies. She is thinking grad school in Higher Education Management. She wants to work counseling college kids basically. She has been very active in the Admissions department at Redlands and in school government. So time will tell. They are at a great age and we love being with them when we can.

We are building our 4th house. We wanted a smaller home and building was the solution. Both Frank and I have been fortunate to have our good health and it amazes us that we are still in Spokane. We enjoy golfing and hiking with our lab, Madison. Thank you again for sharing the web sight. I hope to hear more from you.

Love,

Laurie Fish DePonty

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It's been great fun reading the emails and hearing what you've all been up to. Who would have guessed, back in school, we'd be communicating like this?

It's great reading the success stories and above all, reading that people are happy in their lives. I was also touched by the cancer stories some of you shared. I find it amazing that so many of us were touched by breast cancer. I too was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1994 and again in 1999. I was lucky, both times it was caught early and I'm doing fine now. John and I recently celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary (I think I have you all beat in that area). Our daughter, who recently turned 30 (that made me feel old) graduated in business from WWU. After graduation she moved to Hood River, OR and got married. Last year they moved to Bellingham and she opened a jewelry business in Old Fairhaven. They just bought a house, so they'll be there for a while. No grandchildren yet, but I'm sure that'll happen soon. Congratulations to Ken & Debbie...I can hardly wait for that time in my life!

John is still with A.O.G. (Airplane on the Ground) at Boeing and feeling more secure in his job these days(thank goodness!). I spent 20 years with two airlines and during that time we were lucky enough to see many parts of the world. Seven years ago I moved from the travel industry to Human Resources and went into training. I've been with AAA as a training manager ever since. My office is just down the hill from BHS. I still travel a bit...but now it's to places like Lewiston or Walla Walla. After spending three years in Hawaii, John and I moved to Kirkland in 1974, where we live today. We're currently building a second home on five acres of a hillside we own overlooking the Pacific. It's a beautiful place and some day we'll live there several months out of each year. For now, it'll be nice just having a weekend get-away. I love hearing the retirement stories some of you shared...I can hardly wait! Life has been good to me and I believe the best is yet to come. Take care everyone! Wishing you love and happiness!

Nancy Coffin Ballard

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Well, this is a great way to have a reunion and get caught up. Thanks, Priscilla!

My news is divided into not good and good. The not good is that I lost both breasts to cancer in 1996 and had surgery, chemo, and radiation therapy. The good is that I have been wonderfully healthy since then. The other not good is that I lost my husband to cancer in 2000 when our son was 14 and our daughter had just finished with her first year at university. With this being our 35 BHS reunion, I know that I am not the only one of us having to deal with serious and sad issues and getting used to a new way of life.

We live on the east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia (an hour north of Nanaimo in case anybody is in the area) and it has got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Just a few days ago there were 38 bald eagles on the beach in my neighborhood waiting for fish. Lindsey, our daughter, graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in Psychology and will work for a year and then go for her PhD in Clinical Psych--her interest is young people at risk or already in the justice system. She is looking for a good graduate school and we are all still US citizens so we are looking in Canada and the US in case anybody has any good leads. She is a fitness competitor as well. Our son is almost 19 and graduated from high school but has not found a focus for the future yet. He is home with me and helps out with the yard and is good company so I think I am glad that he isn't out the door and gone too.

I have been a contract marine biologist for years and my specialty is identifying benthic marine invertebrates, the small animals that live in the marine muds. Because I have a lot of experience by now I also have a lot of work. I think it was Joanne who wrote in one of those reunion memory books about most of us being typical BHS overachievers. From what I have read in these reunion emails so far, we are still and also have passed the legacy on to our children!! For many years, one of my favorite comments at frustrating workshops and commtitee meetings is "A camel is a horse made by a committee"--a comment that will flash an immediate brain-image of the lecturn in the Humanities room to many of you!!! I am looking forward to reading what many of the rest of us are up to and where we all are geographically.

Cheers,
Sandy (McConnell) Lipovsky

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Hello everyone!

What a fun idea to at least get caught up by email at this time. It's pretty funny because I received an email out of the blue from Fat Al a few days ago, who had gotten my address from Priscilla, so we have been getting caught up a bit. I love email!! I can't write a letter to save my life, but I can do email.

