Classmate participation in this web site and the reunions

We are right between the 40th and 45th class reunions and visits to the web page have dropped off significantly. We will not see an  increase in web site visits until the reunion committee starts to meet and starts emailing classmates. Due to the decrease in interest in this site between reunions we do not collect as much information, photos, emails and etc. Therefore, we can not offer much in the way of current classmate news. So we will maintain what we have, pay the annual hosting fees and domain name fees and just hope for the best.

One of our primary aims has always been to locate lost classmates. We continue to locate an average of two to three lost classmates per year. During the course of this internet site we have even located several lost classmates that we did not even know were lost classmates. Our class roster was initially developed from the 1965 Sandscript Yearbook listing. But we later discovered that several classmates were not listed in the yearbook. We added those names from the 1965 Commencement Exercise program that was given out at our graduation. Still we missed some people. We hope that we have finally gotten a complete listing but we remain unsure of that for it seams like each year we learn of yet another graduate of the class of 1965 that was previously unknown.

In communications with classmates we are finding that most are interested in the reunions even though some are not planning on attending. We have also communicated with classmates that are not the least bit interested in reunions. Those classmates simply wish to obtain contact information on other classmates or else may be somewhat interested in what other classmates are doing or have been doing. But going to a reunion just does not interest them.

Classmates that we have considered lost do actually visit this site on occasion to keep up with what may be happening with other classmates.

Now on to the reunion. Should I attend or not? I will be 63 years old by the next reunion. The drive down to Cocoa Beach gets a little longer and harder to make each year. The classmates, with some exceptions, are almost strangers to me. I missed the 10 year reunion but I have gone to all the other ones. I find myself trying to talk myself out of going to this reunion. Its too far to drive!  Why do I want to party with strangers? It will cost too much ! My high school buddies do not attend these reunions ! Decisions, decisions, decisions and way too much stress in my life. I'll just skip this reunion !

I have said that for every reunion figuring I could  always attend the one after that. The only problem here is that there may not be a reunion after the next one.

I find myself trying to talk myself out of going to the reunion knowing full well that I am going no matter what ! If my buddies from high school don't show up then that is their decision and I think their loss. I have been so far removed from the Cocoa area for so long that I have very few ties there anymore. I have a few relatives and a few friends in the area and that is all that remains of my childhood in Cocoa. But here lies the great secret that I think most classmates have not grasped. Being at a reunion associates me with people from my teenage years and in the area of my teenage years. Once you hit 60 I am sure that a lot of us would like to go back in time for even just a few days. And that is my plan. Go back in time to yesteryear. Spend a few days with people from my teenage years. Dance to a few songs from my teenage years and maybe even with that very girl that I was always scared to death to ask for a dance. Relive some of my teenage adventures through conversations about the past. Drive past some special places I remember from those years. And maybe even go out for a walk on the beach. If only the A&W in Rockledge was still there !

Folks, this may well be my last chance to come as close to going back in time as I will ever get. For some reason I remember smiling throughout the entire reunion. Which reunion you ask?  ALL of them! I do have fun and I do enjoy myself......immensely!

To Bob DeWitt and the rest of the reunion committee: Let me be the first to officially declare my intention to attend the upcoming reunion, relive some of my teenage years in the place of my teenage years, associate with people from my teenage years and maybe even relive some of my experiences from my teenage years.

Bob Mayo 2/23/08

If you would like to write an editorial for the class web site then email it to us and we will publish it.

If you just want to make some comments regarding any aspect of the class of 1965 then we offer both a blog and a forum on this site just for that purpose.