We remember our classmates who are no longer with us and the memorial given by Pat Edwards at our 50th Reunion:

*  James Marvin Brandt
*  Bruce C. Bunzey
*  Jim Charlson
*  Kent Crissup
*  Bruce Dayhoff
*  Eugene L. Erger
*  Pam Gribble Fay
*  Terry Lee Frobom
*  Roger Gapter
*  Arlene Helen Hansen
*  Helen Harvat Cooper
*  Jim Hicks
*  Robert Bryant Herrington
*  Tom Hill
*  Larry Hillis

*  Ray Ingraham
*  Mike Jeske
*  Paul Johnson
*  Kelly Johnston
*  Yvonne M. (Horiuchi) Jones
*  Linda Sue Lang
*  Judith Ann Sieben Lillard
*  Carol Athay Love
*  Geoffry Mahle
*  Cheryl Culver Mekelburg
*  Tom Moore
*  Dick Nelson
*  Jerome (Jerry) Quist
*  Bill Schwenn
*  Larry Shaffer
*  Corrine Stradley
*  Mike Tomingas
*  Jack Vesey
*  Cynthia (Çam) West
*  Ken Woodward
*  Joel Ziskin
 

          Even though I've thought about this for several months, I was standing at my kitchen window a week ago yesterday and thinking about what exactly I wanted to share at this memorial for our deceased classmates. I thought about a few comments Joanie and I shared as we planned this time. "not too heavy, keep it lighter." And the word celebrate came to mind despite the loss of what were very close, continuing friendships for some of us. So we celebrate their lives, the memories we have of them and the good things that came about because they lived and walked this earth. As I stood there the words of King Solomon came to mind so I went to that source of unending knowledge and expertise, Wikipedia, to find what I wanted and what I discovered was perfect for our time here tonight. I remembered the song "Turn, Turn" whose lyrics are based on the book of Ecclesiastes written by King Solomon and according to Wikipedia, The song became an international hit in late 1965 when it was covered by the American folk rock band The Byrds, ...reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 4, 1965. "Turn, Turn" was the number one song halfway through our senior year and I find that appropriate for tonight's memorial. These are the song verses which are very close to Solomon's original words and they remain as true today as when they were penned over two millennia ago and sung by the Byrds over 50 years ago.
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
          So tonight we'll focus on verse 4, A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. We'll do that tonight; we'll laugh and mourn as we reminisce about our three years at FHS and hopefully some of those memories will include our missing friends. I'll share one memory about a departed classmate, Bill Schwenn; he was a guy on the cutting edge of culture which many of you may not remember. When the rest of us were still washing our hair once a week whether it needed it or not and using Brylcream or Vitalis and Kent Hogan was still using Butch Wax, Bill was washing his hair after every gym class and getting that soft, floppy Beatle look that a few years later would dominate hairstyles. If you look in your annual you'll see the difference between Bill and the rest of us. I can still picture him standing in front of the mirror with his comb getting the look just right. Of course none of our coaches back then including our esteemed coaches present tonight would have allowed long hair to be flying everywhere while competing.
          Bill was a friend, not a close friend, but someone I always enjoyed being around; he was a nice guy. I've told my wife many times in the last few days when she asked me about someone, "Oh, he was one of the nice guys." It seemed I was saying that about everyone. There are all levels of friendship as all of you know. Bill was what would be called a situational friendship, it existed because we were thrown together by circumstances and discovered we enjoyed each other, in this case the situation was school, but it could be a job, a neighborhood, a hobby, anything that connects people. But we didn't have the shared values, interests and experiences that led to an intimate friendship which sometimes becomes a lifelong friendship. Because of time and energy most of us can only handle 2-5 intimate relationships but obviously at a reunion like this we try to contact scores of our classmates even if it's just to say hi or wish each other well. What I've enjoyed most about the reunions I've attended is the friendliness of everyone. Whatever kept us apart in high school or caused us to hang out with a limited number of classmates has disappeared and I see people talking and having a good time with people they may never have talked to in high school for whatever reason.
          Most of us here today are friends or at least want to be friendly at this 50th reunion although some of our Facebook posts have caused me to wonder if our reunion committee decided the first rule to guide them was no political discussions until after the reunion was planned. We're here because the friends and positive experiences of high school outweighed the negative. But if we're honest, for some, maybe many of our classmates, for whatever reasons, the negative outweighed the positive and so they're not here tonight. Around the time of our last reunion I contacted one of our classmates and they shared with me the horrific abuse they experienced in junior and senior high school. They kept it a secret from all of us, including our teachers and counselors. The high school years are a time they don't want to remember despite the friendships they had so they've never attended a reunion. I would like this memorial to include those people as well.
          So that's the mourning part of this memorial; now comes the time to laugh as we continue to remember. Tonight and again tomorrow morning I would encourage all of us to include in our thoughts and reminiscing as many of those not present as we can whether they are absent by death or by painful memories. I ask you to do this because it was together, all 270 some of us, that we, after dozens of classes, hundreds of cafeteria lunches, a few food fights and other fights as well, sporting, academic and artistic competitions, after all that, it was together we finally marched to "Pomp and Circumstance" as the Fairview High School graduating class of 1966.