Important REUNION information included

Fall 2015 Edition 

Thank you for viewing the class blog. 

The big news is that our 40-year class reunion will soon be upon us. John Dolan and I have been working at arranging a fun time for everyone. We thank you for your input via the Survey Monkey survey and the follow-up questions via email.  It is our hope that we will be satisfying the wants of our class to ensure a successful reunion.

Here is a basic outline of the events~

Friday, June 24, 2016:  Morning: Golf outing . A limited number of spots are available, please send an email to mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com and I will forward your request to John Dolan and he will be in contact with you.  The cost for participants is to be decided.
         
                                      Afternoon:  BBQ at John Dolan's home in Mahwah - an afternoon of socializing and burgers and hot dogs.

                                      Evening:  Informal drop-in at the Mahwah Bar and Grill as we have done previous years.

Saturday, June 25, 2016:  Morning:  Your choice of:

(A) a guided tour at Mahwah High School. Many classmates have indicated an interest in taking a walk around and seeing how the school grounds have changed since we attended.
OR
(B) a hike through Campgaw. Classmates have also expressed a desire to have a hike and Joe Cuhaj our hiking expert has kindly agreed to help with this activity.

                                         Evening:  Buffet meal and gathering at The Mason Jar restaurant in Mahwah. The restaurant is blocking off a section for our class.  In order for the Mason Jar to give us a specific area of the restaurant we need to have 25 people attend. If we reach that number then they will give us a room of our own.We will be reviewing the buffet menu and anticipate it will be approx $50-$75 per person.  (This does not include liquor costs; each person will be responsible for his/her own bar bills.) 

The final cost of the meal and any other related expenses will be made available to you as soon as they have been calculated. 

The Mason Jar is located next door to the Fairfield Inn (a member of the Marriott group - you may want to use your rewards to offset hotel costs.)  We will get further information regarding accommodations and pass that along to you.

We hope that these plans are to your liking!  We appreciate the help you have given us as we get the reunion rolling!

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PLEASE update your email and mailing addresses - it is especially important now that the reunion is being planned.  Send any new info to mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com  OR by replying to an email that I have sent you in the past from my personal email account.  

THANK YOU!

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Class directory -   Via the survey we were asked if we could compile a directory of classmates so that people could get in touch with each other prior to the reunion.  In order to do this, we will need permission from you to include your contact information on a list and I would gather the names and create an electronic directory to provide to those who would like to receive it for their personal use. Please let me know if you would like to be included.  I would hope to have it ready to go by March or April of 2016 if possible.  Thank you!

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Now on to the news.....

"Joe and Ann Fagan's daughter, Colleen, has been awarded a Boren Scholarship through the Departments of State and Defense to study in India during the 2015-16 academic year. Colleen is currently an undergraduate student in molecular biology at Le Moyne College. She will study Hindi in Jaipur and then work on Public Health and Epidemiology studies in New Delhi. At the conclusion, Colleen will work at the National Institute of Health or Centers for Disease Control for one year while pursuing her Master’s degree."

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Meet Angel and Gene's family!

Family photo dated 12/2013 submitted by Gene and Angel Tyrrell-Furlipa, includes Champ,their golden retriever! "Currently, Laura is working on a Master's Degree in Public Relations through Iona College. Julia is a junior at Manhattanville College majoring in Education, English Literature, and Theatre. Shawn is a freshman at Rockland Community College studying Criminal Justice."

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July 2015  Carty Golf Outing.  This golf outing, held annually raises scholarship money

 for MHS students. 

Above, participants from our class - left to right -

 John Dolan, Jeff Reisel, Jeff VanDemark, 

Lynn Savino and John Baker

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Congrats to Jeff Reisel on his new business venture! 

Here is a note from him:

"I just wanted to announce that we opened an Allstate Agency in Clark, NJ this past May. We serve customers throughout NJ for their auto, home life and retirement needs with competitive pricing and friendly service. We would be honored to help with any of your insurance needs and offer any of our 1976 class free auto and homeowners quotes with no obligation."

