Hi, Ralph,

I still have my granddaughter with me.  She is going to be six on Good Friday, and just finishing Kindergarten at Sacred Heart School.  Most people our age are joining senior citizen organizations, I joined Home and School, the parochial school equivalent of the PTA.  I really stand out at the meetings since most of her classmates parents are in their 20's and 30's.  However, I'm really enjoying her childhood.   Last fall we took a Disney Cruise to Grand Cayman, the Bahamas, and Mexico.  We also spend a lot of time at theme parks, Busch Gardens, DisneyWorld, etc. where I ride the BIG roller coasters with my older Grandchildren.

I'm attaching a picture of her dressed as Sleeping Beauty on the cruise.

My other grandchildren are Jayme who is 15, Mikey and Marinah who are both 13.  They all live close by which is great.

I'm still working full time during the day, also I'm teaching fifth grade CCD, so I do most of my writing in the evening after the little one is in bed.  I haven't been making much progress because there are so many things that pop up to take my time. 

I was hoping to visit Connecticut for Easter, my brother still lives in Avon, but too many other things came up.  Now I'm aiming for mid summer.

Thanks for all the work you do keeping the class in touch.

Happy Easter to you and your family.
 

Joyce

Hi,

My wife Susie ( Susan Avery Gilmartin) is enjoying retirement here in Windsor with two beautiful grandchildren (aren't everyone's grandchildren beautiful)  just up the road in Enfield. We've just moved into a condo just a couple of miles up from our long time home in Windsor. We both agree that watching someone else shovel your snow  is a winter wonder to behold. We will be off for a short time in April to visit her sister Sharon (Plainville High School class of '62) in Florida. Sharon lives in Clearwater and works in St.Petersburg but we'll rendezvous just a little farther south in Siesta Key.
By the way our screen resolution is set at 1024 x 768 

Tom Gilmartin

Hello everyone,

It has been awhile since last looking at [our] wonderful Website.... The other day I was talking with a friend and I realized that next year, we will celebrate our 50th. anniversary since graduation.  Seems impossible----but it is true!

My wife Brenda and myself continue to love the California lifestyle and the weather that is associated with it. We did get to visit Plainville twice in last 12 months---both times to honor my Dad.  He turned 100 in June of 2006 and then this past February, he passed away.  Hard to be sad, when he had such a wonderful life and so many great experiences.  We also suffered a great loss last November when our Granddaughter Ashley died of Leukemia after a 7 month battle and associated hospitalization.  She was one beautiful young lady and we miss her.

Next week, I will have a right knee replacement and given the experiences of others, it will provide so much more mobility and allow us to continue our travel experiences.  We are so thankful to be retired (10 years) but it certainly is challenging, trying to find free time to do all the things that are available.  I'll bet so many of my classmates find the same thing happening to them.

Since the Website is one of the few ways to pass along Best Wishes to all, I thought I would drop you this note.  Hope all is well.

Al Anderson
 

Hi everyone:
Thanks to all those who helped plan our 45th. class reunion.  Although we could only attend on Saturday night, we had a wonderful time catching up with so many of you.

It is hoped that one day, we will be able to catch up with the entire class through this wonderful Website. 

Allan Anderson 

Hi Guys,
This is a photo of our family and some Italian cousins in the town square of the village I was born in Italy.

Real excited to see you all in a few weeks. MJ and I will be spending July 15, 16,and 17th at the Colonnade Hotel at 120 Huntington Ave, Boston. I can't believe that I have not been back since  the company I was working for transfered me to Washington D.C. in 1969.

If anyone is in the area we would love to have drinks, dinner,etc.

Love to all,

Joe 

Well classmates, here it comes, the check-in which I have been meaning to get on the web site for many months.  Actually, about six months ago, I had sent one and somehow it got lost somewhere in cyberspace and I had not saved it. Contacted Ralph and he couldn't find it anywhere. 

Needless to say, time marches on and I finally am sitting down in front of this infernal machine and saying hello to all of the old class of PHS 58.
Where do I begin? 

