Inaugural Greetings
Howdy Classmates,
Thanks for taking the time to read this inaugural issue of the East Forsyth Class of 1979 Newsletter. The primary purpose of the newsletter is to keep you informed about our class web site and our classmates. At this point, I'm not sure if it'll be monthly, quarterly, or simply whenever I get around to it; most likely it'll end up being "whenever"!
I hope this newsletter won't be received as just another piece of spam in your e-mailbox. I sometimes fear that our class web site is just another way for me to play technogeek and that I'm simply pestering people when I encourage them to take advantage of it. When we graduated in 1979, none of us had ever heard of a PC, much less the Internet, but both allow us to keep in touch and to share information in ways almost unheard of just 20 years ago. Webmastering three sites and owning two domain names, I've obviously bought into this new communications paradigm completely, and my continuously growing experience only validates my commitment.
At one time or another, we've all wondered, "Whatever happened to...?" By placing and by seeking information on the Internet, this question can be answered more readily than ever. For example, in one week in March, I managed to track down three people I hadn't seen in over a decade.
I found a college friend I had lost contact with in 1985 when I enlisted in the Army. He had earned both a Masters in Computer Science (which I had known about) and a law degree (which I hadn't known about) at Carolina and had combined them to become an intellectual property lawyer in Texas. I found his page on his firm's site after tracking him through several different sources.
I found an Army buddy I was stationed with in Germany from whom I hadn't heard since I transfered back to the States in 1988. He's a UPS driver back in his hometown in Arizona and has a wife and two sons. We finally had a terrific conversation last week which would have been better only if it was face-to-face over good German beer! I found him on his listing in his high school's alumni web site and wouldn't have located him otherwise! Hint, hint!
I even found my senior drill sergeant whom I last saw when I graduated from Basic Combat Training in 1986. Though he probably wouldn't have remembered me (but then again...hehe), I always wanted to get back with him to let him know how well my Army career had turned out and that he hadn't wasted his time teaching me how to be a soldier. Unfortunately, that'll never happen; what I found was his 1997 obituary in the Fayetteville (NC) Observer.
For better or worse, I was able to get updated on the lives of people who were part of my life in its various stages, and the Internet made it possible. Perhaps there are old friends looking for you right now but have no way of locating you because you lack a web presence. My ultimate point is that our class web site exists for your benefit, and I'm happy to provide it. The very least I ask is that you make use and take advantage of it.
Matt Wallace, Class Webmaster
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Class Contacts
The online class directory continues to grow, albeit slowly. Currently we have some sort of info for about 22% of the class, about half of whom have e-mail accounts. My ultimate goal is accounting for 100% of the class. The directory consists of an index page of the "entire" class and 15 subpages with detailed individual info. With 753 names, it's rather cumbersome to maintain and to use. In order to ease usage, I recently started marking new and modified entries with an obnoxious yellow "NEW" graphic (
) on both the main page and the subpages. Now when you see a change to the Contacts pages indicated on the "What's New" page, you no longer have to wonder which one. Changes will be considered new until they're over a month old when the graphic will be removed.
You all can help build the directory in several ways. First, make sure your info is as complete as you care to make it and keep it current; I understand not wanting to list an unlisted phone number, etc. Second, if you are in contact with or can make contact with any classmates for whom we have no or only partial info, please inform them of our web site. If they're online, have them submit their contact info using the registration form. For our non-online classmates, print out the form and have them complete and mail it to my home address as indicated or you could submit their info for them, preferably with their permission.
Additionally, don't forget that we have a message board for disseminating news about and
for class members. If you get a promotion, complete a degree, add a new family member, move to a new city, take a new job, suffer an unspeakable tragedy requiring your classmates' moral support, etc., then by all means let us all know about it! As always, be certain to sign the guestbook to let everyone -- especially the webmaster! -- know you visited the site and what you think of it.
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Now You Can Sleep Peacefully
Do you lie awake wondering what pearls of wisdom you missed when you ignored our commencement speaker? Do you often wail, "Oh, if only I had listened more closely to the graduation address, my life would not have gone so horribly wrong!"? Me neither, but if you'd like to have your memory jogged all the same, check out the latest addition to the Graduation section, Newspaper Coverage, which contains transcriptions of contemporaneous Journal and Sentinel articles. Don't forget to check out the misspelling on our diplomas if you haven't done so already.
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Until next issue, take care!
Contact the class webmaster, Matt Wallace, at efshs1979@yahoo.com.
