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(Modeled on Roger Angell's annual holiday verse in TheNew Yorker, wherein he recognizes the year's newsmakers and notables, these lines are addressed to my 1957 Edmonds High School classmates. The challenge was to work in the names of all of those with whom the Class Reunion Committee maintains some contact.)
Dear classmates, hi, your scribe is here
To wish old Tigers Christmas cheer.
We've scattered wide since '57,
On our various ways to heaven,
But through the magic of the Internet
We can all attend this virtual fete.
The Web-Cam's on, we're in OurSpace,
In High Def we're face to cyber-face.
We hope you enjoy our online games
(Our default mode is dropping names!)
We won't leave your call waiting
Or press you for your credit rating.
We'll meet all 'mates, not to worry,
Starting with old buds Dick Curry,
Gary Lee, Bruce and Brian Bailey--
Remember when we saw them daily?
Now off we go to greet again
Carin Fenton and Dick Eades. Then
It's our pleasure, no way a task,
To spot Tom Kjolso and Margie Kask.
Who's that right there? Let us guess--
Ah, Keith LaBelle and Bobby Ness,
And surely no one will begrudge
A nod to Sherrie Diebag and Mia Mudge.
We'll need no act of parliament
To shout Joyeux Noel to Barlament
And every heart will gladden
At sight of Bob Smith and Sue Madden.
Hey, Margie Bakotich, Dave Bates,
Bob Billington--may the Fates
Bless you, Deanne Axelson, Pat Caryl,
Rod Nopson and Harrison, Darrell.
Cliff Norton, Susie Olson, Buz Bauman--
Remember all we have in common:
Nehi, Dad's Root Beer, Oly, church keys,
Wilson's Drive-In, Thompson's Dairy Freeze,
Little Richard, Pat Boone's white shoes,
Guy Ritchie singin' the blues,
Elvis's "Hound Dog" and "Heartbreak Hotel,"
The Field House with its sour jock smell,
T-Birds, rag-tops, customized coupes,
Playland rides like the Loop-the-Loop,
Canteen, Mase Hall, the great Rich Rowe,
School blessedly closed, owing to snow,
Old Kruschev and Eisenhower
Shaking up the balance of power,
Sputnik, earth's new satellite,
And our hopes for a love that'll light
Up the sky. !Amigos, vamonos!
Emulating that song of Fats Domino's,
We're walkin', yes indeed, and we're toutin'
Diane Setchfield and Charles Van Houten.
Yo, Kay Jacobson, ?que pasa?
Then spaghetti, now it's pasta,
Cappucinos and bruschetta,
But we're not about to forget a
Simpler time of plain cups o' Joe
And wadded lumps of Wonder Bread dough.
To Ed Haller and John Hill, hola--
Try some Thunderbird or RC Cola?
Here's Black Jack or Clove on which to chew
Or a Big Hunk to stick your teeth into.
Three words we seldom hear today
Are ashtray, Amway, and amscray,
The last of which we'll never say
To classmates met along our way.
Over the Johnsons--Chris, Dave, Gus,
Sharon, Marlys, Doris--we'll make a fuss.
Let's not forget Ted, a Jonson too,
And Ada Dick--cheerio to you.
Pat Connot, you say? Oh, yes, she can,
If Barack Obama we rightly understand.
A shout-out now, sans hawing or hemming,
To Valerie Cox, Neal Ogle, Rich Fleming.
Time to send a tweet (we're all aTwitter)
To Cena Deason, Ted Knudson, Janet Witter.
On we go with our holiday jingles,
High-fiving Jack Gilreath and Dick Engels,
Johnie Skidmore, Torun Ekness. In fairness
We'll include Jane Graef, Helga Kverness,
Gerrie Foxley. Next, without hitch,
Our best to Gloria Marsh and Leola Litch.
Verily, it would only be fit, man
To welcome Joyce Todd and Roberta Whitman.
Aloha Al Morgan, Steve Nelson, Duane Steele.
To Judy Muller and Marlys Nelson we make appeal
And offer this rhyme (did some vun just dare us?)
To Leonard Sherstad and Roger Van Parys.
We'll send a gift of art nouveau
To Lori Balleaux and Art De Vos.
Dale Witte, big ups to you
From here to Timbuktu and Katmandu.
Ditto Del Starkenburg: picnic hosts
Deserving special thanks and toasts.