Sheila and I have been living in Fl. for the past 14 years.  We were married in 1970 and have a 25 year old son.  Sheila is a Bloomfield girl and met her through a former college roommate of mine. In the course of our marriage we have lived in Marin  County, Ca., Windsor, Ct., London, England, Old Saybrook, and now Florida.  We live on the water where I love to fish and boat when the weather is agreeable. 

I also weakened just prior to retirement and bought an airplane.  That takes a bit of our time.  In fact, unfortunately, we are not going to be able to attend the reunion in July since we are taking the plane to Alaska and will be away for most of the month.  We are planning an enroute stop to visit Bob and Mary Lee Bocwinski who, I am sure will fill you in at the the reunion. 

In addition to Bob, I have kept in touch with Allan Anderson over the years.  Because of the web site, I also received a nice email from Tom (Chuck) Wickstrom who copied my email address.  Grumpy is a nickname given me by a former college roommate.  It sure beats "sloppy" the one I had in high school.  I believe I can thank Al for that one.

I dropped the first "z" in the spelling of my last name when I began the international flying.  It sure helped when registering in hotels as far as pronunciation goes.

Well, I think I have rambled on enough, but accomplished the desired goal of sending the check-in. I am sure those of you attending the reunion are going to have an excellent time.  Have a drink for me and best wishes to all.

Paul

P.S.  Ralph, what a great job on the web site. Thank you! 

(NOTE: Click on Paul and Sheila's photo to zoom...)

Sorry to have been out of touch for so long, but it was really great to hear from Barbara contact me a few weeks ago.  I have been living in Windsor, Ct. for the past 35+ years, so I haven't been out of state except for travel.  I completed my nursing degree at Hartford Hospital and my B.A. and M.A. at the University of Hartford.  I retired from Hartford Hospital a few years ago, after 35 years of part-time and then full time work,  when I was finally able to celebrate the arrival of a grandchild.  My husband, Tom, will be retiring in a few months and then we hope to do a lot of traveling - but nothing too exotic!  I look forward to seeing as many of our classmates as possible and I bet we haven't changed a bit - except for some grey hair?
 

Best Wishes to All,
Sue

Hi Everyone,

It’s been so long since most of us have been in touch that I’d almost given up the idea of a reunion.  I never dreamed that we’d get back together, but thanks to Ginny and Jan and Bob W.  and especially Ralph,  we can again be a close group.  I really enjoy going to the web page and seeing what everyone is up to. 

After reading all the wonderful things that members of our class have done, I feel that my life has been rather mundane, but here goes.

After graduation I attended Central Conn. State University in New Britain .  I graduated with a B.S. in elementary education.  I met Ron while working at the First National part time while I was in school.  We were married after I graduated from college and will  celebrate our 40th anniversary in a few weeks. 

Began teaching  6th grade in Plainville at Wheeler School and taught for 2 years until our first daughter, Cheryl, was born in 64.  In 67 our 2nd daughter, Ann was born and the 2 of them kept me quite busy. 

When the girls were in junior high and high school I went back to teaching , again in Plainville.  I tutored at the junior high for 3 years while I worked on my masters in reading.  After finishing my degree and consultants certification I taught reading at the junior high for another 3 years when a reading consultants job became available at Linden.  It was fun going back to elementary school.  I took classes in reading, behavior modification and special ed.  to get a 6th year  and I worked as a consultant for 8 years before going back to the classroom.  I taught 1st and then 2nd grade until I retired 2 years ago. 

Meanwhile, the girls grew and went to school and got married.  Cheryl and her husband have a 12 year old daughter, Brittney, and they live in ME.  (I don’t know why, other than it is a beautiful part of the country and they like the rural life)  Annie and her husband have 2 boys, Christopher 6 and Zachary, almost 4.  They live in RI.  We get to see them often, but it’s a planned trip to babysit.

