DECEMBER 14, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held today with a slightly lower attendance with only 15 classmates, 6 spouses and 1 grandchild. We know how busy everyone is at this time of the year and wish all of you the best of good health for the coming new year.

A short meeting was held to announce that we will be having a picnic this coming summer (July 17^th). You should receive the information the first part of January. If you do not receive a letter, please notify us. Also, if you have moved, we need that information. Please email any changes.

Shirley Bennett led the prayer and we all ate and enjoyed small talk. We had a guessing game on Christmas songs and we must admit, we have some really smart classmates. We also realized we are never too old to continue learning something new everyday.

As we end this year, we are all mindful of all our blessings and remember all the classmates who are no longer with us. Have a wonderful Christmas and look forward to seeing many of you during the coming year.

NOVEMBER 9, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held today with 21 classmates, 6 spouses and one granddaughter. Phyllis (Young) and Bill Bradshaw were here from Florida and made a point of being in Zanesville on the luncheon day. Now that’s a good classmate! Earl Sims lead the group in prayer and a fun time was had by all. We sure get a lot of laughs and stories during our time together.

Earl Miller got Danny Boetcher on the telephone and we took turns talking with him. Danny has been ill and was glad to hear from us. Please note that on the Bulletin Board, there is now a section for classmates under the weather and we would like to hear from any one who is ill or would like to hear from other classmates. Remember the BB is only as good as you want to make it. It can be a great sort of information if we all give it some input. Robert Hupp has a section on computers and is willing to help anyone with their problems. Check it out.

We are trying to figure out if a get together next summer would be in order. It would be just an informal picnic, or something along that line. In order to proceed, we ask that you contact us and give us some input whether you would be interested. Please help us out with a reply to the site.

OCTOBER 12, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held today with 20 classmates, 4 spouses and 1 daughter. It was a beautiful “fall” day, with lots of sunshine. Pauline Snelling Davis led us in prayer and everyone filled their plates and the chatter began. There were no new faces this month. We just had a good time visiting with each other.

You should take a look at the Photo Gallery, under reminiscing. Robert Hupp sent in a couple of pictures, one showing just how much it cost to ride the bus to school the last two years, and the other one, well I’ll let you decide about it. Great picture. We would love for you to send in pictures you would like to see on our site.

We want your input and would like more activity on the bulletin board. We are starting a new topic on the BB regarding classmates who would like to be remembered during an illness. If you are having health problems or know of a classmate who is, please let us know

September 14, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held today with 23 classmates and 6 spouses in attendance. No new faces, but what a joy it is to see all the classmates who made a special effort to come. Mike Erichsen has attended all the luncheons coming from Pataskala. Virgil Mast comes from Bellevue and tries to come as often as possible, and Mary Lou (Fraunfelter) Gantz travels from Cardington. A big thanks to all the classmates who travel regularly to join us, in addition to all of the regulars. If it wasn’t for you, there would be no luncheons. Thank you classmates.

Check out the picture in the Photo Gallery to see who was eating the “large” desserts last month. Also, a picture of the reunion committee attending a surprise party for Vonda (Wittlinger) Moore’s “70^th” birthday.

We notice that some of you have signed up for the BB Fun Forum, but have never signed on. If you have forgotten your password, let us know. Also, we wish you would participate and get some topics going. We don’t know your interests if you don’t let us know.

September 1, 2009 – It is with deep regret to advise you of the deaths of two classmates.

Mary Ann McCarty Nock passed away on August 24, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. Mary Ann graduated from Good Samaritan School of Nursing with honors and married Edward Lewis Nock of Youngstown in 1961. They resided in Texas, California and Hawaii, settling in Ohio in 1973. She is survived by four daughters, Lisa, Lori, Leigh (Ken) Price and Lydia (Rob) Huffer; her brother, Patrick (Jennie) McCarty; grandsons, Ian and Carl Huffer and Noah Price; granddaughters, Meaghan Huffer and Caroline and Zoe Price, and many cousins and distant relatives. She was cremated and the family will spread her ashes in the beautiful places she loved in Ohio, California and Hawaii. Our condolences to her family and friends.

Dean E. Filkill passed away on August 28, 2009, at his residence. Dean is survived by his wife of 54 years, Nancy L. Kinney Filkill (also our classmate), whom he married on June 15, 1955. He is also survived by two daughters, Janet (Larry) Mason of Columbus and Jennifer Sims and a son Jeff Filkill, both of Hopewell; seven grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. A special thanks to Charlie and Linda Bradshaw and Dan and Debbie Lane. There were no calling hours, a cremation was requested and a private memorial service will be held at a later date. Our condolences to his family and friends.

AUGUST 10, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held today, with the temperature reaching a near high for the summer as we have not seen 90 degrees until now. We had a good attendance with 24 classmates, 6 spouses and 2 grandchildren. New faces this month were Nellie Norris Evans from Orange City, Florida and Sandra Johnson Dougherty from Port Jarvis, New York. You will find their picture in the Photo Gallery, Nellie brought her granddaughter, Nicolle Evans, and Earl and Sarah Sims had Alivia with them. It is great when classmates are in town that they make an effort to get to the luncheon and we all enjoy visiting with them.

