The Happy Coincidence

Several months ago Steve R was making small talk with some friendly strangers at a restaurant while waiting for his dinner companions to arrive. One of them introduced himself and Steve, the king of trivia and Undefeated Jeopardy Champion, said, “my ex-wife had a childhood friend in Tennessee with the same last name.” David F exclaimed—“that’s my Uncle Ronnie!”

Ronnie, a close childhood friend from Union City now lives in NY. This photo shows me and my cousins Patty and Lee, my brother Andrew, Ronnie (back row on the right) and his brother Stuart at summer camp in Michigan (Lake of the Woods for girls and Greenwood for boys) in the summer of 1956.

Steve gave David my email address to forward to Ron. Ron contacted me in April and told me he was on the planning committee for the UCHS reunion and sent me all the information including the list of the graduates planning to attend.

I immediately pulled out the one and only HS Yearbook I got before moving (in those days 9th grade was held in the town’s only HS). I poured through it for the first time in ages and was surprised at how well I recalled the names and faces of classmates I had not seen in 44 years.

But would anyone remember me--especially since I didn’t graduate with them? I expressed my concern to Ron and he forwarded my message to Phoeba who sent my email out to everyone in the class. Pretty soon I started getting messages from old friends who encouraged me to attend.

So with a great sense of excitement mixed with a little apprehension I have made reservations to fly to Memphis and drive to UC on Sept 1st.