Hey Gary,  First of all let me say, I appreciate you’re keeping us all up to date on Wheeling events and alumni, especially those who have passed on to greener pastures.  I think it helps us put our lives in perspective and realize just how short and precious life can be.  The fact is, we come here and we leave here, some sooner than others and we don’t have the option of knowing what that time span is.  So we need to be encouraged to make the best of what time we are here.  However, my main reason for writing is to inform you and the others that the Timothy DeSpain that is being sentenced in February for less than admirable behavior for his part in the Enron catastrophe is not I.

Tell anyone who remembers me hey,

Regards,

Tim DeSpain

Hi! Well, we made it safe, if not sound! Just got power on today. We are on a well, so a shower was the 1st thing on the agenda! It never felt so great! Although the AC tops the list!

Our area was hit badly. Our home & vehicles did fine. We lost lots of trees as did many others, making egress impossible. Big old oak trees wrapped around power lines a few times before they pulled down wires, poles & transformers. We were without phone, including cell phones for quite a few days, which was an eerie feeling. We had no way of letting family & friends know we were OK, or for them to get ahold of us. A gas, food, water & battery shortage was in effect, which caused panic. And there was a curfew 8p-6a because of all the devastation on the roads & to keep looting down. And with all the rain - there is a mosquito alert.

Under protest ahead of time, my 3 boys came home from college. "why do we want to head towards the storm?" I like them with me - it's a mom thing I guess. Plus, the storm was so undependable once it hits land, it could have gone to any of their campuses. Seth's campus was hit very hard by Charlie.
Afterwards we were sure glad they were here to help remove the fallen trees & dig us out. Boys & their toys loved having excuses to run chain saws & tractors. In our neighborhood there was comraderie & helping each other dig out. I baked & cooked liked crazy for 2d before, so we ate well for a couple days anyway.

Thankfully it looks like Ivan will not cause major damage. Physically & emotionally, I don't think Floridians can handle it. After Charlie people were kind & generous & helpful. With the one/two punch, and days of sweating & hard labor, there were short tempers - we're over it! And there has been the very real fear that all the downed trees & branches & parts of homes would be missles during another storm. We are going to have one gigantic bonfire soon!

My offices also did OK. Had some water damage, thankfully in the back of the office, so nothing was ruined, just stinks. We had no power there until Friday, so I went & sat at the office (sweating!) and saw any of the pregant women, by candlelight, that ventured in. We had just gone to electronic scheduling!

Very funny Hurricane Instructions, btw! I have a ton of stuff to do now that I have lights & AC, plus now that I am not wilting from the heat, I think I can accomplish something!

Thanks for your thoughts & concerns..........Donna

I graduated with the night class because I had to leave my graduating class of 1970 due to pregnancy. My name was Virginia (Ginny) Brown before I got married. I am divorced, have 3 sons, ages 35, 32, and 27, and also have 4 grandkids and one on the way. I am a licensed psychotherapist and do outpatient therapy and crisis intervention. I live in the Denver area and would love to hear from classmates. I am listed under "missing" section as Virginia Sanfilip because I actually graduated with the night class in 1972, but was with the 1970 class until my jr. year when I dropped out for a while. I was married to Richard Sanfilip '68 for about 3 years, when we had our first son who is now 35 and has 4 kids of his own

CP 10 and CP11 English Classes Website Meet Your Teacher

Hi, I'm Mr. John Graziano CP 10 & CP11 English Ottumwa High School   I began teaching at Ottumwa High School in January of 1975.  I have taught just about every subject offered in the Language Arts Department at Ottumwa High School, but my primary teaching assignments have been devoted to 10th Grade English.  I began teaching the CP 11 English classes several years ago.  This web page has been designed to help students and parents keep informed as to what is happening in these classes.  This is my first attempt at designing a web page for my students so please be patient.  I guess time will tell if I'm able to keep up with it on a daily basis.  There should be a place to offer comments.  My e-mail address is also included on one of the pages.  Please let me know what you think of this page.     John Graziano Office hours: 8:00 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Office location: Room 410 Ottumwa High School E-mail address: grazjohn@hotmail.com

Alumni can run but they can't hide! :-)

Lost but now found. The story of my life. This is Roger M. Slansky checking in. I put my name on Google just for the heck of it and low and behold I realized I was a cold case. The world can't get rid of me that easily. Without going into a major bio, I've ended up retiring from the printing industry in Los Angeles and moving to the "Rose City", Portland, OR in the beautiful Great Northwest.

I graduated from Harper Jr. College in Palatine in liberal arts and finished up my formal education at Roosevelt University with the Chicago Musical College with a degree in Music Education and a minor in classical saxophone. A cut in music programs in 1975 (great planning) caused by the lagging economy led me into an entirely different field--the printing and publishing management of weekly national magazines, i.e., Time, Newsweek, U.S. News. The career spanned 25 years which started part time with U.S. News & World Report in Chicago, then Los Angeles, Central CA, New Jersey, Dallas and back to Los Angeles for the final 10 years in that industry.

We moved to Portland in '01 to get out of the sun, traffic, pollution, crime and inflated cost of living in So. Cal. It's so beautiful up here. It's a big, little city, charming and green with a change of season, like back home in IL, but without the frigid weather and tons of snow. The winter of '78 did me in and as soon as the ground thawed, I got out of dodge and never looked back (except to visit my folks).

The transition to retirement was difficult, but the 60-70 hour weeks over the years took its toll and now I'm dealing with some of the health issues that come from that and with aging. I stay active with volunteer work and my life long creative hobby of gardening.

Sharon Weld was my high school sweetheart and we became engaged right after graduation. But it didn't last and Sharon had a destiny with Great Britain where she moved with her new husband and started a new family where I think she still resides. I don't know here last name, but her younger brother, Winfield Weld may still live in Tucson and would know her where abouts.

Well, so much for no long bio. Hope this helps with your quest. I would like to hear what you're up to and how the search is going. I don't seem to remember you, but I just found you in the '69 yearbook and see we ran in different circles. You were a '69 jock and I was a '70 band geek. I probably did some of your football halftime shows.

The high school years were difficult, but I try to remember that we lived through historic times, with the Beatles, Sonny and Cher at the Elmhurst theater, endless afternoons at Randhurst Mall, the moon landing, Nixon, Vietnam and lots of English Leather. Thanks--it was fun reminiscing.

Best Regards, Roger Slansky