Since others have the humor taken care of in the blog (yes, you Jason) I thought I would take a turn at something more sentimental and pay tribute to our classmates who passed away and won't be able to join us. We would like to also have a tribute at the reunion that remembers them and celebrates what they meant to us. In order to do that, we need your memories so please share. And if you have other items (pictures, etc) you would like to contribute to the memorial at the reunion, drop me a line at smrtblnd@gte.net and I will figure out how to get them from you.
The classmates we are aware of:
Greg Vinson
Chito Duran
Gina Aquila
I'll start.
My memory is of Chito in 8th grade at St Philomena's. We were inside for recess due to the rain and a couple of us got caught throwing the football in the classroom. I remember Chito telling Mrs. Byers that if she was going to bust us she had to bust the whole class because we were all doing it. Needless to say, no one got in trouble.
Now it's your turn...................
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Somebody must have read my mind because i was just thinking of these guys the other day!
I remember Greg getting a little drunk one night at Hanks house. For some reason he was yelling "Chevy Chase" over and over! I think somebody even had a tape recorder! I guess you had to be there!
The best Chito story was our road trip to Seaside before his accident. We could probably make a movie out of the entire trip. It was the best road trip i have ever taken!
I think of these guys almost every day. Sometimes i think about what could have been! Mostly its of the good times!
Terrana-rack is the name given to me by Chito! Thanks Iggy!
Ok, Hopefully i didn't bring anybody down!
I hope this will make you laugh!
One night we are at a party at Krista's cabin. Chito has had a little too much to drink. He is outside! Trying to get inside! But his mind cant make his body respond correctly! Bryce and I are in an upstairs window yelling "Run to the light" "Run to the light"! The front door was directly in front of him! I think he slept on the grass that night!
Its funny! Most of my memories include drinking! Hmmmmm.
Thanks Mark - No apologies necessary here :) Memories are a part of who we are...
Yea Mark, I was there at Hanks. It truly was my first drunk experience I remember having. It was so premeditated. I remember us trying to figure out what was going to get us more wasted, Bartyl & James or California Wine Coolers. I do know we did record that. I am sure it's got to be one of the most hideous displays imaginable if it still exists. Greg imortalized Brian Adams and Rush in my head for life. His mantra of "f$%^&n "A" still echoes in my head.
As for Gina, I remember skipping last period many times so we could go listen to her vast collection of french techno and go to delridge to walk around the cemetary, smoke and talk about the great injustices of life. I was such a fool back then, I thought I had it all figured out.
I think that you actually did have it all figured out, but then our reality changed.
Memories of Greg...I have so many. He was such an amazing guy. I didn't think he was my type at first, but once you got to know him you couldn't help but want to know him more and hang out with him. Greg always had a smile on his face and wasn't the type to judge anyone. He wasn't afraid to tell you how he felt or what he believed in. He absolutely loved RUSH and certain songs still bring back memories. I also remember his favorite saying "fu@#ing A", he was so funny! I remember one night at Tawny's, a bunch of us really drunk on our drink de jour California Coolers. We had some great times! Greg was my boyfriend and the first person close to me who died. It was very difficult to watch him gradually deteriorate and back then I was definitely too imature to handle it. I remember so many days at the hospital trying to keep a smile on my face while crying inside. My friends helped me get through that time and I thank them for it. Greg was truly an admirable guy who is still missed to this day by many.
No apologies needed here either Mark. :)
Korey,
There is so much I have to say on this one, but the most important thing I want to say to you is that for me to have first handedly witnessed your courage to atleast attempt to make it through that experience speaks volumes about you as a human being, I have always felt like I let him down, I just didn't know how to watch my best friend die, I was scared and couldn't find myself. He was such a loyal friend, I was such a little boy. I saw your pain, it was awful and I am so proud and happy to see you with such a great family now. You deserve it. I am sure you're a great mother and wife.
Brian, my grandfather died when we were juniors and I hear exactly what you are saying. I was the same way.
You just don't know what to do when you start to see someone who was so strong suddenly not being able to do simple things.
Brian,
Thanks for your kind words. You still rock! You also hit the nail on the head regarding not getting to know more people back when we were in HS-I feel I missed out the same way. Can't wait to see everyone this summer and chat about "the old days"!!
I remember Gina and Greg and Chito.
A memory with Gina was driving with her and Mark Aspiri and a Phil Collins song was playing with the lyric "throwing it all away" and Mark and I were singing along to it. Gina looked at us and said "Why do all the guys like this song? What is it about it? I don't know any girls who like it!"
A very odd memory I know...
I remember sitting next to Chito at the Coliseum when our basketball team played Blanchet in one of the best high school games ever. We weren't close friends but man he sure made me feel like we were that day. A class guy. I will always remember him waving to me as on his motorcycle as he drove by me- cruising Alki the day he left us...
Greg I had a tough time with. He was best friends with my buddy Brian Fischer and I thought maybe he resented me - the two of us just really didn't get alomg. I think he tolerated me LOL. Well fortunately I did get to know him better before he left us and I'd like to think we were okay...
As with the others in my life that I have lost: I am so sad that they are gone- but I am so glad they were here to begin with...
Best,
Jay Tando
One of my favorite memories of Chito is a fuzzy old one from St. Philomena. We had a special treat in either 1st or 2nd grade where all of the kids got popsicles. A couple of hours later our teacher noticed a sticky gooey puddle where we kept our coats and things to take home. It turned out that Chito was saving his popsicle to take home...
As for Gina, I didn't know her very well, but I got to take her picture for the yearbook. She and Ralph LoPriore were voted "Most Comical". They got to choose how to pose and I took a ton of pictures of the 2 of them in the bathroom with Gina sitting on the toilet and Ralph handing her toilet paper. Then we went to the statue of JFK's head and they were hamming it up by doing silly things like sticking their fingers in JFK's nose. Then they decided to do one shot of the 2 of them with straight faces... no smiles or anything. And then of course Mrs. Giuntoli says all of the pictures are too irreverent, except for the boring straight shot....and that's what got stuck in the yearbook.
I found the original of that photo. I have posted it in a new photo album on the website. Check out all of the new photos and then give a big THANK YOU to Lori (McCann) Rosellini for keeping these pictures safe for us for the last 10 years. There are a lot more and I'll get them posted soon.
Hey Lisa,
Do you know what happened to the bathroom photos?
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