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Class of 1968 50th Reunion Wrap-up Report
Five events were planned for the reunion weekend (September 28-29). Over 125 classmates attended one or more of the events that took place. More than 25 spouses and guests accompanied members of our Class.
Mentoring
Over 15 classmates volunteered to mentor HF students. Ann Cherry, Director of HF Alumni relations was able to work with faculty to have nine of those classmates provide an overview of their career during classes on Friday.
Thanks to Bill Dethloff, Howard Fingert, Cheryl Lichter, Ed Monser, Phil Pagoria, Dick Reed, Mike Ruth, Jean Snuggs, and Dave VanCleve for their efforts and to all of our classmates who volunteered!
Golf
What an amazing turnout for our first ever Reunion golf tournament, organized by Committee member John Hart! We had 27 golfers. Not all were fulltime players and just played partial holes, but all played/endured some fairly nasty, cool, wet weather on the back 9. John was glad that everyone got to experience some Illinois golf weather because some of us don’t play in those great southern climates!
We had 7 groups with a nice mixture of men and women. Everyone received a Titleist Velocity golf ball with an HF Class of ‘68’ logo imprinted on the side of the ball. In addition, we held a men’s and women’s putting tournament in which each classmate took one putt to get it closest to the hole in order to win a prize. The total distance of the putt was 30’ 7”, which was the total height of the senior members of the 1968 basketball team. The men and women winners each received a sleeve of Titleist Velocity golf balls.
The Golf Tournament, which was a scramble format, produced team scores of 66 to 72. We had 2 teams tie at 66, 3 teams scored a 68, with one team each at 70 and 72. That’s some pretty darn good golf! Thanks to everyone who participated. We hope to plan future similar events.
Wiley’s
On Friday evening a large group of classmates and spouses gathered at Wiley’s Grill for food, beverages, and conversation, the perfect atmosphere to relive the “Good Old Days”. Over 100 classmates, friends, and spouses filled Wiley’s to capacity. Everyone enjoyed the large selection of dishes provided in their buffet.
We were honored to have several distinguished faculty from 1968 in attendance, including Bob Lombardi and his wife, Jack Wayne and his wife, Jim Maci, Dale Bjorklund, and Don Laketa. Our generous classmates also made over $700 in additional donations towards our “Pay It Forward” class gift. Thanks to Committee members Paul Connery, John Hart, and Sally Schneider for planning such a great event.
H-F Tour
This special event was held on Saturday morning at the North and South Campus of Homewood Flossmoor High School. The tour began with some history of the towns of Flossmoor and Homewood.
Local historian Scott Mehaffey presented a look at Flossmoor’s development, planning and design history. If you wish to donate, Scott has suggested contributions be made to “Friends of the Flossmoor Public Library.” https://flossmoorlibrary.org
Our other speaker was Jim Wright, longtime Homewood historian and president of the Homewood Historical Society. Jim is author of the book, “Homewood”, from Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America Series. The 128-page book is filled with over 200 photographs, which chronicle the history of Homewood from its earliest years through the 1940’s. Jim is also working on a companion book that will cover the Homewood story from 1950 to the present. “Homewood,” priced at $21.99, can be ordered by mail from the Homewood Historical Society, P.O. Box 1144, Homewood, Illinois 60430. Add $4.00 per book ordered. Donations can also be sent to the society in care of that address.
Following the two presentations, we were taken on a tour of both campuses by Ann Cherry, Director of Alumni Relations, and a group of H-F students.
Flossmoor Country Club
Our reunion weekend ended with a dinner party at Flossmoor Country Club. Guests were entertained as they entered the club by members of the H-F Orchestra, led by maestro B.J. Engrav. During the evening, we were also entertained by local DJ, Angelo Cristobal.
The Committee displayed collected memorabilia from our days at H-F and provided a memorial honoring the deceased members of our class. During the evening, attendees were entertained by the premier showing of a video collage of our days at H-F prepared by Committee Co-Chair Bill Armstrong.
The Class of ‘68 presented a replica check for $6800 to Superintendent Dr. Von Mansfield and Director of Alumni Relations Ann Cherry. By the end of the evening donations made at Wiley’s and Flossmoor Country Club brought the final donation total to over $9000! Thanks to all who contributed to the Class Gift, which will be directed towards scholarships for the H-F Class of 2019.
Dr. Von Mansfield talked about “H-F today” and shared recent videos of the school’s campus activities.
Committee Co-Chair Bob Presnak shared his thoughts on the positive impact of our classmates, recognizing how much their contributions have mattered to their families and communities. Thanks to Committee members Chris, Bill and Donna and their assistants for planning and managing this wonderful event.
Sincerely,
Members of the H-F Class of ‘68 Reunion Committee
Poem read by Bob Presnak at the Reunion:
WHAT WILL MATTER by Michael Josephson (c) 2003
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours, or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won’t matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.
It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought but what you built; not what you got but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage,
or sacrifice that enriched, empowered, or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.
What will matter is not your memories but the memories of those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom, and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.
It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice. Choose to live a life that matters.
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