I have my Class of 1966 coffee mug before me. (I rarely throw anything away.) How swell that so many people will be attending the reunion! I will not, which is slightly weird, since I have lived in St. Louis Park for the last 34 years. As we age, I am turning into my husband's spare brain so I would rather not leave him alone in the evenings. But I have memories of all shapes and sizes of the years at Park High: Gretchen getting shot in the leg during archery class. My mother making me lunch every day. (If I admitted to liking something, she would make it for a month or until I screamed. One month of cream-cheese-and-orange-marmalade on white bread. Yikes.) The aroma of formaldehyde (or was it embalming fluid?) on the cats in Mr. Nornes's second year Biology. (Meta Ramee, old lab partner, are you out there?) The records Mr. Gerard played during home room. Decorating picnic baskets backstage for Oklahoma. The long long train trip to New York to see Broadway plays...during the worst weather. We had to back up from Hamlet, Indiana to Chicago because of...a tornado, was it? Oh, well. I'll be thinking of you. Have a splendid time, everyone!

Hello Classmates, fortunately I don't have to go past a 12 font..I can still see!! I am still working at a very small elementary school in rural Potter Valley as an administrative assistant, Pre-K-6. It is a marvelous position, although I've contemplated retiring to a new hat, perhaps next year. It seems I haven't been able to stay away from education, the politics of education and the young minds that come back each year, hopefull to make their mark in the world, as I /we hoped for upon graduation. 50 years has zipped by so fast, wowzers!. I am looking forward to seeing and being with a great group of people, reestablishing old friendships and making new ones. For those that remember, I still have a great sense of humor. .See you soon!C


















 

Dear Andy   Thank you again for getting in touch about the reunion. I would have loved to come but unfortunately I have had a summons to do jury duty in the last half of August. I hoped that I could persuade them to not call me as I often work in the family court anyway, but I am afraid I had no luck. Even a judge could not get me released when a case had to be postponed because of this.   I hope that you will all enjoy the reunion. I have been to a 50th reunion of my South African school and was fascinated to hear what everyone had done with their lives and see how they have changed - a lot of gray hair of course! I am sure the SLP 50th reunion will be a special occasion to look back fondly and remember.   I certainly remember my year with you very well - the beautiful lakes and fall colours, school closed because of masses of snow, Homecoming and the excellent school plays, meeting so many of the students and being given a warm welcome. Your lifestyle was very different from what I was used to in rural Southern Africa and such an enriching experience that has always remained important to me. Most of all I remember the warmth and hospitality the students showed towards me - you certainly left me with a lifelong positive view of your country and the values I experienced at SLP.   As I will not be at the reunion, just a quick pen sketch of what I have been up to since my time at SLP as an AFS student: I am a child and family specialist psychologist but retiring in a few months time. I was a senior consultant psychologist in the National Health Service ( a wonderful medical service even though it is creaking with demand as a free health service funded by the state). About 10 years ago I set up in private practice to work in the family court. This has been very rewarding and challenging as you need to be on top of your game to give evidence in court as I have frequently done. I quite enjoyed the pressure of court work but have now had enough.    Apart from the pleasure of doing a job that hopefully contributed to the community and other people's lives, my personal life has always been busy. We have been living in the North of England for many years after my husband completed his Phd at Oxford. I think this is our 44th year in the United Kingdom; we have been here quite a while. From this base we have been able to travel a lot - my husband is an architectural historian and architect and we have traveled much in every continent in aid of his research and where he happened to be working. I have no complaints about that as I went too! One of our children is a linguist and translator from French and German to English. The other is a dermatologist. We have a little grandson who is a great delight - as all you grandparents know!   I am not sure if Fernando Arteaga, my fellow AFS student will come to the reunion but I hope he will be in touch too. I see he is a property developer - a bit of an overlap with us although in a small way only, we have a few properties that we let in the London area. (If anyone should be interested, we have a flat that sleeps 4 in Crouch End, North London, just half hour from the city centre and all the sights. We let this from about a week up to 3 months at a time - great location, typical London village area, really living with the locals. We spend time there regularly ourselves but do short term lets from about a week to 3 months at a time.)   I attach a recent photo of me walking with little Miles, I have not gone gray so far, it will probably happen suddenly one day!   With best wishes to you all   Estelle   Estelle Louw American Field Service student at SLP 1965 to 1966.

Hello class of 66.   Even though my family moved when I was a sophomore I still want to extend my best wishes to all of you.  I see a number of familiar names on the list of those who will be attending which is awesome.  In particular, I want to give a shout-out to Allen Chapel and Bruce Erickson from my Elliot Elementary School days, great times.  And Dennis Demming and Doug Padilla from our baseball days.  And Connie Nordstrom and Nancy Mickelson from Westwood Junior High School days.  I remember when Greg Burns and I took Connie and Nancy on a double date to a Par 3 golf course.  My older brother, Jerry, drove us in my family's 1959 Ford Country Squire, pretty fun.  Many years have past since then but the memories are are among my best.  Take care and God bless!

I haven't lived full-time in Minnesota since graduating from the UofM in 1970 and then heading off to Germany for 2 1/2 years with Uncle Sam (thanks to Lottery #15). I bought a lakefront cabin on Coon Lake (NW of Forest Lake) with my nephew and Godson Chad Johnson. I try to spend several months each year at the cabin, while not at home in Ann Arbor, MI. Look forward to seeing old and new friends at the reunion.

It's going to be great to see everyone. Most I have not seen since graduation, a few at a couple of other reunions. This is the one we all should make every effort to go to, so get registered, pay the $66 and make it to the 50th reunion of the Class of '66. Let's make this event HUGE!

How exciting to celebrate 50 years since high school graduation!   I am so looking forward to reconnecting with my high school friends!    

Looking forward to seeing everyone.  This will be my first reunion, so excited....Will be fun to see Minnesota again, have not been back in 12 years!!!! Happy Holidays, see you all next year!!!! Susie

I REALY HOPE TO SEE EVERYBODY GOD BLESS THE CLASS OF 66  JIM ANDERSON

Looking forward to seeing a lot of very old friends and possibly making some new ones.