Class of 1961

Reporting today from Northbrook, Illinois, where I am attending the 50th reunion of the New Trier High School Class of 1961.  We graduated 980-strong, and went our separate ways in a time of optimism and prosperity in America, and from today's perspective, in a less complicated world.  Some 150 from the class have returned to this Chicago suburb to share memories.  Those who are here look remarkably good, and seem to have weathered the years rather well.  Many are retired, but some (including Yours, Truly) are still working.

Gay Weake, Your Blogger, and Ann Rheinstrom, all NT '61

Last night we had a "meet & greet" here at the Renaissance Hotel, where the star turned out to be Mr. Joseph McCloskey, 89, a beloved English teacher whom Gay Weake and I invited to attend.  Scores of his former students kept him surrounded for almost four hours, and he seemed to enjoy the experience greatly.  "Uncle Joe," as he used to ask us to call him, was the sort of teacher who demanded that we read good books, and think about them, that we learn new words, and retain them, that we write good English, and that we express ourselves clearly, but he never told us what to think.  He was among my mentors.  I was thrilled to find him in good spirits, and so clear of mind.  He is now legally blind, and suffering from a "touch" of Parkinson's disease, but last night, you would not have known it.

Today we toured NT, where our class had been the first in the "new" tower building, and the first freshman class to see and use the magnificent auditorium.  We visited the balcony of the swimming pool, where a picture of me with "six-pack abs" still graces a wall of champions from the years that I was diving on the NT Swimming team. 

Now, I must pull on my formal duds and get downstairs, for the ride to the dinner dance leaves soon.