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Volume 3, Number 8,
March 1999
MIDNIGHT
SUN ONLINE
-The Online Newsletter for
Robert E. Peary High School Alumni-
MSO WEB SITE - http://www.pearyhs.org
INTRODUCTION
Greetings Huskies!
THANK YOU: The MSO is pleased to inform our online alums that it has been hit with a good "double-whammy!" All of you came through for this project at the end of last year with your support, which resulted in the MSO breaking-even.... and with your recent financial support and fund raiser held March 20th, the MSO has a bright future. The good "whammy" that adds to the success you've brought to this project.... our service provider, Clark Internet Services of Columbia, MD has merged with Verio (of Englewood, CO and Dallas) to become Verio Mid-Atlantic. As a result of the economies-of-scale inherent in this merger, and my 8 years of conducting business with the former company, the hosting rates have dropped dramatically. The bottom line is, as a result of your generous support for the past almost-three years and the recent fund raising activities, the Midnight Sun Online is happy to let you know that it will continue through the fall/winter of 2000! The MSO's basis has been recovered over the first two years, meaning your continued support carries the project even further. One again, thank you to all who have supported this project with donations.
FUND RAISER AT THE MAGIC CUE: Were you one of the 183 attendees (that we know of so far) who showed-up last month to mingle with your classmates and enjoy the tunes of the Jack Diamond (1972) and Jim Steed Band in support of the MSO? Yes, a standing-room-only crowd made the event a special one for Peary alumni, whether you attended or not, because the proceeds have extended operation of the MSO well into the millennium and we all have benefited from this! The MSO Fund Raiser Committee, chaired by Melissa Davis Strosnider (1982), had its act together and organized this successful event with careful and thorough planning. Thank you and congratulations to Melissa, Rick Cauble (1974), Lynn Janashek Boyd (1975), Sandra Kowalski (1986), Neal Pizzano (1976), and Steve Steinberg (1983) for making it happen. Thanks also to NON-alums, Debbie Facciola and Greg Munson for their tremendous work and participation in this endeavor (now, how many Peary alums would assist with a, say, WHEATON HS event 20-some years later... thank you guys!).
Rick secured the location and deal for us at the "Cue" and Sandra provided the bid sheets for the silent auction. Neal handled the Raffles. Steve, Greg, and Debbie worked the door. These are only the "obvious" details of what the entire committee did as a team. All were responsible for obtaining items for the silent auction that brought-in just over $550. Thank you to Paula Marshall (1982) who donated lots of TV and movie paraphrenalia to bid on (who got the Jennifer Lopez jacket?) and to the merchants who participated. The details of who-got-what and who-provided-what are being compiled and will be posted soon, AND photos from the evening have begun to arrive. All of this, again, will be online shortly, including the attendee list. Photos were taken that evening by Ken Roseman (1969), Barb Dentz Riley (1971), and Rick Cauble. Be it duly noted that Tim Best (19??) traveled from Miami, and Vicki Bivins Baker (1984) came up from Georgia for the event! All classes (1963-86) were represented except for 1965 and 1966 (as far as we know). The important thing, overall, was an evening and opportunity to meet, greet, re-establish, and reminisce, and your attendence made it the success it was. Thank you, Melissa... thank you everyone!
REUNIONS: The Classes of 1969, 1974, and 1979 will be holding their reunions this year — all contact info, dates, and details that we have are posted on the website. In addition, plans continue for the joint 1963-1965 reunion (see update in this newsletter from Carol Cotton Hendrix, Class of 1964) and 1980 reunion to be held in 2000. If you have a moment, take a look at the respective "missing persons" listings and help the classes' reunion and search committees track these folks down, even a sibling contact will be helpful!
NEWSLETTER: Many thanks to Laura Vandevender Collins (1973) who has been painstakingly coding the monthly newsletters for the website archives the past couple of years. We announce a passing-of-the-torch for this unrecognized and underappreciated chore to Pat Gillespie (1967) who is currently catching us up! Laura continues to maintain the Class of 1973 Info Section and the Alumni "Birthday Club."
CANCER RIDE: Visit www.onevoiceusa.com and read about Bobby McQuin's bicycle ride from San Diego to Virginia Beach - a ride to fight childhood cancer - that began March 15. Bobby is the son of Beth Sanchez McQuin (1978).
RACE-FOR-THE-CURE: Beth Leimbach Swanson (1966), a 28-month survivor of breast cancer invites all Peary classmates to participate in this event, its 10-year anniversary, on June 5th. Contact Beth at hbwws@aol.com and visit www.natl-race-for-the-cure.org.
REPHSAA: The Robert E. Peary High School Alumni Association is making tremendous progress. See the news at the end of the main body of this issue of the newsletter from Terry Brooks (1969)!
MR. HASSLER: A thank-you note to alumni is included in this newsletter. We also received a response from Suzanne Sutton, the defendant in Mr. Hassler's lawsuit. Since this case is not pertinent to the MSO and its activities, Ms. Sutton's response is not included here. However, she invites anyone who's interested in this matter to e-mail her for an opportunity to explain her side and to pass-along what (she feels) The Washington Post failed to include in the story. Her e-mail address is Suzanne224@aol.com, and her web site can be accessed at www.suzannesutton.com.
JUST ANNOUNCED: Jim Hardman (1976) has just setup a Majordomo list for Peary alums. If you're not familiar with this, it's a community e-mail chat of sorts — when anyone sends something to it, all subscribers to the list will receive it. This function might serve as a "timely" area where last-minute notices to alums are posted (that only subscribers would receive, however) to supplement the monthly MSO newsletters — for the "in-between" stuff. Give it a shot and see how it goes. The threads will be monitored. Thanks, Jim! Instructions for subscribing to the list can be found at
http://earthops.org/Harvest/brokers/Peary_High/maillist.html
(Jim is also the person responsible for indexing the MSO website content nightly which enables an up-to-date search function on the MSO website.)
Articles for the next issue of the Midnight Sun Online are due Saturday April 24th. Happy Springtime!
Bob Lau, Editor/Webmaster The Midnight Sun Online