My husband Andrew and I are still living in San Marino, CA, a few doors south of Pasadena, where we have been since 1992. Andrew is head of Radioimmunotherapy at the City of Hope and is doing some very exciting research involving new treatments for cancer, which he then gets to administer directly into patients. New technologies are allowing him to try things he has fantasized about for nearly 30 years, and they're working!!

We have one son, Tony, who is in his 4th year at UC San Diego and majoring in Biochemistry with a minor in Math (amazingly he's not a nerd … ). He has two more quarters to go before finishing and then will be off to do a MD/PhD somewhere. Fortunately, he loves science and research, so it's not really work for him, more like fun? Anyway, we have no idea where in the country he will be headed next year. In between finishing at UCSD and starting med school, he hopes we will fund a few months of travel. Last year he spent the Fall studying in Cordoba, Spain and had the time of his life, so now he has the travel bug.

I continue to teach physical therapy at Mount St. Mary's College in Los Angeles part-time. Our program has recently changed from a Master's to a Doctoral program, which has required a lot of reworking of classes. I am also in the midst of a revision of the book I wrote a few years ago, Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy - A Clinical Manual, which I hope to complete before I resume teaching at the end of August.

Other things that have kept me busy include teaching exercise classes at our local YMCA, serving as host parents for AFS students (last year we had a 17 year old boy from Liepzig, Germany and this year we had our first daughter, a 17 year old from Rio de Janeiro), and volunteering at our local high school running a program where our seniors tutor kids at an elementary school in Pasadena and taking pictures for the waterpolo and swim teams.

Joanne Watchie

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Hello from Idaho,

My family and I have lived in the Sun Valley area since 1985, after stints in Wenatchee and Pasadena. Living in a ski resort was the last thing I ever expected to do. I pastored the Presbyterian church in Sun Valley for 15 years until summer of 2000, when I left the pastorate to become a capital stewardship consultant with RSI, the largest stewardship consulting firm in the U.S., headquartered in Dallas.

About 45 weeks a year I am jumping on a plane to work somewhere across the country, sometimes two or three different cities in a week. Living out of a suitcase has gotten old but I enjoy the ministry I have with good folks across the U.S. And the few hundred thousand frequent flyer miles each year come in handy..."Dad, I want to go see a friend in (fill in the blank). Can you get me a ticket?"

Kathy and I had our 30th anniversary in December. She's a first grade teacher and loves her job, which is good since she has a totally empty nest just about every week. Our three kids are all in college, which in order to pay off loans will keep me running through airports as a consultant until I am at least 93. Shannon (21) will be a senior at Redlands University in psychology. Mark, our oldest at 22, is a junior at Azusa Pacific University, majoring in Cinema Broadcast Arts and beginning to make some minor contacts in the production end of things in Hollywood. The two of them are about 45 minutes apart in the Los Angeles area, which makes it convenient to visit both of them a couple of times a year. Mark took two years off after high school to work and be a snowboard bum at Mammoth Mountain in California, but when he realized his younger sister was leaving him in the dust, college-wise, he decided he had better get moving. Plus, he decided that tuning skis and snowboards for the rest of his life wasn't for him. Kristen (19) will be entering her sophomore year at Seattle Pacific studying art, architecture and interior design. She obviously didn't get her high degree of creativity from me.

After missing the 30 year reunion, I was hoping there might be one this summer. But it's enjoyable catching up with everyone via the website.


Al Oliver

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Hello from Mukilteo! JoAnn Quinn Harbert here. I thought if I responded maybe some others (and you know who you are) will too. So here goes … as of next thursday, Rick and I will have been married for 32 years … I know, I can hardly believe it myself. He has a consulting engineering business where I help out from time to time. We have two daughters. Our youngest (Ricki 23) graduated today from the UW and is planning on going to Law School. Our oldest (MJ 26) is finishing up her third year at the UW Med School … I help them out from time to time as well … usually in the form of unsolicited advice … they would tell you LOTS of UNsolicited advice.

I have a small photography business. In fact, one of my latest gigs was photographing that absolutely adorable Bankson/Murray grandson.

Love this reunion in cyberspace … we all look remarkably young!

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HI!!

It's always good to hear how former BHS '69 grads are doing. I retired last June from the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, WA, after 30 years of teaching. My husband is semi-retired still owning a transportation/warehouse business. Since my retirement, my husband and I have taken our Honda Goldwing cycle and covered 11 states and 1 Canadian province putting on over 13,000 miles. This summer we hope to go most of the way across Canada and down into Wyoming to visit relatives.