Jeffrey Reisel

Reisel Financial Group LLC

1065 Rartitan Road

Clark, NJ 07066

732-381-3100

jreisel@allstate.com

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Mike Grattini continues to entertain on his blog-  

Take a look, read, and enjoy!

http://grattinithoughts.blogspot.ca/

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Here are Lynn Savino and Patty Menz as they enjoyed the NY Giants/Dallas Cowboys football game on October 25th.   Lynn says:  "Great seats!  Great win!"

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Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, please contact me and I will do my best to answer your inquiry.  

mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com  

Thank you to the classmates who have submitted news for this edition.

Please watch your email for any correspondence from me regarding the reunion or other important news. If you don't mind, please check that my incoming mail doesn't go to your junk mail box.

If you are on Facebook, please join our class group at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/47889678341/

*****

Thanks again, I will be in touch via email again when there is more information to share with the class.  

All the best,

Sue Montgomery Lane

mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com

March 2015 Update

It has been a long winter for many classmates, cheers to spring's arrival and best wishes for wonderful weather wherever you may be! Thanks for visiting the blog......

*****

First off, a big Congratulations to Mr. Dennis O'Connor!  Dennis was inducted into the Thunderbird Athletic Wall of Fame in November 2014. A well-deserved honor for a wonderful teacher!   Here is the link to the story -

http://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/wall-of-fame-inductions-resurrected-1.1146570

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Mike Dooley has shared a wonderful glass piece that he created. It was many hours of work but it turned out beautifully! No guessing which ball team he favors!

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Happy 10th Anniversary to Cathy Swickle and her husband Ken. They celebrate in July.

Happy 35th Anniversary to Maureen Benson and her husband Alan who celebrate in August.

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Proud dad Joe Fagan has contributed this photo of his son Shane. Shane is a high school freshman and has earned a spot as a varsity wrestler  at 182 lbs.while maintaining a 4.4 GPA. 

Great work, Shane! He is the 3rd wrestler in the back row (from the left).

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Our classmate Mike Grattini has a blog he has been sharing through Facebook. If you would like to follow his postings, visit his blog at :

http://grattinithoughts.blogspot.ca/

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To keep up on the Mahwah High School news, go  http://hs.mahwah.k12.nj.us/pages/Mahwah_High_School

 or follow on Twitter - @mahwahHS 

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Mark Hansen from the Class of 77 and a friend to many here has shared the following news:

He was promoted to the position of Director of Media Services for the New York State Senate this year.   Congratulations, Mark!

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In Memoriam

Sadly classmate Tom Reavely passed away in December 2014. He is survived by his son Zachary. Our condolences to his family.  

 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/northjersey/obituary.aspx?pid=173412752

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In the process of trying to locate some of our classmates, a classmate came upon the obituary for Dick Bjurstrom.  Sadly he passed away in 2011.   Here is the link to the funeral home notice.  

We are sorry to hear of another classmate leaving us too soon.

http://www.tributes.com/show/Richard-Scott-Bjurstrom-90761968

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A little bit of class business

The survey for the class reunion drew 42 responses.  John Dolan and I are going to be going over the suggestions for our 40th reunion and will endeavor to implement the suggestions into the reunion plans for 2016.  Once plans get organized, you will be kept up to date. As in previous years, we will need to guarantee a minimum number of attendees for whichever venue is chosen.  Thank you for participating in the survey and we look forward to organizing a fun reunion.

If you have moved since the 2011 reunion, PLEASE forward your mailing address to Sue at mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com  so that I can update the database.  Also please update your email address if applicable.

Some classmates did not receive the email sent earlier this year asking for blog submissions.  I hope that I was able to forward the email on to those who didn't receive it. In some cases it was because of email address changes; I also am wondering if the email goes into 'junk' mail due to it coming from a Canadian server.  So please check mailboxes periodically to see if I have sent anything. Using the class Facebook page I also let everyone know an email has been sent. Thanks so much!

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Missing Classmate List

Here is the list of classmates we have been unable to locate...Can anyone help?

