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Volume 4, Number
11, June 2000
MIDNIGHT SUN ONLINE
-The Online Newsletter
for Robert E. Peary High School Alumni-
MSO WEB SITE - http://www.pearyhs.org/
INTRODUCTION
Greetings
Huskies:
It’s
a rather large issue this month, thanks to recent publicity surrounding
the Peary Community Homecoming 2000, and our online count now stands at
more than 2,960 classmates and staff aboard the Midnight Sun Online.
Welcome to all of our newly found alumni!
CONGRATULATIONS:
Bob Clarke, Marylah Clark Martin, and Mary Thomson, retired from MCPS this
month!
HOMECOMING
2000:
The 3-day event held June 16-18 was a success!
The Robert E. Peary Alumni Association’s (REPHSAA) Executive
Committee and a wonderful group of volunteers did a great job in
organizing the community event that welcomed the Hebrew Academy of Greater
Washington to the neighborhood.... and into our alma mater.
The building, inside and out, now looks brand-new after
deteriorating as it sat for 14 years.
A rededication of the bell tower was the highlight of the Opening
Ceremony which was attended by State and County officials, former faculty
and staff, and of course, the many student alumni who walked those
hallways and graduated or attended between 1963 and 1986.
“Open houses” during the event allowed everyone to see just
what a wonderful reconstruction job had been achieved over a two-year
endeavor. The bell from the
second USS Robert E. Peary (DE1073, then FF1073) that was secured by Mike
Deitchman (1968) is now in the tower [see the full scoop on the ships and
the bells in the “History/Traditions and Facts” section of the MSO
website]. A list of the names
of those who have passed-on was performed and bagpiper Marti Schmitz
Dillon (1978) played with honor as the bell was rung.
There
was a lot of entertainment by many local bands and troupes, including
Scott Giambusso’s (1971) Husky All-Star Band with alumni musicians, and
the Platters & Marvelettes Concert held in the auditorium Saturday
night was a blast! Thanks to
the Alumni Association Execs: President Neal Pizzano (1976),
President-Elect Terry Brooks (1969), and Secretary/Treasurer Barbara Dentz
Riley (1971) for everything. The
Alumni Association website can be found at www.pearyalum.org.
The association also honors those who made the entire weekend
possible by membership into The “P” Club and a listing of the
volunteers who made all of this possible is posted at the REPHSAA website.
Photos
from the event are now online at both websites, courtesy of the Internet,
technology, and human beings Becky Hawkins Fitch (1963), Mike Deitchman
(1968), and Anna Nicolaisen (1971). There
are more photos on the way, via snail-mail, from various alums who made it
to the event, and they will be posted as soon as they arrive at MSO. If you forgot to purchase an Alumni Cookbook while there (or
would like one), contact Anna Nicolaisen at gnicol@erols.com.
For T-shirts sold during the event, contact Telma Husband Glowacki
at horseluv@bellatlantic.net.
See
the various individual articles in this newsletter for further details
about the celebration, including a submission from Ed Burlas, who is one
of the few that saw it all at Peary... from its opening till its closing
16 years ago.
Needless
to say (but it’ll be mentioned anyway) our Alma Mater, our traditions,
and the Husky Spirit all continue to this day.
We’re a special bunch of alums, no doubt.
Thanks to everyone who was able to make it back to Arctic Avenue
for the celebration, for your continued participation in this
“rebirth” of our high school through the MSO and the Alumni
Association, and for Finding a Way, or Making One to keep the traditions
and all of the memories alive and well!
We may be scattered all over this globe now, but each of us, no
matter which year s/he attended Peary High School, can always call it
“home.”
THOUGHTS/PRAYERS:
Please include Jim Garro (1970) in your thoughts. Jim had double-bypass surgery on Friday May 26th.
Jim reports he’s doing fine and following the doctor’s orders.
“It was one of those things that came out of the blue.