This spring we opened a second warehouse in Ontario, CA, so we had the opportunity to visit friends in Palm Springs. In April we went to Mexico and Hawaii for several weeks. We fell in love with the Baja Peninsula and bought a 1/2 acre lot outside of a small town on the Sea of Cortez above Cabos where we hope to build a house and spend the winters.

We currently spend the summers and weekends, when we aren't traveling, at our beach house on the Oregon coast. I do volunteer work several days a week at a women's homeless shelter tutoring a 13 year old in reading, writing, and math. I'm also at an elementary school with a 5th grade Lunch Buddy and I tutor 1st graders in reading.

Our daughter is a senior at the U of W majoring in comparative literature and minoring in Spanish. She will spend the summer in southern Mexico immersing herself in the culture thus earning credits in her major/minor at the U. She hopes to graduate in 2005.

I hope that you are all well and enjoying life to the fullest!!! Have a wonderful and safe summer.

Mary Ann Curtis-Egging
Ridgefield, WA 98642

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Wow, it amazing to hear everyone's different stories. Funny how life goes? Here's an update from us in Toronto. Life is good and I try to enjoy everyday and be thankful for my good health and my blessings of a wonderful husband, great kids, super friends and a life I love waking up to each morning. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998 and the next few years were quite rocky but things seemed to have straightened out. Nothing like cancer to turn your head around!

As a result (I think) I am slowly winding down my PR practice here. Public relations has been a wonderful career and has taken me places about which I would have never dreamed. However, the deadlines, crazy producers and clients, and the media all create more stress than I to want. Quite by accident, while in Paris three years ago, I discovered a beautiful line of jewelry and I am now dealing, quite unbelievably, in jewelry, importing and buying all over the world and just LOVING it. In the meantime, I am doing both which makes for busy days.

Charlie and I have two children - a son who is 19 and has just finished his first year in Mechanical Engineering - Automotive Option at the University of Windsor. He will be teaching mountain biking this summer at a camp about two hours north of Toronto and is quite the biker! (This weekend he is riding 100 miles for charity.) Our daughter, who is 17, has one more year of high school and is an extremely motivated kid - a superb student taking the International Baccalaureate diploma, Head Girl, good athlete, popular etc. etc. It will be very interesting to see where and what she ends up doing. She spent two months last year as an exchange student in Australia and had an incredible time.

Charlie is an International Tax Partner with Ernst & Young here and very, very busy all the time. We love to travel and have taken some amazing trips. We spend as much time as possible about one and half hours north of Toronto at a second home we built on a lake about 14 years ago. It is heavenly there but with teenage kids at home, it is sometimes hard to get away. I wish you all the best and am really enjoying hearing about everyone's life. I am calling it our Class Reunion in Cyberspace!

God bless.........love

Edye Roumm Webster

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Hello from Whidbey Island. Just celebrated my 30th anniversary on June 9th. That was quite a milestone in these times.

Doug and I have been in this funky house we built for 24 years. Doug has a Law practice five minutes from home and seems to continue to love his work. I've spent the last ten years working as a Public Health Nurse on South Whidbey and I commute five minutes to my office as well. My job changes with the vagaries of government program funding and public initiatives. For years I've worked with pregnant teens and women at high risk during their pregnancies due to drug use, poverty, medical complications, etc. I do a Teen Clinic for Planned Parenthood and various Immunization and Communicable Disease programs. There's lots of variety, but I'm getting that mid-career restlessness that sets in … who knows, maybe a Masters program will become part of the tapestry of my life. For balance and sanity I still spend hours a week in my garden.

Our oldest daughter graduated from Connecticut College last spring with majors in International Relations and Religious Studies. She did internships at the UN for an NGO and also in Uganda. Her planned next step is graduate work in Law and Public Administration because she wants to continue to work in the non-profit sector. In the meantime, she's living in Bozeman, climbing, hiking, skiing, river kayaking and in general having fun while she works for a non-profit there. Our youngest daughter is not nearly as driven. She's just finished her second year at Santa Clara University in the South Bay area. She's much less sure of her path but will spend the fall studying in Alicante, Spain and hopefully come away from that experience fluent in Spanish.

It's been nice to hear from some of you. If you are ever on Whidbey, we're not far from the Clinton ferry … feel free to call, 341-2533

Dana (Hoelting) Kelly

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