Carol Beynon

Cathy Burns

Doug Collums

Deborah DeGroat

Tricia DeJean

Frank DePalma

Jonathan Gant

Robin Halliday

Steve Hafner

Bob Iannacone

Mark Jablonski

Steve Jacob

Fred Mann

Peter Menichetti

Dennis Murphy

Elise Pendleton

Bob Philpott

Pete Revis

Karen Schmidt

Jerosa Smith

Ken Steffens

Patty Thomas

Ken Yaffey

Bob Whitman

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Blast from the Past

The Hiking Club

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Thank you for taking the time to stop by and catch up on some class news. Thank you to all who contributed to the blog this time.  If you would like to submit anything to the next update, please let me know by emailing to:

 mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com

 OR

Mahwah High School Class of 76 at:

/https://www.facebook.com/groups/47889678341/

I can also be reached by replying to my personal email address when I send out the class emails.  

The next blog update will be in October.  

*****Please watch your email in the meantime for any reunion-related notes.

Have a wonderful spring and summer!

Sue

mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com

Fall 2014

Thank you for visiting the class blog!



We have lots of news to share in this edition.  Thank you to all who contributed to making this a successful blog.  Following the news from our classmates there is some 'business' to take care of so please follow the blog to the end.

Let's get started!

Congratulations to TJ Wilks and Debbie Demeduk! 

They tied the knot in August.  Best wishes to the happy couple!

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Congrats to Linda Swickle Everett and her husband Mark who celebrated their 15th anniversary in October! 

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Debbi Karpowich O'Connor shares this news, it's been a great year for her and her family; 

here's what she has to say....

"2014 has been a very busy year for Debbi (Karpowich) O'Connor's family.  Both of her kids graduated in the spring, Melissa from Swarthmore College in PA and Kyle from Morris Hills High School, in Rockaway, NJ.  Along with pitching for the Swarthmore College softball team for four years, Melissa earned her degree in Computer Science and two weeks later started working at FactSet in New York City as a computer software engineer. She truly loves her job and coworkers, and is "living the life" of an independent wage earner.  

The day before Kyle began his studies at The University of Delaware, he passed his private aviation exam and obtained his private pilots license.  At UD, Kyle is enrolled in their AFROTC program, and is hoping to study Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis on aerospace.  He is loving UD and AFROTC, and his parents couldn't be happier (although mom is stressed about the whole future military thing!).  Kyle's grandpa, Joe Karpowich, would have been so proud of the path that his grandson is taking!

Debbi and Brian have been keeping busy with their "empty next," both at work and at play.  Hiking, biking, and geocaching are still their shared hobbies.  Debbi recently spent the day with a group of her geocaching friends hunting for caches in Central Park.  If any classmates enjoy the outdoors and want to try this very cool hobby, just contact Debbi!  She is an active member of the Northern New Jersey Cachers, as well as their past secretary.  There are caching events that occur monthly in the area, including a "Caching Through the Snow" event in early December.  Just let Deb know if you are interested!"

The O'Connor Family -

Kyle, Brian, Melissa and Debbi

Debbi posing at the Engineers' Gate in Central Park.

Kyle has wings! Congrats! Here he is in the Cessna.

Debbi and  Melissa relax on the Swarthmore College "beach" Adirondack chair.

 Congrats on Melissa's graduation!

Melissa was a valued pitcher on the Swarthmore College team!

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Classmates Lynn Savino and Bill Jackson had a chance to connect when Lynn went to California on business.  

Here they are enjoying a dinner out in San Francisco at Pier 39.

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Matt McDonald shares this news about his son Devin:

" My son, a very accomplished guitar player, played with his band "The Waves" at the House Of Blues in Chicago.  Now he is off at the University of Bradley on an Engineering Scholarship."

*****

Cheryl Pikaard Foster is shown with her daughter Amber and new son-in-law Zack as they celebrated the couple's wedding in August.  

The happy couple is now living in Kentucky.

Congratulations to Cheryl and her family!

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Here are classmates Jeff Reisel, Lynn Savino and John Baker 

as they take a break for a 

photo op while enjoying a golf game in July.

