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September 20, 2023 Below are two links to almost 300 photos taken during the September 8-10 Class of 1970 "50th" reunion weekend. The first link takes you to the Friday, September 8 River Forest Junior High reunion held at Carol Lavin Bernick's River Forest home. The second takes you to photos of the Saturday, September 9 Oak Park River Forest High School reunion held at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, IL. Also included in the second link are photos of the high school tour, along with other photos taken during that weekend. Once you click on either of these links, if you have an Amazon Prime account, you can "Accept Invitation" on the welcome screen, provide your Amazon login credentials, and you'll then be able to upload your own photos and add comments. However, if you don't have an Amazon Prime account, or don't want to sign in, just click on "Explore First." Everything will work pretty much the same except you won't be able to add photos or comments. 2023 River Forest Junior High Class of 1966 Reunion 2023 OPRFHS Class of 1970 "50th" Reunion Photos You will see the photos sorted "newest to oldest" which you can change to "oldest to newest". Unfortunately there are no other sort options so you will not see the photos in any organized fashion. Blame Amazon for that one. Enjoy the photos! John Meyer Class of 1970 |
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September 2, 2023 OPRFHS 1970 Reunion Guests, Saturday night logistics: On Saturday, September 9th you can enter Fitzgerald’s nightclub starting at 6:00 pm. IF YOU DRIVE to the reunion rather than taking a taxicab or a ride-sharing service, there will be street parking only. The best time to find a parking place near Fitzgerald’s is estimated to be between 6:00 pm and 6:15 pm. No-parking notices on nearby street signs are reportedly not enforced. YOUR NAME TAG — and that of any guests you bring — will be printed as shown on the Who’s Coming page of the reunion website at https://oprfhs70.com/3/miscellaneous9.htm unless you advise me otherwise before Wednesday, September 6th. THE BUFFET will be served in the outdoor patio tent next to the nightclub, starting at 6:30 pm. THE LIVE 60s MUSIC will be played between 7:30 and 8:30 pm in the nightclub. There will be no drums but probably low-volume microphones. If the music and/or the conversations become too loud in the nightclub, guests can move outside into the patio tent and grounds. A ONE-HOUR GUIDED TOUR of Oak Park River Forest High School is available on Saturday morning on September 9th, starting at around 9:45 to 10:00 am. If you want to take the tour, please send me an email saying so as soon as possible to reserve your place. We are so excited to see everyone! Bruce Lehman, Volunteer OPRFHS Class of 1970 bruce.lehman@outlook.com On Behalf of Reunion Volunteers Listed at: https://oprfhs70.com/3/my_tweets.htm (This email will also be posted on our Announcements page of the reunion website, at https://oprfhs70.com/3/miscellaneous8.htm.) |
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August 26, 2023
Denise Wendt and other classmates report that Barb Sanduski has passed away. |
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June 20, 2023
Lisa and Lillian Lee report that Al Glock died on January 19, 2019. Al had an exceptional career. He attended the Air Force Academy where he majored in Astronautical Engineering and Political Science, earning his BS in 1974. He received an Olmsted Scholarship and attended the Institute of Political Studies in Paris before earning his Master’s degree at Harvard in International Relations. He completed a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, where he was a computer science instructor. He also served as a volunteer firefighter and was fluent in French and German, and spoke some Russian and Hebrew. |
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April 22, 2023
Ron Sherman's wife reports that Ron died recently after having suffered a stroke. Ron was very helpful in organizing our reunions, and will be missed. |
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January 26, 2023
Dave Brooks passed away on January 24, 2023. Dave never smoked but somehow developed lung cancer. Dave was a teacher at OPRFHS and a cross-country coach who took his team to state championships. He will be missed. As of January 26, 2023 Dave's obituary was posted at https://www.kistler-patterson.com/obituaries/obituary-listings?obid=27135865. |
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November 9, 2022
Tom Kadon's brother reports that Tom has passed away. |
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July 17, 2022
Cliff Johnson has passed away. Cliff was our King of Hearts. Thanks for all you did for us Cliff. |
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April 28, 2022
OPRFHS Class of 1970 Reunion Postponed Classmates, Guests, and Advisors, We will not have an OPRFHS Class of 1970 reunion this fall. Here’s why. The reunion committee consists of twenty-seven volunteers. When asked whether we should hold the reunion, only eleven said “yes.” The lingering Covid threat is clearly an issue for many of our classmates and is the main reason for our volunteers' reticence. What's more, since the respondents to this poll are the reunion volunteers, a group that has a higher-than-average desire to attend a reunion, it seems clear that the attendance percentage of the class at large might be even smaller than what our survey suggests. No one wants to attend a sparsely attended reunion. We still hope to hold a reunion again someday. For that reason, if your email address changes please submit the new one using the Contact Us page at oprfhs70.com. This will allow us to contact you about any future reunion plans. Bruce |
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November 29, 2021
Bill Kavanagh, OPRFHS class of 1971, reports that Mike Ruane has died from Covid. |
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November 27, 2021
Peggy Minnick died on November 22, 2021. According to an obituary she passed away peacefully after a long illness. A visitation for Peggy will be held from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm on Sunday, December, 5, 2021 at the Zimmerman-Harnett Funeral Home, located at 7319 Madison Street, Forest Park, Illinois (https://www.zimmermanharnett.com/obituary/Peggy-Minnick). |
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July 23, 2021 Next OPRFHS Class of ’70 Reunion Postponed Until 2022 Classmates, Guests, and Advisors, • Twenty of our volunteers have voted 16 to 4 to postpone the reunion until 2022, due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns. • Recently the only fall of '22 Saturday nights still open at the 19th Century Club were: 09/10/22 (it can be in the mid-40s in Oak Park in late September) 10/29/22 (it can snow in Oak Park in late October) I have booked the Club for September 10, 2022. To schedule a subsequent date we could book the Club for a weekday night. • If anyone would organize a small, informal 2021 reunion let me know. I would help somewhat. This email has been added to the Announcements page of our reunion website at oprfhs70.com. If your email address changes please send us your new one via the website's Contact Us page. Bruce |
