Doug Cody's Reunion Pix

We were fortunate to have Doug Cody, Class of '78, take some candid photos at the reunion on the 24th. Doug's a professional photographer, so his photos really do look good as he has a much greater sense of how to do proper lighting thamn most amateurs like myself do.

Here's the link to his BayAreaEventPhotography.com site where he is hosting his photos.

Click on a thumbnail to see a web sized image.
Click on that image, and you'll download the high res image.
Click the back button twice to return to the thumbnails.

First Comments on the 30 Year Reunion

After arriving home late last night from our 12 day trip to California, I finally have the chance to give my assessment on the reunion events of the last weekend.

First, I have to thank my wife MaryEllen for being such a great support for me and being with me at the reunion. Being five months pregnant, she was not up to standing for long periods of time, so she mostly sat at a table in the back room with Randy Blair's wife, Patricia, and Bob Downs' wife, Jeanette. The spouses who accompany us to our reunions are real troopers. My wife is comfortable with new people and she knows so many of my classmates, so she enjoys the reunions. It's just that with her present physical circumstances, a stand-up type party didn't work well for her.

Here's the one big reality I've gleaned from this reunion -- We hit our peak reunion attendance in 1999 and we will never have as high a percentage of attendees again. Were the 2004 and 2009 reunions given the same degree of attention and advance publicity as the 1999 reunion? No, I don't think so. But, still, I don't think that our classmates did not know about the reunion. And the stark reality of it is that we will never see some of our classmates ever again. Maybe that's obvious to others. But, I had this sunny and optimistic attitude that nearly all 400+ of us would come together at our reunions. Obviously, that is not the case.

I was loaned a copy of the 1977 SR Yearbook and while browsing through the Sophomore section, I was saddened to see how many boys and girls from those photos had not been at the reunion last weekend. And I really would have enjoyed seeing them again! My plan is to scan and upload much of that yearbook to the website.

The realists among us will rightly say that you are able to choose your friends and if you don't have a relationship with long lost classmates then you all have made that choice. And that's certainly true. I stay in close touch with Bob, Rick, Rich, Will, another Rick, Brian, Bill, Scott, Chris as well as occasional contacts with another Scott, Mark, Britt, and Steve. But how great it was to talk with Matt Wold and Guy Houston, among others last weekend! Folks I usually wouldn't have a chance to see.

Reunion is almost here!

Two days until our 30 Year Reunion. Claudia Gravelle has told me that the food has been all paid for (a good thing) and that the turnout will be great. She also says that latecomers are welcome, so if you were on the fence, it is not too late. I cannot guarantee it, but as far as I have heard the $30 fee is still valid at the door.

Of course, Friday night gives us an even more informal chance to get together as we meet at the San Ramon-Livermore football game. Varsity is at 7 PM. And then Elliott's Bar afterwards for those who are so inclined.

Given that there are about 800 members of the Classes of '78 and '79, I am sure there will be a lot of surprises at the weekend's events. You will see people you have not seen in 25 to 30 years. And some of us will also see people we've just seen the last weekend. I find it all very exciting and I hope most of my classmates will as well.

New website poll

I created a new poll for the website. You can access it here. It asks when you last were on the campus at San Ramon High School. Some of us are parents of SR students, while others may not have been there in a long time.

Reunion RSVPs

Try to get your check in for the 30 Year Reunion soon. It's not too late!

1978/79 Class Reunion
764 Tunbridge Road
Danville, CA 94526


($30/person)

30th Anniversary of First Day at Cal

30 Years ago today the high school classes of 1979 began their first day of classes at Cal Berkeley, thus officially ending our high school years. Of course, there had been a week to move into the dorms and get settled as well as the class enrollment process. But on this Monday, 9/24/79, we had to attend college classes for the first time. And my first class was 8:00 AM. English 1A. And boy, did I learn how far behind I was in my writing skills while taking that ten week class. The other classes, Math P and Poli Sci 1 were also challenging, but I will always think of the English 1A class as the one that jolted me into taking school seriously and forcing me to realize that I had to work hard to make it at Berkeley.

