Lucky man
Sorry I didn't make the 50th reunion but I will try and God -willing make the next one. So here's a little synopsis of my life since high school. I hated school and luckily was able to get through with good grades and little effort. Went to UNH because I had no idea what else to do. Carl Davis and I used to commute together often.
I graduated UNH in 1978, took a "summer job" at Pepsi Cola and married Mandy Stuart that fall. We had 2 children and spent 22 years together. My father died from a heart attack in 1980 at 50. A few years after that Mandy and I moved to the North River Lake house my parents owned, and built an in law apartment on the side for my mother. I spent the next 18 years as a route salesman, waterskiing, windsurfing, coaching youth basketball in Nottingham and raising my kids. Throw one back surgery in there in 1988 which was the start of the end of that career.
In 1990 I started a new career after a surgeon told me I was heading for another back operation if I didn't. Most people won't believe it but I got a MS in Business Education and became a Computer Teacher. I taught for 5 years at the Cooperative Middle School in Exeter. Mandy and I divorced in 2000 and I started a new job at Coe Brown Academy as a Computer/Business Teacher. Seriously never thought I would be a high school teacher.
In early 2007 after 6 years of dating I met Bernadette Kaszynski from Alton who was also a Rochester resident but only went to Spaulding for 3 years. We have been together for the past 17 years. Bernadette owned a successful tax practice in Alton and now owns The Ballard House Inn in Meredith. Sometime around 2006 she convinced me to start a computer repair business in Alton as a side job. I retired from Coe Brown in 2017 at 61. I still do some computer repair on the side.
I truly do consider myself a very lucky man in so many ways.
Growing up in the time and place that I did. As a teacher I learned that high school is a fabulous time for some people and a horrible time for others. I guess I fit somewhere in the middle of there.
Mandy and I have 2 great successful, healthy children and 2 grandchildren.
I have a fiancee that puts up with me, and makes me want to be a better person by example. You would have to meet her to understand.
I am not sure if high school really molds a person or not but I still remember a lot of names and a lot of good times. Some people I still consider good friends even though I have not seen them for years.
I wish the best of luck and health to everyone.
Dave
You really just have to keep on going!