Some Thoughts Sent to Us by Glenda Lewis Palmiter

Too Busy for a Friend...

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment; and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of the comments. No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam,and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it. " Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it." All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued, "I think we all saved our lists." That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. May Your Day Be Blessed As Special As You.

Charlie Checklick

Here we have two photos of Charlie Checklick and his wife, Dottie enjoying their boat. Charlie now lives in Texas. Click on the photos to get a full-screen view.

The Palmiter Family

More "meet my family" photos. These two are of the Palmiter family -- Glenda Lewis Palmiter and husband, Bob Palmiter ('56). Glenda and Bob are in the first photo. Glenda is sitting on the left end of the sofa, and Bob is beside her perched on the armrest. Bob and Glenda are in the lead (so far) for married the longest. They will celebrate their 49th anniversary on December 26, 2008.

Name This Classmate (with Grandson)

Here is another great photo of one of our classmates with her grandson. Do you know who it is? Enter your answer in Comments.

Trivia Question

Dick Conklin sent in this great trivia question.

Who in the class of 1958 got married for the first time after age 50. Three 1958 classmates attended the wedding!!

Dick Conklin family with 2 of 4 grand children

Trivia Quizzes And Results

I'm posting some of our trivia quiz questions and answers on the Blog fyi.

1. Who in the class of 1958 is a medical doctor or nurse? Eileen Flynn, Joanne Dawson, Patty Walsh, Charlie Checklick

2. Who in the class of 1958 has acquired their doctorate. Phoebe Gelford, Mary Jo Billy, Susan Folkman

3. Who in the class of 1958 has law degrees? Pam Fraser, Michael Hampden, Suki Quinn

4. Who in the class of 1958 has the most children? Toni Tedesco and Dick Conklin have 5.

5. Who in the class of 1958 has the most grandchildren? Jean Brown has 12 including 2 sets of twins

6. Who in the class of 1958 has great-grandchildren? Maggie (Gail) Barnes, Charlie Checklick

7. Who in the class of 1958 has a son who worked with the daughter-in-law of another classmate? Joanne Dawson’s son worked with Laurel Baird’s daughter-in-law

8. Who in the class of 1958 was so surprised to hear that her daughter knew and had contact with Day Mount through the daughter's job? Marcia Kirstein’s daughter.

9. Who in the class of 1958 was once a pilot? Joe Nappo, Charlie Campo, Dick Conklin

10. There are more people from the class of 1958 living in New York than any other state. Which state has the next ? Florida. Here is the state breakdown:
Arizona 3
California 4
District of Columbia 1
Florida 11
Maryland 2
Massachusetts 4
Michigan 1
New Hampshire 2
New Jersey 6
New York 28
North Carolina 3
Pennsylvania 5
South Carolina 2
South Dakota 1
Texas 1
Virginia 4

11. Who in the class of 1958 has led a bagpipe band in the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade for 14 years? Chuck Lynch

12. What two women (at least -- there may be more I don't know about) gave birth to a child after the age of 40? Cathy Codispoti, Susan Folkman

13. Who in the class of 1958 is a competitive tennis player and has won a number of awards? Millicent Couch

14. Who in the class of 1958 has two adopted daughters, and one is the birth mother of the other? Joel Greenstein (now Joel Green)

Shortest Courtship

Fred Chemi tells us that he dated his wife of 41 years for only two weeks when he proposed. Anyone else have short courtships?

Who was married the longest?

Can You Identify These People?

Here are two more photos. See if you can identify these people. Hint -- the gentleman in the second photo was not in our class. He is a spouse.

More Photos

Some Photos

I'm posting all the photos that we have seen in "Can You Name Your Classmate" contest.

Testing

Teena this is a test to see if I can actually post to the blog instead of just leaving a comment. Hope it works!
Jean

Blog for Class of 1958 Suffern High School

Hello everyone. I am trying to find a way to get some conversation going between us all before our big reunion in June. I am wondering if Blogging would be the answer. So this post is a test to see if I can work it out so everyone can post.