The First Step is the Toughest

For many of us it started in 1955, for a few, it was 1954, but in just a few short years our paths would cross in this thing that we call LIFE. From 1961-1969 we would share good times and the bad . We would learn things that proved useful later on in our lives , and some of the things we learned just stayed up there in our head never to be used ( never ever !!! ). Our eyes saw things that we thought were awesome and we kept these in our hearts as cherished memories. Sadly we saw things that were tragic and we wished we could erase them from our minds .
While living through these shared times we thought it would never end . For some of us it did. Some of us never saw our 20TH Birthday, or 30th , 40th or the golden age of 50.
That's the reason why I am writing today. For those of us that did make to our 51st, 52nd and soon to be 53rd birthdays, we will also be celebrating another milestone and that would be our 40th year Reunion of our OLPH graduating class of 1969. As Twila F. recounts " Excited , Yes (okay maybe not so excited that I am old enough to have a 40 year reunion of anything ) "
The sentiment has been shared by those who I've been in contact with and many can't wait to see each other after all these years .
I want to take the time to thank Nisa V. because it was in an e-mail to me last year ( 2007 ) that planted the seed when she asked "why don't we have a class re-union ? "........MMMMMMMmmmmmmmm ???? Why not . When Denise D. sent me a note last year ( also in 2007 ) I knew it was time to get this party started. I did contact Ed Mahoney who is the Development Director at OLPH ( He also helps with the Alumni contacts ). He gave some advice , a list of 12 contacts and we hit the street running.
We have broken our class contact list into three categories
1 . Those who have graduated with the Class of 1969
2. Those who attended some of the years but relocated and transferred out
3. Those that didn't attend OLPH but were very involved in our Sports
Programs

Our goal was to have at least 2 positive responses a week and to date we have surpassed our estimates . Our respondents so far include............

Week 1 : Nisa V , Denise D
Week 2 : Patti S , Twila F. , Donna A,( she's a category 2 ) Cathy V.
Paul G ( he's a category 3 )
Week 3 : Brendan R, John S. , Rick S., Dan C ( he's a category 3 )
and we've ended the week with a note from Wayne B. all the way from
San Angelo , Texas

I'm excited for all of us . I've been receiving e-mail notes and pictures as I write, and I will share some of the words of encouragement and pictures that I've received that I'm sure will bring smiles to your faces . Please stay in touch by leaving a comment or dropping a note to Nisa or myself.

Thanks for allowing me to share ,

Rick Pacheco
Class President
OLPH Class of 1969