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Steve Lamoreaux and his family had a nice reason to celebrate in October....Steve says:

"My oldest daughter, Nicole, was married on Sunday, 10/12/14.

 My youngest daughter, Julia, was a bridesmaid.

Also in attendance from MHS were Glenn Kaplan, Mike Grattini, Randy Swickle,

 Phil Lamoreaux and Rick Lamoreaux."

Please enjoy these photos taken by Mike Grattini and Randy Swickle.

Bridesmaid Julia.

 The bride Nicole and her uncles.

Mike Grattini, Glenn Kaplan, Steve Lamoreaux, Randy Swickle.

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Teacher News

MHS  teacher Barbara Croucher Fernicola is now enjoying retirement.  We wish her well!

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Sad news for those who hadn't heard - 

Mrs. Marion Eddy passed away in June at the age of 94.  

Our condolences to her family, she was a beloved teacher at MHS.

Here is the link to the obituary if you would like further information:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/northjersey/obituary.aspx?n=marion-eddy&pid=171732979#sthash.RPnEDrUW.dpuf

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I asked Joe Cuhaj to contribute something for the blog, of course you know it would be entertaining.....so here is a little something he put together for our enjoyment. 

Well, I finally did it. I bit the bullet and my collection of short stories about growing up in a couple of not-so-cleverly-disguised towns hit the eBook-shelves. It's called "Living in a Banana Dream" a book that was years in the making but so much fun to write. It's always great looking back at that era when we had imaginations as big as the universe and every day was an adventure.

With Halloween here I started thinking back again to those days and how things have changed since then. Today, movies leave nothing to the imagination. You can't even sit down during the "family hour", if there is such a thing anymore, to watch TV without an arm being hacked off right there in glorious high definition. Back in the day the simplest things would give us a fright.

Do you remember "Famous Monster Magazine"? I religiously bought that fish wrapper month after month, intrigued by the gruesome full cover covers of Lon Chaney in full "Phantom of the Opera" makeup from the 1920s movie. Whoa, still sends shivers up my spine. But for the life of me I can't remember leafing through the pages. I was too scared to go any farther.

Then there were the horror movies themselves where the simple lighting and makeup of Boris Karloff or Glen Strange as Frankenstein's monster or Bela Lugosi as Dracula (you remember, back when vampires weren't heart throbs and didn't sparkle with glitter) was enough to make us all jump out of our skins. No graphic horror here, it was all implied and that was enough.

The best way and honestly the only way to see those great, and granted not so great, movies was on our local television channels, not the three big network channels out of New York City but the two independents, WPIX (channel 11) and WNEW (channel 5).

           

The show on WPIX was called "Chiller Theater", a Saturday night fright fest with its Gumby-like title credits - a claymation arm coming out of the ground and the classic six fingers on the hand. It was hosted by a ghoulish figure named Zacherley, the Cool Ghoul.

                              Chiller Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok6uzndOmPA

Meanwhile on WNEW there was "Creature Features". The title credits was a bizarre close up image of Frankenstein's monster with psychedelic lighting and music bed from an obscure "B" sci-fi movie. The show was hosted by Lou Steele better known as the "Creep" and also better known for his famous voice over, "It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your children are?" There was no makeup like Zacherley. The Creep's costume was a groovy polyester suit and sunglasses.

Creature Feature Intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_qE7g9nq3A

Then there were the movies, oh the movies - trite by today's standards but creepy for small kids back in the day. Friends would gather around our television set, still black and white in my house, and flip between the two shows when they played opposite one another eventually landing on one. With lights down low the movie began and before the "Monster from Piedreas Blancas" could examine another head of a local he had ripped off, we were under the couch shivering in fright waiting for daylight.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

*****

And now to return the favor, here is information about Joe's newest literary project....

