Help Us Find Missing Alumni

Our email newsletter went out to our alumni and a lot of the emails didn't work. So we created a list combining alumni whose emails were "bouncebacks" with the alumni on our list that we didn't have an email for and mailed postcards to that combined list. Now all the postcards that couldn't be delivered and were returned have been logged and compiled with those alumni for whom we had no email or address. We call this the "No Contact" list because we've had no contact with them by email or postcard and we don't have valid contact info for them in our database. We present the "No Contact" list below so all of you who read the list can see if you know contact info for anyone on the list. If you do, either email us their info at wilson65reunion@gmail.com, or let them know about this blog and that they should sign up for the email newsletter if they are interested in attending. Details for the 50th reunion will be finalized soon and then we'll be emailing and posting about tickets available to purchase online.

The Wilson '65 Alumni - No Contact - List

Elva (Russell) Able
Paulette (Bouffiou) Alvarado
Jerrold Anderson
James Anthes
Janice (Farmer) Anton
Ken Averett
Sandra Barbour
Leonard Barnett
Andrea (Nelson) Bass
Anne Benjamin
Sharon (Kindrick) Berg
Deloris (Tonkin) Bergstrom
Jerry Bullat
Judy (Burns) Burns
Jan Butcher
Bob Butterworth
Candace Carroll
Len Ceder
Warren Churchward
Pamela (Tschudin) Coffee

Wilson Memories

Well, a couple of our illustrious alumni have come through with some brief but still welcome reminiscences about Wilson.

Greg Simon attended Gonzaga University after graduating from Wilson, he lives in Gig Harbor, Washington and based on his Google+ photo, he also plays bagpipes.

From Greg:

"I remember well the halls of Wilson High school.  There were many other memories, especially those of Mr. Stell and Swing Choir, as well as Mr. Harris and chalk all over his bald head and brown suit.  I swear, he wore the same suit everyday. There were some fun times. I will look forward to the event and meeting others again or for the first time."

Scott McRae also lives in Gig Harbor, WA. He wrote recently and sent a photo taken at Wilson High School:

"Here is a very dark photo that includes a very dark part of our class's history. It was taken in front of my Homeroom locker, and you have to look closely to see the guy standing in the shadows behind me. I'm not sure why I look so smug."

Postcards Are Sent!

Postcards were mailed out February 12 only to those alumni who we have not been able to contact through email. These are not meant to be official invitations, they are simply used to get the word out about the reunion. They weren't mailed to everyone in order to keep expenses down. So if you didn't receive one, that should mean we already have your correct email address, however it still wouldn't hurt to sign up for the newsletter in the right column just in case.

Several members of the Wilson Alumni Committee got together in our Tacoma office yesterday for a postcard stamping and addressing party. Well, not an actual party, but we had fun chatting while we worked. Everyone who said they might come made it, so with all the help we had the cards ready to go in record time. These postcards are going out to everyone we have an address for but either no email, or their email was a bounceback from our email newsletter. If you have received a postcard in the mail, that means we don't have a correct email address for you in our database. Please sign up for our email newsletter using the easy sign-up form in the right column just below the 50th Crest. We'll be sending out another email newsletter soon.

In Memoriam - January 2015

I don't want to make these kinds of posts, I'd rather post about positive things, but as we get close to our reunion and we are communicating more, I'm finding out about fellow Wilson alumni that pass away. In January we lost (George) Todd Marlatt, who we remember as a jolly, smiling, bright person. He graduated from the University of Washington and started working for a Saudi Arabian oil company in 1969. He was most recently living in Arizona. He was a dedicated Husky fan who went to the UW football games when he could and he passed away 2 days before a game in Arizona he was planning on attending. I last saw him at the 45th Wilson reunion and he told me recently that he was planning to attend our 50th, so those of us who knew him were really looking forward to seeing him again and he will be greatly missed.

In Memoriam - 2014

As we come to the end of this year and enter 2015, our 50th reunion year, we wanted to remember those Wilson 1965 Alumni that we lost in the past year. Of course, our information may not be complete, these 3 are the ones we know about. Don Melvin passed away in November, Kenn Johnson and Wolfgang Chandler in December. I had the pleasure of corresponding with Don a few times starting in August after he discovered this blog and our upcoming reunion. He was really looking forward to coming and seeing everyone. I knew Ken from 3 years of homeroom together, he was on the honor roll, such a nice guy. I didn't know Wolfgang but read that he was a proud veteran who served in Vietnam as so many in our class did.

These gentlemen are and will be dearly missed.

Wilson 50th Commemorative Emblem

The Wilson '65 Reunion Committee members voted on a couple of choices we came up with for the 50th Reunion Commemorative Emblem and this is the winner by a landslide. We'll be using this emblem on future communications and marketing platforms to help us celebrate our Golden Reunion Anniversary (can you believe it's the 50th?).

A Wilson Memory - How Not To Skip School

Here's a story Walt Connor posted on Facebook which we didn't want you to miss:

"My favorite Wilson memory is when Tom Teitge and I were in student council and skipped school to go up to Crystal to ski (it was just too great a day not to ski). When the office called my mom, she said I was sick. When they called Tom's mom she said he was up skiing at Crystal. Very hard to explain to Mr. Beers the next day when we both had deep sunburns to the turtleneck line on our necks. As Mr. Beers said: 'So much for the future leadership of Tacoma.' I guess he was right."

We'd love to post more Wilson memories on the blog. Please email your stories and photos to wilson65reunion@gmail.com.