News Page
June 15, 2024
Plans are coming together for our 2027 reunion! So far, our classmates are voting for August 14, 2027, as a good date to plan a vacation around. BUT... only 12 votes have come in! Please let me know your preference using the Contact page on this site.
The venue to beat is the Rancho Santa Susana Community Center, which is air-conditioned, and seats 250 at 25 tables. No parking hassles, spacious all around, and no adjoining areas are competing for sound. The reunion is for the '72 Class but we won't bar others from joining us.
We're thinking of plenty of improvements over the last reunion. Please let me know if you wish to join our online Zoom meetings to discuss planning and be part of the magic! Again, the Contact page is available.
April 1, 2024
I'm chairing, but just concentrating on the '72 class reunion.. Our 55-year in 2027. I would like the '73 to put on their own reunion in 2028, which I'll certainly help with in terms of the database and e-mail blasts. But last October, there were just too many people for one night, and I never got to visit with most of you.
With the help of my friend Bob Fisher, I found a great venue for us... the Rancho Santa Susana Community Center, which has a capacity of 250, with seating for all. It will be our own location, with no competing noise. We'll be able to have our own music playlist at the level we like, allowing us to have actual conversation! :)
Green Acres Market is my choice for catering this thing. Real roast beef sandwiches instead of a taco bar... and I'm sure if enough of us are interested, I can order a vegetarian platter.
What's even more amazing is that I can keep the ticket price around the $35-$40 range, depending on whatever else I need to do.
December 1, 2023
A little over a month has passed since our reunion, and I'm finally able to state that all the money that was collected (tickets and donations) went to reunion-related expenses. Expenses include several items we did not use, but had on hand in case we needed them. And refunds. Everything is documented. I did not charge my stay at the Anza Hotel.
331 people bought tickets and attended our reunion. I think that is a successful number, considering all that have passed, plus 50 years, and the threat of a pandemic still on the horizon. Several classmates did not come because they had tested positive, and we have them to thank!
I wish to recognize our star donor Jackie Gooding '72 who over time gave a total of $550. Next comes Jeanine Trevillyan M.D. '72 who gave a much needed kickoff donation of $500 back in July 2021 in honor of her brother Jeff Trevillyan '73. Other donors include Vern Orth, Felice Fromm, Craig Fritz, and Diana Mariot. Much thanks to all!
I will not chair future reunions, but I will be glad to help the next chair that steps up to the task. This was a fun experience, but I want to enjoy my retirement a little more than I have been.
Thank you all!
September 18, 2023
WELCOME TO OUR 50-YEAR REUNION FOR CHATSWORTH CLASSES OF '72 AND '73!
(visit chatsworth72.com for all details, including how to pay.)
October 28th is 40 days from now, and we have 366 possible attendees, with 190 tickets (wristbands) sold so far.
Your wristband is your ticket. Wristbands are held on will-call at the sign-in table. They are also sold at the sign-in table, but please... buy online to avoid a bottleneck!
The price is $30 plus a card charge. Please don't expect a $30 meal... we are mainly being charged for renting a large area of Sagebrush for 5 to 6 hours. We kept the overall price as cheap as possible to encourage your classmates to come. Some are dining elsewhere first, but the $30 still applies.
Hotel space is running out. Check out vbro.com or similar options... you might get together with several friends and rent a house or cabin for the weekend, saving $$$ over hotel prices.
Please avoid parking at local businesses or hotels... you may be towed and/or ticketed! Please take advantage of valet parking or other recommended options.
This is Halloween weekend, and Sagebrush will be celebrating in full swing. Costumes are optional (and this may be hilarious!)
We *may* have to mask up and disinfect. If that is the case it will be Sagebrush policy and mandated. No amount of whining will change it.
We are looking forward to an awesome celebration of our 50 years... Please enjoy this night to the fullest!
May 22, 2023
Our classmates have all been contacted, outside of those "Missing". Please take a few moments to look at that list (follow the Menu).
There may be some names you know and can contact! Ring them up and them know about the reunion (and this website) and YOU will make their whole day brighter... This is after all the BIG one!
