Karen is getting closer. She got the first name right. It's not John Pesta though. I attended kindergarten with John Pesta on Tripp Street school in 1965-1966 but haven't heard from him since. Our mystery man grew up on Slocum Street down by the railroad tracks and moved to Shoemaker Street when he got a little older. He told me he's living on Slocum Street again, not too far from where he grew up.

Ann Marie, I hope you scan me some pictures for the website, we don't have any of you since high school. Did you and Homer get a chance to meet up in FL? Penn State will meet Auburn tomorrow in the Capitol One Bowl in FL. The game starts at 1:00 p.m. EST for all you PSU fans! Go Penn State!

I almost forgot. If you're looking for a movie to see this season, I'd highly recommend 'Catch Me if You Can'. I first saw Frank Abagnale at Penn State in 1980. He gave a very entertaining lecture and he mentioned his book, but I was never able to find it until last year when it was re-released. His is a story of redemption and is wonderfully entertaining. The movie is directed by Steven Spielberg and excellently cast. You won't be disappointed.

Hi everyone. First of all the pic is not Tim. And Karen, Jack graduated with us. The face is really familiar though. Okay Lee tell us who it is.

Jay, Adian is beautiful. You all must have enjoyed his first Christmas. We just got over 10 rolls of film developed today. Good Lord it is a lot of pictures!

We're having a great time here. It is wonderful being together with all my family.

I pray that all of you will be blessed with joy, peace, love, strength and happiness this coming year. I pray that God will touch each of your lives and bring you to a closer personal walk with Him.

Happy New Year All! God Bless!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I'll see you all next year, God Willing. Aidan gets my vote for the most beautiful baby, who couldn't just fall in love with him. It was a great time, once again, at Boylan's, it was nice seeing Denise and Sandy too, when I usually see them it's only hello and goodbye. Denise told me to look at the CV for her brother's picture on Sunday, and sure enough, it was there, her brother Tony turned 40 and I think Denise had a little payback there as Tony appeared in his sister's cheerleading outfit from the Swoyersville Sailors, a costume he once wore for Halloween, Tony looked just like Denise as a child in that pinafore, happy 40th Tony. As far as my guess is for the the youngster from St. John's, at first I thought it was Jack Kamus, but he did graduate with us and I did see him more towards the back, so my guess is someone who started out at Sacred Heart and may have ended at St. John's, is it John Pesta??? Lee, I'm getting those pics together, you should have them by next week. Happy Holiday Everyone.

Jay provides us with some more colorful pictures of his grandson, Aidan (aka 'boo boo'). Nice try on guessing our mystery man, Jay, but it wasn't Tim (Tim had blonde hair, btw). This challenge significantly favors St. John's graduates but I don't know if we've had anyone from St. John's who ever participated in the weblog besides Joe Petrasek. Come to think of it, I've only confirmed about 3 email addresses besides mine from St. John's so this puzzle might go unsolved for quite some time. You can email me your answer if you don't have a weblog login and I'll still give you credit for having solved the mystery. Incidentally, Tim's name came up at Boylan's last week as having been recently inducted in the Bowling Hall of Fame. I went out to their website and could see no mention of it, so perhaps it was a different or more localized hall of fame. Tim was quite a character and I do remember him from Freshman year.

Lee, that wouldn't be an individual named Tim Mc Manus, would it? I think he went to O'Reilly our freshman year, but I'm not sure. It was a good time at Boylan's. I ran over from my mom's birthday celebration in time to find that I was the first one there. Then Karen and Bob showed up, etc. It was good to see Denise and Sandy. Sandy and I played pee-wee football on that horrific Swoyersville team that made us to pee-wee football, what the Bengals are to the NFL. Boy, were we bad! Hope you like the marinades, buddy... Ralph, you can buy breakfast at Mark Hession's diner next trip. Have a great New Year's everyone!

