Staples 55

Recently in touch with Gail Armitage Heath by email who writes about her annual winter Florida mini-reunion with four of our classmates. Three of them have known each other since the start of elementary school and the fourth since high school. Gail was kind enough to include a couple of photos. I’ve posted them on Gail’s Classmate Update page.

Since the 50th, Deanna’s sent us a couple of updates from their (reasonably) new digs in Summerfield, FL. I’ve finally located and gotten around to posting them on Dee’s Classmate Update page. I have a few other posts to make—namely Walton, Hyman and Armitage—and a few from my own collection. I’m trying to get the site up to date while we can all still remember who we are. So, while I’m motivated, please send me whatever you’ve got (see my secure email address on the Classmate Updates page). Recent updates are great as well as the ones from way back when (which are probably the most fun). P.S. It really would be great if Norm White’s huge high school photo collection ever turned up, but I have no clue as to how to reach his family.

A Staples ‘70 graduate, Marilyn Chambers, former adult film star, was found dead in her Los Angeles home last Sunday by her daughter. She was just 56. Full story here at westport-news.com.

For the last five years or so it has been our custom (Ronnie and I) to trek southward to Westport at Christmas from our (then) home in New Hampshire to visit family and friends. Three or four years ago I suggested to Chuck Banks and Bob Walton that we get together with spouses for a holiday mini-reunion dinner somewhere convenient to the three of us: Bob and Terry on Long Island, Chuck and Susan in Katonah, and Ronnie and I visiting daughter, Julie, in Weston. It’s been three years in a row now, and, well… read more (with photos) on Classmate Updates pages (Clifford).

Here’s something coming out of the nation’s capitol worthy of our attention: an opinion about a 55th reunion from our own Pat Ellis Davis. You can read her response on the Classmate Updates page here.

[Coming to a cranium near you! This is too funny. Also too real. Forwarded by our good friend, Len Eskey, he writes (although “I” isn’t Len, it’s anyone for whom the shoe fits…:O). Ed.]

Recently, I was diagnosed with AAADD—Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests itself:

I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full. So I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke I’d been drinking.

I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over. As I pick it up, I notice that it’s getting warm, so I decide to put it in the refrigerator.

As I head toward the kitchen, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye–they need water. I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk.

But first I’m going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV I’ll be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table. So I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs.

But first I’ll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels, and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day, the car isn’t washed. The bills aren’t paid. There is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter. The flowers don’t have enough water. There is still only one check in my check book. I can’t find the remote. I can’t find my glasses. And I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day and I’m really tired!

I realize this is a serious problem and I’ll try to get some help for it. But first I’ll check my e-mail…

Do me a favor. Forward this message to everyone you know because I don’t remember who the hell I’ve sent it to…!

Don’t laugh—if this isn’t you yet, your day is coming!!

A timely little ditty to cheer us up during these troubled times. This video comes to you from the talented (and witty) brain of my little sister, Linda, also a Staples graduate (class of ‘64).

Linda attended the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT, went on to train under Jeanne Kimball, another longtime Westport resident, sang professionally in local (Westport) venues for many years, including a stint with Bill Lombardo who took over from his uncle, Guy, upon the latter’s death. Linda also teaches guitar and has a couple of CDs to her credit—all original titles with her own lyrics. (I can get you a copy of this one, SongScape, on the cheap. Let me know by email or via the comment field, below…:O)

Small world department: for many years Linda rented an apartment on South Compo from Judy Gault Sterling. A few years ago, she moved upstate to Ivoryton, CT, a charming little village of Essex, with fiance, Keith Dobran—also a Staples graduate (class of ‘66).

“This just in…” from West Coast correspondent, Bruce Kent: there’s plenty of parking these days on “Rodeo Drive” (Greenwich Ave.) in Greenwich for our Camaro’s and Corolla’s now that some of the usual BMWs and Mercedes are back home in their driveways. The recession appears to have hit this “Rodeo Drive of the northeast” pretty hard, to wit:

• Ann Taylor closed
• Banana Republic closed
• Borders closed
• For Rent signs “abound”
• Hedge funds worldwide are cutting 62,000 jobs. Greenwich is home to 100 hedge funds!
• Real estate slumped 77% in February—most on record (I’m guessing this is a year-over-year comparison to 2008).

Residents will just have to learn to get by on their median $118K income (2005 - 2007 data)… Read full story here at Bloomberg Press, online.

Recently in touch with Dave Ruckert, now in retirement with wife, Suzanne, in Coronado, CA. Of particular note is Dave’s interest in fiction writing, as he explains in his email. Also of note, Suzanne’s management of their 50th high school class reunion. Full story under Classmate Updates.

If any of you would like to get in touch with Dave, click his secure email link on the Class Contacts page. I’m sure he’d be delighted to hear from you.

A tad late in this posting… Still, a few of our classmates—particularly those who attended Greens Farms Elementary—may not be aware of Richie Masiello’s passing. It happened last May. According to one lifelong resident, he died of a heart attack.

Richie graduated from Bedford Junior High but then went on to a trade school in Bridgeport, I believe. He was the long-time owner of the Masiello Bus Company of Westport. Richie’s obituary from WestportNow.com is included here.