While surfing around the web, I came upon a site put up by some people who had a class reunion last year. The reunion was a bit interesting to me, because it was from the high school where I attended 9th and half of the 10th grade. I actually knew my classmates there from the 7th grade, since we also attended junior high school together. If my dad hadn't been transferred, I would have graduated with these kids.
The thing that surprised me, but probably should not have, is that there was a page dedicated to those who have died over the years. There were 13 out of this small class that have died, and the pictures and names gave me a moment of surprise. You see, I have not kept up with anyone from either high school I attended, although I remember many of them from those years in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But somehow, in the back of my mind, I always think of them all as living their lives out somewhere, wondering what type of people they became.
So beyond the shock of finding out that these 13 kids died somewhere over the passing years, was who they were. As I didn't grow up with them from early childhood, I didn't have many close friends there, but I did have a few, and all of them on this list of the deceased were people I knew. One was the class bully. Another was a girl who lived a few houses down from me who was a pretty good friend in those days. It makes you wonder. Did the bully ever resolve his issues and become a nice person before meeting his demise? How did all of these people die, and how young or old were they at the time? Were they the victims of a disease, accident, or did some die at the hands of a murderer, or perhaps in Vietnam?
In any case, I am sorry to learn that these former classmates are gone.