Also on this day 30 years ago, I attended an Elton John concert at the Berkeley Community Theater with my friend Rick Toft, also a Cal freshman from San Ramon's Class of '79. The concert was really fantastic. First, it was a relatively small venue and second, Elton John had decided to scale back from the bombastic glasses and high heel shoes and just play piano. No band, save for Ray Cooper's percussion accompaniment. We had a lot of San Ramon students at Cal and I really regret that we all went our separate ways for the most part rather than bonding together a bit more. Of course, a lot of us were ready to explore this new world rather than hold on too much to the past.

Reunion Invitations

Last weekend the reunion invitation was e-mailed out along with a four page list of names with unconfirmed addresses from the Classes of '78 and '79. The invitation is posted here. The list of those with unconfirmed addresses (AKA the "Lost Sheep") is on this PDF file here. If you know where some of these people are, please let them know about the reunion. Also, please send the address information to Guy Houston and Claudia Gravelle at SRVHS7879@aol.com .

I was not involved in creating this list of the "missing," and I do not know how it was developed. I have talked with some people who are puzzled as to why they are listed as "lost sheep" when they had submitted address directory information in the past few years. The reunion "staff" is pretty much ad hoc. I try to help out and Claudia and Jay Briggs always are involved as well as others. If mistakes were made, they certainly were unintentional. The goal is always to get everyone in the know as soon as possible! I know that Claudia has already found a lot of people just since this weekend so the mailing has helped to do its job. In addition, the 333 Class of '78 & '79 members registered at Classmates.com were all notified of the reunion in a separate message last weekend.

This year's reunion is only $30 compared to $75 in 2004. It looks to be scaled back to the basics -- Getting together with old friends. The dinner and dancing were nice but most of us just wanted to talk with one another. And the SR football game the night before the reunion makes for another casual way to encounter old classmates without a lot of expense. Obviously, for me, it is a big expense because I fly out from the Washington DC area. Others will also come from afar for the reunion. Did you know we have classmates in Micronesia and Croatia?

October 24, 2009

E-mail from Guy Houston has confirmed that the reunion will be on October 24, 2009. San Ramon High football will be playing their Homecoming game the night before, so a large group from the Classes of '78 and '79 will also attend that game. Guy says that invitations will be mailed out within the next week or so. Hopefully, the Class of '79 is included in that invite list -- Apparently a post card mailing went out in May from the Class of '78 but I did not hear of any '79 members receiving that postcard.

So I can finally book my travel for October's California events -- Scott Bisson's October 17th wedding and the October 23-24 Reunion. JetBlue happens to have some decent airfares right now, so I'm ready to buy! Woo hoo! Two weeks in California in October!

I'll continue to pass on any information that I receive, but make your plans to be there in October!

30 Years Ago Today!

In some ways, I can remember June 8, 1979 like it was just the other day. I recall sitting on the chairs on the football field and then the short walk across the stage to shake Jim Henderson's hand. The All-Nighter in the Small Gym and then one last early morning walk through the campus on the way home. The dozen or so classmates I've been able to keep in close contact with throughout all this time have helped to make those memories a little fresher in my my than they otherwise would have been. Unfortunately, there have been many more dozens whom I have not seen since that night, as we all went our separate ways. And sadder, by far, was the passing of at least a half a dozen of our classmates thus far.

So, to the San Ramon High School Class of 1979 -- Congratulations on the 30th Anniversary of our graduation. (And, on a personal aside, congratulations to my wife and myself on our 24th wedding anniversary which is today as well!)

As for the 30 Year Reunion, I have not heard anything about the plans since last Fall. Anyone know anything?

Your Comments on this 30 Year Anniversary are welcomed!