This man made my day last week when he successfully broke into my rental car. We had been shoveling snow and letting the cars heat up in the driveway when my lovely wife, Terri, moved the car back about 6 feet to make some room so I could shovel some more snow out from in front of it. The next time we tried to get in, the doors were all locked. Don't ask me how it happened except maybe it was because she was wearing gloves and the door locks on GM vehicles have a kind of rocker switch located much too close to the handle so if you're not careful when you're pushing the door open, you can inadvertently re-lock it. It doesn't help that the car is always trying to lock you in every time you put it in gear, a feature on modern cars I find quite annoying. So this guy saved the day using some magic tools that allow him to get into any car at any time. I'm sure glad that the people who have these skills are so trustworthy . But can anyone identify him? I'll give you a hint. If you went to St. John's, you'll have an advantage over others since he didn't go to Bishop O'Reilly.

When he first showed up at the door, I began to recognize him and I could see he was struggling to remember me too. And then it hit me! It's....

I'm back in Colorado and trying to warm up after our visit to the Valley. We had a very white Christmas there with 18 inches of snow falling on Christmas Day. My back was sore from shoveling it. I had a great time with fellow classmates at Boylan's on Thursday and was pleased to be able to see Sandy and Denise Scalzo along with Ralph Marsh, Jay Tobias, Karen and Bob Leonardi and Tommy Crossin. The place was absolutely packed with youngsters too...a standing-room-only crowd. The beer was cold and the hot wings lived up to Bob's assessment of being the 'best in the Valley'! I also got a really nice surprise from Jay who smuggled a half-gallon of speidei marinade sauce across the NY border which was subsequently airlifted to Colorado. I can hardly wait to try it!

Hi everyone! Just wanted to take a short minute to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope your 2003 is full happiness, prosperity, and much love...

Merry Christmas to all! Due to the white Christmas we got, our flight to Georgia was cancelled. We can't get out until Friday. But the kids are really enjoying the snow. Couldn't make it to Boylan's, but let me know when the next one is, and I will do my best to get there. Hope to be back the First of the year, but just in case, Happy New Year to all!

Thanks Doc! Merry Christmas to all of you, my good friends! God bless you all in the years to come...

Merry Christmas to all - and I wish everyone a very happy and blessed Holiday and 2003. We stay in Pittsburgh for Christmas - so will not be going to Boylan's - give all my best. Jay - Aidan is adorable!

Is anyone else planning on going to Boylan's on Thursday? I am tentatively planning to be there but so far haven't gotten any confirmations from anyone else.

Lee, thanks for "helping" Aidan with his post. Arlene, thanks for thinking he's adorable. Have a great time down south. Take it easy on the mint julips!

Jay, your grandson is adorable! God Bless Him!
Just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year. I hope Santa is good to all of you!
Karen, the joke you sent to Lee was the best. I will definitely show it to my husband since, as most of you know, I am a stay-at-home Mom.

Hi, My name is Boo Boo and my Granddaddy graduated from high school with you. Does that make you feel old? I sure hope not. You're only as old as you feel. I am having the time of my life in this litte walker that helps me to stand up and manage all my brightly colored toys! Isn't life wonderful!!?? If all goes according to plan, I'll graduate from high school in 2020 and in 2045, I'll attend my 25th high school reunion, just like you guys did this year! I can hardly wait... but first I think I'll just enjoy being a kid.

Karen always sends me the funniest jokes. She sent me this one today, and I laughed out loud. I feel like such a guy!

It's been very quiet in the blog lately. I found a message sitting in the queue from Chuck who looks like he missed the Thansgiving mini-reunion by only a few minutes. I learned that BOR class members never go directly home and if you can keep up with the bar-hopping crowd, you can stay out all night. But if you lose the bread crumb trail, you have to go home early .

As mentioned earlier, we are planning to meet on December 26th at Boylan's and if I have your correct email address, you should have gotten a reminder today along with the sad news that Marylil's mom passed away on Wednesday. Her viewing is Sunday and funeral on Monday. You can send an email to Marylil to express your sympathy. I know that I really appreciated the support I got from all of you in October and it meant a lot to me. Speaking of email, I have noticed that a few email addresses are bouncing email back to me including those for Jay Popson (actually, his wife's email), Dorothy Artim, and Mary Kosin. If any of you run into these people in your travels, please have them contact me to let me know their new email addresses.