There is always something we learn and today was no exception. In Port Jarvis, New York, there is now a tax on REGULAR pop, not DIET pop, and it is called the “Obesity Tax“. So we better brace ourselves as it might really catch on and we‘ll be paying more for the sugar we consume.

You might want to take a look at another picture in the Photo Gallery, showing the dessert plate of one of our classmates. If you would like to guess who, give it a try. Next month we will have the whole picture. Just wanted you to see, we are not shy and truly enjoy our meals together. Remember back when we girls were a little backward about eating much in front of the boys, well those days are gone forever, we don’t care anymore.

Judy Pearson Blair said she knows nothing about computers, but she now has one. I am very impressed that she has only been using it for a couple of weeks and I have received a few pictures from the picnic. The pictures have been added to the 70^th Birthday site. Also, Judy has joined the Fun Forum (BB) and has already posted to it. My question is, “with several of you requesting your username and password, why haven’t you logged on”? We are waiting to hear from you.

The best part of the luncheons is sitting around and making small talk, forgetting the events of the world and having a few laughs.

July 19, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held July 13^th with 20 classmates and 4 spouses in attendance. No new faces this month, maybe they were on vacation like me. Everyone seemed pleased with the birthday picnic. If you have an opinion about the event, please post on the bulletin board. We would love to hear from you. Whether it is positive or negative, we want your input.

We have been getting a few suggestions to our requests for future events, but not near what we would like. We will wait a little longer in hopes that if you have not responded, you will. We will then go over what we have received and proceed from there. At the present time the consensus is to wait for another event until the 55^th class reunion and then decide how frequent they should be. The question then becomes what do we do. If you really have something you would like, we better hear from you. Remember the majority rules, so to have your input included, please respond. If you are not registered on the ZHS Fun Forum, it is so easy, just click Feedback to Register, make your request, and I will send you the password and username to get in.

We have also been informed that classmate, Larry Joseph Emmert, aka Larry Joseph Blake, passed away on June 22, 2009, in Newcastle, Wyoming. No further information is available.

June 8, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held today with 22 classmates, 4 spouses and one grandson. It is great that the classmates are taking time to come for the get together and partake in lots of conversation. There are three birthdays this month, and you will find them listing on the Bulletin Board.

The deadline has passed and the party is set. We look forward to seeing everyone, who have sent in their reservation, at Armco Party, June 20^th at 1:00 P.M. There are 118 reservations (75 classmates) coming from Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania and right here in good old Zanesville and the rest of Ohio. Remember don’t be shy, as we all know the age of “maturity‘.

We will have a section for the picnic on the website later. Next month the monthly luncheon report will be late as your administrator is taking a vacation, but will have it posted the following week, or so.

MAY 14, 2009 – We regret to advise you that we have lost another classmate. Gary Kronenbitter passed away May 13, 2009, following a lengthy illness. He is survived by Margaret R. Kronenbitter, his wife of 47 years, one sister, Donna Tanner of Zanesville; one brother, James Kronenbitter of West Covina, CA; three sister-in-laws, Janet Burton of New Palestine, IN, Debra (Albert) Reed of Sayre and Teresa (David) Horn of Portersville; two brother-in-laws, Paul (Marsha) Weiner of Corning and Fred (Marsha) Weiner of Hebron; several nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. Our condolences go to his family and friends.

May 11, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held today with a very good turnout. We had 28 classmates and 6 spouses, with three new faces. We were happy to have Sandra Hina Jarrett, Virgil (Ronald) Mast and Ken Weber join us. You will find their picture in the Photo Gallery.

We have 9 birthdays for the month of May, which are listed on the Bulletin Board. Check it out for someone you may want to wish Happy Birthday.

The deadline is fast approaching for the Birthday Picnic. If you are planning on attending and haven’t sent your reservation, please do so before May 20^th. The response has been good. At the present time, we have reservations for 53 classmates and 33 guests. Classmates are coming from Florida, Virginia, Maryland, and Kentucky. It should be a fun day seeing each other and being able to celebrate 70 years or more of life.

We now have several classmates on Face Book. If you would like for us to list your names on our website, just let us know and the names will be posted. The names will not be posted without prior authorization from you.

APRIL 13, 2009 – The monthly luncheon was held today with a nice turnout of 21 classmates and 6 spouses. One new face was Sally Barrick Towning and you will find her picture in the Photo Gallery. We are always happy to see each other and enjoy it when new people come. We hope to begin having a better turnout as the weather gets better.

We had four classmates attend today with birthdays during the month of April. The birthdays are listed on the bulletin board if you want to check them out.

The reservations are coming in for the Birthday Picnic. At the present time we have 39 classmates and 22 spouses registered. If you are planning on coming on June 20^th, we encourage you to get your reservations in as soon as possible. This will help us finish up the event.