I have never been sick in my life, but this sure made up for lost
time. Thank you for
everyone’s interest in my health.”
Linda
(Lynn) Ridgway (would-be Class of 1970) was tragically taken from this
world on March 27, 2000. Lynn
attended Peary for her Freshman and Sophomore years.
If anyone from the Class of 1970 might know where or how to contact
Rick Anderson or Jim Wyman, please let sister Missie Ridgway Rubin know as
“these two fine men were friends of Lynn’s while at Peary.”
Rick Anderson also had a brother, John, in the class of 1966.
If anyone knows how to contact him, that too would be helpful.
See Missie’s complete submission in this newsletter.
Dennis Tyrrell’s (1976) daughter was killed recently in an automobile accident.
To
these three alumni families, and to others that we may not be aware of, we
extend our prayers and support, and have you in our thoughts during these
difficult times.
REUNIONS:
The latest info can be found on the MSO website.
Classes of 1963-65 joint celebration begins August 11 (3-days of
activity), Class of 1970 July 28-30, Class of 1975 August 5, and 1980
August 19-20. Get your
reservations in and check the “missing persons” lists online.
1963-65:
Beginning Saturday, July 1, you will have to pay full price to attend the
joint event. The discount
period will end. The deadline
for ads in their reunion booklet is this Friday June 30th. Contact Gale Senseman Privette at gale7@juno.com
if you would like to place an ad in the 1963-65 reunion booklet.
CLASSES
OF 1976 and 1977:
Re Joint 25-Year Reunion in Las Vegas It stands at 75% YEA, 24%
NAY, 1% MAYBE. More
information will be available online and in your postal mailboxes soon.
There is nothing official yet, but there are several alumni
securing discount packages, group rates, and incentives for this idea (and
didn’t even graduate in either of our years), including the options many
were interested in for a family vacation/class reunion combination...
Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, “Area 51,” and nearby Los Angeles (including
tickets to a taping of The Price is Right—who knows, maybe an alum will
go home with a boat), various cruises, and Universal Studios.
Golf packages and Vegas shows discounts are also being researched.
As of now, accommodations would be at the Luxor Hotel (the
“pyramid”) on The Strip and they’re ready to reserve 500 rooms, to
start, for us. Considered periods, currently, are October 22-26 and November
4-8 (2001). We’ll keep you
posted on it all, including the secured discounted prices.
As of
today, it’s a ballpark $294 pp for the 4-day period.
Airfare probably will be offered as an option (for those who would
rather secure flights on their own, or would be driving/taking short-hop
flights from the West, Pacific NW, Mid-West, and South/Southwest).
Current offered airfare is hovering around $350 RT (from BWI), but
again, you might (probably would) do better on your own.
Group packages will also probably be offered/opened-up to ALL Peary
alumni and their families, to take advantage of the discounts (not
necessarily to invade the joint 1976-77 reunion activities and banquet!).
So if you’re interested in hopping aboard a large Las Vegas Peary
Party and adventure (no matter which class you’re with) and, more
importantly, the Class of 76-77 reunion, please let us know online at the
website!
NEW
PEARY FAMILY SITE:
PearyGear.com is now up and running, and the project of Riley Harper
(1973), Craig Chase (1977), and Tom Gogarty (1979).
For all your “Peary-phrenalia” needs, visit pearygear.com. The project was created to assist the alumni association in
supporting charitable projects, and joins is the “family” of Peary-related
websites: pearyhs.org, pearyalum.org, peary70,org, now pearygear.com!
The
deadline for the next issue of the Midnight Sun Online is Saturday July
22. Click on “Submit an
Article” at the website to let your classmates know what you’ve been
up to, and so your reunion committees can track you down!
Bob
Lau, Editor/Webmaster
The
Midnight Sun Online
P.S.
If you reply to this newsletter to ask a question or have a comment,
please don’t quote the entire newsletter in your reply.
It means it’ll take that much longer to weed-through it all to
give you a reply. Thanks!
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