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April 18, 2021
Next OPRFHS Class of ‘70 Reunion Classmates, Guests, and Advisors, Hopefully the reunion will be this fall. But we may need a backup COVID plan. As of this writing the Illinois Department of Health website says: “Gatherings with 50 people or fewer will be permitted.” The decision to hold the reunion this year or postpone it again will be announced when such gatherings are deemed safe or in mid-August, whichever comes first. Some U.S. high school classes of 1970 are already planning to hold “70 turns 70” reunions in 2022. This email has been added to the Announcements page of our reunion website at oprfhs70.com. If you change your email address, please go to the website's Contact Us page to send us your new one. Bruce |
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August 14 and 15, 2020
Classmates, Guests, and Advisors, Our volunteers have voted to postpone the reunion, and to reserve the 19th Century Club for October 16, 2021 (save the date!). We’ll review our plans sometime next spring. It will depend on COVID-19. Three volunteers deserve special mention: John Meyer has provided crucial technical help Donna Peska Alexander has searched for 169 “lost” classmates Denise Wendt has searched for 314 “lost” classmates This email will be posted on the Announcements page of the reunion website. If your email address changes, please remember to notify us. The best way is to use the Contact Us page. Bruce Reunion website: https://oprfhs70.com/ |
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May 1, 2020 Subject: OPRFHS Class of 1970 - Reunion 2020 Update Classmates, Guests, and Advisors, Our volunteers have voted to wait until August to decide whether to postpone the reunion due to COVID-19. Their decision will be announced shortly after they vote in mid- or late August. This email will be added to the Announcements page of our reunion website. If you change your email address, please use its Contact Us page to tell us your new one. Bruce Website: www.oprfhs70.com |
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April 4, 2020
Subject: 50-Year Reunion of Oak Park High Class of ‘70 Classmates and Invited Guests, Welcome newly found classmates. Reunion volunteers got your email addresses from the internet, friends, relatives, etc. Through months of devoted effort they have found 364 of our “lost” classmates. The reunion has been scheduled for October 17th. The coronavirus could change that. Recent news reports say it could retreat in the summer, then return in the fall. There will be no “all-clear” signal after it peaks. It has killed classmate Tom Sheehan. At the end of this month we’ll know more about the risk we face. Until then we can wait to reconsider the reunion date; ticket sales for our 2015 reunion did not begin until late May. If you ever change your email address your reunion organizers want to know! Finding changed email addresses can be very difficult or impossible. Some OPRFHS classes have had 55- and 60-year reunions. We may do that. You may therefore receive a friendly one-sentence email checkup from your reunion organizers every six months. Our website's Find Lost Classmates page lists hard-to-find classmates. If you can get contact information for someone shown there, please submit it using the Contact Us page. Also use Contact Us to submit questions, comments, etc. Bruce Lehman on behalf of Volunteers page classmates |
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April 17, 2016
In addition to some of our OPRFHS class of '70 sophomore cheerleaders, Gerry Sullivan is also briefly shown in an opening scene of the movie Concussion, according to an email from his wife Liz (see Guest Book page). |
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January 23, 2016
Some of our OPRFHS class of '70 sophomore cheerleaders appear for a few seconds in the opening scenes of the recent Hollywood movie Concussion, starring Will Smith! (Thanks to John Meyer for making this possible.) |
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January 22, 2016
How many of us were in the OPRFHS class of 1970? There were 855 graduates of the class of ’70, according to a table found at http://www.oprfhs.org/about/documents/1877-PRESENTGRADUATINGCLASSES.pdf. It lists the sizes of OPRFHS classes starting in 1877. |
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Denny Corry died of a heart aneurism on December 3, 2015.
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From Chip Kramer (class of '70) — Click here to see a history of Oak Park High School from 1873 to 1976. |
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From Mary Marshall Blanc (class of '70) —
For Those who haven't seen Dear Old Oak Park & River Forest High School in awhile... Believe it or NOT--The School IS Still GREAT & IS Still Doing GREAT WORK--even tho... We Aren't There! AND--Where We Are--IS... At an age & stage when Friends + Family Members are leaving us in ever-increasing numbers. And whenever it would be an appropriate gesture--I'd like You to consider making a pay-it-forward memorial donation to the OPRFHS Alumni Association in order to sponsor More Outstanding Efforts of Today's & Tomorrow's Outstanding Students... as was done for us in our day. Keep The Great OPRFHS Spirit That We Shared--GOING STRONG. Here's How... GO TO http://www.oprfhs.org/alumni/ Under “PLEASE SUPPORT US”, click: Use this LINK for information on making a donation by check or credit card. and follow the directions (using PayPal, you can click: Your Grad Yr & any special instructions: to add comment). OR send your CHECK to: OPRF Alumni Association 201 N. Scoville Ave Oak Park IL 60302 ANY AMOUNT IS WELCOME Questions ?? Call the Alumni Office at (708) 434-3281 And/or email the alumniassociation@oprfhs.org AND... THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS--WHATEVER THEY MAY BE !! |
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Schoolmate Tom Weiler is asking for your support to help find a cure for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) by donating to the Les Turner ALS Foundation for research, patient services program, and to raise public awareness of ALS which is a debilitating and fatal disease. You can go to the following link (just click on link, or copy & paste into your web browser) to donate: http://events.lesturnerals.org/site/TR/Events/General?pg=entry&fr_id=1040
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