Joe's collection of short stories, "Living in a Banana Dream", is available as an eBook on Barnes & Noble (BN.COM) and Amazon.Com! It is a tale of growing up in northern New Jersey in the 60s/early 70s: First cars and being taught how to drive by the poster child for road rage, your old man; first loves and the heart stopping moment when you asked that special someone out on a first date; majestically bestowed snow days where you could be found careening to an almost certain death down a monster of a hillside on your Flexible Flyer; those amazing "X-Ray Glasses". It's youth, free of pubescent acne and Brut cologne, from a time when we were still innocent and the hardest part of the day was making sure you had enough players for a pickup game of baseball or were forced into learning the Hustle from an overzealous girlfriend, all linked together by a "gang" of friends meeting before their 40th high school reunion at a familiar location for us all - Pal's Diner.

The book is $1.99 and available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.Com, and iBooks. I hope you'll take a read and enjoy it!"

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/cuhaj-living-in-a-banana-dream?store=allproducts&keyword=cuhaj+living+in+a+banana+dream

http://www.amazon.com/Living-Banana-Dream-Joe-Cuhaj-ebook/dp/B00ODHR7E8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413128460&sr=8-1&keywords=joe+cuhaj

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Here is the link to our Facebook class group page...

feel free to post messages and news and reconnect with classmates!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/47889678341/

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Ok, time for some business.

If you have moved since our last reunion please contact me with your new address and information. 

 In 2016 we hope to celebrate our 40th reunion and I would like to keep the database updated regularly to make it easier to contact everyone.  Kindly send your info to;

mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com

Thank you in advance.

Are you in touch with someone who hasn't been receiving the class news or information? If you know the whereabouts or contact information for fellow classmates that we have been able to reach, please have them contact me at the  email address above so I can be sure they are on the list. I plan to make a new 'missing' list to post in the future and would appreciate any help I can get in making sure we can be in touch with everyone.

*****

Now a blast from the past for your enjoyment!

Student Council

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Thank you for reading the blog. Remember if there is any news you wish to share please let me know and I will include it in the blog. If you have anything of the urgent nature to pass along to classmates, contact me and I can do a mass email to everyone.

I can be reached at mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com  

or

 by replying to my personal email address when I send an email to you all.

Have a wonderful autumn, the next edition will be in March 2015.

Thanks!

Sue Montgomery Lane

March 2014 Update

Happy Spring fellow classmates!

It's time for another update, I appreciate all of the contributions to this edition of the blog.  Remember that this only exists because of all of you!

I'll post some fun pieces first and then near the end I will do a bit of business so please read through the complete blog.

*****

Bill Jackson has been in touch. I was happy to hear from him.  Here's an update on what he's been doing....

"In a few months, I'll be celebrating my 7th anniversary with Netflix. One thing we're particular proud of on the engineering side, is that we've just been awarded our 2nd "Technical Emmy!"  

"This photo was taken at the celebration of our
 40 Million customers milestone."

Here is the list of Emmy awards he recently earned : 

2013 - Personalized Recommendation Engines For Video Discovery

2012  - NETFLIX STREAMING OF MOVIES AND TELEVISION PROGRAMS

There is also a video you can watch -  http://emmyonline.com/tech_65th_ceremony - at the 45 minute mark

Congratulations Bill and co-workers on your awards!

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A shout-out of CONGRATULATIONS to Philomena DePalma Chillino and her husband Robert who are celebrating their milestone 35th Wedding Anniversary in May!  Philomena has kindly sent in some photos taken over the years.....

Philomena in 1979 while honeymooning

The Chillino Family in above 2 photos

Philomena now

Philomena the proud grandmother with her granddaughters Eleanora on the left, Isabella on the right

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Joe Fagan's son Shane has followed in his older siblings' footsteps and is a great speller!

Shane, shown above, second from the left.  Shane and these schoolmates were victorious in their school bee and earned the right to represent their school at the Tri-State Spelling Bee on March 16th. This was Shane's second time advancing to the Tri-State Bee. Thanks to the suggestion from Joe, I was able to listen to Shane being interviewed on WYNY Radio that day.   This process of advancing through the spelling bee is harder than one might think. Shane said that it began with a written test in mid-February to prepare for the school bee; the top 5 students then moved on to the regionals (Tri-State).  He used a study packet that had 1400 words and studied 2-2.5 hours per day in preparation.  