I WAS there! Damn..just missed you guys..I worked and didnt get there till 11pm..asked the bartender and he said you guys just left about 5 minutes ago..what shit luck..hope we can do it again over Christmas......who was all there? I was surprised to see Arlene there..would have like to see her and Karen again..as well as rest of you..let me know date of next get together over Christmas......i'll try to make that one.

Hi everyone! My youngest son, Leigh, won his first varsity wrestling match last Wednesday. He is an eighth grader, and pinned a senior in 4:18. It was pretty impressive. He looked very poised, although he told me that he was scared silly before the match. Looks like he's going to pick up where his older brothers left off... I'm a pretty proud Papa right now... Have a great week, everyone!!!!!!!!

Great post, Lee... Should give us all something to think about... Hope my schedule makes the Christmas get-together doable for me. Depends on my daughter and everything up here in the Not-so-Great White North!

GOOD THOUGHTS


1. The best way to get even, is to forget...

2. Feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death...

3. God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts...

4. Some folks wear their halos much too tight...

5. Some marriages are made in heaven, but they ALL have to be maintained on earth...

6. Unless you can create the WHOLE universe in 5 days, then perhaps giving "advice" to God, isn't such a good idea!

7. Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, and faith looks up...

8. Standing in the middle of the road is dangerous. You will get knocked down by the traffic from both ways.

9. Words are windows to the heart.

10. A skeptic is a person who, when he sees the handwriting on the wall, claims it's a forgery.

11. It isn't difficult to make a mountain out of a molehill, just add a little dirt.

12. A successful marriage isn't finding the right person - it's being the right person.

13. The mighty oak tree was once a little nut that held its ground.

14. Too many people offer God prayers, with claw marks all over them.

15. The tongue must be heavy indeed, because so few people can hold it.

16. To forgive is to set the prisoner free, and then discover the prisoner was you.

17. You have to wonder about humans, they think God is dead and Elvis is alive!

18. It's all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you are done.

19. You'll notice that a turtle only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.

20. If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet the water bill is higher.

You are richer today if you have laughed, given or forgiven.

I will try to make it to the social at Boylan's on Slocum street (formerly Russin's) the day after Christmas. I'll send out a reminder to everyone so that they all know we'll be there! I can see that Sister Heliose is still doling out her advice on today's fashion statements, or lack thereof....

I agree with Jay, everyone did have a good time, missed some of the people that I thought would be there like Mike Laton, Chuck Brennan. I spoke with ROTC, she had a previous engagement and couldn't make it, so she's off the hook, I guess the other Church Ladies had their Novenas to say or just plain old Church work to do, well anyway, you were all missed as well as many of our other Classmates. Tom Crossin decided that we should have another social the day after Christmas, he said that it's a Thursday and we'll meet around the same time 7:00 p.m. and thereafter at Boylan's in Swoyersville, it's the old Night Owl for some who don't know Boylan's, it's located on the corner of Slocum and Chapel Streets in Swoyersville. Tom thought this to be the place to meet. If you like the Irish, this is definitely the place to be. So it is now set in stone for the day after Christmas, Tom will be looking for everyone in their new Xmas Sweaters, who knows, maybe he'll make a contest out of it, nice sweater, ugly sweater (something that definitely should have been returned) to the best looking Irish Sweater, it's a thought. Lee I should have more pics for you by next week. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.

Well it looks like everyone had a good time on Friday night. I posted some pictures (compliments of Jay Tobias) of the 'mini-reunion' to the website. It was great to see Rob Crawford and Sebrina Baynes who weren't able to make the reunion in September. Maybe we can do this again soon. I'm planning to be in for Christmas so maybe we can establish a time and place to see some of you again!

It was a small turnout for our get-together on Friday, but we had a good time none-the-less. To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure I was going to make it until the last minute. My youngest daughter took ill, and it was kind of touch-and-go there for awhile. It was especially nice to see Sabrina Baines and Rob Crawford. Seemed like the time went by too awfully fast. Have a great December everyone! Don't know if I'll be seeing the valley for awhile with work, church, and all that.