In case we haven't passed the word yet,
"Say-hey" Bob Blevens and Wayne Burdett,
And surely there'd be cause to lament
If we failed to hail Paul "Caesar" Clement.
Moving on now, in a trice
We'll doff caps to Greg Ronney, Dard Price,
Dean Shaw, the Shannons--Paul and Pauline--
Clyde Todd, Bev Berg, and Meehan, Colleen,
And offer a dish of figgy puddin'
To Pat Marcinkiewicz and Dave Goodwin.
Regards, Virginia Hiscox, Celeste Stevens--
May you never have a grievance.
Old age be damned! Let nothing us dismay!
We'll revel with Roy Wilson and Dick May
Then croon a Yule carol to Carol Yuill,
Adding to our Yule log fire the fuel
Of aves to Bob Olson and Linda Payne.
Tomorrow may bring harsh wind or rain
And we may fret "What'll the news be?"
But for today we'll herald Brian Huseby,
Reidun Hornli, Nita Joachim, Marlene Ische
And--not to be too washy-wishy--
Embrace Robin Sorenson and Lorraine Winter.
To Carol James we'll toss a hint or
Two of warm thoughts and a frown (upside down)
To Art Callesen and Mary Alice Brown.
Some may have forgotten Dobie Gillis
But we all recall Jerry Hillis,
Madeline Pickett, Ken Stokes, Larry Lohman.
Carrying out our duties like a yeoman,
We extend to Norma Jean Doty this tribute
While giving Wayne Proudfoot his salute.
For Richard Pittsenbarger, Pat Bond,
And others of whom we're all fond--
Like Jim Jones, Ron Burke, Jim Bauer--
We'll vocalize at full power
Then focus on--this is no idle ramble--
Janice Hoffman and Sherry Gamble
And hope this little banter'll
Amuse Jim Clark and Lucy Cantril.
From our 'hood we proffer this Boo-Yah
To Jeanne Dillon and Judy Klein. Alleluia
To Olga Stenson and Chuck Swinford.
Barrett Worthington, we've inferred,
Would like a fist-bump also
While on Sharon Garland we now call so
She can share with Glen Polzin, Carolyn Reid,
And Barbara Feroe our need
To recognize our grad-mates. Lee Mulanax,
Vive, and may stars in their parallax
Honor Sandee Wilson and help us, in a pinch,
Pay respect to Gene Foster and Marie Lynch.
Mary Middendorf, gutentag! Helen LaRoche, bonjour!
Virginia Langland, Linda Lindblom, we'll conjure
Up a welcome for you and Suzanne Lozott,
Nor is it asking a lot
To bow to Jim Richardson and Elinor Gray.
How much is there left to say?
Annette Soderberg and Joanne Davis, Shalom.
(Bear with us, gang, we're almost home.)
Annette Dressler, Carolyn Rousch,
(The rest will come, now, with a whoosh)
A latte to you, Carole Grant,
Jim McDermott, Gail Thompson, and we can't
Overlook Rosemary Wilson or Kathleen Gowler.
Larry Solver, kindly hand us a towel or
Two and we'll mop our brow and boast
Of Garry Thompson and Carolyn Yost.
'Sup, Barbara Crossman and Helen Stiltner?
Dorothy Tucker? No way we're jiltin' 'er!
Sally Cleveland (haven't reached our surfeit),
Homage to you, Ed Carlson, Larry Burfitt,
Carol Bergerson, Mary Ellen Harrison, Randy Carey.
Carolyn Jorgenson, rest you merry,
Robert Newman, too, and Marcia Hatcher.
Seeking Carol Hanson, now, we catch her
With Loren DeWald and Bruce Glaspell.
Suzanne Frederickson, this is gospel--
Good on you, Curt Peterson, Kent Langabeer,
Pat Hillman. And let no one hang a tear
For Darlene Heldman or Judy Missler,
Herewith serenaded by this tune's whistler
Who (that sad booty's mine? good heavens!)
Mirror-glimpses himself: Bruce Evans.
From Bonnie Anderson to Dan Zehrung
The praises of our class we've sung,
Boosting (in rhymes at times off the wall)
All those who answered our Roll Call.
We lacked, perhaps, the sound of Dolby,
But honored all 'mates, including Lee Colby!
For you and you--and you and you--
Good memories we have tried to woo
By dreaming up this pas de tous.
Time now, old friends, to say adieu.
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