Bishop McDevitt High School, Class of 1967: 04/03/17

The Bishop McDevitt High School Class of 1967 is planning their 50th year high school reunion to be held on the weekend of September 22-24, 2017. We had a class of 400 Crusaders.

Some Crusaders have been to all of our reunions over the past 50 years, some have been to one, some have been to none. For some, the 50th year reunion will be there first. People have many reasons why they either go to or don't go to high school reunions. I have been wondering what those reasons are for our 1967 Crusaders.

Why do people attend any event? Likely, because there is something of value that draws them. Why do people not attend an event? To them, it may have no value or maybe a negative experience keeps them away. Maybe they cannot attend because of distance, cost, or schedule conflicts.

What I want to focus on here is "what vision can we cast to our classmates" that will peak their interest and offer a value that will attract them to attend or still be connected if the are unable to attend.

Here are 2 quotes about vision to consider, one with a positive outcome and one with a negative outcome:

"Big thinking precedes great achievement." — Wilferd Peterson

"Dissatisfaction and discouragement are not caused by the absence of things but the absence of vision." — Anonymous

Those 2 quotes imply that creating and casting a vision is necessary to the accomplishment of something good and even something great. With the vision, the people create mission and goals for what they want to accomplish by participating in the activity. Without a created and cast vision, the people may end up with nothing, or emptiness, and wonder why they participated.

SO, WHAT ABOUT OUR 50th YEAR REUNION? It's the 50th anniversary of our graduation from Bishop McDevitt High School in 1967. It's a regathering of classmates after "one half century" having past. Is there a vision that will draw classmates to attend and lead each one to receive something of value, such that their attendance will be well worth while, life impacting, and very memorable?

Some thoughts have been put on the table for a theme. One was "Those Were The Days". Our view to that theme could be, "Yes, they sure were wonderful days. A great time to be a teenager in America." Another theme was "Let's Party", which could mean let's get together, recall the great and fun times we had, and have another great and fun time seeing friends we have not seen for years. Our response to that could be, "Yes, let's reconnect, reminese, and greatly enjoy the time spent together."

In considering this, I'm not sure we can create and cast one vision or theme that fits everyone. There is likely a huge diversity of reasons why people will attend and why they will not attend. It could be that attendance at a 50th year reunion in something quite personal because our years in high school were those formatively personal ones where we developed some deep seated beliefs and had some very meaningful experiences that we will never forget. It could be that having lived 50 more years we do not think we are much like we were in high school, meaning we may or may not have known you then, and how could we possibly know you now after 50 years of life. But maybe, that is all the more reason to attend the reunion and find out more about who we were and who we came to be now, 50 years later.

WHAT COULD BE "YOUR VISION" OF OUR REUNION? What do you want to experience and achieve? Let's suggest a list of ideas for a theme and/or vision:

"Those Were The Days"
"Let's Party"
"Getting To Know You, Again"
"Back To The Future"
"From Then To Now, and Now What?"

I want to develop some thoughts for each theme/vision, but not in this article.

LET'S MOVE ON WITH WHY ATTEND.

Think about this. Out of 400 classmates, we know of 39 who have passed. Each and everyone is remembered fondly. They make up about 10% of our class. That is a unique nummber in light of a statistic I discovered about Baby Boomers:

"19% of all baby boomers (born 1946-1964) are no longer living."

If that's true, our 10% of passed classmates is much lower than a national average of 19%. The passing of 39 of our classmates is a huge loss for us. But, the 90% of remaining classmates is a huge blessing for us.

That brings me to the recognition that we are currently around 67 years old and we are aging quickly towards our 70s. Consider this, the rate of passing classmates is very likely to increase. Here is a statistic we might want to pay attention to:

"The average life expectancy for a person who was 65 years old in 2012 is 19.3 years.

For women, it is 20.5 years. For men, it is 17.9 years."

Thus, a life expectancy is 84.3 years average, 85.5 years for women and 82.9 years for men. Those numbers are surprising, especially the slight difference between men and women of only 2.6 years. No matter, I am not hear to check the statistic, but I am here to ask,

'How many more reunions will anyone of us be able to attend?"

At our 50th reunion, we are about 67 years old
At our 55th reunion, we will be 72 years old
At our 60th reunion, we will be 77 years old
At our 65th reunion, we will be 82 years old

So, here we are approaching our 50th year reunion at about age 67, and based on the above statistic, we may have about 18 years (+/-) left to age 85.

Obviously, we have gone over the hill as far as the numbers are concerned. There are much fewer years remaining than we have experienced to our 50th year reunion. Therefore, if we don't see and hear each other at our 50th year reunion, we may never have an opportunity to see and hear each other again. Excuse me for seemingly being morbid, but here is how we have lost our 39 classmates:

In the 1960s, we lost 1 classmate in 2 years
In the 1970s, we lost 2 classmates in 10 years
In the 1980s, we lost 2 classmates in 10 years
In the 1990s, we lost 7 classmates in 10 years
In the 2000s, we lost 12 classmates in 10 years
In the 2010s, we lost 15 classmates in 7 years
In 50 years, we lost 39 classmates in 50 years

The rate of classmates passing is increasing and will continue to do so. Yes, every one of us will have our time to go. According to the averages, that could be within the next 18 years. However, God knows the exact time for each one of us and there are no averages.

I hope that (1) the unknown time when each one of us will depart, and (2) our desire to see and hear each and every classmate are 2 good reasons for attending our 50th year reunion. But, for further encounagement to attend, let's continue our discussion of the vision or theme for our 50th year reunion.

VISION OR THEME OF OUR 50TH YEAR REUNION

I suggest that each clasmate should have a vision of what he or she wants to focus on for our 50th year reunion. I offer the 5 suggestions listed above. Also, here are more:

"Then in 1967, Now in 2017, and Still Not Done"
"The Twin Towers Still Stand, and So Do We"
"Retired and Refired - It Started at McD '67"
"400 Crusaders Cast A Vision of Peace"
"Still The McD Class of 1967"
"We Were, We Are, We Will Be"
"I Was, I Am, and I Will Be"
"The 50th is Gold, The 60th will be Diamond"

With the establishment of a vision or theme, we then should describe the meaning of those words. We should have a misson to accomplish and some goals to achieve. That description will give life to the vision or theme. That description will create the path on which we travel to attain the value that we are looking for in attending the event. That's a larger task that I do not want to develop here. With this discussion, I want to stir every classmates thinking as to what they want to achieve during this milestone event.

QUESTION:

Is there a vision or theme that will draw you to attend our 50th year reunion so that you will receive something of value, such that your attendance will be well worth while, life impacting, and very memorable?

ACTION: