- Most Grandchildren - Peggy Sellers Peterson (30+)
- Most Great Grandchildren - Gene Farmer (1)
- Traveled the greatest distance to get here - Boyd Dial (from Michigan)
- Doesn't have an email address - Calvin Archibald
- Grayest hair and proud of it - Kurt Jones
- Least hair and proud of it - Robert Ball
- Married longest to the same spouse - Pam Jenson Harris
- Lived in the most cities since graduating - David Edlefsen
- Still a student - Sharyn Park Crouch
- Most root canals - Bryce Hanson
- Most changed - Mike Later
- Least changed - John Miller
The Class of 69’s 40th Anniversary Class Heroes
In addition to the normal fun awards that are presented at a class reunion, your co-chairs for this 40 year reunion decided to add a little more serious award. After 40 years away from High School almost all of us have had to live through certain times that are very rough and have had to respond to challenges that we did not anticipate. We have been faced with situations that took a lot of effort just to pull through. One of our classmates was killed in action in Vietnam while working to save fellow soldiers who had been wounded. That is certainly at the highest level of heroism and is easy to understand and appreciate. We gratefully acknowledge it. In addition, we think that there have been much less public and silent moments of valor, and we decided to have an award to celebrate these various types of heroism and memorialize them.
This award is not meant to say that this person or that person has been the biggest hero of the last 40 years- that would be an impossible task- rather it is an award that just demonstrates the courage of fellow classmates and to use those classmates as an example of many other acts of everyday courage that many of our other classmates exhibit.
Because, we believe that there are so many of our classmates that deserve this award, we would encourage you to nominate others for our next class reunion and provide a story that we can share together then. The two heroes that we selected to start this process are both deceased. That however is certainly not a criterion for your submission. Please provide your nominations to either LaNae or Mike or directly to Connie or Dean, co-chairs for our next reunion.
Some of our fellow classmates have contributed so that we will be able to make two $500 donations to the Jefferson County School District 251’s Foundation. The only stipulation is that the recipients of these funds are made aware that the help they have received is in honor of these two individuals and that they be provided with the following brief tribute to them.
The 40th Anniversary Class Heroes are:
Robert W. Nelson
Our classmate Bob Nelson was born on February 15, 1951. After graduating, he enlisted in the Army and began his tour of duty in Vietnam on January 12, 1970. Bob served on a helicopter crew and saw plenty of combat action. On the 29th day of September 1970 his helicopter was flying over Binh Duong, South Vietnam, when it was shot down by hostile fire. Bob died as a result of the injuries received in that crash. We are honored to call Bob our classmate and will be forever grateful for the ultimate sacrifice he made for his country.
Calvin C. Sullenger
Our classmate Calvin Sullenger was born on July 24, 1950. Calvin suffered from severe illness from birth that left him very frail and with obvious physical abnormalities. Unfortunately, kids can be cruel and Calvin often was the target of vicious teasing and jests. Calvin bore this cruelty with remarkable courage and only rarely lost his “cool.” He always had a big smile for everyone. When you needed a volunteer to help with a class project or event, you could always count on Calvin to help to the very best of his abilities. Studies came hard for Calvin, but his attitude was he just had to work a little harder and a little longer to understand it, so he always worked longer and harder. He may not have been the valedictorian of our class but that wasn’t because any one tried harder. He really earned his diploma. Calvin passed away from his many infirmities on the 21st day of May 1970. We are sorry if we ever added to Calvin’s suffering. While we may not have known it when we graduated in 1969, we are older now in 2009 and recognize Calvin as a real hero.
No comments:
Post a Comment