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A. Lost and Found
Dennis Gries' tireless efforts to locate classmates continues. Here is his latest info:
- He snagged one of the two long lost. Don Johansen has been located in Stratford, NY. Don and his wife, Dorothy, have been married for 46 years. (Pretty good for a bald guy.) They have two children, and two grandchildren.
- We've been corresponding with a Jacob Kutschera in Baltimore for the last five years. Not our guy. The "real Jake" is in Levittown, PA with his wife of 30 years, Susan. They have two kids in their mid-20s, and 3 grandkids.
- We've confirmed that Mario Santilli and his wife, Judith, are in Newtown, PA. Mario has two children and three grandchildren.
- We called him Dave, but his full name was William David Ross, and since the Hum he has been Bill. Will take some getting use to, but Bill and his wife, Irene, are now located in Conway, SC. Bill has 2 children and 5 grands.
- Mike Lane and beloved Barbara are now in Palmyra, NJ. Mike moved and didn't let us know so we thought we had lost him. HEY THAT'S A NO-NO GUYS. We were apparently able to get Mike and old buddy Don Johansen into telephone contact.
- So you remember Ginters Vurlicers. Well he's now Ginter Vurlicer and here is why: "About my name: In the Latvian culture / language, all female first names end in "a" and all male first names (and family names) end in "s." Since it is an artificial construct of the language, I chose to Americanize my name (after 18) without the "s" endings. The official records at Girard would show the "s" endings, but where I can influence the option, I drop the "s" endings. My father's original German surname was Wurlitzer -- changed to Vurlicers to conform (more or less phonetically) to the Latvian language when he married my mother, Milda, and moved to Latvia." We had two TX addresses for him Port Arthur, and Beaumont, and apparently both were correct. But those hurricanes are driving him to NC soon. Make sure you let us know Ginter!
- We have a new address for Sam Chapman in Bensalem, PA but have not confirmed with a contact. In a recent conversation with John Few where John was responding to a question about promotion to the concert band, he noted that the truly gifted like Sam, and Norm Chachkin, both clarinetists, got their gilt uniforms by sixth grade. Others who played obscure instruments like John's oboe, and the French hornists, Joe Baji, and Don Beck got there early based on the band's needs. So Sam if you're out there let us know.
- John Gearhart has moved "home". He and much of his research team moved in September from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to the University of Pennsylvania. So we can expect John at many of our affairs in Philadelphia. John is living in Swarthmore. At Penn, he is known as: James W. Effron University Professor, and Director, Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and Professor of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.
- So are remaining contact problems are: we're not sure on our info on Wes Teasdale, Bob Turring, and Joe Hagerty. And Gries is still searching hard for Jim Wert. If you have info please let us know.
1. A Retraction and an Apology
In an earlier Scratch Sheet we listed classmates who did not graduate, and the reason for their early departures. This list was acquired from the Alumni Association. On that list we reported that Walter Scheetz left because of conduct issues. In a telephone call with Ron Saracini, Walter noted that that info was incorrect. After many years of trying, Walter was able to convince his mother to withdraw him after 10th grade. Walter joined the army after a brief stint at West Catholic HS, and rose to full Colonel before his retirement around 1995 to take care of his ailing mom. He still lives in the home he grew up in West Philadelphia. Our apologies to Walter for the error.
2. On Privacy Policy
Sal Bovoso has informed us that he no longer wants to receive any communication from us. Sal suffered grievous wounds during his years in the Hum, and even 49 years later does not want to be reminded of them. We, of course, will honor this request. We trust that all of us who might have contact information on Sal will also do so.
We understand that the Hum experience was very different for many of us. If you feel like Sal please let us know, and though we will miss you, we will withdraw communication with you. Additionally if you would like to continue to receive particular communications, but would prefer we not share contact information with others, we will abide by such requests. Please let Rocco know as to your preferences.
Additionally, the Alumni Association has requested that we provide updated contact information on all classmates. If they have your mailing address and/ or email address they will send you their publications and announcements even if you have not paid your dues. If you would rather that we not give that info to the GCAA, please let us know by May 1, 2009.
Finally we would note that the Girard1960.com website is accessed by Google. To the extent any of the material available on the site might be personally embarrassing or offensive to you (those Sehl Chronicles can be a little rough, even if Carl's intentions were benign) please let us know, and we will remove it.
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