We’ve been blessed with our health and family and are really enjoying retirement.  Ron retired from the dental business (he was a salesman) a few months before I did.  We love to travel and have seen much of the U.S.  My favorite trip was a cruise in Alaska. I also like Florida in the winter.  Ron loves to hunt and fish and that keeps him pretty busy.  I do some volunteer work and am active in the Plainville Lions Club.  Also I’m about to become an Eucharistic Minister at church and I know that will keep me going.

I’m looking forward to a 45th reunion next year.  Please let Jan, Ginny, Bob, Ralph or me know any of your ideas and start saving your money so you can be here to celebrate with us. Hopefully, we’ll set a date soon so those of you that just love to work and don’t want to retire can make vacation plans.  I really can’t wait to see everyone.

Barbara Dahlgren (DiNardo)
 

Hello Class of '58!

The last time I saw some of our class was the 10th Class Reunion and now it is 34 years later.  Oh, I did see Joe D. many years ago and did not recognize him till he gave me a hint as to how we knew each other!

My husband Zohrab and I are living in  CA, about 12 miles from San Francisco Int'l Airport.  We have a son Tanyel who is married to a great gal by the name of Andrea and gave us 2 beautiful grandchildren Dominic and Sophia.  They live in CA---about 4 miles from us.  Our daughter Nicole is married to a very free spirited fellow by the name of Randy Smith.  Nothing like going from Der-Torossian to Smith!  They do not have any children as yet.

My life has been chock full of experiences here in the U.S. and abroad.  I look forward to seeing all of you at a reunion to share what has taken place during the past 44 years.  My e-mail address is elvabeam@aol.com.  Health & Happiness to all of you and your families.

Always,
Bonnie Coffin Der-Torossian

Hello from Florida!

Just saw your website and it's really GREAT!  I really enjoyed catching up on old friends.

I've been living here in Florida since 1969 and I can't even imagine what it's like to shovel snow.

I have four grown sons, Michael, Paul, Stephen, and Christopher.  I was widowed when Chris was three weeks old and did the 'single parent' bit while they were growing up.  I now have four beautiful grandchildren: Jayme, 10;  Michael, 8; and Marinah, 8; and last May I assumed custody of my adorable newborn granddaughter Crystal who just had her first birthday - - imagine me, at my age, worrying about bottles, diapers, and daycare.  Here we go again !

I'm working as a financial planner for retiring seniors although I have no intention of retiring myself, and I've just had a novel published.

Joyce I. Ouellette (Carlson)
jouellet@tampabay.rr.com

Ralph,  you did a really great service for our class.  Frank Castiola called me this weekend to tell me about your site.  I enjoyed reading what some of our classmates have been up to.  Now it is my turn.

I went to the seminary to become a religious Brother in 58' and stayed with the Maryknoll Fathers til 1972.  While there, I learned alot of manual trades that would come in handy on the missions. I also studied music and learned the piano, organ and violin. 

Due to the poor health of my father and things at home, I left.  I went to study optics at the NY State College of Optometry in NYC.  I lived in the Bronxs for three years.  I met my wife in '73 and we were married in '75.  I stayed at the college as an instructor and optician till the present.  I plan to retire this year. 

I have two children.  Sean will graduate this month and Siobhan graduated last year.  You can tell by the names that I married an Irish lass. She is a teacher in the Bronx and plans on retiring soon. 

After my mother died, it was up to me to tell our relatives in Italy.  Well I found out I had many cousins and was invited to visit.  The four of us went out in '95 and Pat and I went back in '99.  I hope to go again this year. 

My memories of PHS are good ones.  Plainville was a very close town.  When my dad died, Mr. Woods was working for Bailey's and he drove us to the cemetery.  I don't visit there much now but I am only an hour and a half away.  Always up for a party.  My e-mail is Rovigo@aol.com

Peter

Hi everyone,so nice to hear from you all ! 

I am recently retired,and learning to live life at a slower pace. Gail and I have been married thirty six years,we have two kids,both are teachers, and a grand son fifteen months old. What a joy!!! 

The web site is great, thanks Ralph,for keeping the spirit of "58" alive! 

                                                                                                             Frank

Hi, I'm still around!

Thanks Ginny, for calling me and steering me to Ralph's Great Site!