APRIL 8, 2009– Yesterday, April 7, 2009, our classmate, Jean (Echelberry) Crawford passed away, following a long illness. She is survived by her son, Brent Crawford, of Mt. Vernon and daughter, Beth A. Crawford, of Northampton, Massachusetts; grandson, Noah S. Dickerman; sisters, Lois Bost, Barbara Cravenor and Shirley West, all of Zanesville; and son-in-law of Robert W. Dickerman. Jean was predeceased by her husband, Robert L. Crawford, who died in 2005. Our condolences to her family and friends.

MARCH 9, 2009 – We have now survived one of our worst winters in several years. Hopefully, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, now we are having some rain and wind, but it is sure better than the alternative. The luncheon was held today and we had a good turnout with 22 classmates and 7 spouses. One new face today was Darryl Goff, and you will find his picture in the Photo Gallery. It was a good time visiting with old friends.

By the way, to all our boxing fans, Willa Ruth Garich Deveny is now judging the PAL matches. She has been on the board of PALS for several years. She did her first judging over the week-end, and admittedly was a little nervous but still enjoyed it all. Willa Ruth is an avid boxing fan starting during the time she and her late husband, Charley, first dated and went to all the fights during the Agin era. Congratulations to our new “Boxing Judge“.

We encourage you to look through the site, review the news and updates, enjoy the picture section, submit pictures you would like us to see and we promise not to keep going over the same items, such as signing up for the Bulletin Board, etc. You know it is there and we would like for you to use it. It will only be as good as you make it, but you have to register to get on. Enough said. Looking forward to seeing more classmates as the weather improves in our area. Have a great day.

FEBRUARY 25, 2009 – We are saddened to inform you that we have lost another classmate. Raymond E. Watts passed away Monday, February 23, 2009. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Barbara Keys Watts; two sons Robert (Beth) Watts of Morgantown, WV, and Randal Watts of Nashport; two sisters, Sally (Raymond) Franklin of Nashport and Debbie (Michael) Babcock of New Concord; three brothers, Larry Watts of Zanesville, David (Brenda) Watts of South Carolina, and Denny Barr of Zanesville; a granddaughter, Hailey Watts of Hopewell; four honorary grandchildren, Kenna, Madyson, Landyn and Royce; and a special family friend, Desiree Null. Our condolences go to his family and friends.

FEBRUARY 9, 2009 – With the temperatures plunging to 0 degrees and below off and on the entire month of January, February started off in the same mode. However, the last three days have felt like a “heat wave” with the temperature getting to 45 degrees enabling us to scrape, shovel, and get out the muscle cream for all the aches and pains of the winter. It isn’t over yet, but what a relief to get out of the house and get together for lunch.

We had 21 classmates and 7 spouses in attendance. Judy Pearson Blair and Joe Kennedy were our new faces today and you will find their picture in the Photo Gallery under luncheon.

The reservations have started coming in for the picnic, and we are anxiously waiting for more. If you have not received the information, please let us know. I must do a little pleading for your help. If you move, change email address, etc., PLEASE advise us. When we get returned mail, and are lucky enough to locate a new address, we send the information out again, but this is just an added expense for the class. We have had several move and a couple of classmates we can not find since the last reunion. Unless we hear from you upon moving, we will assume you do not want any further information and we will no longer keep trying to find addresses, as it is time consuming and usually fruitless. When you move just include us in your mail changes. Thank you for your help.

Robert Hupp sent in a couple of pictures of a car that was donated to the automotive work shop by the Army. They repaired and painted it white, according to Robert, should have been black. Pictures are in Photo Gallery under reminiscing. Do any of the fellows remember the car?

The website has several sections and we encourage you to look all of them over. If you have a picture of your family, etc., that you would like to share, please submit it. To keep it interesting, we must have your input. We now have 36 classmates registered on the BB, and would like to hear from them with comments or new topics. If you’re not registered, please join us. If you have not sent in your birthday, it can‘t be posted. We have no birthdays for the month of March. Where are you?

January 12, 2009– Well, here we are. I guess you’d say we are lucky to have come this far in our lives. In case you “don’t know”, I’m reminding you, we are all approaching or already are in the 70^th year of our lives. We feel there should be a celebration. Mark your calendars for June 20, 2009, as we are having a party. That’s right, a 70^th Birthday Party for our class of ’57. It will be a catered picnic at Armco Park. The mailing has gone out, and if you have not received yours, let us know.

The monthly luncheon was held today and we had a nice turnout with 18 classmates, 6 spouses and one grandchild. Francis Holzschuher was recognized for making a frame for the picture that Elizabeth Jackson Dunlap had donated to our class. We are now drawing from the attending classmates for the profile of the month. We hope you enjoy this new feature on the site.

For the classmates who live away and can’t be with us, we encourage you to get involved on the bulletin board and add new topics, etc. Once again, in order to access the bb, you must first request registration and it is very easy and simple to use after that. The board is where we list birthdays, so if you have not sent us yours, please do, as we don’t want to leave anyone out. At the present time, we have no birthdays for March. Remember to keep things interesting, you must participate.