And if you are hesitating... OMG, really now? This is one of the biggest milestones of our lives, and we're all crossing that threshold together. Don't be that one that people are asking about, wasted on the way. There's so much water moving underneath that bridge and so much time to make up everywhere you turn... let the party come and carry us away! :)
February 20, 2023
DON’T WANT TO ATTEND YOUR 50TH HIGH SCHOOL REUNION?
FIVE AUTHENTIC, IMPORTANT REASONS TO GO!
by Elizabeth Dunkel, October 08, 2019, LIFESTYLE
I can’t believe it, just as no one can believe it: the famous 50th high school reunion has cropped up on me. The sentiments have long been expressed: it went so fast. It seems like a cliché, the 50th... are we really that old? And then there’s the big sigh. And the big question we each ask the one or two friends we’ve stayed in touch with all these years. “Are you going to go?” And, “What’s the point?”
The Ladder
This sigh is different from the ones you may have had in response to earlier reunions. The 10th reunion was about competition left over from high school – seeing who’s still hot, who got fat, who has the better job, who is married, who has kids. High school rivalries, insecurities, and cliques were still in play. There was still the possibility of connecting with a former love – or finding a new love.
Well, that’s a possibility at every reunion, isn’t it? Rekindling.
The 20th reunion was when we’re well on our way in life, though still comparing careers, children, marriages made, divorces, money earned or not.
At the 30th, we were in our primes, and people were on second careers, divorced, starting over, moving. Life has been “felt.” You were who you were and where you were in your life, and for the most part, people have stopped comparing.
The 40th rolled around and you can’t believe you’re – OMG! – 60! We quietly compared the wear and tear on our bodies. It was a very relaxed reunion.
Which is why when you get to the 50th, you think, what’s the point? To see how old
we’ve become? To see who looks older or “worse” than you do? (“Who are all these old people?”)
Now it’s the grandchildren game – who’s got some, who’s got none. Who’s living the happiest retirement, who’s still proud to be working, and who’s not happy to be working. The 50th is the reunion many people opt out of, thinking, “I don’t need to do this again. We won’t ever see each other again. What do we have in common really, anyway?”
Reason 1... It’s a Privilege to Go to Your 50th Reunion
When I was on the fence about going, I asked our reunion coordinator (bless his
heart!!!) to send me a list of deceased classmates. Shock. Dismay. That did it. They couldn’t go to the reunion, but I could. You should go to your 50th reunion for the simple fact and joy that you’re still alive. It’s an honor and a privilege to be able to attend. Being alive is the point: it’s everything. If your class decides to hold a reunion after the 50th, an even higher percentage will be gone.
Reason 2... Don’t Live with Regret
I didn’t particularly want to go to my 50th, but when I asked myself the question I always ask myself when I’m waffling about something, “Would you regret it if you didn’t go?” my answer was yes. Yes, I would regret not going. I would always wonder. I would say to myself: why were you being so silly? I booked the plane and the hotel immediately and rallied my friends to join me.
Reason 3... Talking About the Present, Not the Past
The 50th reunion is not about comparing anymore. Nor is it time to talk about the past as we did at other reunions. Rather, it’s about meeting as adults with long, rich lives behind us. We meet each other anew, fresh, like new people at a great cocktail party. We meet with compassion and love, peace and goodwill. Now it’s time to talk about the present, how the world got to be the way it is, politics, cultural events, and how we plan to live our old age.
Reason 4... Like It or Not, It’s Your Tribe
Your high school class is a group of people like no other. Many of your high school
classmates you’ve known since kindergarten! That’s pretty amazing. And for better or worse, you spent the formative years of your crucial, memorable, tortured adolescence together. You are bound together by a collective consciousness that is precious and rare.
Reason 5... Hey, It’s Iconic!
Go, if for no other reason than just because it’s an iconic thing to do — “to go to your 50th high school reunion.” Join the club, join the conversation.
As I navigate in my present-day world, I meet people and tell them I’m going to my 50th, and many of them say, “Oh, it’s great, I went to mine!”
Join the party! Adolescence is iconic, it never changes its stripes no matter how much tech is in the picture. Well, so is a 50th high school reunion an iconic thing to do.
If I have made one person, who reads this article, decide to go to their 50th reunion, I will consider my job well done!