I'm now in ...Massachusetts. I have the great fortune and pleasure to be there with Margery Harris. I have space there at Margie's, along with her turtles, bearded dragons, and golden retriever. Margie is kind to me, since I have warmer blood than the reptiles, and eat less than the dog.

We sail almost all our free time in warm seasons, in my old Pearson 26, which is in ...Massachusetts. I also ski enthusiastically, and enjoy work.

I work at Analog Devices. The best job description is that I design and analyze transistors. I'll retire any time now. I took the "offer I couldn't refuse" from IBM in 1992, divorced, and then worked for Polaroid in Cambridge for 3 years.

My marriage wasn't so hot, but my ex and I cooperated in the raising of two fine kids. Heather is 33, a stockbroker here in Boston, and just married a great guy. Tom is almost 31, and is a management consultant in NYC. He lived with me summers when I was in Cambridge and working at Polaroid. So both kids  after college have lived mostly near me.

I'm looking forward to reading about, chating with, and seeing the kids from PHS '58, I'll now scan the site and catch up on your news. 

Fondly, Bruce.

Hello fellow classmates,

     Didn't Ralph do a beautiful job on the website?  I was really impressed with what I saw and it was great fun reminiscing about the good old days and listening to all the music that we were so fond of.  Do you remember the parties we use to have in junior high?  Those were the days.  I was also impressed with what some of you have accomplished since high school.

      After leaving high school, I graduated from Central Connecticut State College with a BS in elementary education.  I taught first grade in Bristol until my children came along.  We have three children Sheri who is 38, Michael who is 37 and Karen who is 35.  I have been married to my husband for 40 years.  He is from Bristol.  We also have three grandchildren.  They are Andria Mary 9, Emilee Millicent, almost 3 and Jeremy Daniel 18 months.  They live in Connecticut  as do Chet and I.  Our younger two children  are in Texas and upstate New York.

     I guess that is a quick update.  I t was great to see all the pictures and read all the check-ins.  Take care all.
                                                                                 Warm Regards,
                                                                                            Millie 

Hi Everyone,

After being without an ISP for ten days, AT&T has finally stepped in and re-connected all the @home subscribers.
How in the world did we ever live without e-mail! Anyway, our residence e-mail address is now--  jmjdell@attbi.com

I was so happy to see the friends that have checked in.

As an update, MJ and I are officially retired as of 12/19/01. We have turned our business over to our employees and will just show up at the office whenever they have the need to party with us. Yaiii !

My love to you all and best wishes for this greatest of holiday seasons.

Joe Dellaquila

Ralph, this is fantastic!  I can’t imagine the time you and others must have invested putting this together. Paul C. and I got a kick out of reading the messages and listening to the background music.  Your hard work has given me much enjoyment and brought back many pleasant memories. 

Before typing this out I spent several days thinking of what to say.  It has been so long since I’ve seen or talked to many, if not most of you.  How do you capsulize 43 years into as few words as possible?  This is the abridged version of my life to date.

 My 'sorted' past can best be chronicled as follows:

58-62... attended Hartford Institute of Accounting and worked in accounting positions
62-68... spent most of 62 on active duty, joined the Connecticut Army National Guard (I managed to get into the New Britain Guard unit just before being inducted.)
63-65... attended New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire and received a BSBA degree (while in college, I did equivalent training with a New Hampshire heavy artillery unit).
8-1-64, to present... married Mary Lee (Keefe) a St. Thomas Aquinas grad, a New Britain girl and  a  CCSU grad.  Mary  Lee is, with out a doubt, the best thing that ever happened in my life.  Paul C. and Bruce A. were in our wedding party.  As an aside, for the first 6 years of our marriage gas station attendants would congratulate us and we would always wonder how they knew we were recently married.  Then one day by accident I happened to look inside the gas cap and to my surprise I saw the words “JUST MARRIED”!  Now who do you suppose would have done such a thing?
1967... our daughter Lee Ann was born and became the apple of our eye.
1970... our son Peter was born and become the apple of our other eye.
68-72... worked for the Town of Plainville as the Town Accountant.  From 70-72 I attended the Univ. of Hartford and received a Master of Public Administration degree. 
Since 72, we lived 2 years in Walpole, Ma, 17 years in MN, and so far 11 years in Illinois. My 34-year career in City Management has taken us to various parts of the country.