While most of the Bees go 20 rounds, this Tri-State Bee continued for 59 rounds.  Shane was defeated at the end, achieving 2nd place but his effort was stellar! He gave it his all and made his family and friends proud!

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It has been a somewhat long winter (depending upon your location), so it becomes a good time for crafty-type people to come up with new ideas and projects.

If you are familiar with Etsy, you may know LindaEve. Our classmates know her as Linda Swickle. She does outstanding work re-purposing fabrics into lovely bags among other things...a true Eco-Etsy gal.  

Linda and her husband Mark Everett are dyeing to tell you all about their newest project - over-dyed scarves made from bamboo/organic cotton fleece, bamboo/organic cotton jersey, and re-purposed pure linen. These delicious, colorful scarves are currently for sale at Ebb in Hopewell NJ and at Through the Moongate in Highland Park NJ, as well as online at Linda's Etsy shop. 

These scarves of bamboo are soft and welcoming....many color choices available to go with any outfit.

Can't you just imagine the feel of these wonderful linen scarves?

Contact Linda and Mark through Linda's Etsy shop or visit the shops above if you are in the NJ area. If you have any questions, they will be happy to answer them and also to discuss your needs!  These make the perfect gift for your graduate, Mother's Day, birthdays or just for yourself.  

*****

Congratulations to Mike Dooley's son, Michael!

Michael competed in the state championship for soccer
 the past 2 out of 3 years.  

Here's Michael as he signs his letter of intent for 
the University of Tampa.

Here's Michael and his proud Dad, Mike.

Congratulations to the Dooley Family! 

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This past week some classmates went out to dinner to celebrate Lynn Savino's birthday. They regularly celebrate with each other and always enjoy themselves.

Here we have (left) Todd Cochran, Lynn Savino, (right) John Baker and Patty Menz Levys. They enjoyed the meal and the company at Bobby Q's in Suffern (formerly known as O'Henry's).

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Since the next update won't be until October, I wanted to take a minute to wish Diane Jessop Fisher and her husband Brian a Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary in September.  Congrats on this upcoming milestone!!

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The annual John Carty golf outing is being held on July 14th at High Mountain Golf Club in Franklin Lakes. This fun event raises money for the scholarship fund.  If you would like to participate or want more information, please email me at mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com and I can have someone get in touch with you. If you go back in the blog pages, you can see some pictures that were taken during previous outings.

*****

Now time for a little bit of business...

If you have moved or are moving please keep us updated regarding your new address.  We want to be able to contact you when reunion time rolls around and it is easier to do updates from time to time rather than scramble at the last minute or have mail returned by the post office.  Also if your email address changes, please let us know so we can continue to reach you with news or messages.  Please send changes to mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com  or just reply to my personal email address (the one that sends you out messages.)

Thank you to all who assisted with the MHS Class of 1974 list of missing classmates. Terri appreciates your help!

Remember, if you want to share any news about your job, family, new grandkids, travel, etc., please do! You can send it to me whenever you'd like, the blog gets updated each March and October.

Ok, now for a blast from the past from our yearbook.....

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You can find many of us on Facebook, we have a class group page and there is also a group "You know you're from Mahwah if..."  And I found that MHS is on Twitter so if you are interested in what's happening at the school, you can follow MHS there. They post photos and info about school events such as sports on their account.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment and if you have any suggestions, I would like to hear them since this is YOUR blog. 

Have a wonderful spring and summer!!

Sue 

mahwahhighschool1976@yahoo.com

A little update to the update!

Here's an additional entry to our October 2013 blog....

 Here we have Shane, Colleen, Jack and Ann Fagan in a photo taken at the university's recent family weekend.  (Joe is not in the picture, he is the one with the camera!)

Shane is a freshman attending Carnegie Mellon University and loves the school and professors; it is very challenging and has made many friends. The campus is in Pittsburgh, so there is plenty to do in his free time. He has made the football travel team.

Thanks for reading,
Until next time.....

Sue