BILL STANLEY'S MEMENTO FROM A REUNION 30 YEARS AGO

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By Frank Barning
Many wonderful photos were taken at the Division Avenue High School's 50th reunion in August. I have posted 86 of them in Facebook. One of my favorites is of my classmate Bill Stanley holding a shirt from our 20th reunion in 1980. Retired since 2001, he was a Nassau County Sheriffs Department lieutenant.

Since that 1980 reunion, I have moved from Glen Cove on Long Island, to San Diego in 1982 and in 2005 to Las Vegas. When we were planning our move to San Diego, Vivian and I decided to unload old junk as well as good stuff we might never use again. Most of us love our "stuff" and it is difficult to part with items you think are important. A major reason for our stuff removal was the cost of shipping things approximately 3,000 miles in a moving van. We never regretted the decision as to what was left behind.

Twenty-three years later, we bought a house in Las Vegas. And again, decisions had to be made about what stuff would come with us. The move would be only about 350 miles, so it was not about money. We had a lot of old furniture from our Long Island days, items that were out of date. So we donated about half of our furniture to various charities, and gave hundreds of books to the library and to neighbors. Very little that did not come with us to Las Vegas has been missed.

But one item that survived both moves was my 1980 shirt from the 20th reunion. It is a treasure, not quite up there with my 1960 yearbook, but nevertheless an important memory. So when I saw Bill Stanley holding his reunion shirt, it really struck a chord with me. I wonder how many of those shirts have survived the years and the various moves of other classmates.

Under photos in Facebook, comments may be posted. I wrote, "Does it still fit, Bill? Mine looks like it shrunk in the wash, but I still have it after all these years."

Ten minutes later, smarty-pants Louise Nicolosi Hayn, jumped in and commented, "I have mine and it fits."

An hour later, here is what Bill had to say. "Not even close. They must have given me the wrong size at the 20th or maybe...."