After high school it was amazing how frequently my life crossed paths with a few classmates.  Joe D’s wife and mine taught at the same school and we became very friendly until we moved to MA and Joe and Mary Jean moved to VA/CA.  Although it’s been a couple of years since we saw Joe and MJ, we have tried to see them whenever in California (Mary Lee’s sister lives in Sausilito).

Another person who kept popping up from time to time was Bob Z.  Bob attended Htfd Inst of Acct while I was there; we were in the same company during basic training at Fort Dix; got jobs working for the same company after active duty; attended U Har at the same time; and, I was in Bob’s wedding.  Aside from the wedding, the other encounters were purely accidental, coincidental and absolute and complete surprises.

Paul C. and I have kept up our friendship through the years.  In fact, for the last two weeks we got together a couple of times in Florida—went fishing twice and enjoyed the hospitality.  Paul and Sheila have been a real help especially when Mary Lee and I were looking for a condo in Florida.  We stayed with them on several occasions.  Last week Paul’s great fishing skills paid off and we caught several grouper and red snapper—enjoyed it, but I’m sorry to report that the Captain got a little under the weather. 

The Present:

For the past 9 years I have been the Village Administrator in ...Illinois (an affluent suburb abutting Chicago’s north side), but will definitely retire on June 30, 2003.  Mary Lee is the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the (one of the local)...School Districts and will likewise retire in 2003.  We each travel substantial distances to and from our respective offices daily and we frequently have late night meetings.  We try to travel at least monthly to somewhere in the US to get a little respite and relaxation.  Needless to say, we are both tired of the rat race even though we enjoy our careers.  Retirement will be a welcomed change.

Our daughter Lee Ann and her husband Dave live in ...MN and have two children, Olivia soon to be 5 and Jackson 6 mos.  Of the Enquist household, my favorite is Miss Olivia—she’s my sweetheart.  Who would’ve thought 43 years ago that grandparenting would be so much fun!

Our son Pete and his wife Cindy live in ...VA and as yet have no children, but they have a menagerie of 2 golden lab dogs and 2 cats.  Have you ever been stepped on and walked over by a huge  male lab—it’s a scary sight!   We try to see them at least 4 times a year but that hardly seems enough.  I very much miss my son, he is my main man and I wish we lived closer.  As an aside, what goes around comes around—Pete’s nickname in college was “The ‘Boc’ster”.

The Future:

City Management has been an exciting and action filled career.  I was exposed to, and involved in, things I never thought would be possible.  I actively wrote and lobbied for legislation that had an impact in the 4 different states I worked.  I’ve been interviewed by numerous media, responded to more interrogatories, been deposed many times, negotiated countless labor agreements, and involved in more Court testimony than any one person should have been.  But best of all I have been involved in projects that will withstand time, and, in some small way I had an impact on the history of the cities I served.  Now it’s time to step back, retire and may be teach Public Administration at either the undergraduate or graduate level.

After September, 2003 Mary Lee and I plan on living at our condo in ...FL for the winter months and Minnesota during the summer months.  I plan on having a boat at each location and enjoy fishing with my grandchildren.  For now I absolutely enjoy our visits to FL and relax by the pool with a good book.  Besides being with my grandchildren, my time in Minnesota will also be spent enjoying wood working and making family heirlooms.

Here’s hoping plans will evolve for a class reunion—the last one I attended was in 1984 and it was a great time.  If I can be of any help, I’d be glad to pitch in.

In the mean time let’s hope our health holds up and we all get to a ripe old age in retirement

My Best Regards to All,

Bob Bocwinski, aka “Boc”. 

Hi:
Received a note from Ginny Hill today and was excited to find out about the new Web site for our class.  Thanks to someone who did all this work.

Sorry to hear that I missed a reunion of sorts this past August.  In way of passing along information:   I now live in California.  I have been at this location for 10 years.

At the end of this year, I will have been retired for 4 years.  Work career was great and I am lucky enough to be reaping the results of a good career choice.  My wife's name is Brenda and we have four children.  They live all 
over the country.  Craig is 32 and lives in Georgia.  Gwen (31) lives in D.C. , Tenley 29 lives in Tennessee and Christine 28 lives in Colorado.  Since my mother-in law lives west of Seattle and my Dad is still in Ct. (he is now 95), we do a great deal of traveling.  (Just came back from 5 weeks in Australia and New Zealand.)

Retirement life is great and we love California.  We play a lot of golf, do some volunteer work, travel, enjoy theatre and musical performances in the area.  We have no idea how time can go by so quickly each and every day.  In short, life is great!!

I do get back to Ct. about 3-4 times a year and since my brother still lives in Plainville, he does a great job of keeping me up to date and especially, if he sees any of my old classmates in his wanderings.  I did see Joe Moss 
several months ago.I stay in Contact with Paul Cellecz, who lives in Florida.

Hope all is well with you and the rest of my classmates.   Plainville High was a great place to go to high school and be from.  It was served as a great basis for college successes and life preparation.

Hi to all!

Al Anderson

(NOTE: Please see Ginny for Al's mailing address. JRT)

Hi everyone!

First off I would like to thank Ralph and all who made this website a reality. This is fabulous! 

Ralph, I wish I had known you were living in the Central Coast. MJ and I until last year had a get away home at Lake Nacimiento at Paso Robles. 

I feel terrible about not being with you all at the reunion 3 weeks ago. The worst part about it was that I arrived in Plainville on Aug. 10 and would have been able to be there if I had known. I am in Plainville about twice each year. My folks are 88 and 79, still living on Diamond Ave and in pretty good health.I try to spend some quality time with them as often as I can.

So let me catch you all up on what I have been doing for the past 43 years.

After graduation I spent one year at Wentworth in Boston, studying civil engineering. It was not to my liking and in late 1959, along with Jimmy Kenure and Tom Maskery I joined the Army where I spent 3 years. While stationed at Ft. Sill, OK, I met and fell in love with Mary Jean (MJ) who was attending college. Upon my discharge and her graduation we moved to Plainville and in 1963 we were married. (Sid Sadlowski was one of my groomsmen) 

We were in Plainville until 1968 when the company I was working for (Dun & Bradstreet) transferred us to Boston. In 1970 I was transferred to Washington, D.C. and in 1973 we were transferred to San Francisco. Boy, did they make a mistake! Once I saw S.F. and the Bay Area of CA, there was no way that I would ever take an assignment anywhere else. So in 1978 D&B offered me a job in NYC, which I declined and shortly after I resigned. MJ and I then went into business starting our own advertising and marketing company in San Jose CA. We still own that business and are in the process of divesting ourselves and turning over the reigns to our employees.

The year 2000 has been a year of change for us. We sold our home of 27 years and built a new home in the wine country of Northern CA and are living there 4 days a week with the remainder of the time spent in an apartment closer to our office. We look forward to spending full time in Cloverdale so I can spend time pursuing my passion---WINE.  Making it, drinking it and traveling. We have been blessed with good health and are able to spend time in Italy, Mexico and Africa.

We have 2 daughters. The oldest is Gina, 37, married with 2 children aged 11 and 10 months.  Cara, born in 1972, is also married and hoping to have children next year. (Note to Ginny Hill:  Cara was married last October at your favorite winery, V. Sattui in Napa.)

We extend an invitation to you to visit when you are in the vicinity. you can reach us in the following ways:

                        Joe & Mary Jean Dellaquila
                        E-Mail    jmjdell@home.com
                        Or          joedell@vpsj.com

(Note: contact Barbara or Ginny for Joe's mailing address and phone number. JRT)

I wish you all Peace, Love and Joy.

Joe Dellaquila